# Don't Ask Me Why: Chapter 1



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

It was perfect.



The perfect shoes!

Tanya pulled them from the store case and tried them on. Dark red, black velvet embroidery, and 8 cm stiletto heel. And only 25$! She grinned.

"I'll find use of these soon for sure!" she said to herself, and drove home with her new purchase.

Stepping into her apartment, she found Marcus laying on the couch in the living room, watching TV.

"You look happy," he smiled. "What did you find this time?"

"It's a secret," Tanya laughed. "I'll show it to you on a special occasion."

"Oh, it's like that?" Marcus smirked.

"No, you sly devil!" Tanya laughed. She rushed into the bedroom, hid the shoes in her closet, and hurried back.

Tanya was very beautiful. She had long, dark blonde hair, light blue eyes, and naturally red lips. Even when she had a serious expression on her face she was beautiful, but she was ever more so when she smiled.

"Come now! Get off that couch! We have to get ready for rehearsal! It's in 20 minutes. Do we have anything to eat?"

"We have left-overs from yesterday."

"I guess that will do. I'll warm it up, but you put on a different shirt, will you?"

Marcus rolled his eyes, but smiled to himself anyhow.

It's as if they were already married.

There was a choral rehearsal that night, and Tanya was singing as well as assisting the head director, Dr. Johnson. Marcus came because he was observing for a recent composition he was starting, and he wanted to hear the sound balance of choral music.

Tanya had been assigned a work that she would conduct for the next choral concert, which was in 4 weeks. It was a piece called Blue Bird by C.V. Stanford, a short, rare, but unusually beautiful work, and Tanya loved it. The singers in the choir were also talented, but occasionally there was something to bug about.

"Tenors, you really need to watch your pitch in measure 43, think higher!" she would plead. "And sopranos, make sure you get the diction out at measure 53 despite the high range," demonstrating the line and diction with her own voice.

Her voice was amazing.

Tanya had received a vocal performance degree from conservatory, and she wanted to go ahead to apply for opera placements, but she did not win any auditions. But she was ambitious, and so was now continuing with a choral conducting assistantship as a back-up while still auditioning and taking more vocal lessons. She was unusually gifted in coaching, even though her technique was still rather amateur. It was the first year at this present music school that Tanya met Marcus, and it didn't take a lot of dating for them to fall in love with each other, and they moved in together in the summer after Marcus proposed. Now it was a the Fall semester.

Marcus was a calm, clever man with dark brown hair and deep-set eyes. He was extraordinarily brilliant when it came to composition, having already 20 compositions under his belt, and several premieres of his works by fellow performers. Vocal music at the present was interesting him more than anything else. He loved to hear Tanya sing when she could, but she had few opportunities nowadays except for gigs. When she started singing, Marcus looked over at the head Director who was sitting nearby, and winked. Dr. Johnson nodded his head with a smile, and bent over to him.

"I'll find use for her, don't you worry," he whispered.

"Not if I use her first," Marcus grinned.

He wanted to compose a work for orchestra, choir, and her as the star soprano soloist. It would be his final project, and her final vocal project. Maybe she would sing and conduct it simultaneously! Innovation was what university is all about, and it would be highly acclaimed if it could be pulled off.

Leaving that night driving home, Tanya and Marcus were listening to the radio, and Verdi's Te Deum was on.

"Oh this is one of my favorite short choral works out there!" Tanya sitting as passenger clasped her hands to her chest. "Couldn't you write something like this?"

"I may, I have yet to find a subject to sing though. It could be religious. But a poem can do just as well."

"Do something romantic," she cajoled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe..." he smiled.

Tanya just knew that this was going to be a great year.


----------

