Seasons of Glass by L E Frost

Author:L E Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Jasper tried to quiet the butterflies in his stomach, as Punchinello in his fool’s costume and beaked mask chased the giggling Isabella around the stage. He was supposed to accompany the Inamorato’s love song in the next act. He fiddled with the blue hose and red satin shirt he had to wear, and cringed at his reflection. It was bad enough he’d never played for an audience before, but to have to wear this embarrassing getup was too much. Allard insisted he wear makeup, including a ridiculous red heart on his cheek. The other actors wriggled into their costumes, donned their leather Commedia masks, or jostled Jasper aside to get to the mirror.

Allard ducked through the stage curtain and gave him a nudge. “You’re on, Minstrel!”

Someone shoved Jasper onto the stage and his mouth felt like he’d swallowed glue as the eyes of the boisterous audience were riveted on him. The ladies wearing sequined masks in the front row tittered, and a weasel-faced man at the back made a rude noise.

“Play, you fool!” Allard hissed.

He tripped over the paper cherry tree and nearly tumbled into Columbina as he tried to find his mark. The crowd roared, and Allard cursed a blue streak in the wings. He finally got seated on the bench and began to strum the introduction for the love scene. He was vaguely aware of the Inamorato singing of his undying love to Isabella in center stage, but then he got lost in the music and began to embellish the simple accompaniment he was supposed to be playing. As the last notes faded away, he became aware of how deathly quiet it was. He looked up to see the audience still as a painting. The actors, whose love scene was just staged, were off in the wings sending him black looks. Hell, now what? Was my playing that bad?

A thunderous applause erupted and Allard ran out from behind the curtain to squeeze Jasper in his pudgy arms. “Magnificent! The gift of Orpheus! We’ll make a fortune performing for royalty!” Then Allard pushed him forward, and said, “Bow to your admirers, then go gather the flowers the ladies will give you,” he instructed.

Copper coins rained at his feet as he bowed low. He made his way to the front of the stage, where the ladies jostled each other to get foremost, and gathered the gays of flowers from their perfumed hands. The ladies giggled and whispered invitations in his ear. One daring girl in a lion mask had the cheek to pinch his bottom.

Allard finally rescued him from the girls and led him offstage. He guided Jasper to a yellow pavilion with green diamonds. “The Duke’s daughter was so taken with you that she ordered a portion of the roast suckling, truffle partridge, meringue and fine wine intended for the Duke’s table to be shared with the troupe!”

The tent’s interior was illuminated with torches and lively with the banter of the other actors. A roasted suckling with an apple in its mouth stared woefully at Jasper from the center of the table.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.