Sophisticated Lady
”Therese, what on earth is the matter with you?” Professor Robichek looked both puzzled and impatient. Her arms folded she approached Therese who had abruptly quit playing the sonata they’d been practicing for a couple of weeks already. “This is not like you, not at all.” Her tone was kinder now. “It seems to me your mind is wandering miles away when you should be focusing on the piece instead.” The gray-haired woman sighed audibly. “Whatever it is that’s bothering you try to figure it out and make it snappy.” Couldn’t very well expect the kindness last forever, now could I? Therese drew a quick breath and rubbed her fingers determined to give the keys another try.
“No, let’s finish for today. You lack concentration and I’m not going to waste any more time listening you making the most amateurish blunders with a relatively simple work.” She stroked her temples pensively. “Look, the recital’s coming up sooner than you think, and you haven’t even found your piece yet. You have to shape up, you understand?” Therese nodded meekly and removed her notes from the music stand. “Technically you’ve improved a great deal during this past year but sometimes I think you have no personal take on the music itself. The real interpretation stems from truly understanding the material, from passion.” So I lack passion? Good one. Therese was irritated but she hid it perfectly.
Once out of sight Therese let out a sigh of relief. The Dragon Lady was right, of course. She’d been a total disaster stumbling over the easiest strains. But Therese had a perfectly good reason for it, too. She had, after all, stayed up most of the night going over the sheet music Carol had sent her. How innocent looking it had been right there on her email feed: a message from [email protected] titled “Looking At You etc.” Hot mail, indeed. Therese had taken her time to savor the moment, to take pride in being the intended recipient of Carol’s email, to see Carol’s name written on her laptop screen. Smiling she had read the short note accompanying the several attachments.
Dear Therese,
Please find enclosed some of my tentative selections. I do hope they’re to your liking since they are to mine. I’d like us to get together asap, so if you’re free, say, tomorrow, we could get started. If tomorrow’s too abrupt, I totally understand. Maybe you could suggest another time, then? I have a very flexible schedule.
Carol
Therese had read the message again and again. Dear Therese. She’d been positively giddy grinning at the screen for an obscene amount of time. Then she had snapped into action, started to formulate her reply as if it were the most important message she would ever write in her life.
Dear Carol
Hey!
Dear Carol,
Thank you so much for sending me these. I really love like your picks, I think they’re amazing, they’re my favorites as well. Tomorrow’s perfect okay, any time after my morning classes would be fine. Can’t wait to get started It’s good to start right away, I think. We need all the time in the world We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Love,
Therese
Carol had replied within an hour sending Therese her address. They would meet at 2 PM, and now she was already on her way to Carol’s apartment. Therese had still an hour and a half to kill before she could appear at her doorstep so she decided to have a cup of coffee in one of the nearby cafes. She took out the sheet music she had printed out and went once more through her own scribblings, thoughts she had had while trying to imagine Carol’s voice rendering the melodies.
She had talked about accompanying a singer with a class mate of hers – a somewhat pompous guy who she knew had some kind of experience in the matter. He had become very self-important telling her how difficult and demanding a task it really was, how an accompanist was in fact expected to be a musical director as well. Therese had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting it right with no previous experience or education he seemed to be saying.
At five to two she looked up at the tall building along the Fifth Avenue. After checking the visitor was where she was supposed to be, the concierge let Therese in the elevator which reached the penthouse level in no time. The door opened straight to the apartment’s impressive foyer. Therese heard the click of heels approaching and she drew a quick breath anxious to see Carol again. She saw her own reflection in the mirror and frowned at its helpless girlishness. A deer in the headlights, flashed through her mind.
“Everything alright?” Carol leaned against the doorway smiling inquisitively. “Oh, just perfect…” Therese blurted out trying to snap out of her sudden exasperation.
“You’re a star for making time for me, Therese. I really shouldn’t have expected you to take me up on my first proposition.” The gray eyes lit up spectacularly. Please, propose away, Therese thought her heart jumping up and down. She took off her coat and followed Carol to a very large room with a marvelous view on Central Park.
The living room or salon, she couldn’t be sure which, was decorated in the Scandinavian style, very modern with clean shapes and lots of pale airiness. Somehow she couldn’t connect it with the image she had of Carol, with her voice or presence.
“This is quite an apartment. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she managed to say. “This used to be Harge’s bachelor pad.” Carol was rummaging through an ascetic looking drawer. “Harge is your husband?” asked Therese in a quiet voice. “My ex-husband. I got this in the divorce. I don’t particularly like it, a bit too white for my taste, but it’ll do for now.” Carol sounded as if she hated it. “I’d rather live on Madison, in one of those old brownstones. I don’t understand the need to ruin an old building by leaving only its façade intact and transforming the insides into a bloody space shuttle.” Therese chuckled at the remark. She’s funny.
“It’s official. I’ve run out of cigarettes.” Carol looked displeased. “Do you want me to go and get you some? I don’t mind.” If needed, Therese would beg, steal and borrow to get Carol her cigarettes. “No of course not, silly. I’m not supposed to smoke anyway, it affects my voice and we can’t have that, now can we?” We. Therese beamed at the word. She was happy to be a part of we even if it only meant avoiding smoking.
