A Little Night Music (11 page)

“Say something,” he urged.

“You’re a miserable human being, you know that?” A wry humor threaded Elli’s voice. An undeniable sparkle in her eyes signaled that welcoming laughter would be the next tune on her lips.

Jon’s hope raised on a high bravado that could have shattered the windows.

Elli’s expression turned coy, playful. “And you have Daddy’s instrument. I want it back.”

He walked toward her, each step more confident than the last, she would make him pay and pay dearly for the weeks apart. “You’ll have to pry it from my lips.” He gave the trumpet a whirl, a dance of notes that begged release from his soul.

Elli snickered, a trickle of the joy Jon knew to be inside her. “And there are no guarantees—”

“Only surprises,” said Jon.

She stood before him now, close enough to touch, close enough to take hold of and show how sorry he was, close but still far enough to change her mind and walk into the house. He thought to plead once more,
Elli—
, but he didn’t have to. She emptied her hands and kissed him as if he had already been part of her story for an eternity.

And Jon understood the comet thing.

Completely.

Elli welcomed him into her house, the house that had seen Sam and Maria through forty years of children, celebration and happiness. In the foyer was a portrait of a little girl with multicolored hair clips and crooked, too-big teeth poking out of her lips with refreshing abandon.

Jon pointed to the little girl’s picture.

“I know, right? No wonder I had tomatoes thrown at me. Embarrassing.”

Elli.

Ellington.

Elephant.

Jon glanced at the trumpet, an ordinary trumpet with a ding in the valve slide to anyone who didn’t know better. But to those who knew, it beat any Leroux story to date. Even the one about a classically-trained blowhard from the Windy City, who found happiness in the Big Easy. As Issa would say, “Dats de magic.”

I
hope you enjoyed the story, if you have a moment you can share your thoughts here with a quick review. - Kathy
.

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Songs featured in the story.

The way you look tonight, 
Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern

My romance, 
Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart

Nature boy,
  Eden Ahbez

Sing sing sing, 
Louis Prima

Shout and feel it, 
Count Basie

Strange fruit
, - Poem written by Abel Meeropol

Blue in green, 
Miles Davis

I’m a fool to want you, 
Frank Sinatra?

As time goes by, 
Herman Hupfeld

Body and soul, 
Heyman,  Sour,  Eyton

Like someone in love, 
Jimmy van Heusen & Johnny Burke

P.S I love you, 
Gordon Jenkins & Johnny Mercer