Anticipation

Anticipation

-Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra

“We have to do something extraordinary, something out of the box”, said Harsh to his boisterous wife Anjali. Anjali, ever cheerful and excited spoke with her hands stretched as if she had enough of her husband’s planning- she told Harsh not to worry as she already had a plan going on in her mind.

Anjali and Harsh were magicians and they were poor; they had to discover something which would help stabilize themselves in life; and they were already behind schedule. Harsh and Anjali performed at various places and stages, but they understood well that people wanted something new, as they were bored seeing the same clichéd tricks over and over again.

Anjali mechanically repeated every word after Harsh, “What is magic?” “It is making people believe something which is not true” “What is the truth?” “It is science, the pillars on which magic stands”…

Today was an important day for the newlywed couple as this day marked the beginning of the tryst between them-so Harsh desperately wanted to try something new today. Even Anjali’s cheerful, optimistic, bubbly and lively nature was not helping Harsh; he was always trapped into a never ending abyss of thoughts about their future, about their magic’s future.

Anjali’s role today was to immerse herself into a cuboidal box filled with water; her hands and legs tied- her task was to come out alive. The couple practiced this common trick more than a hundred times, but Anjali’s fate was not so good today, or so it seemed. As soon as she drowned into water, like a skilled worker she set into motion trying to untie the rope from her hands and legs.Suddenly amidst Harsh smiling towards the audience with his hands waving periodically, Anjali suddenly started beating the glass wall with all her might-something was wrong, very wrong.

It was evident she could not untie herself- the audience went to a shock, paralyzed with sheer fear. Harsh could think of nothing- his mind went blank as he anticipated the worst, he kept murmuring about the type of knot he tied on her , did he mistakenly tie the wrong knot? Was it even remotely possible? It was their sacrosanct, their secret…

“Nooooo…”- Harsh cried out beating the thick glass wall with his bare hands, at an instant the audiencepresent there gasped out in shock, some crying out seeing the situation at hand, some covering their eyes and mouth in anticipation about what was going to happen next. At that moment it seemed fate had brought Anjali to the confluence of life and death. Harsh desperately began his frantic search and from the backstage brought out a steel rod; his purpose was to strike the glass wall and he did.

Anjali’s limp body fell on the ground after Harsh broke the glass cuboid after a great upheaval, hurriedly Harsh took Anjali by her head and arms and gave her a full CPR, but in vain. Minutes went on and all the audience were stunned and dumbfounded when suddenly Anjali threw her arms upwards and shouted “7 minutes 49 seconds ladies and gentlemen!!! Thank you for watching our new trick!” and the audience roared out with applause and cheering. Even Harsh got the biggest shock of his life, there Anjali laying on Harsh’s lap spoke softly, almost whispering, “I told you I had a plan”-and closed her eyes.

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