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| 299 or Less Frosty |
He had been my band conductor all through high school. When I was a freshman he took over from the tyrant who had held the school by the short hairs for several years. His predecessor, this tyrant, was a brutal perfectionist, and drove my older brothers to quit music and pursue hackey-sack instead of music. He drove my sister tears and when I took up the clarinet in junior high, I prayed for his demise. Luckily he was offered a position at a college that did not know his reputation among the local musical youth.
His replacement, my conductor, was a totally different animal. A child of Berkeley, California, he taught us that music was joyful, that marching should be fun, and that watching the football game before and after halftime was just as important as completing a perfect circle at midfield. I spent four years making goo-goo eyes at him but he behaved himself and let my teenage dreams go unfulfilled. My 10 year class reunion, was a different matter.
I flew up alone, my husband would bring the kids the next day for the family activities. The first night was formal dress at the nicest hotel in town in my small town. I walked in from the frosty night and saw they were honoring teachers voted as favorites by my class. I remembered who I cast my vote for and I felt my skin tingle beneath the garters I was wearing under the heavy silk dress.
With the constraints of a teacher/student relationship removed, I hugged him deeply in the lobby.
“It’s good to see you again.” He smiled at me without hesitation, “are you married?” He asked, getting straight to the point. I took them by the hand and led him to the elevator, “not tonight.”
(Why is he a band conductor? It’s the pants. There a dead giveaway. But, I only know that because I was in the marching band all four years. So that may explain some things.)
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She had been distant, and frosty all night. Admittedly, I was late getting home, traffic was bad into the city, but our dinner reservations were fine since she was the guest of honor, traffic had started to move, and, dammit, everything was going to be fine.
I tried to hold her hand as we drove but she folded them delicately in her lap.
“Do you have your speech ready?” I asked.
“Yes”
“How was the school board meeting?”
“Fine”
“Not even giving me full sentences now?” I laughed nervously and asked if I could get a little more detail.
She turned, looked at me, and with frostbitten eyes and said, “It was fine.”
I let slip and almost silent “fuck” under my breath, but it wasn’t silent enough.
“What did you just say?” Upset before, now she was mad, “What did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
“Baloney.” She sat back in the seat and stared straight ahead, “I will not have that language in my house.”
“You won’t do it,” I stared at the road ahead, “now I’m not allowed to say it?”
She looked beautiful, dressed in her finery to accept an award for her boss who was out of the country.
“It’s just,” she looked at her hands resting in the beautiful pools of her silky dress, “it’s just such an angry word and tonight should be happy.”
“You’re right.” I said, sincere this time, “I’m sorry.”
The valet took our car, the paparazzi took our picture, and she took my hand.
“Trust me.”
I followed her into the ante room and she braced the door with a 200 year-old chair and bent over another.
“It’s an angry word to be sure,” she said, giggling in fright, “but do it to me, tonight is going to be happy.”
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:-) That was fun! A great way to spend lunch during a hectic day at work.
Go over to Ram's web-site to see who else is playing! FFF is a great way to stretch your writing muscles and it doesn't make you go blind! At least that's what my optometrist said when I got stronger glasses last week.
Then, when you've read all the naughtiness that is there, come back here on Sunday for next week's FFF prompt! I'll write a more detailed post about my approach to FFF, but I've set up a Tumblr where I'm collecting candidate pictures for FFF. I need your help! Submit pictures, prompts, words, ideas, thoughts, random shots of yourself in the shower, anything, and I'll post it up as a FFF possibility.
I NEED INTERESTING!!!
:-)
