The Last Curtain Call (A Short Story)

Your most productive years may have been behind you now and you spend your time in utter loneliness and isolation, reliving your glorious past. Before, you were used to the praise and adulation of your millions of fans, but now you are left alone, staring on a blank wall where the sound of silence seems so deafening. Ah yes, you could still hear the applauses, the laughter, the celebration every time your name was called during curtain calls. Your name was on everyone's lips and dashing gentlemen made a beeline to hand you their bouquet of flowers. You have them all, boxes of chocolates, endless greeting cards, love notes- everything that reminded you of the tumultuous glory days of your life. People swooned when they heard your voice, and each end of your production numbers were greeted with thunderous applauses and endless calls for an encore.

Ah, you remember your past loves, the endless queues of men in your life. The fabulous places you have reached, the how do you do's with the high and mighty in your heyday. You have been around the world living in the adulation of your legions of fans. You savored each inebriating moment of your existence. You transferred from arms to arms, intoxicated by the love abundantly poured on your lap by your countless lovers. But you had your final curtain call. You are no longer famous. You are no longer beautiful. The voice that has so captivated millions of souls have now been reduced to a croaking and melancholy voice.

And as you look at the empty wall on a cramped room you are renting, you felt the hot tears of loneliness and grief falling from your eyes, gliding down your face. You closed your eyes and relived once more in your mind the glory days of your youth, when the world adored the beautiful and marvelous you. That was your very last curtain call. Early next morning, the porter of the hotel found a lifeless corpse of an old and emaciated woman still clutching in her hand her favorite photograph.

Tags: Vaudeville Superstar, Rich and Famous, Last Curtain Call
Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla