The Music of Spring: Amazing Bottle

The Music of Spring: Amazing Bottle

I haven’t been this nervous since High School Talent Night. I’m Aoede, lead singer and marimba soloist of the band Spring. I still have no clue why my parents named me after the Muse of Song, but from the first day I picked up a wooden spoon and a pan lid, pitch and rhythm thrilled me.
Daddy started me out on piano, but I had little interest in long hours of sitting on the bench. I preferred to play standing up. My hands could span no more than a fifth, and my eyes barely cleared the keys.
Aunt Cecilia laughed at me, and spoiled my fun for a while, until we visited at her house. While the grown-ups talked for ages in the garden, I went inside, to the cabinet where all the lovely glasses stood. I opened the door and grabbed one glass in each hand.

Her coffee table was just right, and I lined up two-dozen sparkling crystal flutes.

On top of the cabinet, she kept an amazing bottle, always full of what I thought must be a very special drink. She never let me taste it, but I had something else in mind. I stretched as far as I could reach and grasped the bottle’s neck. It was heavier than I thought, and I nearly dropped it on the floor.
I pulled out the stopper, and wrinkled my nose. It didn’t smell nice at all. Barely breathing, I tipped the bottle and poured some of the liquid into the first glass.
I poured twice as much into the next one, then stopped and set the bottle on the floor. I needed to check the pitch. The grownups were talking about the lilies, and I knew where to find a spoon in the sideboard. I yanked on the drawer, and hoped it wouldn’t squeak.

The Music of Spring is a short story in nine parts. Stay tuned for The Music of Spring: “Where’s that Girl?”
Read more of my published short stories here.