“Write all the answers, don’t be lazy,” said my Poetry Professor as she handed out the answer sheets.

It was a humid day; the overhead fans held on for dear life as they rotated. We were asked to write about “Ulysses” by Lord Tennyson. I sighed and peered into the question paper. We had to write two essays, critically examining the characteristics of Ulysses. I preferred autodidacticism to lectures and didn’t care about marks. As I embarked on a nefarious lying session, I blatantly argued that Ulysses had no right to be in a war, leaving his wife and son—an irresponsible man by all Indian standards.

As I scribbled, a vision appeared. A girl with porcelain features and feline eyes walked in, asking for permission to convey some magical lore to the bystanders. Along with her came two more people, but that did not concern me.

“We are performing a play for the Literary Association function, and we want actors for the play,” said the angel.

No one raised their hands. Then a girl at the back of the class asked, “What play is it?”

The girl blushed and said, “Romeo and Juliet.”

Like hooligans, my class erupted in hoots. She waited for another minute to see if anyone was interested. The professor interjected, “They are your seniors; it will be okay, just give it a try.”

I don’t know why I did it, but I raised my hand. They noted my name and asked me to come for an audition that afternoon.

They gave me lines and asked me to read them aloud, then act them out. Reading was not a problem; acting, however, was so stale that even a two-day-old chapati would have won the role. But there was no one else, so they gave me a role that suited my rigidness. I got to play Friar Lawrence, the priest who helps Romeo and Juliet get married.

It’s true that I wanted to be Romeo, but I was sure that this was not possible. My senior acted, and he was a decent blend of humility with a penchant for acting. I started to shamelessly flirt with Juliet. Every time there was a scene between Romeo and Juliet, I would be disturbing them in some way. In the beginning, it was reserved, or let’s say put up as fun by others, but as time went by, it became annoying for others.

I did not repeat it. I went for practice, did my part, and came to my class. I was hurt. My senior noticed this and asked why I was not my usual self. I told her it was nothing.

Romeo asked me if I wanted to go to the canteen. We avoided going during breaks as students would be buzzing around the canteen.

“Sure,” I said.

The canteen was empty; then Juliet walked in. She came and sat at our table.

“Why are you silent?” she asked me. I smiled.

We started talking, and I kept looking into her eyes. But Romeo kicked me and said, “Her boyfriend is here.”

“What?” My face changed. A short guy with two bulky mates came towards our table. He spoke to Juliet, but she did not respond.

“You were laughing till now,” he stared at me, still talking to her. The situation escalated quickly. “You talk with everyone except me.” I was starting to get angry. We had our tea and headed out. The short guy, called Logesh, called me.

“Look here, brother, she is my girl,” he laughed. “If I see you talking to her, I will beat you up.”

Maybe it was her presence. I don’t know what happened. I punched him as hard as I could. His friends pounced on me. Romeo rescued me with just a  few bruises. Juliet, angered by the naive incident, shouted at me.

“Hey, even I did not say anything to him, but why did you start a fight?” Romeo started to arrange for the rehearsal.

“I don’t know,” I said.

The news spread like wildfire. Some said he deserved it, and others said it was not worth it. Whatever they thought, for Juliet, it became clear that I was interested in her. Later that day, Romeo asked me to accompany him to the costume shop. It was a hot evening; I was profusely sweating when we entered an old costume shop. Romeo spoke with the shop person as I wandered into this labyrinth of used props. There were swords, shields, crowns, fairy wings, paintings of old kings, moustaches, clown noses, and a quiver of arrows. I noticed old lamps and Aladdin rugs. I got an old magical lamp prop and rubbed it slowly. Then I was struck by wooden wand props. I imagined I was Harry Potter, just then I heard a voice behind the door.

“What do you want?” I saw a young boy with blue eyes come out of the other room. I stood still. “I came to get props and dresses for the play.”

The boy perked up and asked, “What play?”

“Romeo and Juliet,” I said.

“A great play,” he said, reminiscing about his past. “It has been a long time since I saw the play.”

“Yes,” I said, happy to see he was aware of the play just being a boy. 

“What’s your character?”

“I play Friar,” I said, looking down at the trinkets section.

He did not answer. He went to the other room without speaking to me.

I left to help Romeo and told him about the weird boy. He did not care but spoke extensively about the cost. Then when we were packed, the boy once again appeared. He chatted with Romeo for some time about the play.

“I am acting for the sake of it,” Romeo smiled, pointing at me. “He should have acted as Romeo, and besides, Juliet is more interested in Friar than Romeo in our play.”

The boy laughed. “Change the play into Friar and Juliet.”

We all laughed. “I wish she would talk to me now.”

“Why, what happened?” the boy asked.

“I punched my senior who was hitting on her.”

“What other thing do you wish?” the boy asked with a cunning smile.

“Oh, not much, just a kiss and a dance,” I joked.

Romeo looked at me, alarmed. “That Logesh guy will kill you.”

We all had a great time.

That evening, out of the blue, I received a call. It was Juliet.

“I thought you wouldn’t talk to me,” I stammered.

“Like an idiot, you are behaving,” she laughed. “You like me so much, I think.”

I kept quiet.

“I’m just glad you are talking to me,” she said, then we continued to talk for a long time.

The day of the play went extremely well.

“The chemistry between the Friar and Juliet was brilliant,” the audience joked.

I could see Logesh brimming with anger, and Juliet asked me to come and meet her alone. The entire corridor was empty, and in one of the classrooms, she asked me to wait. She came beaming and brought me a Dairy Milk.

I was elated. “Do you want to dance?”

God, this was the luckiest day of my life.

I clasped her hands, held her hips, and went around the classroom slowly. Her eyes were melting my soul.

I said, “Thank you.”

Then suddenly, in a flash, she kissed my cheeks and ran away.

I was dreamily walking, and Romeo noticed it.

“Dude, you okay?” He smiled.

We took all the props and went back to the costume shop. The boy came out smiling. We chatted, but Romeo had to go early. So he told me to wait and get the bill. As I waited for the shop owner to generate my bill, the boy looked straight into my eyes and asked.

“How was the dance and the kiss?”

“What?” I stood still. “How… how did you know?” I stammered.

“You got all your wishes, didn’t you?” He smiled.

“What are you talking about?”

“You rubbed the lamp, didn’t you? That’s my home,” he laughed, and his voice changed. “You wished for her to talk to you, and you wished for a kiss and a dance.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“Who are you?” I finally asked.

“My name is Puck, and I am also a djinn,” he laughed and turned into a huge, floating, bloated pink man.

Copyrighted @ Ronald Hadrian 2024