Keep Austin Weird: A Lesbian Superhero Love Story for Grown-Ups by Mary Jane

Author:Mary Jane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: texas, humor, teacher, lesbian, love story, superhero, austin, kindergarten, classical music, boba tea

Chapter 22

- 27 October 2010 7:22 P.M.

* Dell Hall in Long Center, Austin, TX

The cacophony of tones, notes and trills when an orchestra warms up is music to Kim’s ears: it is doubtlessly the best awful sound in the world. Every instrument is represented: grunts from the tubas and trombones, brassy reports from the trumpets, hoots from the woodwinds, sawing sounds from the strings, even Judy’s seven octave runs on her gleaming Venus Harp. It isn’t music, of course, but it is the building blocks of music all flung together without care, like a toddler playing with Legos. The conductor combines the blocks in a coherent manner to build the beautiful house drawn up by the composer.

Kim is in the percussion section with two other musicians preparing for this pre-performance rehearsal. Early rehearsals are held in a nondescript warehouse across town, but since they will be performing these works at the end of the week they are rehearsing where they play: the Dell Hall in Long Center. This makes the warming up din sound even better than normal – a fuller, richer racket that sends a chill up Kim’s spine. The rows of audience seats upholstered in crinkly red velvet are inviting places to park one’s hiney on for an entire Rings series (Wagner or Lord of the). The shiny wood on the stage floor reflects so much light it hurts to look directly at it, and its warm glow makes her feel like the princess she always dreamed she would be someday – hell, that she may still be one day, you never know. Kim imagines Princess Grace gave up on her adolescent princess fantasies long before she hooked up with Rainer, so why shouldn’t Kim still have a chance to experience the royal lifestyle? Strange things happen every day – look at Michael, a world-class skeet shooter, making googly eyes at Judy, who is blushing into her harp. No one would have predicted that a few hours ago, so anything can happen in life and love – though finding a single, gay princess who digs Kim and is OK with her continuing to live with and love Eleanor does sound like a significant challenge. But at this moment of impending musical exultation, she is not about to consider the possibility that anything is impossible.

Too bad, given all these positive feelings, she’s here to play the symphonic triangle. Kim picks up her instrument from a tray of hand percussion and clangs it with its metal toothpick. She tries very hard to see herself as an important cog in the machine that will soon build a sonic wall to delight and enliven an audience, but it’s difficult to build up one’s self-esteem when you are playing an instrument dangling from some fishing line while being grasped between your thumb and first finger, your pinkie extended like you’re partaking in high tea. In the harp concerto, things get worse for Kim: there’s no percussion at all.

All of Kim’s performances with the orchestra fall into the category of “paying her dues.

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