The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton

Author:Tara Isabella Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2022-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The Webster petition goes to the faculty board. The faculty say they’ll vote on it before the end of term.

Laura and Virginia have more imminent problems. Any hope they might have had that Bonnie would quickly bore of choir life is quickly extinguished. As Candlemas wears on, Bonnie becomes increasingly enmeshed in Evensong. She befriends Barry, wheedling him into spending weekdays practicing with her in the choir loft; she flirts shamelessly with Ralph, who blushes and splutters every time she appears, in all black and high heels, leaning ostentatiously over the organ, jutting out her hips. (“He salivates over her like she’s a New Yorker byline,” Virginia snaps.)

But it is Reverend Tipton who is Bonnie’s most reliable protector. He compliments Bonnie’s singing; he overrules Virginia’s objections to Bonnie’s rare melodic mistakes. Within a few weeks, Virginia’s resistance has dwindled to a persistent glower and a consistent refusal to hand Bonnie her choir robes at the start of Evensong when asked.

Laura knows Virginia will never accept Bonnie’s presence. She holds out hope that Virginia will learn to ignore it: learn to close her eyes, the way Laura does, when they sing the Nunc Dimittis and the Magnificat, to focus only on the light, cherubic trill of Bonnie’s voice—to love the music in spite of whom it passes through. When Bonnie inevitably comes up in conversation, Laura tries to turn the topic to one of Virginia’s other, less fraught favorites—running, say, or their revolution. She is unsuccessful.

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