Away

39. Eat. Sleep. Practice. Repeat.

Over the next few days, life becomes a mix of practice, eating and sleeping. The one thing that brings a change in the monotony is the time they spend together. They spent every moment together.

Eddy's room has slowly been transformed into a practice room.  He spent every night with Brett anyway, and it was nice not to look at the music stand, violins and papers every time they entered the living area.  The apartment felt more like home now, especially after they hung the curtains.  They can now decide when they want to get up the morning in stead of the sun through the window deciding for them.

August in Cape Town was horrible.  The winds blowing so fierce sometimes that trees are felled and people are blown over as they try to walk.  The two stayed inside most days for that reason, and really focused on the practice.  They were ready.  They could play the piece they prepared through without sheet music now. And there were no parts with issues.  They resolved all the hard parts. 

Today was the day.  They had to be at the studio at 2pm.  Brett silently wished it was earlier so he could get it over with.  He could feel the nerves building up in the pit of his stomach. Eddy made breakfast whilst Brett took a shower to relax.  They sat eating on the couch.  Neither liked the strange kitchen table thing, and they gave up on that a few days ago. 

"Brett"
"Eddy"
"We practiced hard.  You know? We will sail through the audition.  Have faith in what you accomplished".
"I know.  But it still makes me nervous.  Playing it with you is way different to playing in front of strangers."
"If you get nervous, just close your eyes and imagine we are here, playing together, just us".
"I will try.  Should we play through one more time?  There's still a few hours before the audition".
"No.  It will make you more nervous.  Forget about the violin till then.  We can watch some TV in stead".

And so they did.  Until it was time to get ready.  They checked everything was in the violin cases, including the spare bow.  Then they made their way down to the waiting taxi.  Once they exited the building, they were harshly reminded of the strong wind outside.  They had to hold hands and onto a street lamp to steady themselves.  Once in the taxi, Brett took one look at Eddy and burst out laughing.  The wind turned his previously neat hairstyle into something from a horror movie.  Eddy desperately tried to push it all down.  "I will have to go find a bathroom once we get there so I can fix this", Eddy laughed. 

The audition was nothing like they expected.  The studio had a huge orchestra room filled with musicians, in the process of doing some preliminary sound checks.  On one side was a recording room, full of panels and lights. The lady from Human Resources showed them through and introduced them to the producer, who was also the conductor.  He let them sit in with the violins, and then tapped his baton.  He lifted it slowly and on the downbeat everyone starts playing.  It sounded terrible.

He waves them all to silence and then starts talking to the sound engineer.  Eddy seizes the opportunity and walks over.  "Excuse me, my name is Eddy, we're here for the audition today", he says as he greets both by shaking hands.  "If I may, there's some tricks I learned whilst doing recordings of this kind in a Singapore".  The conductors shrugs his shoulders and nods for Eddy to proceed. 

The main issue that Eddy identified was that all the different instruments were in the room at the same time.  Recordings rarely work that way, and he learned over the years how to split them up for the best results.  The producer agrees to give it a try.  He sends everyone out except the strings and brass.  The sound quality is much better even after the first try.

"You seem to know what you are doing.  My name is George.  The sound engineer is Tebogo, but everyone just calls him Hippy.  I think we can use your talents better than just playing the violin.  I'm not used to having these many musicians around. I used to produce pop music before, so this is kinda new to me. Of course you would have to play violin also when required.  Would you be interested in becoming the assistant director?"  Eddy was surprised, but gladly accepted.  This is what he knew best.

They meet the lady from HR after 2 hours in the recording studio.  She prepared offers for them to go through.  Brett will be a freelance violinist.  Paid commission for every job he completed.  Eddy will be permanent.  Assistant Director.  And the package they offered him was very attractive.  He spends some time going through the procedure for a work permit, and he hands over all the documentation required for the application.  The lady informs him that it takes a week to be processed.  There's a change it might , but that's usually not the case.  Nothing to worry about.  Brett starts work the next day. Eddy has to wait for his permit.

Once they reach home, Brett and Eddy give each other one look, and then start waltzing around the living room. They were so happy that everything worked out. They can now focus on their music, their careers. Once all the excitement is over, they both plonk themselves down on the couch.

"Bretty"
"Eddy"
"I think I'm ready to tell you what happened back in Singapore".
Brett listens as Eddy recalls the last relationship he was in. All started well. They worked together, one a musician, and him, the head of sound engineering. Almost similar to the situation he was in with Brett.

"It was all fine at first. If I gave instructions, the musicians obliged, and we ran through many recordings in a week". Then his partner started slacking in practice. And expected Eddy to overlook it, because they were in a relationship. He tried many times to encourage practice, as it was affecting the whole orchestra, but to no avail. Then the day came he had to call it out in front of everyone.

"I spoke to him privately first. He kept coming in early after the rests. I asked him nicely to please look at the conductor, follow the baton and the other musicians". Unfortunately, the talk didn't help. So Eddy had to say something. Even then, the performance didn't improve over the next few days, and the producer finally requested HR to terminate his contract. And that's when life became a nightmare.

"We broke up. He said I didn't care for him. Else I would've protected his place in the orchestra and overlooked the small things. He put nasty comments on my social media pages. I had to delete all my accounts. And it all culminated in the worst fight I ever had in my life, in the lobby of the recording studio, in front of many colleagues".

He followed Eddy back to Malaysia that night. Eddy has never invited him over, but he followed at a safe distance and Eddy never noticed. As soon as he reached his apartment, there was a knock at the door. They talked things out and all seemed fine. They even spent the night together. But in the morning, he was harshly brought back to reality.

"He walked into the bedroom with my violin in his hand. He laughed at how easy it was to seduce me, and then he said if he cannot have a career as a musician, neither could I". He smashed Eddy's violin against the wall. It took three attempts until the violin finally shattered to pieces. And then he left, without saying another word.

"That morning I decided to pack up and go. I didn't know what else he would attempt. And even though I had a very nice job, I was not prepared to live in fear every day".

Brett gave Eddy a hug. "I'm so sorry Eddy. I can't even imagine what that must've been like".
"Eddy"
"Mmm?"
"I will never do that to you"