A Taste of Candor

Chapter 11

~Declan.

Five days passed pretty uneventfully. Our band director called for daily rehearsals, as we'd soon be performing for a very special occasion for the Paiges, a gathering of several wealthy families in their social circle. We'd be expected to play the most boisterous and impressive pieces we could muster during their dinner, before we would all gather in the ballroom to tone down and play suitable dancing music. I'd even heard mention of him going downtown to hunt down some vocalists for the evening.

Much of the new material he began putting on our music stands ironically ended out falling under my strengths, while many of my bandmates struggled. He replaced much of our uptempo repertoire full of complicated lines and boisterous cadences, with melodic sequences full of rich harmony and a wider range of dynamics. The main challenge for me remained reading the music, but with that out of the way, I found myself very much in my element for once.

Meanwhile, every rehearsal, Madden somehow wormed his way over to me during a break and asked for an update on the status of my engagement with Miss Paige. The answer was always the same; I wasn't exactly opposed to the idea of exploring the potential with her, but wouldn't proceed unless I saw some clear signs from her. Of course, Madden insisted I'd see the signs quicker if I gathered the courage to just ask. His persistence wore my resolve down more and more every time he came over.

On the morning of our sixth day of daily rehearsals, I woke up early to practice first. I'd been picked to play the melody on a beautiful ballad called "Wherever I Go", which was an honor, but it was full of notes at the top of the tenor's range. Staying in tune up there was a bit of a challenge, so I devoted a special practice to working that out.

Midway through my third round of the melody, my telephone rang out in the living room, so I shot to my feet and hurried through my apartment to answer. I stubbed my toe on a foot of the couch as I passed it, which caused a shock to course through my whole body. It also drew a hiss to my lips and a wince to my face. Nonetheless, I pushed through and picked up the phone.

"Morning, Declan." Aaron Quill's voice said on the other end of the line, "I'm just calling to let you know the director's sick, so rehearsal's cancelled today. You have today off, at least."

I nodded. "Alright, thanks for letting me know. Do we still come tomorrow?"

"Not sure yet; depends on whether he makes a quick recovery or not. Probably, we'll get the chamber groups together to practice tomorrow, but we'll see."

"Sounds good. I sure hope he gets better before the big event."

Mr. Quill breathed in deeply. "Me too. He has a week, so ... hopefully."

"Yep. Anyway, have a good one, Mr. Quill."

"Likewise."

With a click, the call ended, so I put the phone down. I let out a sigh as my mind went over the possibilities for how I could spend the day, with rehearsal canceled. I could practice longer, for one thing, since I wouldn't have to worry about tiring myself out prematurely. Maybe I could even go jam downtown after lunch or something. I hadn't done that in a while, ever since joining the band.

Thinking of downtown reminded me of something I'd forgotten—my old boss Nuri Justice would be playing this very night at an old-fashioned diner called Karrie's, debuting the new saxophonist he'd hired since letting me go. I had no ill will toward the man, and I did have some curiosity about how my replacement would do.

The only reason I hadn't really considered going before was because the entry fee would be quite a bit above my budget, and an unofficial rule at Karrie's was that one had to bring a date. Any man opting to walk in and eat alone would stand out like a sore thumb there, not to mention a Candorian man at that.