Page 4 of Witch Please

His smile released a field of butterflies inside me, tickling against my ribcage. It wasn’t anything new. Every production, it was like I was fourteen all over again. Genuine Sebastian Doyle peeking out from beneath the façade of his brusque academic disposition was like an ice cream truck rolling through your childhood neighborhood. Brief, fleeting, but also something you would spend the last fifty cents of your babysitting money to see again.

* * *

Ileft breakfast feeling even more tangled up about Sebastian. It was so odd. Not only did he seem to always be on my radar but inserting himself into my life whenever he had an opportunity to do so lately. I racked my brain trying to remember spring semester. There was no behavior out of the ordinary. I was positive however, that he and I never had this much interaction previously. My ringing phone pulled me out of my musings on the walk back to my condo.

“Patrick!” I greeted my friend in place of a hello, “How are you settling into Toronto?”

Patrick earned his doctorate the previous year and took a tenure track job at UT. This fall semester would be his first as a full tenured professor after a bit of a shakeup with his girlfriend the semester previous.

“Can’t complain. Toronto is a beautiful city! Tabitha just moved out of her apartment and in with me as of three hours ago.”

Despite Tabitha also working for UT, her attending classes to finish up her master’s had created a bit of scandal between the two of them and the university. They’d quietly continued to date until she’d finished up classes in the spring and were finally able to have their relationship out in the open.

“How exciting! I’m so happy for you, Patrick.”

“Listen, I have to help unpack boxes and such so I can’t hang on the phone for too long—but I wanted to let you know Tabitha and I are planning on coming down for the Shakespeare festival. I heard that Dr. Krane finally retired, and Doyle finally has the reins now?”

“You heard right. And boy are you going to be surprised at the direction Sebastian is taking this year. They’re going to be talking about it for years to come. I’m so excited to be a part of it.”

“Are you okay with him directing? I know he’s abrupt and can be a bit of a dick sometimes. Try to remember he’s British. I think it’s part of his DNA to be a stuffy, grumpy aristocrat.”

Sebastian Doyle an aristocrat? Very interesting. I guessed that explained the house in New Hampshire, house in England—and driving a Porsche on an educator’s salary.

“He’s fine. Bossy—but that’s expected.”

“Well, if he gives you any trouble let me know okay? I’ll set him straight.”

Patrick was one of my best friends from Dartmouth. He’d been a lifesaver on more than one occasion over the years between grad school and my doctoral program at Oxford. I can’t believe in all that time I somehow missed his friendship with Sebastian Doyle.

“All right, I just wanted to give you a heads up we’d be coming. I’d really like you and Tabitha to meet so make sure to keep us in your calendar.”

“I can’t wait to see you. And I know you’re going to be blown away by Sebastian’s take onMacbeth.”

Chapter 4

“We need to pick a witch.” Franklin, my assistant director, shoved the folder full of potentials across the table to me.

Every other role was cast and ready to start rehearsal. We’d been agonizing over the list for two full days. Not a single one of the women who’d auditioned had the kind of chops needed to carry that role. In the traditionalMacbeth, there were three witches not one. But because we’d modernized it, she needed to exude sensuality while also knowing the role well enough to be able to act through some of the traditional lines in a modern way.

“You know, I just had the craziest thought.” I pushed the folder of potentials back. “What about Imogen?”

“Imogen our stage manager?”

“She’s the expert,” I tell him. “No one knowsMacbethbetter than her.”

“Except in the seven years she’s been stage managing, how often do you ever hear her speak? There is absolutely no way you could get her to participate in standardMacbeth—let alone this version.”

While Franklin wasn’t convinced, based on the continued eye rolling while I pled my case, I warmed to the idea more and more. I personally couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect the longer we discussed it. She knew every word, every subtlety. I even had my counter arguments lined up when she tried to tell me no.

The shy way she teased me, hinted towards a side of her that I’d not yet seen, but wanted to. I was desperate to know how she would adapt to such an overtly sexual role like my modern-day witch. Would she step into the role with fierce determination? Or would she demur, struggle, and depend on a guiding hand? As I imagined the little church mouse needing guidance on how to exude sensuality, my mind descended even further into virginal fantasies. She couldn’t possibly be a virgin given our ages, but damn was it a delicious thought.

* * *

The first read through day of the festival always went down as one of my favorites of fall semester. There was palpable excitement in the air. New students and faculty mixed with those who had been volunteering for years. Imogen was one of the last to join the room, as per usual, weighed down with the same binders and notebooks she pulled out every year for the festival. I could practically see her small, neat handwriting filling the margins with her meticulous notes.

I watched her take a seat at the head opposite mine. Once settled, she wrapped herself in a cardigan, opened her binder, and gave me a shy smile once she had her pencil at the ready. Krane always loved how dependable she was. How her brain cataloged comments and suggestions, and how easily she could regurgitate entire conversations being held concurrently to the main discussions. Irreplaceable, he’d told me.I would be remiss to not capitalize on her vast knowledge.I was about to turn her entire world upside down. Witnessing her discomfort had me drunk on the heady anticipation of what was to come.

“Afternoon to all. Welcome to the Dartmouth Literary Society’s Fall Festival presentation ofMacbeth. As you know from auditions and planning meetings this year’s production will be vastly different from years previous. We’ll be melding parts of the old script with new interpretations and be examining Macbethian themes in modern times. If you could take a moment and introduce yourselves to the group and your contribution to this year’s production.”

---