Opus One

Chapter 12: Sarabande

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(A few days later…)

Fuck!  Not only had Jer been obliviously loud when he woke up to go wherever the hell he went, but now Jer’s alarm was going off.  And he was long gone.  Rock music was trying to squeeze out through the small speakers of his clock-radio.  Did he not see me sleeping in my bed? Fucking idiot.

Richard felt around on his desk, found a hefty book, and lofted it across the room.  It hit the radio with a clunk, and for a moment the thing spat a curse of static at him.  Unfortunately, it continued its song.

Richard lay in his bed, hoping power would fail in the building. 

It didn’t.  He finally jumped up and marched over to the offending appliance.

“Good morning, Rock 107!” the much-too-hyper announcer came on.  “This is the Saturday morning all request line.  This next one goes out to Ian in Au – THWIP!…”

Richard held the dangling plug in his hand, and watched in satisfaction as the red ‘6:38’ on the clock faded away.  He hadn’t felt like trying to find the off button.  With his luck he’d have hit the sleep button instead, and had the thing go off again nine minutes later.

He took a deep breath and climbed back into bed, hoping he could regain the deep sleep he was in.

Richard woke up to drumming.  Fucking percussionists… Can’t they go to the building to practice?  His head was pounding too.  He opened his eyes, and the world faded into view.  His clock said eight-something.

Richard suddenly realized the drumming was on his door. 

“Who is it?” he yelled out gruffly.  He hoped it wasn’t someone he liked very much, because this new interruption was not welcome.

“It’s us,” came Emily’s voice.

Richard cleared his eyes, and sat up.  What could they possibly want?  They were up as late as I was last night.  They drank the same amount of wine as I did.  So why are they up so freaking early? It’s Saturday!

Richard stood and stumbled to the door.  As he pulled it open, Emily and Sandra peeked in. 

“Hey.  What’s wrong?” he asked.

The girls were smiling.  “Nothing,” Sandra shrugged.

“You weren’t still sleeping, were you?” Emily asked.

“No, I’ve been up for hours,” Richard drawled.

“Good.  Get dressed.”

“Why?”

“We’re going out.”

“Out?  Where?”

“Music festival,” Emily said simply.

“Music festival?  What are you talking about?”

“There was a poster at Buck’s yesterday when I went to get a coffee.  I forgot to tell you last night that we were going.”

“And it starts at eight in the morning?”

“No, we have to get there.  It’s not next door, you know.”

Richard rubbed his forehead.  “I don’t have any cash.”

“I’m buying.  No, no protests allowed,” Emily said, forestalling Richard with a raised hand.

Richard took a deep breath and tried again to clear his head.  “All right, let me shower at least.”

“We’ll be at Buck’s getting some food.  You want a croissant and an iced mocha?” Sandra asked.

Richard shrugged.  The day was already beyond his control, it seemed.  “Sure, whatever.”

“Hurry, we’ll meet you there!”

The girls bounced off down the hallway.

Despite being tempted to lie down in bed again and write the whole episode off as a strange dream, Richard went to shower instead.  

When they set out from Buck’s, Richard felt more alive.  The coffee and croissant had helped even more than the shower.

“All right, so what the hell is this festival?” he asked.

Sandra handed Richard the red poster as they walked.  Emily was wearing a backpack, Richard noted.  He had a feeling he knew what was inside.

“14500 East Highland Road?  The same Highland Road that Melinda’s Café is on?”

“Belinda’s,” Emily corrected.  “Yeah.  It has to be.”

“But 14500?  We can’t walk all day.”

“There’s a city bus on Highland, I checked the bus map this morning,” Emily said.

“Where?”

“At the stop in front of the school there’s a route map,” she said.

She’s nothing if not resourceful, Richard admitted to himself.

“So it’s at a farm?”

“That’s what it says.”

“It has to be far out of town then,” Richard said.

“We’ll see.”

Richard shrugged.  They didn’t seem concerned.

When they reached Highland Road, Emily pointed to a storefront.  “2031 East,” she said confidently.  “Only twelve thousand to go!”

Rather quickly a bus came, and the trio ran to the stop to catch it.  It was crowded with blue-collar workers on their way to their jobs. 

The city went by as they ascended numbers along Highland Road.  People climbed on, others exited.  The trio went from standing to finally securing seats across from each other.

