"Kelley Eskridge - Strings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eskridge Kelly)

тАЬOh yes, IтАЩve noticed. It hasnтАЩt shown up in your music yet, but it will. Bound
to. One of these fine days, youтАЩll be up onstage, and your hands will slip on the
strings, and then weтАЩll see what itтАЩs like when the Strad loses that precious control,
that fucking precision that everyoneтАЩs always going on about, oh yesтАжтАЬThe words
trailed off. Strad realized for the first time how drunk he was. She remembered that
he had made bad mistakes that night, and the Monitor had been there.

Guarnerius stared into his glass as if he wanted to climb in and hide among the
ice cubes. Strad stood up and grabbed her violin, music case, coat, bag into a loose,
awkward bundle.

тАЬIтАЩm sorry, Strad,тАЭ she heard him mumble, but she was already moving. She
smiled and excused her way across the crowded room without seeing or hearing
anything properly until she came to a wall and could go no farther. There was an
empty chair by the wall. She dropped her things on the floor next to it and sat
down.

The chair made her invisible somehow; at least, no one approached her. The
party happened in front of her, like a video. She rubbed her hands, left with right,
right with left, watching the groups mingle and break apart and spiral into new forms:
the currents matched the music that swelled in gentle waves in her head. And it was
too much; she could not fight it any longer. Somewhere inside her a door edged
open, and the music trickled through.

She did not know how long she sat before she realized that someone was
standing in front of her. She looked up. It was the Piano. She could not speak. He
took her arm and pulled her to her feet, tugged her out a side door of the restaurant
onto an open patio. He sat her hard into a wrought-iron chair at one of the tables.
The metal bit cold and sticky through her light dress. She opened her mouth and
took in great heaving bites of air, one after the other, until she felt the door inside her
push tightly closed, the music safely behind it.

The Piano sat next to her. She held his hand so hard that the ends of his
fingers turned bright red.

тАЬOh, thank you,тАЭ she whispered. тАЬHow did you know to bring me out here?тАЭ

He reached over and brushed a finger against her cheek. It came away wet.
тАЬYou were crying,тАЭ he said. тАЬYou were sitting in that chair, staring at nothing and
crying like the loneliest person on earth, and you werenтАЩt making a sound. So I
brought you outside.тАЭ

She put her hands up to her face. Her skin felt puffy and hot.

тАЬWhat is it?тАЭ he asked.

тАЬItтАЩs so beautiful,тАЭ she said.

And then: тАЬIтАЩm scared.тАЭ