The Remembrance Chronicles – A Collection of Stories & Musings of the Human Condition
‘The Toast’
Anthony surveyed the courtyard and glanced at his watch - 7pm. He was uneasy due to the knot in his stomach, or at least that’s what he told himself anyhow. Quite a common experience for someone when speaking to an audience, but he wasn’t just anybody, and had once made a living with his talent for wordplay. It wasn’t that he was worried that what he had written wasn’t good enough, it was that he hadn’t written anything at all, and he knew from the puzzled expressions on their faces that his audience were united in one common thought – ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ And they were justified in this thought; after all, he had just convinced the groom to allow him to give an impromptu toast in the timeslot reserved for the speech by the Best Man.
His mind was elsewhere, yet strangely focused on the task at hand. The words that followed came from some other place. That place where she was. He took a breath, adjusted the microphone, and began:
“It is in our nature to look out for ourselves, to look out for number one.”
“It is our raw, animalistic roots, that cause us to - at the most basic level of our being - go out of our way to make sure we get ahead, to get what we want.”
“Those are our priorities, the animal side of being human. That is how it is, until we find them, someone outside of ourselves that become a part of you. Someone you form a bond with that is indescribable by words, someone you’d give every ounce of your being for, someone you’d give your life for, just to ensure that theirs continued. That’s when things change, and we experience the most marvellous aspect of the human condition, we experience love. We have evolved to become creatures of connection, that I believe don’t ever truly reach our full potential until we find our ‘other’. It is an experience that begins as something so tragically fragile, yet becomes something so infinitely powerful, it commands both respect and admiration. It’s impacting our world in here right now, and in turn, can influence the world out there.” Anthony said, gesturing outwards to a world all but forgotten by a room that, after tonight, would never forget.
“This is what we are here to celebrate; the connection that binds Lucille and Riley, the experience that separates us from all other living things, and the love that has brought all of us here today, so that we can revel in its glow. I ask all of you to raise your glasses with me in a toast to the newlyweds, Mr and Mrs Pritchett, to a happy and long life together, and to the love that any of us would be lucky to experience in our short time here.”
Not too bad Anthony thought, not too bad at all. Now just don’t spill your drink and you might not screw this up. What followed was a loud BANG, followed by gasps and utterances of shock, while everyone looked around frantically, yet not knowing exactly what they were looking for or where they may find it. Anthony was surprisingly unfazed by the sound, whether the fact that he’d already downed 12 beers played any part in this, he didn’t know, but regardless, he was not rattled.
It was definitely a sound that had no place there. Anthony looked around curiously because now most of the crowd had their eyes back on him; it was different though, it wasn’t the same look he suspected was fuelled by their thoughts during his speech, and it was only moments before he realised why. His crisp white shirt had developed quite a noticeable red stain, and Anthony did not recall drinking any wine at all, not yet anyway. “Shit” he said to himself, realizing what the hell had happened. Then, everything that was cliché suddenly became reality; time slowed down as if life itself was one giant vinyl record coming to a slow stop. He felt dizzy, like some invisible vacuum was sucking all of his strength to stand. There was no pain, yet as he lay down to an eerily all-too-comfortable wooden floor, and people crowded around him like a hospital drama on the TV, he felt his eyes prickle with tears and his mind was flooded with faces.
