Ostinato

Chapter 11

Theo gripped the violin stem tight in his fist, anger and fear bubbling around in his stomach producing a horrible concoction of anxiety and angst. He glared up at his mother, her warm enthusiastic smile only infuriating him further. Perhaps she had been the one who had done this to him? It would be just like her, after all! Concocting some crazy scheme with Uncle Rob, and Jessica, and the tech in the house to teach him a lesson. To try and teach him gratitude for sending him away. To humiliate him, and shame him, and rub his nose in his own mess like a potty training puppy all to try and convince him that she'd been right all along! That he was better off growing up into the perfect performer obediently scratching out tunes on stage so she could brag to her friends!

Well he wasn't going to fall for it! There was no way he was going back to Holyoke. He didn't care what the consequences were. He'd rather pee the bed; he'd rather go back to being six again; he'd rather that he never grew up at all! He jumped to his feet, trying to hold back the tears threatening to torrent forth from the corners of his eyes. He thrust the violin hatefully towards her.

"I don't want it." he growled, barely able to bring himself to look her in the eyes.

His mother's face fell at once. "What?" she said. "What on earth do you-"

"I SAID I DON'T WANT IT!" Theodore screamed, now brandishing the violin like a cave man's club.

Mom adopted a stern expression. "Thedoore." she scolded. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I don't want to play violin, and I don't want to go to Holyoke, and I don't want to do ANYTHING just because you say I have to!" Theodore continued, the words flowing off his tongue unbidden like water breaking through an old dilapidated dam.

He didn't have time to register his mom's reaction, starting to feel the first tears starting to stream down his cheek. Where had that come from? He hadn't felt even close to tears a second ago. He turned away in shame, hiding his face and uncaringly shoving the violin towards his mother, unleashing his grip. There was a discordant thwunk as the instrument clattered to the ground, one of the string twinging loose.

"Theodore!" his mother exclaimed in horror. "Look what you've done!"

"No!" Theo whined, although he was immediately overcome with guilt. It had sounded like Mom really had spent quite a lot of money on the thing. Why had he been so reckless? He began to feel the same terrible dread of getting into trouble he had felt at six, his unregulated preteen poutiness only adding to his emotional turmoil. He started to hyperventilate, completely overwhelmed by the whole situation.

Mom grabbed him by the shoulder, prying his hands away from his eyes and forcing him to look down through blurry tear stained eyes at the damage he'd done. Although not completely destroyed, the instrument would certainly require some repairs. "What on earth has come over you?" Mom demanded. "You're acting like a spoiled toddler!"

Theo kept on sniffling, hiccupping, and hurriedly breathing in and out - barely able to string a sentence together. "J-just punish me!" he wailed. "I don't care. I just don't w-wanna go to Holyoke!"

Mom looked completely baffled, seemingly taken totally off guard by her older (yet certainly more sensitive) boy's unexplained bout of uncontrollable tears. Theo was half expecting her to take him across her knee and give him a spanking right there in the store, but no such fury was forthcoming - Mom's disapproving stern glare softening to a mere bemused frown.

Meanwhile, Uncle Rob had gently retrieved the violin from the floor, inspecting the damage. "It's alright." he commented in an unbothered tone, clearly trying to calm the tense situation "Certainly not beyond repair."