Opus One

Chapter 21: Canon

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Richard was painfully nervous when he knocked on Sandra and Emily’s door.  He heard talking as he leaned close to the door, but there was no answer after he knocked.  Only silence.

“Sandra, Emily.  Open up, please.  I need to talk to you,” Richard called through the door.

There was another silent moment, and then Richard heard the door unlatch.  Emily pulled it open, and slipped out into the hallway.

“She’s pretty upset right now,” Emily said quietly.

“I know.  I feel really bad.  I messed up, and said some things I shouldn’t have,” Richard said earnestly. 

Emily nodded.  “Just be nice?  I’m going to watch some TV downstairs.” 

“Okay.  Thanks.”

Emily smiled with some relief, and gave Richard a quick hug.

Richard slipped into the room and shut the door quietly.  Sandra was lying on her bed, staring at the wall.  Richard felt a wave of emotion rush through him.  I’ve made her so sad!

He sat gingerly on the edge of her bed, and just watched her shoulders moving for a while.  He was surprised when she spoke.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

Richard was speechless.  She had spoken only the truth to him, and he had been completely insensitive.  Why was she apologizing to him?  Fear gripped him as he wondered what she meant.  Was it over?

“Sorry?” he repeated quietly.  “Why?”

“This whole thing should never have happened.”

Richard again panicked, wondering if she meant the situation with Dr. Dobra... or their relationship.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Richard said.  “Not you.  I don’t know why I didn’t trust you.  Well, I do know why.  Because I was mad at Dr. Dobra.”

Richard put a tentative hand on her shoulder.  “I feel really bad about what I said earlier, and yesterday.  I had no idea you could do that.  I mean, I knew you were good in class, but what you did today...”  Richard shook his head again in wonder.  “That was amazing.  I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“I’m not mad at you, Richard,” Sandra said softly.

“Okay, but...”

“I’m just sad that we said those things to each other.  And in that way.”

“You were right, though, and I wasn’t,” Richard said.

Sandra turned her head away from the wall and looked movingly at Richard.  She let out a deep breath.  “You were just looking out for me, and you told me so.”

Richard didn’t answer. 

“I guess I wasn’t expecting that reaction from you, and at first you made me mad,” Sandra continued.  “But, I know how you don’t like Dr. Dobra, and I know he has this reputation and everything.  I can see why you said what you said.”

Richard pursed his lips.  “I didn’t know it was for real.”

“I know.  I didn’t really know, either,” Sandra said.  She turned to the wall again. “And I hate how I snapped back at you.”

“Don’t.  I needed it,” Richard said glumly. 

“It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t true.  I was just...  feeling attacked, and sometimes I can get defensive, I guess.”

“Oh, Sandra, I’m so sorry this happened too,” Richard said, suddenly losing control of his voice.  He crumpled down onto the bed next to her, awkwardly wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he pressed close to her back.  A few of his tears rolled onto her pillow. 

Sandra squeezed his hand, and Richard felt some relief at the gesture. 

“I let my... dislike for Dobra get in the way,” Richard said.  “And I hate how I ruined your news.  I mean, you must have been so happy to hear that you were moving up, and then I went and squashed that like a total asshole.  Didn’t give up, either.”

Sandra turned around to face him, and took his face in her hands.  “Let’s just promise not to do this again,” she whispered.

Richard nodded seriously.  “Yeah.  Never again.”

Sandra moved close to him, and he embraced her tightly.  Her body trembled a little in his arms.

“I hated these last two days,” Sandra said, her voice emotional.  “Emily said you were sick, and I wanted to go see you, but she said you were still talking about the Dobra thing, so I was scared.”

Richard closed his eyes at those words. 

“I love you, Richard.  I really love you, and I was so sad that we went through this.”  Sandra gripped him tightly.  “I hope you aren’t mad at me.”

“No, Sandra, I’m not mad.  I’m really proud of you.  I love you too,” Richard said. 

I do love her, he realized.  He’d never said that to anyone save his parents before.  It felt right.

“So what are you going to do about Dobra’s class?” Sandra asked Richard, after they had held each other for a while.

“Well, I need to practice more.  And get some help.”

“He has been really hard on you this year,” Sandra said.

“Maybe.  But still, you were right.  I’ve been slacking in that class.  He told me so, and you told me so.  I guess I thought he was being really unfair, just because you’re female and I’m not.  But after seeing what you did today...”