“How far does this go?” Richard yelled over to Emily.

“To the end, supposedly.”

Richard laughed.  “Thanks, that’s helpful,” he said.

The bus was loud, and talking was difficult.  After a half-hour ride, the crowd had thinned out.  Buildings got shorter and spread out, and the city transformed to more hilly terrain with bunches of trees.  The numbers were up to 12400 by then.

“I think this is where we get off,” Emily said.

The bus had pulled into a circular drive where another bus was just departing from, heading back west.  As they stepped off the bus, Emily pointed down Highland Road. 

“Should be a mile or two up the road now.  This will be fun!”

The three of them set off down the sidewalk.  Ahead was a long stretch of road, perhaps a mile long, that went down through a dale surrounded by trees.  A sign indicated that they were leaving city limits.

“Well, we’re in the wild now,” Emily proclaimed.

“Yeah.  That backpack isn’t going to be so comfortable by the top of that hill up there,” Richard said.

“Yeah, that’s too bad, since you’ll be carrying it by then,” Emily retorted.

Sandra guffawed.  “It would be lighter if we emptied some of the contents,” she said.

“It’s not even ten yet!” Richard exclaimed.

“Um, kidding?”

“Oh, right.”

“Well, first week of school wasn’t so bad,” Emily said.

“Nah,” Sandra agreed.  “When are you starting your new job, Richard?”

“Monday I start getting trained.  I get paid for training, which is pretty cool.”

“So what’s your work schedule going to be like?  Can we come pester you in the recording room instead of the front desk?”

“I don’t know about that,” Richard said.  “Dave said the schedule is flexible.  Every few days he puts up a list of upcoming concerts that need to be recorded, and the dozen of us who work for him stop by and pick which ones we can do.”

“That has to be more fun than working the front desk,” Emily said.

“I hope so.  I was already getting angry at that stupid video monitor by the end of my last shift.”

“Even when we were in it?” Sandra said with a pout.

“No, that was definitely not boring,” Richard agreed.  “Although Jer did know you were in the coatroom.  I forgot to tell you.”

“How?”

“He guessed.”  Richard left out the part about the pencils, cringing at the memory.  Luckily, Jer had not said anything about it since.

After some time, the three of them finally crested the top of the other side of the dale.  The day was getting hot, and they were getting a bit tired from the climb.  As promised, Richard had the pack now.

The trees thinned out some, giving way to more open space.  A small group of businesses renting tractors and selling feed stood at the entrance to Highland Township.

They stopped to rest for a moment on a bench in front of the feed store.

“I’m thirsty.  Can you turn wine into water?” Emily asked Richard.

“Oh, shit,” Sandra said, looking at the rental store across the road.

“What?”

“Look,” she said.  She pointed at the building.

“Ooh, I see tractors,” Emily said.  “Feeling at home, Sandra?”

Richard noticed the problem.  “Maybe one of the numbers fell off the store,” he said quietly.  He had a bad feeling it hadn’t.

The number on the building was 1215.  The three of them turned to the feed store.  1220 East Highland Road.

“But...” Emily said, at a loss for words.

“I guess the numbers started over when we left city limits,” Richard said.

“No!  Why?  Who the hell would do that?” Emily exclaimed.

Richard and Sandra had no answer.

Emily stood up.  “Come on,” she said.

Richard and Sandra followed her into the feed store.

An older gentleman was working the counter.  “Help you?”

“Yeah, do you know where Morton Lake Farm is?”

The man nodded.  “Sure.  It’s down Highland a little ways.”

“How far?”

“Oh, about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”

“Um, is that fifteen minutes by car?”

“Well, sure.  You’re not walking there, are you?”

The trio stared at the floor.  “No, no, we’re not walking there,” Richard said.

They went back outside.  Highland Road stretched east through fields, a straight ribbon of asphalt rather devoid of buildings or shade.

“So fifteen minutes by car is like fifteen hours on foot,” Sandra said.

“Now what?” Richard asked.

For a few moments, the three of them were silent and glum.  Then the pay phone rang behind them. 

Sandra spoke first.  “Richard, answer it.  It’s probably your Dad.”

Richard and Emily burst out laughing, and the dour mood was swept away.

“We’re going to hitch a ride,” Emily said, starting off towards Morton Lake Farm.

Richard frowned at Sandra.  She just shrugged, and they set off after Emily.

