Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Melody (08/24/06)
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TITLE: Rising Harmony | Previous Challenge Entry
By Susan Lower
08/25/06 -
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Swaying branches dance in the wind near the balcony. The sound of another tap struck the glass pane. From the darkness below another pebble is thrown. Light shines through the curtains of the balcony door.
She heard the car approaching, coasting slowly down the street, searching for the drive. She ducked her delicate frame behind a nearby bush. Two stones in her hands grinded against each other with the constant slide of her fingers. The car paused at the curb, and moved on. Raising eye level above the bush she looked out across the empty lawn. The coast was clear.
Intent on her position, she strolled to the middle of the lawn. Her hand twitched with the flinging of the next small stone. She wouldn’t leave until she’d seen him. She could hardly believe he had come home after all this time. She’d waited, waited, and he never called her, never came to her door, and never whispered the words she’d hoped he’d say.
A girl had to do what a girl had to do.
The pebble rickashaded off the railing. Her arm was growing weak from the relentless abuse of a slingshot. Rolling back her slender shoulder, cracking the tension from her neck, she pulled back her arm for another shot. This time she hit the glass pane dead center. There was movement from inside.
The door latch clicked. A dog down the street barked. She stumbled back a few steps. She wanted him to see her. She watched him step out on the balcony. He was tall, proud, and lovely, or as lovely as a man could be. He was utterly beautiful in her eyes.
Her throat went dry at the sight of the spilling light cascading down the balcony like an untended vine. He was there, standing in the open door way, and he could see her in the shadows below. She had forgotten everything she had wanted to say. She’d rehearsed it over and over again on the walk here, a slate wiped clean in her mind.
The wind whistled through the branches. She gulped reaching inside her to find words. The light began to dim. He turned away heading back inside. Where was he going? She had to do something, anything, to get him to come back.
She sang, she opened her mouth an octave above what her straining vocals could bare. Faint at first, just a whisper above the wind. He returned to listen. She would sing to him of her love, of hope, of devotion for all the days of her life. Would he listen? He knows, she thought, he knows I love him, and only him like no one else she could love.
So she sang, and it was mournful, almost sad to start. Asking forgiveness, reaching out for his touch. The light grew florescent flowing down through the open rails, creeping down the nearby trellis, and shining a spot light down upon her. She’d come out of the darkness.
With renewed confidence her voice grew loud. Now even the neighborhood dogs had accompanied her melody. Lights switched on from nearby houses, and still she sung. She’d sing until her voice had gone raw, but she’d sing for him. Her heart had written the lyrics, her soul captured the tune; she would call to him in a new voice when this one was through.
She heard the front entrance of the house open. Curtains were parted, words were tossed down the street, and an owl came to perch in the branches above. Her song receded to a soft hoarse note barely audible to her own ears. A dog barked. A cat hissed, and a metal can spilled in an alley. Curtains were drawn back in place, and lights switched off. The performance was done. She’d no voice left to hear.
The light faded, slithered, back inside the doors. She heard the click. Her hands fell down to her sides, her body collapsed to her knees. Her head hung low.
Two strong arms embraced her, sweeping her up from the crumbled position on the lawn. He cradled her against his chest carrying her to the threshold of his home. She heard him humming her tune softly like a tune heard on a radio that doesn’t leave your brain. She rested her head on his shoulder, and together they entered his house. The door closed against the dark outside world.
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