Carol loosened a scarf around her neck. It was a tantalizing red against the shiny whiteness of her silk blouse. Her grey slacks were tailored to perfection. A simple yet elegant gold bracelet circled her right wrist. Therese felt weak watching Carol remove a loose blonde curl from her forehead. How did that song begin again, the one in Carol’s email..?
It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you…
Everything about Carol left her swimmy with delight. She was the sun warming this cold earth, this sterile apartment, heating up her blood, and Therese – Therese was a forlorn Sputnik, a conglomeration of space junk orbiting around Carol, gravitating towards her at the speed of light. If Carol were to look at her this very minute, she would see it all in her face – know it all in a single second for Therese could not keep it a secret. Not now, not ever.
“Have you eaten? You must be hungry if you’ve only just finished your classes. I’m such a bad hostess. I had lunch with a bunch of ladies I used to associate with while being married to Harge. Why on earth I agreed to meet them now, I have no idea. A bunch of bores, more like it…” Carol’s eyes were glued on Therese who suddenly realized she was starving.
“So why did you?” asked Therese digging into a sandwich a moment later. “I guess it has to do with the old saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies even closer’. Oh, I don’t know, I try not to burn all bridges for my daughter’s sake.” Carol sounded sad. “You have a daughter?” Therese thought she had seen a framed picture of a little girl on the mantelpiece. “Yes, Rindy. She’s eight. She lives with her father, it’s easier with her school but I see her almost daily.” Carol showed her a photo she had on her phone. The girl was beautiful, she had her mother’s eyes. “You too look a lot alike. She’s exquisite.” Carol looked as if she was about to say something but she just stared at Therese for a while, maybe a little bit too long, Therese thought. The scent of Carol’s perfume reached her from the other side of the kitchen counter. It enveloped Therese in its luscious aroma rendering her utterly defenseless.
“What kind of name is Belivet?” The spell was broken, Carol had moved on. “It’s Czech.” Therese tried to sound cheerful though her answer was much too curt. “Therese Belivet… It’s lovely.” Carol’s eyes were on her again as if a lightning had struck out of a clear blue sky. She had a winning smile on her face. Therese was painfully aware of her reddening cheeks.
“And is there someone special in your life, Therese Belivet?” There is now, she wanted to say. “No, not really. I was seeing someone but it didn’t work out.” And that was the God’s honest truth, even if she hadn’t said it to Richard in so many words. Why had she put it off for so long anyway? She would break it off now, no point in prolonging it any further. Carol waited for her to continue clearly scrutinizing if what she’d just said was true. “My studies and the work at the bar pretty much take up all my time so there really isn’t, I guess, any room for romance…” Therese was quite pleased how it came out. “Although my piano teacher seems to think I should definitely whip something up in the emotional department since my current performance lacks passion.” Whip something up? How about quitting while you're ahead?
“Well, that sounds a bit harsh. I think interpretation comes out of life experience. One cannot imitate something one hasn’t yet encountered. It’s been true enough with my career.” Carol took the dishes away and returned to the counter. She gave Therese a serious look. “You’re much too young to worry about some careless criticism thrown your way, even if it comes from an authority figure. You use what you have at any given time in your life.” She patted her hand in a careless fashion that depressed Therese incessantly. “There are songs I wouldn’t have known how to sing in my 20’s and there are songs I wouldn’t dare to attempt now. So, shall we start practicing, what’ll you say?”
Carol led her to yet another white space, a music room with a gorgeous grand piano as its centerpiece. Therese sat down on the piano stool marveling the beauty of the elegant Fazioli. She traced its shiny surfaces with her fingers resting them finally on the silent keys. Slowly she picked up the prints she’d brought along, laid them on the stand and adjusted the stool height to her liking. Therese was ready.
“So, I was thinking, maybe I could sing this once through just so you’ll get an idea of my approach and then you could jump in and put your touches in it?” Carol’s smile was adorable, almost shy. “Sure, sounds good.” Therese pulled out the sheet music for Sophisticated Lady.
They say into your early life romance came
And in this heart of yours burned a flame
A flame that flickered one day and died away
Therese couldn’t have prepared herself for this moment when the mesmerizing voice she had only just found became flesh and blood in front of her very eyes.
Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes
You learned that fools in love soon grow wise
The years have changed you, somehow
I see you now
Experiencing Carol’s precise phrasing, her clean, crisp sound mingling with the husky, downright sultry undertones was almost too much. No, it is too much, Therese thought biting her lip feverishly.
Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow, nonchalant,
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant
Is that what you really want?
(Dear sweet Jesus, help me…)
Oh no, Sophisticated Lady
I know, you miss the love you lost long ago
And when nobody is nigh you cry
“So what’d you think?” Carol took a sip of her water glass. “Umm… I think you did a splendid job.” Therese kept her eyes strictly on the sheet music. “We could try an Ellington vibe here, a subtle, understated back-up, okay?” She sounded normal, right?
Intrigued Carol moved behind Therese setting her hands on her shoulders, squeezing them just a little, leaning over her to examine the markings Therese had made on the paper the night before. Oh, fuck! She closed her eyes unable to breath, trying to calm her racing heart. There was the perfume again wreaking havoc on her nerves, driving Therese absolutely nuts. Kill me now, just get it over with, she thought gasping for air. When they carry my lifeless body out of this spaceship, I’ll be one deliriously happy corpse.