Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith

Author:Alexander McCall Smith [Smith, Alexander McCall]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-11-28T20:23:31.649000+00:00

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A l e x a n d e r M c C a l l S m i t h tions caught her eye. A man stood beside a contrabass saxophone, one hand supporting it, the other pointing to it in a tri-umphant gesture. It was as if he had captured a rare specimen, which the instrument appeared to be, according to the article. It had been made by a factory in Italy which was still prepared to make such large instruments, in return for—she was shocked by the price. But what a beautiful piece of construction with all its gleaming keys and rods and great leather hole pads, like inverted saucers.

Jamie stood in front of her, the boy by his side.

“That’s a real stunner, isn’t it?” he said to the boy.

Isabel looked up. The magazine was laid flat on the table and the boy was looking at the picture of the contrabass saxophone.

“Would you like one of those, John?” asked Jamie.

The boy smiled. “How do you lift it?”

“They come with stands,” said Jamie. “I know somebody who has an ordinary bass saxophone, which is slightly smaller.

He has a stand for it. A stand with wheels.” He paused. “This is Isabel Dalhousie, John. Isabel is a friend of mine. She’s quite a good pianist, you know, although she’s too modest to say much about that.”

Isabel rose to her feet and shook the boy’s hand. He was at the easily embarrassed stage and he blushed. It must be very hard, she thought, to be so in between; not a man yet, but not a little boy either. Just something in between, and struggling with bassoon lessons.

The boy left, nodding politely to Isabel. Jamie saw him out of the front door and then returned to the kitchen.

“Well,” he said. “That’s the last adolescent for the day.”

“He seems nice enough,” said Isabel.

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