Page 18 of The Second Ending
The next move was up to her.
CHAPTER 10
CORRESPONDENCE
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Concert
Hi Marcus,
Yes, I particularly enjoyed singing that piece. You must have heard of the composer. She’s local, but she’s done some big things already, including a movie soundtrack. We were lucky to have her write this piece for us. The poetry is also Canadian, by E Pauline Johnson. Did you learn about her in school? She was very popular in the early 1900s. Her words carry the music in them, I think, and the composer did a fabulous job of teasing them out.
It reminds me of Michelangelo, who said that his sculptures were always in the blocks of marble. He just removed the excess. There’s something quite moving in that idea, I think.
Ashleigh
It wasn’tan invitation to correspond, but it wasn’t a command not to. And, Marcus recognised, there were tantalising fragments of ideas in her message that he could embellish into something akin to conversation.
From: [email protected]
Subject: music and art
Hi Ashleigh,
I hope you don’t mind me writing from my personal email. It’s not a problem using my work one, but every time something at the office goes bing, I think it’s another invoice.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the notion of the sculpture already being in the stone, and I had to learn more. Michelangelo was a smart guy. I think I need to put this quotation on some inspirational-style picture in my board room.
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” I can just see that against some completely unrelated scene, like a night sky or waterfall, or maybe a field full of sheep, and then I can amuse myself in boring meetings by watching people try to make sense of it.
When do you start rehearsing for your next concert? I really enjoyed the last one, and I want to attend the rest of the season.
Yours,
Marcus
From: [email protected]
Subject: art and music
Hi Marcus,
Yes, good idea to move this to personal emails. My assistant sometimes goes through my inbox looking for stuff, and while I know there’s nothing problematic with this, she doesn’t need to read about the next concert and Italian art. :-)
We start rehearsals again next week. We’re doing two different programs, like we do most years. One is all Christmas songs, and the other is Messiah. You’ve heard Messiah a hundred times, I’m sure. I’d love to sing something different one year, but it’s such a tradition, and people expect it and look forward to it…
And with this,a correspondence began.
It was a bit reserved, and a bit impersonal at first, but it was the lifeline Marcus had hoped for. Ash was writing to him, talking to him, and slowly, gradually, opening up to him.
In dribs and drabs, he learned a little more about her life, about her work with domestic abuse cases, about her time in Chile, and about her friends. She never once mentioned Sebastian, but she did write about her friends from the choir.
