The Silver Thread (29 page)

“So what if that’s the only reason they asked you?” Talvi replied. “I clearly heard you say this morning that you were in danger of failing your art history examination. Aren’t you more concerned with passing the course and becoming Professor Patti Cake?”

“Well of course I want to pass, but they don’t even like me. They’re so stuck up.”

“Perhaps they just want what you have, and they’re jealous,” Talvi suggested. “They all wish they had your talent, and one of them envies your haircut.”

“My haircut?” Patti said, squinting in disbelief. “It’s only chopped up like this because I cut it myself when I’m bored at two in the morning.”

“Is that how you get it to look like that? How positively charming,” he said sincerely, and swatted at her blunt bob, causing her to blush. She began humming to herself while she cut geometric shapes out of her orange peel with her X-acto blade. This was the kind of girl who had a wealth of talent wrapped in a blanket of self-doubt, a girl who just needed a good boost of self-confidence from within, a girl who tripped up the stairs not because her feet were too big, but because she wasn’t confident enough to walk with her head held high enough to see where she was going.

Talvi smiled softly to himself, watching her form the geometric sections into the shape of a horse. What he felt for her was tender, it was genuine, much like the adoration he held for his sisters and his female friends back home. But then his demeanor shifted, and a hesitation lingered in his tone.

“I don’t know how to say this correctly…but it’s been on my mind ever since you moved in with us.” Patti shoved a piece of orange into her mouth, not knowing why he was looking at her so intently. “Even though we haven’t known each other very long, I care about you a lot. I don’t want to see you failing art history, or at becoming a professor. Or anything, really,” he added as an afterthought. “We’re keeping that date with them Wednesday evening.”

“Alright,” Patti said, and smiled softly.

After Talvi’s first day of school, the two of them became nearly inseparable, whether at class or in between classes, sitting on the lawn and reviewing lecture notes for the final exam, which was only a few weeks away. Patti was nervous, having slept through a majority of her art history class, but she did end up joining the study group with Talvi. It turned out to be another one of his areas of expertise, as he helped make up questions that the students might be asked on their test, and gave them clues when they struggled for the answers. Apparently Patti wasn’t the only one who would have benefited more by bringing a pillow to lectures rather than a highlighter and sharp pencils. There were quite a few students that were trying to study just as hard, and every once in a while, Talvi would offer up a bit of information that wasn’t found anywhere in their textbooks, trying to help them understand what Van Gogh’s living conditions were like at the time, and how that might have influenced him to paint so many sunflowers. When someone would make a comment like, ‘How could you possibly know that?’ he would just shrug, smile his mysterious smile and take a sip of his tea.

Right around the same time that her husband had started attending drawing classes, Annika started to notice him drawing away from her. Half of the afternoons that she came home from the music shop, he would kiss her on the head and go for a long walk or a drive by himself. Sometimes he didn’t come home until dinnertime. Sometimes he walked in the door with his bow, and sometimes he walked in the door with his bow and a new ticket given for yet another violation. He was starting to collect them the way James collected business contacts. He’d been cited repeatedly for shooting in undesignated areas of the park, for speeding, for parking in non-parking zones, for insubordination to the police. Immediately following the first gig that the band had played in nearly a year, Talvi got arrested by an undercover cop for buying drinks for all of his fellow study group members, some of whom were minors. Although it had been a grand headache to pay the fines for all of his outstanding bench warrants before getting him out of jail, there was no better public relations strategy for the band than having the lead singer’s husband escorted out of the club in handcuffs, laughing wickedly as he ordered another round of drinks on his way out the door, including ones for the officers. Even the fliers that James had so painstakingly created were no match for Talvi’s inherent and effortless notoriety, which was probably the reason why he was the one to bail Talvi out that night, instead of Annika.

It wasn’t enough that Talvi was going to class with her closest female friend, or that he and James had arranged that Patti’s help in painting the house would be payment for her share of the rent through autumn, which freed her from having to find a job anytime soon. Annika even felt herself get annoyed when Patti had decided to set up her little painting studio in an empty corner of their practice space. It had been Annika’s territory for five years, and now there was a new girl on the block. The boys all loved it, though, and in between breaks they would come over to see what she had created while listening to them play. Annika tried to be supportive, but she was clueless regarding their jargon about composition, design and the use of negative space that James, Chivanni, and Talvi tossed back and forth like a soccer ball during their critiques. Charlie didn’t know the jargon either, but he knew that he liked what Patti painted.

