It's Still Life

At an Intersection Named After an English King and a Saint
Six Sentence Story: Part 7 A Moon River

Guitar slung across her back, Melody Gardot sits on a tall wooden stool with a red vinyl naugahyde seat that makes a squish and pluck sound when her thighs move …it’s all music, and her voice is smoky, intimate, conversational – she whispers a soulful melody to us, here at the dimly lit Six Sentence Cafè & Bistro.

Music here is like anywhere – it wanders outside the checkbox, it scatters across towns and cities, levels bad attitudes, it orbits space on a gold CD, Voyager music of bird song, forest noises, whales’ songs, the music of 55-languages.

And I sit next to Pierre at an occasionally round-ish table – Pierre with a cognac, I’m having an Aperol and soda – we are of these strange animals, we who gather in the darkness, who hum and sway in a slow parade.

And then Melody plays G, D, and C with G held for a full bar, it creates a sense of anticipation and recognition – I know this song like my own fingers know my face.

Moon River: it tugs at my heart, it picks apart my stitching, reminds me of what was and what might have been and what never will be, and even though I have a Huckleberry friend …

… this song unravels me.

And Pierre touches my hand, and says “My Brigid, what troubles you – what brings you to tears over a song about a moon and a river …

… and I know – it’s the nostalgia, for something beyond reach, but some things are better unsaid.

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Previous instalments of this story: Part 1: The Pull Back   Part 2: The Measure of Her    Part 2: The Gatekeeper’s Response  Part 3: The Colour of Walls   Part 4: Tectonic Shifts  Part 5: Out of the Frying Pan  Part 6: How to Break Eggs Part 7: A Moon River  Part 8: Starlight Shines on the Roof  Part 9: Before When   Part: 9.1 Flower Power

Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story, include the word Level. Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Images are copyright and not to used without permission, which I willingly give when asked, and when not for commercial use. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2024.