Palouse - 42. Epilogue 1

Epilogue 1

1996

Six Months Later

Micah and Kat knew the ruse would work, but David was somewhat skeptical as they arrived at the concert hall in Richland, an hour’s drive from Walla Walla.

The hall was empty except for a few workers vacuuming the carpets before the performance and checking the seats one last time. Beyond the doors to the lobby that swung open from time to time, David could see through the windows to the street outside, where cars would drive by every few minutes – nothing like what was going to happen in a short while. It was an hour before the performance, and the outside doors would open soon.

“Are you nervous, Sis?” Micah asked, giving her a jostle.

“Not at all,” she said, “I’m scared spitless.”

The expression caused David to smile. The meaning was the same; only the orifice differed.

“Are you nervous, Bro?”

“I’m scared shitless. No more than usual, though.”

That covered the range, David thought, with bemusement. The butterflies in Micah and Kat were a good sign.

The other musicians began to drift in slowly over the next hour, leaving their coats behind the stage and finding their seats in the backup orchestra sections.

The second item on the program was a concerto for violin, cello and piano. It was billed as Kat’s debut, but also Micah’s in a way: his first public performance as a professional, paid musician since he was a teenager. The pay wasn’t much more than gas money from Walla Walla, but it was income after many years. But it wasn’t the income that brought him to Richland. It was something else.

Micah hadn’t appeared in public except for the Whitman String Quartet’s performances, the final one being two months before, just before graduation, with a small audience at the college. This was a performance in a much larger Richland concert hall

For David, Micah’s transition from college student to professional musician was requiring some adjustment. He had had to suffer the disturbed nights of a mate who was a perfectionist musician. Micah hadn’t slept well. He was up out of the bed and into the living room, playing an invisible violin. Then, he was back in bed, always giving David a kiss – and sometimes a squeeze – and always unintentionally waking David, who really didn’t mind, especially the squeezes. David had not known how driven Micah could be, though he suspected that his early success was due to some inner drive that was reemerging now. He was living with a genius, and the pride that he felt offset most of the inconvenience.

They retreated to the Green Room in Richland to wait for their performance cue. Micah was deep in concentration – into another world. Kat and David were able to exchange small talk as they heard the orchestra warm up.

“Twenty minutes,” the stage manager came by and said. If Micah heard it, there was no indication. David walked over the mirror and straightened his tie. It was all good, he thought to himself. He went over to Micah and straightened Micah’s tie before giving him a warm kiss. Maybe Micah noticed, but David couldn’t tell.

“Fifteen minutes,” the stage manager announced five minutes later.

“Okay, Kat, time to get food poisoning,” David said. Kat rose, opened the door, signaled to the stage manager and said she wasn’t able to perform. The stage manager went berserk. Nothing like this had ever happened to him. He scurried to the Green Room in panic.

“What can we do?” he asked in complete breakdown mode. “I have a thousand people out there.”

“Well,” David said, “Micah’s mother is in the audience, and she knows the piece very well and could play it, I’m sure. Why don’t you announce that there has been a slight delay and request that Betty Kingman come backstage to the Green Room. We can have an answer one way or the other in no time.”

“Okay, I’ll do it.” There was a crossing of fingers.

A few minutes later Betty Kingman arrived backstage.

“You have to stand in for Kat; she just went to the ladies’ room to barf,” David said. “Can you do it?”

“I haven’t practiced that piece in years, except to help Kat,” Betty said, “but if this is the only way to continue the concert, I think I can do it. Just be gentle with me.” Micah, behind Betty, gave David the thumbs-up signal.

David summoned the stage manager. “We have the solution. Kat’s mother will play with us; she knows the piece. Just ask the director to announce the substitution, and we’ll be out there right away.”

They were on stage several minutes later. Betty started a little hesitantly, but by the 20th measure she was fully into the piece, and fingers-memory took over. Micah smiled across to David and nodded his happiness with what was happening. Kat stood in the wings, fully enjoying the performance, as well.

The performance was warmly received, and Betty, David and Micah gathered downstage to accept the applause. Micah started to take David’s hand on one side and his mother’s on the other, not wanting to cause any problem. Betty had other ideas, and she eased herself between her son and prospective son-in-law. No one in the audience noticed what had happened, but Kat, in the wings, did. It worked, she said to herself. It worked.