The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander

Author:Chris Cander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2019-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

THE SUN HAD SUNK behind the mountains by the time she stepped into the parking lot, the air cool and rich with desert smells carried on a stronger wind. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Had she ever been so tired? The road strained toward the horizon, and remembering the long, monotonous drive earlier that day—was it really only this morning they’d arrived in Death Valley?—she felt her energy abandoning her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to make it back to Bakersfield unless she took a short nap first. So she rooted in her trunk and pulled out a towel to use as a blanket, cracked the windows to let the evening in, and lay down on the backseat. In less than a minute she was deeply asleep.

The sound of laughter awakened her. Even with the light pollution from the motel, the stars were bright points in the patch of sky visible through the window when Clara opened her eyes and looked out. The temperature had dropped. Pushing herself up, she groped around the seat for her phone and checked the time: 11:12.

“Figures.” One minute past wishing time. When she was a kid, she’d frequently checked the clock until it ticked to 11:11, then would close her eyes and make a wish, but in recent years it seemed like she always missed it. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. It didn’t matter; she wouldn’t know what to wish for anyway.

She got out and stretched, looking around to see who was laughing: a few people sitting on folding chairs some distance away from the motel, the red ends of their cigarettes glowing. She wanted to splash her face with cold water but was too embarrassed to face the desk clerk again. There was a gas station just across the road where she could stop on her way out. When she was about to get behind the wheel, she noticed an envelope bearing the motel’s name on the front seat. It contained a note, and a key.

Even lost dogs deserve a decent bed. Room 213 in Roadrunner Bldg.—G.

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