Sandra winced slightly.  “I can’t believe he made me do that in front of the class.  I’m so embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?  You blew everyone away!  People stomped when you finished!”

“He put me on the spot, because I told him I wasn’t going to move up.  This morning I put a note in his box.  I guess he got angry.”

“He didn’t get angry, Sandra.  He was trying to prove something to you.”

“What?”

“That you don’t belong in that class.  He thinks you have serious talent.”

“How do you know?”

“He told me,” Richard said, simply.

“Told you?”

“Yeah, after class ended we had another talk.  I thought he was being an asshole to you, but he really made it sound like you have something special.  Something he doesn’t even have.”

“Oh, that sounds like he’s bullshitting,” Sandra said.

“No, I’m serious.  And I believe it, after seeing you do that dictation today.  I can’t even begin to understand how you got that whole thing right just listening to it twice.  I’d still be there now trying to figure out the first measure, probably.”

“I just hear the melody and write it down,” Sandra said.  “It’s not that hard.”

“Yeah, whatever!  He was talking about how we can learn to do that, but without training, few people can just do it right off the bat.  Very few people.”

“Well, I don’t know.  I don’t think it helps much with singing, except I can learn stuff faster.”

“I don’t know either, but it’s still amazing.”

“I’m a little scared about moving up.”

“He didn’t seem worried.  He said that you could easily handle the class.”

Sandra shrugged.  “I guess.”

“You are going to move up, right?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Well, of course!”

Sandra nodded.  “I guess I will then.  But I’m going to miss sitting next to you!”

“I know.  But maybe you can help me with the class?  I know you’ll have a lot of work to do, but maybe you could show me a few things?”

“Oh, I’d be happy to!” Sandra said eagerly.

“Really?”

“Of course!  I’ll help you as much as you want.”

Richard let out a sigh of relief.  “Cool.  I’m positive that will be better than working with Dobra.”

Sandra laughed, and then frowned.  “I don’t know, though.  If I start teaching you, things may get a little off track sometimes.  I don’t want to get Dobra’s reputation, you know?”

Richard grinned.  “You mean my lessons might cover more than theory?”

“I can think of several places you will need to cover,” Sandra said, eyeing him suggestively.  Her hand moved down along Richard’s chest.

“Um...”

“Let’s go get Emily,” Sandra said, excitement in her voice.  She clambered over him, her hand stopping just short of reaching where Richard had been hoping.  “It’s been so long since we’ve had fun.”

“I know,” Richard agreed, rolling over and looking at her as she straightened her clothes.  “These recording sessions and midterms have kept me really busy.”

“Hey, we’ve been busy too.  And distracted from each other.  I can see that you’re back.  You have that look in your eyes.”

“That look?” Richard asked.

“Yeah.  That look you give me.  See, you are doing it right now.”

Richard laughed, and shook his head.

“Let’s go,” Sandra said, reaching for his hands as she stood.  “Emily’s probably wondering if everything is okay.  I know she’s been really uneasy with this whole thing.  We need to talk to her.”

“How is she feeling?”

“She said she was just trying to stay out of the middle,” Sandra said.

“Mm.  I need to apologize to her,” Richard said.

“Me too,” Sandra agreed, smiling.

Emily flipped the channel yet again.  Everything was soap operas and talk shows.  In reality, Emily’s mind was not on the television programming, though.

I really hope things are going well up there, Emily thought.  But what if they don’t work things out?

Emily was noticing that Richard became distant when he worked hard.  Even though they spent some time at meals and also in the rare hours when their class and practicing schedules had a common gaps, he was often not very present.  With the recent string of recording sessions, it had been very difficult to connect with him at all.  Perhaps that was the root of this whole fight.  He looked really run down yesterday when he was sick.

Emily checked her watch.  There was about an hour until she had to go to ensemble seminar.  I should probably go warm up, she thought.  I’ll give them five more minutes.

Emily turned the television off and ambled over to check her mailbox.  There was a letter, so she turned the key and pulled out the envelope, along with some flyers. 

Just as she started to look at the return address, the stairwell door opened and Sandra and Richard came into the lobby.  Emily could tell immediately by the look on Sandra’s face that things had been resolved.  Furthermore, it looked like they were...  Wait, did they have make-up sex already?

“Hey,” Sandra said.

“Hi,” Emily replied.

“I’m sorry,” Sandra and Richard both blurted out at once.

“Is everything cool?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” Sandra said, smiling warmly.  “But how are you?”

Emily eyed them for a moment.  “Just glad to see you two talking normally to each other.”

