October

This excerpt from Four Seasons is a little longer than usual, but I couldn’t figure out any other place to break it up. As always, you can sign up to get the full story and all the other stories as well by dropping your email address at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Laney opened the door and beamed at her newest student. “You can go ahead and get started,” she said, looking over the top of Reggie’s head and into the empty street. “Will your father be joining us this morning?”

“Nope, he had to head in to work for a few minutes. Weekend emergency, he said. He promised he’d be here to pick me up though. Said he really wanted to hear what we’ve been working on.”

Laney leaned down in front of Reggie and looked directly in his eyes. “It’s okay if he doesn’t make it. You know that right? I’m sure he’ll do his best, but he’s trying to juggle a lot of balls right now. If he misses something, it isn’t necessarily his fault.”

“I know,” Reggie shrugged. He’d been hearing his father say the same thing for a few years, but it felt kinda weird hearing it from another grown up, almost word for word. “Should I warm up?”

“Yes,” Laney nodded, rising to her feet and picking up her violin along the way. “Go ahead and start with Twinkle.”

Reggie placed the violin beneath his chin and pointed his toes, then closed his eyes and put bow to string using the near perfect hold he had been practicing for a few hours each day since the final week of summer. He glided through the piece without a single pause in rhythm or awkward moment to mar its beauty. Laney beamed.

“Just extraordinary, Reggie. I’ve never had a student take to their instrument quite so naturally before. You really should be very proud.”

Reggie’s face felt suddenly hot. He wondered if he was blushing. “You’re a great teacher, Ms. Laney. That’s all it is, really.”

“I thank you for the compliment, but I assure you it isn’t me. You have a natural ear and are willing to do the hard work. Believe me, that’s a pretty rare combination for any teacher. Most of us know it as soon as we see it and the smart ones know enough to compliment it and do all we can to keep it going.”

Now Reggie was positive he was blushing. “Hey Ms. Laney, you know you probably shouldn’t say anything bad about your other students.”

“I wasn’t. I was simply drawing a comparison that was perfectly appropriate to the compliment. If I can’t offer an honest reflection between my students, I’m not running much of a studio. Besides, I feel as though you and I can be direct, especially considering what’s going on with your father.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Reggie said. “What do you want me to play now?”

“I would like you to try and play Cambia Espeta.”

Reggie whistled, a nervous sort of half twitter. “I haven’t learned it yet.”

“Just try,” Laney said. You’ve watched me play it for you every Saturday morning for the last six weeks. I know you’ve been paying attention. We have two more weekends to get this in shape before the recital, where I expect you will be playing it perfectly.”

“The recital? There’s no way, Ms. Laney. I can’t play Cambia Espeta. Not in two weeks. How about I play Hot Cross Buns? I’ll kill it!”

“I’m sure you would make it beg for mercy, but Hot Cross Buns is for beginners. I want you to play something more advanced. You can and you will. Follow my lead.” Laney glided through a stunning, though abbreviated version of the piece, then smiled and curtsied to Reggie, who then cleared his throat and crunched his way through an awkward yet reasonable echo.

“Wow,” Reggie said, dropping the instrument to his side. Laney just smiled.

“So how many other kids are going to be at this recital?”

“Twenty-one,” Laney said, tasting the number on her tongue. “Including you.”

Reggie whistled, full bodied this time. “That’s a lot.”

Laney agreed. “I never thought I’d have so many students, but when I moved out here at the beginning of summer, most of my old families followed. Plus I’ve picked up a couple of new students each month since. I think I’m gonna have to hang a No Vacancy sign on the doorknob any day now.” An accidental giggle escaped Laney’s lips and she leaned down and whispered in Reggie’s ear. “You’re still my favorite though. Okay, back to practice. This song isn’t going to learn itself.”

Reggie smiled, then put bow to string and played the piece a second time from memory. Finding comfort and confidence together, Reggie hit the notes slightly sweeter; the bow finding its way against the strings seemingly by instinct. Reggie finished and said, “Hello toes,” as he took his bow, then grinned at Laney. “How was that?”

Laney beamed right back. “Just beautiful,” she said, shaking her head in a mild cocktail of slight disbelief and undiluted wonder. “You’ll be playing it perfectly by the time of the recital, don’t you worry one bit. Let’s roll through it a few more times, and if you keep playing so sweetly, I might just have to go ahead and give you a cookie.”

“I knew I smelled them!” Reggie smiled. “What kind did you make this week?”

“Snickerdoodles. I think I read somewhere that they were the one cookie no kid could resist, though I just wanted to make them because I never have before.”

“Never?”

“Nope, never. So far, I haven’t made the same cookie twice. There are just too many to try and I’ve only been cooking for a few months now.”

Reggie was missing something. “What do you mean?”

“That’s my first kitchen.” Laney threw her right thumb behind her shoulder. “When I lived at home, my mom cooked every meal. Now I do everything myself.”

“When did you move out?” Reggie knew she had only lived in the house for a few months, but was having a hard time imagining she had still lived with her parents until then. She looked about his dad’s age and the idea of a grown up old enough to have kids almost ready for middle school still living at home was a bit weird. But Ms. Laney was super nice and surely had a reason.

“Three months ago,” Laney laughed. “I know, I know. What was a woman my age doing living with her parents for so long.”

“I get it.” Reggie nodded his head. “Your parents did everything for you, right? And you got to keep all the money you made from teaching because you didn’t have to spend it on stuff like food and rent and stuff. Makes perfect sense to me.”

Laney’s face was blank. “Something like that,” she finally said.

“Well, that’s probably why you’re so happy all the time.” then after a pause he added, “We’re you always this happy?”

Reggie thought that in that moment, Laney looked about as sad as a lady could ever look. He felt bad for having maybe pried and found himself suddenly wishing he’d never said a thing. “No, no I wasn’t.” Laney gave Reggie a weak attempt at a smile and then said. “Now let’s get back to the lesson. We’re almost finished and your father will probably be here any minute.”

They flew through the exercise a few more times, then Laney instructed Reggie to put his violin away while she played a string version of Green Day’s Basket Case just to make him smile.

“That was awesome, Ms. Laney,” he said.

“I really wish you would drop the Ms.,” she said. “Laney is just fine.”

“I know. I will.”

Laney went to the kitchen and placed an oversized sized snickerdoodle onto a napkin, folded it over the cookie, then brought it to the front room and handed it to Reggie. He took the cookie and stole a glance at the clock. It was five minutes after the hour. “Thanks for the cookie Ms… er, I mean Laney. I’m going to save it until I get home. I’m sure my dad’s gonna want half after having to spend a Saturday morning at work. He might already be waiting at home for me too. I should get going.”

“He’ll be here,” Laney said. “Just be patient.”

As if on cue, they heard the crunch of gravel as Reggie’s dad took the short cut through the rock garden like he always did. A second later the doorbell rang and echoed through the house. Reggie looked up at Laney and saw a smile so big that it easily reduced the sad look on her face just a few minutes before to barely rumor.

They rose from the sofa and Laney opened the door. “Hi there, handsome,” she said.

“Hi, Sweetheart.” Reggie’s father took Laney by the waist and kissed her softly on the lips. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”…