The Audition (Prelude)

The stage was crowded, but not with wives.

It was crowded with auditions.

Women who were not part of the marriage, yet treated as if they were waiting in the wings.

Measured. Compared. Judged.

The first and second wives stood on stage, already carrying the weight of truth, loyalty,and sacrifice.

But instead of honor, they were forced into competition.

Not against each other — but against outsiders who had no role, no vows, no place in the story.

This was not love.

This was casting.

This was betrayal disguised as choice.

And the cruelty was clear:

To compare wives to women who were not even wives,to treat marriage as a theater where auditions never end —is to strip dignity from those already committed.

The audience feels the injustice.

The wives feel the wound.

The audition was never meant to exist.