Annika felt like she was the only one noticing that Talvi and Patti were becoming a bit more than friends. To her, it seemed he found any excuse to bat at her blunt black bob, give her hugs, or rest an arm on her shoulder as though she were his sidekick.

When Annika asked James what he thought about them spending so much time together, he didn’t even bother looking up from his laptop when he informed her for the millionth time that he thought she was either being a stupid bitch or a crazy bitch, depending on the day. Oddly enough, as much as he loved to gossip, James wouldn’t even entertain Annika’s conspiracies for one second.

“I’m trying to figure out how to work this sample into the song. I think I need to slow it down even more. I know I can do it if you just give me a minute.” James insisted, which Charlie took as the perfect excuse for a snack break since the three of them had already been practicing for an hour. He went into the house while Annika pulled her long red hair into a ponytail and played the now familiar chords over and over through two different pedals lying on the floor. She didn’t like to take breaks very often to begin with, and lately, she didn’t take them at all, except to use the bathroom. She picked out the melody on her guitar, one of the songs that had been playing over and over in her mind until she finally had the guts to work on it with James and Charlie. It was so different from her previous work, she was afraid that they wouldn’t like it. James played a harmony on his keyboard and ran it through the sampler, turning a few knobs on his mixer.

“That’s pretty good,” said Annika. “But try it a little slower. Do you think you could you draw out the notes even
more
?”

“You mean like this?” James asked, playing them again with much more deliberation. Annika nodded and played the melody again for him.

“Yeah, I like that a lot!” James gushed, genuinely excited. “It’s a really different direction…kind of depressing, really, but it sounds more, hmm, more
authentic
than anything else you’ve come up with before. I know you don’t have any words yet, but how do you like this for the chorus?” he asked. A few turns of his blinky knobs and switches, and a new sound met Annika’s ears.

“Uh, it sounds friggin’ awesome,” she smiled, feeling just as inspired as James to hear the song flesh out a little. “But I can’t hit all the notes I want to.” She held her left hand out, flexing her fingers. Her hand and wrist had been aching on and off for the past few weeks, and at first she thought it was from being out of practice. But it should have gone away by now. She pushed the idea of carpal tunnel syndrome out of her head and came up with another solution.

“I think I’ll switch to bass and get another guitarist for the sound I want,” she admitted as she took off her guitar and set it on its stand.

“What?” James asked. He looked totally puzzled. “You mean, like right
now
?”

“Yep,” Annika chirped back. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

She trotted down the driveway, burst through the kitchen entrance, and called out her husband’s name.

“Up here!” he chimed back. Annika bounded up the stairs to find him in Patti’s room, sitting beside her in front of her computer. Patti held a box of candy in one hand and was pointing at the screen with her other while Talvi was typing, although very slowly.

“Look love, I’m writing my very first eeeee-mail!” he said proudly. “Patti Cake helped me access my electric mailbox and I had a letter from Finn waiting for me. He says that I’m to be an uncle a third time, and one of the mares is with foal and Ghassan is to blame,” he let out a devilish howl of delight and pumped a fist into the air before adding, “Atta boy, Ghassan! I wonder who will be next to be put in the family way? These sort of things tend to happen in threes, you know. That’s why it’s such a magical number.” Patti turned around and the girls shared a grin while Talvi continued to write, striking one key at a time. It was pretty adorable, that someone so handy with a hammer around the house could barely hammer out a sentence on a keyboard.

“I suppose you’ve never used the internet before, have you?” Annika asked. “Or computers?”

“This is all still relatively new to me,” Talvi said, still focused on the screen and keyboard before him. “I tried utilizing typewriters for a time, but the damn things were so bloody heavy, and there was always all that ribbon to fuss with. Paper and ink have never gone out of style, and it travels quite well as far as I’m concerned.” He turned to Patti with his mouth open wide and she tossed in a piece of black licorice.

“Do you want some?” she offered Annika, but Annika wrinkled her nose.

