Tower of Ivory - "Dissonance à Deux"

Dissonance à Deux
by
Kristen M. Kane

The June night was soft, not yet the sultry stickiness of August, and with just enough of a chill in the breeze to warrant a light sweater. Laura sat on the front steps outside the house and watched the last hints of color fade from the sky. The merry sounds of the party within drifted out and tickled the edge of her consciousness. She only half listened as the voices of the guests were raised in perfect four-part harmony. By any standards it was a small gathering: only herself, Jane and her younger brother Daniel gracing the small house Karen and her family lived in.

Fireflies winked in and out seemingly in time with the pounding of the drums inside, and Daniel's angelic tenor vibrato danced on the gusts of gentle air, utterly innocent and yet so terribly sensuous that Laura could not repress a shudder of pleasure. A mournful Italian lovesong, performed for the elite guests by Karen's father followed next and Laura reclined gracefully on the steps, stretching out her legs so that the tips of her white tennis shoes traced the edge of the lawn. In a state of conscious repose she gazed up at the moon, and only half heard the sound of the door opening behind her. A familiar pair of worn hightops situated themselves next to her left arm and an equally familiar voice intoned needlessly, "Man, it's getting cold out here, huh?"

Her reverie unbroken, Laura made no reply to the useless observation. Daniel shifted awkwardly and made another plunge at conversation.

"Why're you out here?"

Laura turned her head to look at his nervous profile, and a slow, bemused smile melted across her face. "Just thinking."

Daniel glanced down at her, absently chewing at his lower lip. Laura returned to watching the sky and he followed her eyes to some point in the Heavens. A few moments of silence passed between them and from within the house another Italian ballad was sung, this time in Karen's tremulous soprano.

"Thinking about what?" Daniel finally ventured, glancing only briefly at her upturned face. Laura knitted her eyebrows in concentration and again the silence was resumed. "Amarilli, mia bella..." sang Karen tenderly, and Laura answered at long last, "This and that...college...love...world crises...."

"Love?"

"Mmm...is it plausible for me to dream about something that seems impossible...."

"Why impossible?"

"You've only to look at me in daylight to know that answer," she said indifferently.

Daniel picked absently at the hole in the side of his right sneaker and rolled some possible replies around in his mouth, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized how transparent and contrived they all sounded.

"Daniel!" Karen's father's booming voice at the door made him jump and, blushing and shaking, he turned to see the great bear of a shadow framed in the doorway. "GET BACK IN HERE!" the shadow boomed good-naturedly before returning. Daniel pulled himself up and shuffled slowly to the door. His hand on the doorknob, he turned back and looked at Laura as she sat there, bathe din the moonlight. He opened and closed his mouth and his palms grew sticky as he stood there uncertainly.

"DANIEL!" came the voice again.

"I - I think you're pretty!" he blurted out suddenly, before dashing into the house, face burning.

Laura turned her head slightly and a tiny smile formed on her lips.

The End