Andante

CVII

The whole orchestra and crew had made their way out to the grass field that used to be theirs alone while the orchestra rehearsed, and everyone was standing around or sitting in small groups with white plastic plates in their hands, chatting to their friends. The barbecues were spreading lush smells under a couple of big party tents, and the boys had eagerly laden food onto their own plastic plates and had sat down, close to where their circle had been all week, to tuck in. They hadn't said very much, but their eyes were still gleaming.  

Suddenly there was a voice behind him.
"Hi Eddy, I hope you're happy with how it went now?"
Mr. Davids had appeared next to Eddy and was towering over him, grinning at him. 
"Hi Mr. Davids! Yes, thank you, I'm very happy." Eddy smiled, somewhat coyly, because he knew full well that the conductor would remember his meltdown of the day before.
"Good." Mr. Davids said. "Mind if I sit down?"
"No, of course not!" Eddy said straight away, and he scooted over a bit to Brett to make space for the conductor. Mr. Davids sat down and crossed his legs, just like he was one of the boys, and started eating a sausage from his plate. Eddy was quiet, polite, waiting to see what the conductor had on his mind. 
Mr. Davids stuck the last bite of sausage in his mouth and smiled at Eddy briefly before looking away again. 
"You know, I wanted to tell you, Eddy... I was a lot like you, I think." he said then, a faraway look in his eyes.
"I may be white, but I came from a well-to-do family where successes were celebrated and failures weren't really an option. It was basically expected I would go on to study medicine, or law, or something else that would give me status and a big BMW, that would allow me to keep up with the rest of them. But I only wanted one thing. I wanted to play violin, it was all I loved, all I cared about."

Eddy sat completely still, frozen to his spot, listening to the conductor without breathing, willing him to carry on talking.
"When... when I told my parents I wanted to go and study violin there were... well, let's just say there were issues."
Mr. Davids smiled wryly, and Eddy could picture very well how such a conversation could have gone. "But I didn't let it stop me, I went to the conservatory and I made sure I excelled."
"And what happened then?" Eddy asked him, his voice hoarse with the weight of the unexpected conversation. "Did they accept it in the end?"
Mr. Davids turned to him and he smiled that wry smile again.
"Sort of. In the end, I guess I felt like I never really belonged there anyway. I've gone my own way."
Eddy was silent for a long moment, trying to absorb everything the conductor had said, had trusted him with.
Wow. He'd... he'd had no idea it could have been like that for him.
"Thank you so much for telling me this, Mr. Davids. I... I hope my mum will come around." he whispered then, feeling like he was opening his soul for the conductor to see.
"She very likely will, Eddy." Mr. Davids said in his kind voice. "I'm guessing she came from a difficult socio-economic background."
Eddy nodded, because he was right, of course. And something clicked in him, then.
Whoa. His mum did truly want the best for him, didn't she? She just didn't know what the best for him was.
"I guess... I guess my parents went through a lot to give me the chances I have." he said then, slowly, and he swallowed quickly to stop the emotion that wanted to spread upwards.
Mr. Davids nodded. "See, that's why I'm sure it will work out."
Eddy inhaled deeply to settle himself down, and he smiled gratefully at the conductor he'd become so fond of.

And he hoped that Mr. Davids was right. Oh, how he hoped he was right.
Of course, Mr. Davids didn't know that there would be a second big obstacle to acceptance in his house... but his relationship status was certainly not a topic he wanted to discuss right now.
So he sighed deeply once more and then he looked at the conductor again.
"Thank you for everything, Mr. Davids." he said. "It means a lot."
Mr. Davids smiled. "Sure. And call me John, by the way. No need for all this formality."