“Eww, no way. When it comes to black licorice, I think there are two types of people in the world; those who love it or those who hate it. I don’t know anyone who is on the fence about it.”

“You really dislike it that much?” Talvi asked as he turned around. Annika nodded her head.

“Yep. I won’t even kiss you for the rest of the night, unless it’s on the cheek. I only like the red kind.”

“Well then, we are a perfect match, aren’t we?” he mused, gazing at the monitor. “I don’t much care for the red version. It’s too sweet for my taste.”

“Where’s Chivanni?” she asked, looking around the room. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“He’s hiding,” Patti said, sharing an embarrassed glance with Talvi. “We were trying to clean up around here while you guys were practicing. It turns out he’s afraid of the vacuum cleaner.”

“Seriously?” Annika asked with a laugh of disbelief.

“Oh yeah,” Patti said with a nod. “He’s just as neurotic about vacuum cleaners as Jill’s dog is, so we stopped cleaning and switched to something a little quieter.” She turned to watch Talvi tap the keyboard, and shook her head at how slow he was.

“Did you have any plans after you finish your email?” Annika asked him.

“I thought I might get Patti started cutting some of the wood for another project I’ve thought up,” he replied, still mesmerized at the letter he was magically composing on the screen.

“You think
I’m
going to use power tools without seriously maiming myself?” Patti joked with a hearty laugh, and Annika could see her tongue was black too. “I know you can fix burns and small cuts, but I don’t think you can bring back the dead, can you?”

He turned away from the computer screen and smiled softly at her.

“No, I certainly cannot. I’ve only seen it happen once in my entire life, and I’d rather not see it happen again.”

“No way, really?” she exclaimed, sounding completely gullible. “Who did it? Was it someone you know?”

“Yes, it was a friend of mine and Annika’s, actually. He brought my twin sister back to life in front of our very eyes.”

“Oh my gosh! Is he a doctor?”

“No, he’s a vampire.” He said this as if he was telling her that Talvi’s sister was an accountant. It was respectable, but not very fascinating. “And now Yuri is one as well.”

“Are you serious?” Patti asked in disbelief, but Talvi only smiled wide.

“Not at all, you silly girl. Are you mad? Of course he’s a doctor,” he replied, and mussed her hair before winking at Annika.

“Was there something you wanted, love?”

“Yeah,” she said, ignoring how comfortable he seemed with Patti. “I was wondering if you’d indulge us with your musical talents. We need someone to play guitar so that I can focus on my bass lines. I kinda hate to admit it, but honestly, you’re better than I am. I feel really dumb for not asking you to play with us weeks ago.”

Talvi was surprised yet flattered by her query. Was it some kind of peace offering for the way she’d been behaving lately? Did she really mean it? She seemed like she did.

“I don’t want to be intrusive,” he said politely.

Annika knew better…she knew how much he would love a chance to show off to her and her friends. It wasn’t until Patti urged him along with Annika that he agreed to join in. Under their supervision, he finished his message and clicked ‘send’.

“What happened to my letter?” he demanded when it disappeared from the screen.

“It’s in your brother’s mailbox now,” Patti explained. “See, this little box says ‘message sent’. That means it went through just fine.”

“That’s it?” he asked, unsure if he should believe her or not. “That’s all there is to it?”

“Aw, sweetie, you’re officially a twenty-first century elf,” Annika said, kissing him on the cheek. “Now come on; I know you’d rather play guitar than learn how to type.”

Needing no further convincing, he walked with the girls down the steps to the kitchen, where Charlie joined up with them as they made their way back to the practice space above the garage. Patti curled up on an overstuffed sectional sofa as Annika ushered Talvi to join them, motioning towards the black guitar she’d been playing only a little while ago. Talvi took a moment to regard the handsome instrument, and he imagined that the guitar regarded him as well.

“So I guess this is the guitarist you were talking about,” James remarked from behind the keyboard. “Is he any good?”

“Am I any good?” he repeated with an arrogant grin. “I play quite a bit back home, though I’ve never played an electric guitar before.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” she told him as she plugged in her bass as she lifted the strap over her head. She thought for sure he would have had plenty of opportunities, being as old as he was. “It’s already tuned.”

