The Unspoken by Thomas Fahy

Author:Thomas Fahy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 2008-11-11T05:00:00+00:00

The upright piano in the main hall was the perfect instrument for the end of the world. Dusty and old and falling apart. Many of the plastic keys were cracked or melted with cigarette burns. A few at the top didn’t make any sound at all when Jade pushed on them, but she didn’t really mind.

You hardly play up there anyway, she told herself.

As far as being in tune…well, it wasn’t even close. It could still be played, though. You just had to get used to it. Jade always figured the instrument had its own language that way, and that she’d learned it so well that most folks thought she was a native speaker.

The piano made her special at the compound, Jade explained to them. Everyone got real quiet when she played. Grown-ups talked about her after supper. And old Mrs. Haggerty often took her aside to lament the day she stopped taking lessons.

“My mother always told me I’d regret it,” old Mrs. Haggerty said with her wobbly voice.

Blah, blah, blah…

There might not have been any music teachers at camp, but Jade wasn’t going to stop playing anytime soon. That was for damn sure. This was one thing she could do better than anybody else there. Even Jacob.

And Jade liked it that way.

Her parents did too. They were never much in the talking department. Her father, Bruce Rowan, preferred grunting as his primary means of communication before the days of the Divine Path. While Mrs. R. smiled so often you had no idea what she was thinking. But both of them listened to Jade with a look, that’s my daughter expression on their faces—especially when the congregation gathered around.

Although being prideful was probably a sin (though Jacob never really talked about that), Jade could tell they were proud. Her father would cross his arms in front of his chest and lean back in a way that made him look like someone who’d just finished eating an enormous meal. Her mother…well, she smiled, of course.

And on the days that something deep in Jade’s chest hurts from missing her parents, she’s glad to know she made them happy at least a few times in her life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.