“I know.  We don’t want to do that again,” Richard said.

“I know it must be weird to be in the middle,” Sandra said.

Emily shrugged.  “I guess I felt more like I was on the outside, not so much the middle.”

Richard nodded, although he didn’t say anything.

Emily watched them as they stood arm in arm facing her. 

“Are you okay?” Sandra asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay.  I guess it was a little weird to see you go through that.  That’s all,” Emily added.  “I’ve not done this three-way relationship thing before, and...”

Emily trailed off, and the three of them looked around.  No one was in the lobby that they could see.

“Maybe we should go to the room,” Emily said.

The three of them ascended to Emily and Sandra’s floor.  Emily unlocked the door and tossed the mail onto the desk.  I feel nervous.  Why am I nervous?  I should be relieved.

When she turned, Sandra and Richard were sitting on Sandra’s bed, watching her.  Emily sat on her own bed, hands under her thighs.  It was a little cold in the room, it suddenly seemed.

“Richard was saying how he talked with Dr. Dobra after class,” Sandra began.  The rest of her words washed out in a echo inside of Emily’s head.  As the room spun and threatened to close up around her, she tried to control her breathing.  Whirling, round and round...

Why are they looking at me like that?

“Oh, I have to go to Ensemble class,” Emily announced suddenly, standing all at once.  “I’m sorry, I just realized.  I forgot.”  She looked around for her horn, finding it by her desk.  “Dinner?  I’m done around five.”

“Yeah, sure.  Are you okay?” Richard asked. 

“Yeah.  I have to warm up.  I’ll see you two later.”

Emily gave them a smile and then shouldered her book bag.  Moments later, as she stepped out of the room, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.  Leaning against the wall, she steadied herself.  What is going on?

“What was that all about?” Sandra asked.

Richard was staring at the closed door to the room as if he could see through it. 

“I don’t know.  Maybe she’s not okay.”

“She looked like she was going to faint for a second there,” Sandra said pensively.

“Yeah.  Weird.  She cut you off mid-sentence.  That’s not like her.”

Richard got up and went to the door.  He peeked out the view hole, and then opened the door and stepped out.  A moment later he reentered and closed the door again.

“I guess she lost track of time,” Richard said, shrugging. 

Sandra stood up and walked to the window.  For a long time the two of them just stood still, trying to decipher Emily’s sudden departure.

“Hey, look,” Sandra said suddenly.  She held up an envelope.

“What is it?” Richard asked, moving close to her.

“A letter from Allison.”

“Cool.  Open it.”

Sandra hesitated.  “Should we wait for Emily?”

“Um, it’s address to the two of you.  Maybe we should.”

Sandra glanced at the clock.  “Let’s go see if we can catch her before she goes into class.”

“All right.  I’d feel better knowing is she’s feeling better,” Richard agreed.

Sandra nodded knowingly.

Emily wandered along the corridor of practice rooms, half-heartedly looking for an empty room.  A door opened up ahead, and she paused, not really in the mood to enter a hot room.  I really should warm up though...

As she moved towards the door, Emily stopped short.  Joel Brent came out of the room and walked away down the hall, not having seen her.

“Joel,” she called out.  She wasn’t sure why she did so.

Joel turned, and gave her a big grin when he saw her.

“Hey Emily!”  How’s it going?”

“All right.”

“Practice time?”

“Yeah.  I’m surprised to see you here.  I thought you practiced at home.”

Joel shrugged.  “I needed to listen to something in the library, and then I had to try it out.”  He laughed richly and gestured to the empty room.  “I’ll just say I don’t miss the practice rooms much.”

Emily nodded and smiled a little.

Joel came closer to her, and his face grew serious.  “You look a little pale.  Are you all right?”

Emily waved vaguely.  “Just hot.  I don’t really want to practice, even though I have ensemble class in a little while.”

“Who’s teaching?”

“Sarno.”

“Right on.  But I think he’s sick today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  I was supposed to talk with him about something and there was a note on his door saying everything was cancelled for today.”

“Oh.  Well, that’s cool.  I wasn’t really in the mood.”

Joel nodded.  “You want to go get a drink then?  You look like you could use a break.”

“Um, I don’t know.  I should probably still do something.”

Joel smirked.  “Ri-ight.”

Emily considered a moment more.  “Where would we go?” she asked.

“Wherever.  Come on.  You can catch me up on what you’ve been doing.  I’ll even buy.”

