Violet improvised- not well- over scales as she played violin to a muted Fellini movie. She'd seen it before. The movie was La Dolce Vita and the main character, a very handsome man, was following a woman into the fountain, a very beautiful woman. She felt the pain and excitement of it, and wished there were no subtitles, because she found herself reading them, getting into the story as she had before. It was one of her favorite films, and reminded her of her early twenties, when she'd palled around with a few other uneducated Bohemian types. But then they'd gotten their lives together, went to school, or died from a drug overdose. Then she'd met Eugene... and she still kept up with them, but could never keep up with the dead.
Violet was leaving tomorrow, and she'd called up Sheryl and Jamal and Harry, then her husband. She'd already been told that it was okay if she met Eugene at Dollie's and Erica's townhouse, as a half-way point.
Violet felt most guilty about leaving Harry and Jamal. They'd agreed, without ever really saying it, that they'd never sleep together again. That friendship was what was next. Given what she knew about gay men, she didn't think this was a lie like if straight men said it, but they were bisexual, and maybe they just wouldn't want to talk to her.
She felt an unease and excitement at seeing her husband again, after two weeks without him: feeling very lonely in her hotel room, thinking about the mime in the park for some reason, as she played music to the muted movie.
Alone, she thought, and the sound of the violin became too much. She stopped playing, put the violin and bow in its case, and unmuted the movie. The Italian language that the characters spoke seemed isolating, as if they were drawing away from her, or she from them. She flipped through the movie channels and found 'Some Like it Hot' and began to undress, getting into bed without preparation, knowing she was going to fall asleep before she took her make-up off, washed her face, brushed her teeth; wanting to fall asleep, yet afraid of sleep. I should have brought someone here, she thought, but that was foolish. Something in her made her feel as though a night alone was a repurifier, as if she should go back to Eugene a virgin woman.
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Words & Dreams (Book 1 of Smithers Family Saga)
General FictionA funny, thoughtful story (with cute puppies!) about three women: A sexually liberated wife, Violet, born an orphan, travels throughout New York City and its outskirts after losing one of her lovers. Dollie, a beautiful woman, falls in love with a a...
