By Eric Shyu
People were walking left and right, pacing back and forth, moving from the band room to the stage. It's definitely not the usual Saturday for most people, but this is how the drama team works. Props are in place, walls have been painted, costumes are on, and all actors have their makeup done, with one person remaining.
As Lindsay Goh (10) was doing my makeup, she jokingly said the words, “Ang bao, very ong,” meaning “Red packet, very lucky” in Hokkien. I needed to blow my nose. I stood up laughing and reached for a napkin with the list of the actors' names crossed out because their makeup was done. I reached for the tissue, and then - drip.
Lindsay froze, not knowing what to do. “Oh stars-” I said anxiously as I grabbed the nearest tissue as fast as I could to cover my nose and clean up as much as possible. The corner of the paper was stained red from blood.
After a few seconds, I calmed down, and now I had a bloody tissue in my nose, waiting for the blood to clot. I heard “Are you okay?” a few too many times from the people in the room, but it was nice to know I wasn’t invisible to the people around me. Another few seconds later, Lindsay touched up my nose. She needed to remove the initial makeup because it was stained red, and there was still a bit of time before I needed to be on stage. I was done with my makeup, and everything was set.
A few minutes later, Ms. Mary Geiman walked in and reminded everyone to have their outfits fully done. She walked by me and mentioned that I needed to change my shoes before I went on. Then suddenly, I felt it again. My nose felt… off. I knew what was coming.
Please tell me this isn’t another nosebleed. The makeup team is already gone and I am on in a couple of lines! This will be fine, just breathe, this is all going to be okay.
Sure enough, it was actually okay. Somehow, there was no nosebleed. I then walked backstage and waited for my cue. Soon enough, the stage light hit me, and a marvelous scene was performed. The lines were good, the blocking from the actors was great, the scene went well, and the moment I stepped out of the light, I was greeted with “Eric, your shoes!” in a hushed tone.
It immediately clicked in my mind that I was wearing the wrong shoes. “A nice scene, with nice backdrops, nice costumes, and then we see YOUR GREEN SHOES!”
Suffice it to say that Ms. Geiman was not happy with what had happened due to my panic. After all of that, the next scenes took place well, and things fell into place from there. Isn’t it strange how the two luckiest colors were the cause of all this commotion backstage.
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