The Family Business

Acceptance / Finale

Finally, it was opening night, and the crowds of people were coming in. Andrew pierced through the curtain backstage dressed as Lear. He could barely see through the curtain, but of the few people he could see, not one resembled his family. But there was no time to think about that right now. Andrew had to prepare himself mentally for the performance.

Soon enough, the curtains opened, and the play had begun. Three other students walked out onto the stage as Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund. Each spoke their lines, and shortly after that came the sound of the trumpets, signaling the entrance of Andrew's King Lear.

"The king is coming," said the student playing Gloucester.

At this signal, Andrew walked onto the stage, thoroughly into character.

"Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester," said Andrew. As soon as Gloucester's actor had begun to leave the audience's view, Andrew caught a glimpse of a familiar face sitting amongst the strangers of the crowd. It was a tall, sophisticated man with his signature grin plastered on his face, but it was different. His grin was not unlike his typical grin, but enough to notice a slight difference. Instead of polite respect glowing from this man's face, it was a sign of acceptance pushing itself toward approval, a sign that only a son would catch on the face of his father. Antonio sat next to his wife, Margaret. On the other side of Antonio were Atlas and Rebecca, showing their support. Atlas gave a wink. And the show went on.

Andrew continued with his performance, slightly out of character. He recognized the next line mirrored himself, a chosen path of passion in a life he loved, saying, "In the meantime, I'll get down to my real business."

That's my son, a Marinos, Antonio thought to himself.

The play continued. The inheritance of Lear's kingdom had been split evenly among the two wicked sisters leaving out Cordelia. She could not put into words the amount of love she could have expressed for her father. On and on, the play continued until its finale.

"And my poor fool is hanged," Andrew spoke his final lines before his character's death, "Do you see this? Look on her. Look, her lips. Look there, look there." Andrew faded into his character's demise. The king was dead.

The student who played Edgar gave the final lines, ending the play.

The curtain closed, which was soon met with applause. Antonio stood up amongst the crowd clapping his hands loud and proud. The lights overhead began to shine brighter as the curtains rolled open revealing trails of tears that had coursed down Antonio's face.

As the actors gave their bows, Andrew saw his father among the standing few. But the few mattered little. All he saw was his father, who stood prouder than anyone. Andrew bowed one last time, and as he did, he let out a whisper. "Thank you," he said.

Antonio was proud that he raised one to be part of a world where the choice could be given an opportunity and not be stolen or locked away.