The third car that passed, about ten minutes after they set off from the feed store, slowed up ahead in response to their thumbs.  An old Honda hatchback came to a noisy halt in the dirt and gravel on the shoulder. 

The three of them gave an excited whoop, and ran up to the idling car.  A man peered out across the passenger seat.

“Where are you headed?” he yelled over the radio that was blasting classic rock.

“Morton Lake Farm?” Emily said.

“Where’s that?”

“Down Highland about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll take you most of the way, if you can squeeze in,” he said. 

Emily looked at Richard and Sandra, and getting no protest, opened the door.  The girls climbed into the back seat, such as it was, and then Richard got in shotgun, moving the seat up.

“Donny,” the man said loudly, extending a hand.

The three of them introduced themselves.  “Thanks for the ride,” Richard yelled over the wind and the radio.

“No problem.” 

Richard grinned back at the girls.  Sandra was behind Donny’s seat, and unable to squeeze her long legs into the floor well, she instead had them stretched out over Emily’s legs.  She hadn’t made much effort to adjust her high-riding skirt, and Richard couldn’t help raise a brow at her.  Sandra just mouthed a kiss at him.

Donny pulled a joint out from his shirt pocket and lit it up.  “You ain’t cops, right?” he said.

“Um, do we look like cops?” Richard asked.

“Just checking.”  With a knee on the wheel, Donny lit up the joint under the shelter of his curled hand.  Good thing Highland road is arrow straight, Richard thought.

Donny took a long draw on the joint, and then held it out to Richard.  Richard dismissed it with a wave of his hand.  Donny held it behind him, but the girls also declined.

“What are you all doing at the farm, swimming?” Donny asked.  “Long way to go for a swim.”

“Music festival,” Emily said.

“Oh, shit, that’s this weekend!  Right on,” Donny said.  “I know where you’re going, now.  I can take you all the way there.  It’s not too far from the school I work at.”

Richard turned and saw Emily and Sandra give each other incredulous looks.

Donny stepped on the gas, and the wind drowned out any possibility of conversation.

The festival was just getting started when they spread their blanket on the grass.  They spent the midday lying in the sun, relaxing, sipping wine, listening to the bands, and occasionally fooling around.  They didn’t see anyone they knew, so they weren’t concerned about being open with their kissing.  It was exciting to know people were probably watching and wondering what their relationship was all about.

During a break between bands, they packed up the backpack and walked up to the row of concession booths to get some late lunch.

“I swear these are the same people who work the county fair back home,” Sandra said.  “Fry bread, roasted corn, sugar lemonade.  No fried Twinkies, though.”

“Nasty, fried Twinkies?” Richard said.

“Yeah, they were the hit at the last fair.  I’m sorry to say I actually tried one.  Ugh!”

“God, what are they going to do next?”

“Fried RC cola?” Emily offered.

Sandra and Richard guffawed.

The three of them settled on some hot dogs and lemonade. 

“Can’t always eat good food,” Richard said.

“Yeah, Tapler will seem like a luxury after this,” Sandra agreed.

“How are we getting home?” Richard asked.

“I’m sure someone here will be heading back to town,” Emily said.  “We just need to find a ride once people start heading out.”

After finishing their food, they walked through the booths.  Emily picked out a pair of earrings she liked for ten dollars.  Richard lamented his lack of funds, wishing he could buy them for her.  He was already deep in the hole with them.  Despite their assurances he didn’t owe them anything, he was going to repay them.

“I want to get my hair done like that,” Emily said, pointing to one of the booths. 

A woman in her mid-twenties was just finishing getting her hair braided in a Caribbean style.  She caught Richard’s eye and flashed him a smile.

“Go for it,” Richard said, his eyes lingering on the woman’s smile.  It was dazzling.

“Would you like that?” Emily asked him.

“Yeah, that would be very cool,” he said.

“Will you do it with me?” she asked Sandra.

“Sure, I’ll try it!”

“Too bad you don’t have long hair, Richard,” Emily teased.

“Yeah, too bad.  I’m sure that would be a good look for me.  Hey, I think I’m going to walk up to the lake,” Richard said.  “Maybe we can swim after you’re done, since it’s getting hot.”

“Okay, come back and get us in a little while,” Sandra said.

“No, just come up and find me when you’re finished,” Richard said.  “I’ll be somewhere obvious; if not, I’ll come find you.”