Emily shrugged.  “All right.  But just for a little while.  I need to practice later.”

Richard and Sandra completed their second circuit of the practice rooms, and had no success finding Emily.  They grew increasingly quiet as they realized they wouldn’t find Emily before her class.

“I don’t even know where her class is,” Sandra said.

“Me neither.”

“Maybe she just went to warm up in the classroom.”

“We’ll just talk to her at dinner, I guess.”

Sandra touched his arm.  “Look, it’s Jimmy, the trumpet player.  He’s in Emily’s quintet.  Let’s see if he know where she is.”

The two of them walked over to where Jimmy was chatting with a girl.  He didn’t pay any attention to them as they stood near, even though the girl kept looking at them.  At last, Richard interrupted during a break in their conversation.

“Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you know where Emily’s ensemble class is?”

Jimmy looked at him for a moment, and then offered a frown.  “There’s no class today.”

“Oh.  No class?”

“That’s what I said,” Jimmy said impatiently.

“Have you seen her around?”

“No.”

Richard nodded, feeling rather out of place.  Even as he said goodbye, Jimmy had already turned away from him as if he wasn’t there.

“Maybe she went back to the room,” Sandra said.

After returning to the dorm, and not finding Emily there, Richard flopped onto Sandra’s bed with a sigh. 

“Oh no, it’s study time,” Sandra announced.

“Study time?” Richard echoed, frowning at her.

“Theory practice.”

“Right now?”

“Well, yeah!  You have five weeks.  You said yourself you needed to get moving.”

Richard groaned.  “I’m worried about Emily.”

“Me too.  But we still have an hour until dinner, and sitting here sulking won’t be any fun.”

“And theory will?” Richard asked, doubtful.

“It could be.”

Richard lay there for a few more moments as Sandra grabbed her theory books. 

“Come on.  Let’s find a room,” she urged.

Richard grinned at her.  “Find a room, heh heh.”

Sandra raised an eyebrow.  “Any rewards will come after you practice.”

“I know.  I know.  All right, let’s get to it.”

Sandra patted him on the arm, and they headed back to the conservatory.  Richard couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling from his stomach.

“What do you need the most help with?” Sandra asked, as they found a practice room with a piano in it.

“Everything, I guess.  I don’t really know.  I should know how to do this stuff, but every time I get in front of Dobra I fuck it up somehow.”

“What did you mess up on the midterm?”

“The dictation and the singing.”

“All right.  Let’s do some dictations.”

Richard nodded and sat in the chair near the piano, as Sandra adjusted the piano bench.  He watched her as she worked the rollers, lowering the seat.  She’s so beautiful, he thought.  I’m so lucky to have her.

His thoughts turned to Emily and he felt a pang of anxiety.  Why did she act so weird?  We were trying to apologize to her.  Maybe she wasn’t ready to talk.  But I didn’t even know she was angry!

“Ready?” Sandra asked, breaking Richard out of his thoughts.

“Sure.”

“Okay.  Um, let’s see...  We’ll do something easy.  C major.  Four-four.  First note is middle C.”

Richard diligently made the appropriate notation on his staff paper.  He looked expectantly at Sandra, who smiled back.

She played the melody through once, and then turned to Richard.

“You call that easy?” Richard said, raising a brow.

“Um...  I think it’s about what we’re doing in the class.”

“Richard shook his head.  You modulated, or something.”

“There were two accidentals, but...”

“I don’t...”

“Just try it, Richard,” Sandra interrupted.

Richard shrugged and nodded.  “Okay.  Play it again?”

“Sure.”  Sandra repeated the phrase, but stopped part way through.  “Here, sit next to me so I can watch what you’re doing.  Maybe I can help that way.”

“Then I can see your fingers.”

“Well, don’t look!” she chided.  “That would kill the whole point.”

Richard scooted his chair around next to Sandra.  “All right.”

“Let’s start over.  No peeking.”

Sandra played the melody yet again.  Richard wondered if it was something she made up, or perhaps a fragment of one of her vocal pieces.  She didn’t have any problem playing it, or repeating it exactly each time.

Richard started by filling in the first notes, as best he could figure them out.  He hummed a few intervals, and generally tried to shape the melody on the paper.  Sandra watched closely, and Richard was quite aware of her.  He felt a little exposed, all of the sudden.

At last Richard looked up at her. 

“There’s a problem there,” Sandra said, pointing to the fourth note.  “Listen.”

