[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Terese.
Good it was of you to come early, Llysette was saying.
I wouldn't have missed it. The pianist hadn't changed any in the year since
I'd seen her last. She was still small, dark-haired, and determined looking.
The one difference was the warm smile. I can't thank you both enough. I've
always wanted to play in Russia.
Not both of us Llysette, I said. They chose her, and she chooses her
accompanists.
My friend Dmitri is a bit jealous. He graduated from the St. Petersburg
Conservatory, but he never did get to play in the Mariinsky Theatre.
He's in Columbia? I asked.
Actually, he lives in Dublin. Unlike St. Petersburg, it has a sense of
history that mirrors struggles, but not every stone is paved with tears, and
not every ghost is bleached out in the white nights.
Llysette inclined her head toward the parlor, and I followed the two. Terese
sat down at the concert piano bench, and her fingers ran across the keys,
doing, I supposed, the pianist's equivalent of a vocalise. She looked up.
This is a good instrument . . . one of the better Haarens.
Llysette smiled as she moved to the side of the piano, equivalent to where she
would be when performing. Johan gave it to me just before we were married, as
a wedding present.
Quite a present.
If you'll give me the keys to the Reo, I'll top off the water tanks, I
offered. I have a filtration system in the car barn.
I can see he's one of those impossibly ordered people. Terese smiled
cheerfully.
Llysette has called me impossible upon occasion, I admitted. Upon more than
one occasion.
Johan. My lady diva flushed ever so slightly.
There's a story there, said Terese. I can see that.
More than one, but she is right, and I don't need to get in the way of your
rehearsal. I held out my hand for the keys to the Reo.
She bent down and flshed out a single key from the brown bag she'd placed
beside the piano bench, and I took it and got out of the way. I did check over
her borrowed vehicle and tightened a couple of hose clamps. My adjustments
wouldn't help whatever was going wrong in the boiler assembly, but they would
keep the water from vanishing quite so quickly.
Then I slipped back to my study and tried to concentrate on grading papers,
except the sound of Tchaikovsky kept bringing back thoughts about what I was
supposed to do in Russia. So I took out the box I'd brought back from Bruce's
and looked over the matching pens and the pocket calculator, and the hair
dryer. I checked them again, and then jotted down the extra batteries I'd be
needing, wondering if I should contact Bruce for more hardware. I shook my
head. He'd already given me the elegant-looking but bulbous pen zombification
projector, and there wasn't much else I could use.
I did manage to finish grading the essays for the honors section of
environmental studies. Most were decent, but then, I'd weeded out the worst
students long before they reached that level.
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The piano and Llysette had stopped for a time, and it was close to four when I
eased just inside the parlor. Both women looked at me.
You're staying for dinner, I presume. That was directed at Terese Stewart.
It's no imposition, I said. Not at all. Llysette seldom ever gets to have a
social occasion with another musician unless it deals with faculty politics.
And she's not cooking.
Terese offered a grin to Llysette. Is he a good cook?
Non . . . Then Llysette smiled. He is not good. A chef he could have
been.
I don't know about
You've both twisted my arm. Terese laughed. Not that it needed much
twisting. Cherise and Michael are playing some private function tonight that
they couldn't get out of.
Is your sister a pianist? I asked.
She's a violist. Her real job is with the Asten Symphony, but she and Michael
have a quartet that pays for the extras.
With a nod, I said, It will be another hour or so, but I already have the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]