“All right, see you in a bit,” Emily said.

Richard took the pack and waved, and then headed towards the lake.  It was comforting to leave the bustle of the festival and walk into the quiet wooded area where the lake was.  It had been a fun morning, although he was still tired from the previous evening.  The three of them had been up late in the girls’ room playing games, and doing other things. 

The walk did him good; by the time he reached the lake, he felt energetic.  The lake was of moderate size, and the trees grew right up to the edge, giving it a feeling of isolation that was wonderful.  Richard pulled the blanket from the pack and spread it over the dark ground.  He laid down and sighed, taking in the afternoon air.  The water looked inviting, but he was going to wait for the girls.

He hadn’t thought to bring a bathing suit, but no one was around.  He could just go in with his boxers.  With this heat, he would dry off fairly quickly.

Richard closed his eyes, and daydreamed to the sound of the wind in the leaves.

Allison walked slowly up the path towards the lake.  She was pretty sure he had come this way.  She was intrigued by him.  When she was getting her hair done, she had smiled at him almost instinctively.  She had been watching him for a while that morning.  Something about him was tremendously exciting.  The way he was with his two friends, and the way he moved.  It was musical.

She spotted him lying on a blanket near the edge of the lake.  She made a little more noise as she approached.  He stirred at the sound.

“Oh, hello,” she said, pretending that she hadn’t expected to see him.

He sat up and looked at her.  “Hi,” he said.

“Sorry to wake you,” she said.

“Oh, no, I wasn’t sleeping,” he dismissed with a wave.

“Are you contemplating a swim?  Nice arvo for one.”

“Um, I’m waiting for my friends,” he said.

“Have you felt the water?” Allison asked.

“No,” he admitted.

“I’m Allison,” she said.

“Richard,” he replied with a wave.

Allison’s heart was beating a little faster than she expected.  Richard’s eyes held hers for a moment, before turning back to the lake.

“Are you students at the college?” she asked after a bit.

“Music school,” Richard said.  “I play the piano.”

“Onya.  I play the flute myself.”

“Cool.  Are you Australian?”

“Is it that obvious?” she said with a smile.  Richard shrugged and grinned.

Allison put her day bag down and sat on a boulder a few yards away from Richard.  “I’m here for some work,” she said.

“What do you do?” he asked.

“I’m doing some research at a laboratory here in the city.  Medical research.”

“Are you a doctor?” Richard asked.

“No, no.  I look at mouse cells through a microscope.”

“Ah.”

Allison looked at the lake.  A swim would be perfect now.  She was always modest about her dress, so the thought of baring herself down to the bikini she was wearing, in front of Richard, was both exciting and frightening.  Back home, she would have maybe walked on to another spot.  But she was far from home.  No one here knew her; she’d never see these people again.  She threw caution to the wind.

“I’m going to give it a try,” Allison said.

“What?” Richard asked, confused.

Allison pointed to the lake.  “Swim.”  She stood, and began to undress.  She noticed that Richard averted his eyes.

“Are those your girlfriends?” Allison asked suddenly.

Richard turned to look.  “Where?”

Allison grinned at his reaction.  “No, I meant those two girls you are with.”

“Oh, well, we... yes, I suppose so,” Richard said. 

Allison stripped to her blue bathing suit, and stepped down among the rocks.  She wondered if Richard was watching her.  The idea was somewhat foreign. 

After dipping a toe in, she entered the lake.  She wasted no time, sinking in to her neck quickly.

“Oh, it’s not cold at all,” she said, treading water and looking back at Richard. 

“That’s good to hear.”

“Do your friends play music too?”

“Yeah, voice and French horn,” Richard said.

“I have a boyfriend back in Australia,” she said.  She needed to keep control of the situation.  “Only one, though,” she added, with a laugh.

“How long are you in the states?”

“Another week or so.”

“Do you miss him?”

“Of course.  He’s a good bloke, treats me well,” she said.

“What’s he do?”

“He works with kids.  Looks like your friends are coming,” she said, pointing back at the trail.

Voices approached, and Richard turned to look at his friends bouncing up the trail.  As they entered the clearing, they shouted out to Richard.

“Look, isn’t it cool?” the blonde girl said, turning her head to show him the braids.

“Nice!” Richard said.  The other girl had to show hers too.

