Schadenfreude

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She’s back from the hospital.

For the first time in twenty-five years, she’ll be home for Christmas. No more touring.

I suppose I knew what I was getting when I married her. She was fond of reminding me herself.  In truth, it was when I saw her play that I truly fell in love with her. Her hands calling the beautiful music from the cello cradled in her legs like a beloved child.

Of course there were no children. There was her, me, and the cello. Three of us.

A kinder man would put the cello back in its case.

 

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  1. Rowena

    Your take on the prompt really resonated with me. My grandmother was a child prodigy concert pianist. She returned from London to Australia in 1940 during hte war and met my grandfather shortly afterwards and they were married six months later. They had a miniature grand piano on their wedding cake. I only picked up that detail from a press clipping, which is a real shame because I wish I’d been able to ask her about it. Naturally, the symbolism struck me. That my grandfather was marrying my grandmother and the piano. She had to practice for 5 hours a day so he can’t have been deluded. They were Catholic and ended up having 7 children but my grandmother’s career continued. She had her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1948 and was living in the US for 12 months, leaving her husband and three young sons behind. Her mother looked after my Dad who was 3 at the time and the other two went to boarding school and I think they were 5 and 6.
    Despie having 7 children, my grandmother never really seemed to be into young kids. She later taught at the Sydney Conservatorium so she really was a woman before her time. here’s her obituary: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/a-musical-career-honed-in-the-laundry-20090823-ev2w.html
    xx Rowena

  2. Zane

    This line made me giggle: “She was fond of reminding me herself.”

    I LOVE what you did with the closing, leaving me to imagine what he DID do with the cello (break it, perhaps). At the same time, I’m wondering if this implies that he had affairs, being so neglected and all.

    (But now I go back for a reread and am reminded of the opening hospital line and realize that he beat the mess out of her and SENT HER to the hospital. You’re a twisted-awesome writer, dude.)

Don't just stand there.