# Don't Ask Me Why: Chapter 2



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Marie was just finished working at the box office. It wasn't a shift she particularly enjoyed, since it was being in contact with so many people in a short amount of time, and it drained her. What she really preferred was working with the music programming department where she put together and edited various programs of concerts and recitals. She loved looking at them when they were completed, and seeing all the neat program notes and biographies of the performers.

And for once, she could be satisfied with something she did.

Marie had a rough time in the last few years. She wanted to be a professional musician, and she went to a community college to study flute and violin simultaneously. However, she had gotten to both instruments too late in life, and when she tried to transfer, she did not make it anywhere. Stuck with an Associates degree and little idea of what she wanted to do with her self, she applied to jobs that were at least music-related. Marie couldn't imagine living without some aspect of music in her life, and when she got the programming position at the Music School, she was more than happy to take it. Slowly, her dreams of being a flutist and violinist meant less and less to her, and she figured she could make a great career if she stayed right where she was.

Not to mention the perk of free admission to any university concerts she made the program for.

Marie had only been working for half a year but she enjoyed it greatly now. The only thing she regretted was not being able to be in touch with the names she typed down on the programs. They all seemed to be such interesting, passionate people, it would be exciting to make friends with them. But she felt like an outsider, a mere secret admirer. What caught people off guard most was when she ever told anyone she wasn't a student at the university. In fact, she was the overseer of students who came in part-time instead. Thus, she had no true companions in the music school.

That is, except for Tanya.

It was afternoon now, so Marie went to her little office in the back to check on her computer. She would normally get emails from various students applying program notes and bios that she would take. But it was early in the year, and school had just started up.

Marie sent an email to a coworker:

"Dear Christy,

Tomorrow, take up the box office shift 9AM-3PM, will you please? No students have applied for the job, so I will get on it for advertising. Also, a box of ticket paper should be coming soon, I think also tomorrow, so be ready to pick that up at the mail box. A second box should be coming soon too, but don't open that. It's a secret. 

Take care,

Marie



"I wonder if I should ask if she wants to go out Friday night," she pondered to herself. "It may be the only time for a while..."

She turned off her computer anyhow, and after some book-keeping did one last check around the office.

This small space had very little adornment, just white walls with a window to the back, and a little plant in the corner that had always been there, but it was fake. All Marie could think of adding to her desk was a little stone paperweight that looked like a troll, a joke gift from her brother who now lived far away.

"Yes, I think I know just the thing," she smiled to herself, and locked up for the day.


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