“You’ve seriously never,
ever
played an electric guitar before?” Charlie asked, grinning as he and James looked on in anticipation.

“I always wanted to, ever since I saw Led Zeppelin play at Earl’s Court back in ‘75. Badra’s beard, that was an amazing experience. All five shows were sold out, and the energy in the crowd was phenomenal. When they performed Kashmir, I thought I had died of happiness and entered the afterworld.”

Charlie’s jaw dropped, and the drumstick he’d been twirling fell to the floor. Led Zeppelin was his favorite band ever.

Talvi lifted the black guitar from its stand, looking it over with an air of excitement before he adjusted the shoulder strap to accommodate his longer arms and torso.

“The strings are considerably thinner,” he observed.

“You must be pretty good, if Annika’s letting you even breathe on her Gibson, let alone play it,” Charlie said, crawling on the floor to retrieve his drumstick. “I’ll bet if she had her own roadies, she still wouldn’t let them come near it. Or her Melody Maker. Or her P-bass, for that matter.” He pointed at a cherry and black guitar, and a cream and tortoiseshell bass that Annika was now tuning.

“Why is that?”

“She inherited those from our grandpa when he died,” Charlie said. “He was a studio musician way back in the day…played with a whole shitload of famous people. He always had the best stories to tell us when we were kids. He left me enough money to buy these killer drums, but those guitars are worth a helluva lot more. A 1960 Les Paul just like hers sold at an auction for about a third of what this house is worth, and hers is a ‘59.”

“Then I’m extremely flattered and somewhat apprehensive about this,” Talvi replied, looking at the gleaming black instrument in his possession. “Perhaps this isn’t the best idea.” He had no idea what a Melody Maker or a P-Bass were, besides highly desirable.

“It’s okay babe, you won’t hurt her,” she said as she watched him. “Just be nice to Black Beauty, and she’ll treat you real good.”

“How adorable…you named your guitar after the pretty pony?” he teased. “I’d expect no less from a bird like you.”

“I didn’t pick that name. This series of Gibsons are called Black Beauties,” Annika replied, smirking at the one who had taught her best. “It’s just a nickname for the style. So, whenever you’re ready…
giddy up
!” The anticipation was killing her. It was killing Patti and James and Charlie, too. They all looked on while Talvi zipped through a few scales, then stopped.

“My gods,” he said, looking dumbfound.

“What’s wrong?” James asked.

“Nothing’s wrong; this sounds bloody
brilliant
!” The others laughed and settled back into place while Talvi got better acquainted with his pretty pony and played a Led Zeppelin tune.

“Ready to try something new? Do you want a chord structure?” Annika asked him.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said. “I can pick it up as we go along.” James played the intro that he had come up with not too long ago, and then Charlie came in on the drums, playing a steady trip-hop beat. Annika waited for the right moment, and then picked out a bass line that had been hanging out in her head as long as the melody had been.

She watched her husband curiously, practically seeing the wheels in his head spinning, grasping ahold of the melodies and harmonies with uncanny ability, like he already knew the song by heart. He looked intensely at her, piercing with his eyes, and suddenly she suspected that he was inside of her head. He smiled, and nodded his head slightly, confirming that she was indeed right, that he had read her mind and she had read his.

She began to understand that he was reading all of their minds, and the fact that he had never played an electric guitar before seemed of no consequence. He was able to take in all of the directions that James, Annika and Charlie were going, and then fuse them together with the underlying chords. His long fingers reached notes that Annika never could have; his inhuman capabilities reached a range that would have given Jimmy Hendrix a run for his money.

Talvi’s eyes fixated on Annika’s once more, as they brought the song to the next wordless verse. The two of them gazed at each other while their left hands glided up and down the frets and their right hands picked out every note. Even with their feet securely on the ground, Annika felt like they were dancing in perfect sync with each other. It was the first time in a long time that she felt they were genuinely operating as two parts of one entity. And after months of writer’s block, lyrics did indeed come out of the woodwork, exactly as her husband had promised. They couldn’t have been better planned out than if they had been written down on paper in front of her, but they were only in her mind. The eerie incantation drifted to her lips just in time for her to step up to the microphone and sing: