Erase Me

XII

Stupid me, I agreed to go to Idris’s house for dinner with him and his father, the senator.

I walked into the living room of my house and presented myself to Charlie. I swallowed my pride and did a girlish twirl for him in my cerulean dress. He cackled at me and I playfully pretended to be offended and marched back into my room and slammed the door shut. He called out for me and I opened the door and ran into his arms. He was sitting trapped on the couch and his only movement was when we turned him onto his back to sleep.

I left the house and walked with the speediest means to the senators’ neighborhood where I slipped through the gate and walked past all the mansions as they burst with brilliant light. These houses could probably all be seen from space, twinkling more radiantly than the stars.

I walked across Othmar’s luscious green lawn and knocked on the door. I went through the same ordeal with the maid as always: her counterfeit compliment and my forged gratefulness.

In the dining room, I dropped down into the chair and waited for food. We ate. It really wasn’t anything new and as usual, Othmar just had to bring up the anti-music act again.

I summoned my nerve and dismissed my caution. “Senator, could you explain to my why music would hurt the government today if people no longer see the power behind it? I mean, why are people still executed for whistling down the street? Does that not seen just a little unjust: death for committing something so innocent and harmless? And if people used music to protest the government all those decades ago, then does that not suggest that it is the government’s fault in the first place for being so corrupted?”

Othmar slammed his fist down on the table. Idris flinched but I welcomed his anger; it was a sign of weakness for him. “Whistling leads to humming and humming leads to singing and singing leads to rebellion. We need to be strict or the blood of our countrymen will be spilt all over the land.”

I laughed. “It’s sad that whistling is all it takes to bring on a much needed revolt.”

I glanced at Idris who watched me helplessly and tried to muster enough courage to warn me but either he couldn’t or he didn’t want to. He wanted to see how his father would react to my finally speaking my mind.

Othmar stood and I did too. “With peace comes progress and music is just a collection of the same cluster of meaningless notes. There is no progression and no changes. Music represents darkness; music is darkness.”

Music is not darkness, I declared in my thoughts, the exact opposite. I pushed in my chair and left, muttering a small but significant vow that things will change, whether I have anything to do with it or not.