# Don't Ask Me Why: Chapter 14



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Time flew by until the end of the semester for Marie. She had so much work to do that she barely was able to keep up with Tanya and what she was doing. Final exams and papers were on everyone's mind. It would be great for all the stress to end.

Tanya had yet another piece to conduct the chamber choir for the December Choral Concert. It was the biggest of all the three concerts of the year, and usually was holiday themed. There would be carols and such, but Tanya wasn't assigned to any. Instead, she was assigned to conduct a Mozart piece, Regina Coeli. It was a very simple piece that didn't take much effort from the choir, so Tanya was not overstressed about this one.

Marcus had now at this time completed his piece for Tanya to sing in the Spring Semester. He called it Three Poems by Pushkin for Voice and Orchestra, and sung in Russian. The poems included were Don't Ask Me Why, The Dream, and at Tanya's request, A Wish. Marcus had in mind that all the poems would be related, and that the overall theme was despair. The words were extremely powerful in each one of them, but almost to a disturbing point. Marcus hoped that Tanya wouldn't take the words too close to heart, because they were almost sacrilegious of their relationship. But it was all in the name of music, was it not?

Marcus turned in his score to his professors who immediately approved it. He wrote in a grand, romantic style, but with an unusual sense of dissonance, like Shostakovich. It would take a month before the manuscript could be published and printed, so it would be in January when the score would be ready.

"Why didn't you show me the music before you gave it away?" Tanya scolded him the day she found out he had.

"It must have slipped my mind. Don't worry, you will like it. It's not the most dissonant piece I've written."

"Well that's good," Tanya smiled contemptuously. "Now that you're done with it... are you done with most of your composition projects."

"Well, yes..." he said slowly.

"What's that?"

"It's been done, as well as a long dissertation on 20th century orchestration..." he began turning away.

"So then, we can spend more time together?"

He turned back to Tanya, "Yes, we should, I would really like that. But Tanya..."

"Yes...?"

"If I... do anything... in a while... that hurts or upsets you... please forgive me, I don't mean it."

Tanya frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean," looking down at the ground.

Marcus sighed. "That's ok. Everything will be alright," he took Tanya in his arms and kissed her, his usual trick to console her.

Marie did not have a chance to see Alex for several weeks, but reserved again another ticket for him for the Orchestra Concert. She stopped wandering the halls on her breaks, since she did not want to run into Ernest, and remained in her office most of the day. Thus Marie spend most of her time alone at her computer.

It was around this time that Marie finally sent a facebook friend request to Alex. She was dying to find out more about him.

"He wouldn't think it odd, would he? We've talked enough in person... would we ever communicate through facebook though?" she thought to herself. Such self-conscious thoughts became common with her.

Alex was rather quick in accepting her request, only a few hours later. It turned out he had almost eight hundred friends already. Marie immediately went online to check his profile.

She immediately felt her face go pale as she stared at her monitor.

Blank.

No relationship status, no religious/political views, likes, nothing. All kept private, or nonexistent. Marie put her face in her hands.

There was nothing she could do.

The third university concert series came up much faster than the previous ones it seemed. It was another neat program, but very difficult to get together in a short amount of time. Vaughan-Williams' London Symphony was the feature, alongside Takemitsu and Debussy and Beethoven. Marie listened to all the pieces online, and she could tell it would be a stress on the orchestra, particularly the strings.

A few days before this concert, she got a dreaded email from Ernest. But it was only to discuss applying for the Lab Orchestra, and that she would need to do a little audition just to make sure she was qualified. The audition would take place in January as soon as classes started up, and then if she was accepted she would be assigned different weeks.
_
"Since we have been low in turnout of the flutists, I think you have a good chance. Most likely you will do auxiliary, so no pressure. Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck when you audition for our directors. Sincerely, Ernest"_

"Nothing odd in that email," Marie mused. "He probably thought about saying something more, but didn't. Not yet anyhow."

Marie wasn't able to practice in her apartment much, since it bothered her neighbors, but she had been given access now to the practice rooms for the next months so she could get ready. Marie wasn't sure how it would really work out, since it had been a while since she touched her flute.

"But it would be fun to do something meaningful for once..."

Since Ernest left out the details, it had not yet occurred to her what this Lab Orchestra really was, and she thought it was only a sight-reading experience.

If she knew, she probably would have had second thoughts.


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