“Hello!” she said to Allison.  “How’s the water?”

“Excellent,” Allison said.

“It’s hot.  Let’s get in,” she said.

Richard seemed to hesitate, Allison noticed.  Perhaps he didn’t have a suit.  Another twinge of excitement went through her.

The two girls wasted no time in removing their skirts.  They certainly don’t seem to be shy, Allison thought.

Sandra and Emily introduced themselves to Allison as they entered the water.  There were the expected questions about being Australian. 

“Are you coming in?” Emily called out to Richard.  He was still sitting on the blanket.

“In a minute.”

“So you are both in music school, then?” Allison asked.

“Yeah.  Richard told you?”

“We were talking a bit before you came up.”

“Heh, heh, you leave a guy for a second and he’s already found someone new,” Emily said, loudly enough for Richard to hear.

“Hey!” he called out in protest. 

“Oh, no, I came across him by accident,” Allison said with a laugh.  “It’s all my fault.”

“Hardly.  As you can tell, he’s already...” Sandra trailed off, blushing slightly.

Richard was now taking off his pants and shirt.  As he approached the water in his boxers, Sandra let out a loud whistle.  Richard rolled his eyes.

“Where’d you learn to whistle like that?” Emily said.

“Have you forgotten where I grew up?”

“Oh, right.  Sandra is a farm girl,” Emily told Allison.

Richard dipped a foot in.  “It’s cold,” he said.

“Don’t be such a wuss.”  Emily splashed him with water.  Allison suppressed a giggle as his wet boxer shorts clung to his middle.  Richard, perhaps sensing the exposure, jumped into the lake with a big splash.

“What’s music school like?” Allison asked, when the waves and shrieks had calmed.  “I play the flute, but I never went to school for it…  Only took lessons.”

“Well, we still have lessons, but we also have to take a lot of music classes to go along with that.”

“It must be wonderful,” Allison said.  “You are very lucky.”

“It is fun,” Richard admitted.

“Well of course he’d say that, he has the two of us to keep him occupied,” Emily said.

“Emily!” Sandra said, pretending to be offended.

“What, she probably has already figured it out,” Emily said.

“What’s it like?” Allison asked before thinking.  “I mean, I don’t mean to be nosy, but I couldn’t help seeing the three of you on the grass by the stage,” she said.

The three of them looked at each other.  Finally Emily spoke. 

“It feels right,” she said simply.

“I mean, I can’t imagine seeing my bloke with another woman,” Allison said.  “I’d chuck a spaz!”

“Chuck a spaz?” Richard said, laughing.

“I guess you don’t say that around here?”

“No, not very often,” he said.

“Well, I’d be mad if he was with another.”

“It’s different, though; we all came to it together,” Sandra said.  “It wasn’t like one of us was already with Richard.”

“We both liked him, and he liked both of us, and we were roommates, and, well, things worked out that way,” Emily explained.

“It’s a difficult thing, but someone has to do it,” Richard said grandly.  The girls all laughed.

Allison nodded appreciatively.  They were remarkably candid about it.  Then again, you’d have to be, to have a relationship like theirs, she thought.

For a moment, images of them making love flitted through her head.  She swept them aside, feeling her face heating slightly.

“You wouldn’t happen to be driving back to the city this evening, would you?” Emily asked.

“Actually I am, why?”

“Well, we hitchhiked out here, and we kind of need a ride back to town.”

“I’d be happy to!  I have a small rental car, but you could probably fit if you squeezed in,” Allison said.

“Hey, it can’t be worse than the ride we got out here,” Sandra said.  “I had to have my legs on top of Emily’s.”

“The driver was interesting, too,” Richard said.

“Yeah, what a weird guy,” Emily agreed.  “He was smoking pot as he drove, and he had an old-school porn moustache, too.”

“Porn moustache?” Richard said, laughing.

“Yeah, 1970’s vintage.”

“Didn’t know you were a porn connoisseur,” Richard said.

“Oh yeah, that’s me.  Porn mistress Emily!”

Allison laughed with the rest of them.  She was glad to have met some fun people, and she was also glad she could offer them a ride back.  Her colleagues at work never had fun like this.  When they went out for beers, they talked about the efficiency of the latest fluorescent dyes.  Porn moustaches and threesomes never came up, that was for sure! 

Forward to Chapter 13

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