Sandra played the first four notes.  Richard found himself looking at her fingers by accident, and saw what she played.

“Oops,” he said.

“What?”

“I just saw what you played.”

“Richard!  Don’t look!” Sandra said.

“I didn’t mean to!  It was just habit.  When someone’s playing piano, I watch their hands.”

“Well, don’t?  So you saw what note it is?”

“Yeah, A, not B,” he admitted.

Sandra rolled her eyes.  “Okay, fix it, and I’ll pay it again.”

Sandra waited until Richard was ready, and then played the phrase once more.  Richard again worked on the notes, and then looked up at her.

Sandra frowned.  “You have it ending in the wrong place.”

“I don’t know what key you modulated to, so I just guessed.”

“I didn’t really modulate.”

“Sounds like it.”

“Listen again.”  Sandra played the phrase, a little bit faster this time.  She stopped and held the last note long, sang it, and then raised her brow at Richard.

“I don’t know,” he said.  “I think it’s an F.”

“It’s not.  You just... have to hear where it came from.  Hear how the note before leans in?”

“It sounds like E to F.”

“Hmm.  Um...  I guess listen one more time.”

Sandra played it again, as Richard listened.  He changed a few notes, but wasn’t quite sure about the last two notes.  They were obviously wrong.  G, maybe?  He changed it.

“Yeah, that’s right, on the ending,” Sandra said.  “Could you hear it?”

“Not really.  I just knew F wasn’t right, so I guessed G.  I still think this is harder than what we’re doing in class.”

“I think you can do it.  Here, the last phrase has these leaps.  And they just... outline this long line.” 

She sang a few notes, and then some others, and then the melody.  Richard had no idea what she meant.  “See?”

“Um...”

“I mean, in the last part,” Sandra continued, “can you hear how the melody dips down and then releases into the last note?  Then you almost know where it’s going next, just from that.” She sang again, emphasizing a few notes.

Richard shrugged.  “I listen for intervals, and try and hear the root note when it comes.  I don’t know what you mean about long lines.”

“Oh.  Well, I think it’s the same thing.  The intervals at the end outline the major chord, except with some other notes in between.  So listen for the chord tones, and then you can fill in the other notes, because they’re all close by.”

Richard just looked at her.  She played, emphasizing notes.  “See, E, C, G, E, G.  Just a C chord.  Then you just add those other notes in between, but they’re just... decorative.”

“Decorative?”

“Yeah.”

Richard took a deep breath.  “Sandra, I have no idea what you’re talking about.  How am I supposed to hear just some of the notes, and then add the ones in between later?  I mean, I listen for intervals, from note to note.  I can’t skip random notes.”

“So you listen from one note to the next, and say, ‘whole step, half-step, major third,’ like that?”

“Mostly.  And usually I can tell the root note, sometimes the fifth, things like that.”

“Hmm.”

Richard watched Sandra as she stared at the piano. 

“How can you get the melody if you have to figure out each interval?  That seems like it would take forever!”

Richard threw his hands up in the air.  “Well, no shit!  That’s why we’re here!”

Sandra seemed startled.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to say that.”

Richard just waved his pencil vaguely.  “Let’s just try it again.”  His mood was sinking.

Sandra started to speak, but instead turned to the piano and played the melody again.  Richard stared at his page, unable to make any changes.  Presumably he didn’t have it right, or else she would have said so.  But he couldn’t get his head around where the problem was.  In fact, his concentration was elsewhere.  Emily flitted into his thoughts again. 

“That’s all I can do.”

Sandra looked at his paper some more, and then pointed to a spot.  “In here, you have a couple of wrong notes.  Otherwise it’s okay.  Listen to...”  She paused for a moment.  “Listen to...  Jeez, this is so hard to explain!”

“Just play it again,” Richard said.

Sandra did.  Richard changed two of the notes.  He could tell by her look they still weren’t right.  And why would they be? I can’t even think right now.  The situation was getting more depressing by the moment. 

“This isn’t really helping, huh?” Sandra asked, at last.

“No,” Richard admitted glumly.

Sandra let out a frustrated breath.  “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.  You just do this stuff differently than I do.  You think differently.  I think I’m seeing what Dobra was talking about.”

“Maybe you can learn to listen differently too, if I help you?”

Richard shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Sounds like most of it is just raw talent.  It takes years for normal people to get to what you can do, not five weeks.  And Dobra said it’s not even the same thing.  You just have a gift, and we don’t.”

Sandra looked downcast.  “There’s got to be a way I can help.”

