Access Point by Tom Gabbay

Author:Tom Gabbay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780578666952
Publisher: JMS Books
Published: 2020-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

24.

Reaching into the darkness, Ula located her phone on the bedside table and swiped her finger across the front panel, bringing the screen to life. 6:53 AM. She'd slept badly, lying awake for hours before finally drifting off, only to be roused by yet another troubled dream that slipped out of her grasp as soon as she re-entered consciousness.

Rolling onto her back, she slid a hand into her panties and allowed herself a moment of pleasure. It was a rare indulgence, and she always felt ashamed afterward, but it provided relief from the increasing angst that gripped her, day and night, over the past few weeks. The comfort was fleeting, of course, and only served to make her feel a little more empty inside, a little more alone.

She slipped out of bed, picked up her cane, and limped into the bathroom to wash her hands. Alone for most of her life, Ula had never felt lonely until she lost Mia. It was difficult to say what had been different about the young artist, but from the moment she turned up on the doorstep, with that beautiful, open smile and the soft, friendly southern American accent, Ula had been won over. She'd always dismissed the idea of 'love' as an embarrassing fabrication created by song writers and novelists, but if such a thing as heartbreak existed, this was it.

There was no food in the kitchen, at least nothing worth eating, and Ula had no appetite anyway. Filling the kettle, she stared out the rain-splattered back window and cast her mind back to the night, four months earlier, when she and Mia sat in that very room, drinking wine as they prepared their one and only meal together. Strange, she thought, to have seen that evening through Mia's eyes, and how different the young girl's experience had been from her own. She hadn't been aware of Ula's heart pounding with excitement as they spoke, or her hands trembling as she tried to cut the vegetables for the sauce, and Mia had no idea about the shiver that went up Ula's spine when her new housemate reached across the table and touched her arm. Perhaps she should have confessed her feelings, but there was so little time.

Carrying her tea into the sitting room, Ula was drawn to the piano. She hadn't played in longer than she could remember, but something made her take a seat on the bench and open the fallboard. After sitting there for several minutes, eyes closed, her hands moved, in a seemingly involuntary movement, onto the keys. The notes came effortlessly, some deeply rooted memory guiding her fingers; some new, unfamiliar emotion inspiring a flawlessly tender performance of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Of all the mysteries in life, 'falling in love' might be the most bewildering. Why and when it happens is as inexplicable as why the vibrations from a particular group of tightly wound steel strings, when organised in a certain way, can make a human cry. But, in the end, the how and why of losing your heart to another doesn't really matter.

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.