“Please never end,” I whispered to the moment, and played a solid, clear note that resounded off the high walls and ceiling. I glanced at Mother, who just smiled mysteriously.Ī weightless sort of reverence filled me as I slipped onto the bench and let my fingers breeze along the smooth keys. The bench was, too, and the rest of the piano wood had been rubbed to a shine, as though someone had prepared it for this moment. Though it should have been filthy with grit and age, the key was smooth and clean. My heart felt too big for my chest as I reached out and caressed a white key. Light from the ceiling shone on her, making her curly black hair gleam. ” Mother stood in the middle of the theater, rows of chairs around her. I couldn’t bear to risk damaging it, though. I scrambled up the stage, too impatient to bother with the stairs, ignoring Mother’s tiny cry-“Careful!”-and when I stood at last before the piano, chills swept over my body. “What is that?” I breathed, though I knew. Faded gold lettering shimmered on the side of the instrument, too worn for me to read. And before that, a large black instrument on legs, with a bench that stood empty before the row of keys. The stage stood directly ahead, pitted with age, but strong enough to hold an immense glass curtain, shining iridescent in the light that shot through the colored skylights.

Gold paint flaked off the railings, and the marble facades were pockmarked and water-stained, but there were memories in this place, memories of music and longing and emotions that stirred my soul. Arched balconies rose up along the walls, their curtains long ago deteriorated into echoes. I drew away from her, farther down the aisle and quiet so my boots didn’t make a sound on the hardwood floor. It was remarkably well preserved, though the odor of age and decay hung over it, and the faded red chairs were molded and falling apart. When I was small, she took me to a concert hall in the old city. My mother’s name was Lyric, our family name Harper, and I was born in the wrong time.

Phoenix Overture by Jodi Meadows