Rising Tide

Chapter 9: Theater

My mother beamed as she peered up at the abandoned building. "It's just how I remember."

"You played here?" Erika looked at the theater with disgust.

"It was when I first started out as a concert pianist. It's always been a little rough around the edges." She hummed. "So many beautiful performances took place here. Your father was during an internship, and he came to see me perform. He said it was love at first sight." She gave us a smirk.

"Cool story," breathed Erika. "Why are we here?"

My mother shrugged. "It's the only place I could think of going. I heard it was abandoned after the owner went bankrupt."

"It's great." I started up the steps. It wasn't like we could afford a hotel room and sleeping outside didn't seem like a good idea in this part of the city.

The doors were locked, but the one on the end was half broken off the hinges. It didn't take much effort for me to yank it the rest of the way off.

"Way to go, Zale," muttered Erika. "It's not like this place doesn't look like it close to collapsing already."

"A thank you would have been enough." I waved my sister through.

She stepped inside followed by my mother. I entered and jury-rigged the door back into place. I dusted off my hands and went to catch up with the girls.

"Nothing's changed." My mother clasped her hands together and pressed them to her lips. "I've forgotten how much I've missed this. Oh, come, come. This way."

My sister and I followed her down the hall into the auditorium. The chairs were covered in dust, and some sections had been ripped up. My mother was reminiscing about her past as she made her way to the stage.

Erika and I watched from the back of the room.

"How are we going to live for the next three months?" she asked.

"We have a place to stay at least."

Erika shrugged. "What will we eat?"

"We'll find a homeless shelter or something. I'm going to start looking for work tomorrow."

"I'll look too."

I shook my head. "I don't know if you should."

She left her chin. "I'm capable of working, Zale. I can take care of myself." She walked down the aisle to the stage.

Folding my arms, I followed. I stood in the front row as the two wandered around.

"I would be about here." She grabbed Erika and put in the middle. "The conductor would be here, standing on a box. Come on, Erika. Let's see how you command an orchestra."

My mother stood behind Erika and showed her how to wave her arms. She tickled my sister's sides. I smiled at the pair as they laughed. My mother pranced across the stage.

"Zale." She waved to me. "You can be the strings section."

Laughing to myself, I climbed onto the stage and went to where she was pointing on the floor.

She danced across the room, humming to herself. "I wish you could have seen it. Oh, the music that filled this room." She motioned for us to follow. "Come here, come on."

My sister and I stood on either side of her and peered out over the rows of seats.

"Can you imagine a full house, the nervous energy that filled the room, it was a moment that I dreaded, but lived for." She let out a deep breath and leaned into my side. "Let's go to the practice rooms and see if we can find a place to stay."

I put my arm around her shoulder, and we disappeared behind what was left of the curtains. We walked down a hallway to the backstage area. My mom and sister went to check the rooms while I gathered up the cushions off a bench.

"Over here," said Erika motioning for us.

My mom grabbed a couple other cushions, and we went to see what Erika had found. A couple dusty couches were pushed against the wall. A piano without any legs was sitting on the floor. I dropped my load on the ground. My mom and sister flipped the cushions on the couch and banging out some of the dust.

Walking to the piano, I ran my finger through the dust. "Why would they take the legs off?"

My mother shrugged. "I don't know. There might be something wrong with it so they just took some parts. The lid is missing as well."

I sat down and pressed a couple keys. It needed to be tuned. Nearly every one was slightly off and some were very off. I heard something rip and looked up to see Erika tearing down the curtains that were gathered in the corners of the room. She dragged them over. The girls curled up on the couch, while I spread the cushions I had found on the floor.

"This isn't too bad," said my mother, resting her head against Erika's.

"It's better than being in that crowd warehouse," said my sister. She sunk down lower and pulled the makeshift blanket over her shoulder. "I wish we could have seen you play here, mom."

"I was given a better job." She beamed at us. "Being a mom was far more worth it to me."

Erika smiled up at her before closing her eyes. I grabbed one of the curtains and rolled onto my side. Ninety days, it wasn't going to be easy, but we'd find a way to make it through.