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Chapter 14
Amelia-Rose felt her mouth go dry. She had loved music as a teenager and played every day but many years had passed since then. Marriage and the social round in London had prevented opportunities for practice. It had been hard at first but the love she had felt for her husband had seemed greater than the love she'd felt for her music. She'd thought at the time that maybe it was just part of growing up and grown-ups played other games than music.
Yet the people in this busy bar on this Sunday lunchtime were of all ages and played with an excitement and abandon that thrilled her through and through.
All eyes were on her as Kate made the introductions.
"This is ... " Kate nodded in her direction to ask her name
"Amelia-Rose " she replied.
"This is Amelia-Rose and we welcome her to our gathering. She is going to ... what are you going to do my dear?"
"When I was young, I played the violin a bit," said Amelia-Rose, nervously. "If someone could lend me a violin, I would like to play something ... if I can. I expect I'm a bit rusty," she added apologetically.
Amelia-Rose looked directly at the hawk-faced man with the violin.
"May I borrow your violin please," she said directly.
He didn't answer at first but looked beseechingly at Kate. Suddenly Amelia-Rose knew that nobody was allowed to play his violin except him. But Kate was not going to let him off the hook.
"Go on Ralph," she said, "it's only a piece of wood. Let her borrow it, she looks very gentle and delicate. The violin's more likely to hurt her."
Ralph slowly handed over the violin, his eyes dark as coals with worry.
"I promise I will look after it," Amelia-Rose said to him, quietly.
The violin was warm from his playing. She ran her finger along the neck and gently sounded the strings with her left hand, feeling their texture. They sounded perfectly in tune.
Standing up, she lifted the violin to her chin, raised the bow to the strings and sounded each one in turn. The bar was now perfectly quiet. Everyone had stopped talking and was gazing intently at the beautiful young woman in jeans and a T-shirt who held in her small hands the most precious possession of one of their most respected players.
Amelia-Rose brought the bow down sharply on the strings creating a deep and strong chord at once dark and primitive. Before the harsh sound had died away her fingers executed a brilliant cadenza that swept up through all the notes a violin could make until it reached its highest point. She held the note as if it was lark flying in the air and then slowly moved down through the chords in triplets rising and falling but always becoming lower and deeper until she regained the powerful chord that was her beginning.
Then she was away lost in notes and sounds the pleasure of holding a violin again lifting her to new heights as she sped through the opening parts of a virtuoso party-piece she'd often played as a teenager. The violin was beautiful and she could have gone on playing it forever.
But she knew that the very essence of this community was that everybody could join in so minutes later she moved away from the haunting classical melody into an old folk tune that she'd played long before. In seconds, everybody was joining in and the bar was awash with the simple melody, repeated endlessly and hypnotically.
After they'd played the tune half-a-dozen times, at a nod from Kate, Amelia-Rose gestured that this would be the last time and ended the tune with a flourish. The bar resounded to the sound of their cheered approval.
Ralph came over to collect his violin.
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