“You can still help by playing melodies and checking my work.”

“But I want to help you do better!” she cried.

“Well, we can try again,” Richard said, though there was no enthusiasm in his voice.

“Okay.  New melody.  I’ll try and make it easier, but it’s hard for me to tell.”

“I know,” Richard said, offering the first smile since they had started the session.

An hour later, it had become clear that Sandra and Richard were on different wavelengths when it came to eartraining and sight-singing.

Sandra was on the verge of tears.  “I’m just confusing you, not helping.”

“Sandra, it’s all right.  Maybe I just need to work with Dobra.”  Saying those words hurt him more than he let on.

“No!  I’ll figure it out.  Maybe I can talk to him, and he can give me some tips, on how to help you.”

“You won’t have time for that,” Richard said.  “You need to study so you can move up to the next class.  I’ll just go in and work with him.  He’s going to be testing me, so presumably he knows how to help.”

Sandra slumped down onto the piano.  “I just had this vision that we’d just be in here having fun, and somehow I’d just be able to help you ace the class.  Instead it’s a nightmare.”

Richard sat still in his chair.  I had the same visions, he thought, although he didn’t voice that to Sandra.

“Maybe Dobra’s wrong,” Sandra said.

“Um, no, I’m pretty sure I need help.”

“No, I mean he’s wrong about me.  I can’t even help you get through one stupid dictation.  I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think that has anything to do with it.”

Sandra let out a frustrated groan.

“Listen,” Richard said, putting a hand on her back.  “You can still be really good at something, and not necessary be a great teacher of it.  My piano teacher told me that when I was considering schools.  Some of the pianists I really liked were not so great at teaching, he said.  Mrs. T. is really good at both.  That’s why I came here.  But it doesn’t mean you’re not good at it.”

“I want to be a good teacher.  For you,” Sandra said softly.

“Maybe you can’t right now.”

“But I thought it would be fun.  I had things planned,” she said.

“Things planned?” Richard repeated.

“Fun things.”

Richard felt a pang of longing.  He had imagined fun things too.

“I know.  Here, turn around.”

Sandra turned slowly on the piano bench, and Richard swept her into his arms.  She let out a few sniffles and tears.

“Why have things been so rough for us lately?” she asked, staying tight against his neck.

“I don’t know.”

“I guess school has kind of taken over our lives.”

“Yeah.  It gets in the way of us.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Me neither,” Sandra whispered.  “I thought this would be a way to do both.”

“I know.  And we’ve hardly been practicing the Serenade.  It seems like all our stuff has been secondary lately.”

“I wish you were coming with us for Thanksgiving,” Sandra said.

“I know.  Me too.  It will be hard to be without you two for those three days.”

“But I know you are doing the right thing by staying,” Sandra added.

“School coming first, again.”

Sandra squeezed him a little tighter.  “We should go.  Emily’s probably back in the room by now.”

“Yeah.  Thanks for helping.”

Sandra sniffed.  “Whatever, I hardly helped at all.”

“No, you did.  Thanks.”

Richard pulled out of the hug and helped Sandra up.

“I love you,” he said. 

“I love you too, Richard.”

When they returned to the room, Emily was not there.

“Maybe she went to dinner?  We are a little late.  She said five, and it’s five twenty.”

Sandra looked around.  “Nah, her horn’s not here.  She’s probably just not back yet.  Allison’s letter is still on the desk, too.”

“Maybe she was waiting for us,” Richard said.

“No.  She’s probably just run over in rehearsal.  We’ll just wait.  I need to lay down.”

“Sounds good.  I’m exhausted.”

They settled into Sandra’s bed, getting warm under the covers.  Both of them were more tired than they realized, for soon they fell into a deep sleep. 

It was a while before Sandra stirred.

“Richard, wake up.”

“Huh?” Richard said groggily.

“We fell asleep.  But... It’s like almost eight.”

“What?  No way.”

“Yeah, unless my clock is wrong.  Unless the sun is wrong.”

Richard looked at his watch.  “But, what about Emily?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe she came and saw us sleeping, and went to eat alone.”

Richard looked around the room.  “Her horn isn’t here.  I think we would have heard her come in.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Neither spoke for a long while.  They looked around the room, as if expecting to find some sign that Emily had returned while they slept. 

There was none.  Emily had ditched dinner with them.

Richard wondered if he was ever going to lose the feeling of anxiety that had been within him so often of late.

Forward to Chapter 22

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