I put out my Walkman after I ordered. I’m in the same restaurant that I said I would never come to again. But still, I'm here. How did this happen? I inserted in my Walkman, an old mix tape by a friend of mine who is now gone, and drowned in the memory of her sweet and subtle death.
I thought to grieve in this place of sadness but another memory arrived and it was in the form of a man.
He walked into the area with his curious smile, as my eyes gazed him. He talked to the manager-in-waiting while I managed to recreate in my mind the first time I saw him walk in this restaurant. It was the same night that I had regretted for all of the nights that are there. But it was, I had to admit, a night that must never be forgotten. It was the wonder of the blue stars from up above that made it seem so simple yet so mysterious. But the stars were not to be seen during that night. It was only of the black silk covered tables and the granite-tiled floors that I could remember a single dance and a few scores of music which made the night even more pleasant. But it was also the mystery of the chandelier that made the night feel so intimate yet so wrong.
He had walked into the restaurant just as he walked in tonight. He talked to the manager-in-waiting and went straight to the gathering. It wasn’t much but it was something. It was surely something. He went his way to the table, from across the table I was assigned. My eyes met his that very night but quickly dismissed. Rumour from all around the hall has it, that he is someone to watch out for and so I did not dare. I did not know him nor will I ever want to.
Elvira Madigan Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major of Mozart was playing. I could most definitely remember. It made me prance while I walked towards the buffet table. It made me sway to the music. And that was when I accidentally bumped into him.
“Easy there,” I remember him saying. It was the very first time I heard his sweet enchanting voice. “You dance like that on your way to eat and you’ll be hungry on your way back.”
“Elvira Madigan. You can’t not move to it,” I remember replying him while pointing to nowhere as if to acknowledge where the music was coming from.
“Yes, indeed. It is a song worth dancing to,” he said to me in a rather comedic way, laughing at the end of his sentence.
“It’s a song that’s been playing the whole night ‘round, so far as I can tell. I’m inclined to it now. Everyone does not seem to notice but they’ve only been playing this and Dream of Olwen of Charles Williams from the moment I’ve arrived here,” I told him endearingly. “It must be Mr. Gall’s favorites.”
“Are you close friends with Mr. Gall?” he asked as we then made our way together to the buffet table.
I picked up a porcelain plate just as well, with this man as I said, “We are not generally acquainted but my father used to know him. I thought that if I would honor their acquaintance with each other, I might as well go to Mr. Gall’s book signing.”
“So you are not a fan of his books, then?” he asked me.
“I could recall reading “A Price for the Greedy” since it was on my father’s bookshelf but I could not say that I enjoyed reading it. It was more of a gothic read. A bit too gloomy for my taste,” I told him in a subtle way.
“Ah, but it must have struck you in some way, did it not?” he asked curiously as he took a spoonful of the vegetable salad on the buffet table.
“I could not say as much but maybe in the tiniest way possible, yes. It was a feast; a definite divine intervention,” I told him sarcastically with a slight eye roll and cold chuckle.
He laughed and said, “I’m sure my father would love to hear your slight divine intervention whilst reading his book.”
That was when I remembered my face to flush in deep embarrassment. Had I not been so stupid to have bumped into you? Had I not been such a fool to dance to a classical tune? Had I not been the idiot to have responded to your quaint comment? If only the start had not begun at all. Only then would it not have ended. If it did not happen in the first place, there would be nothing to end.
But it did.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta