2005-11-16 - 7:34 p.m.
3
8:01
She went to the bathroom feeling dirty. She washed her face. There was a noise from outside of the bathroom. She thought it sounded like another woman was in the cabin. That did not make sense. She began to put makeup onto her clean face.
She heard it again. This time she felt more certain that another woman was in the cottage. She began to think this new woman was being pleasured by her husband. The sounds were becoming moans to her ears.
Moans of ecstasy.
She looked at her face in the mirror and never remembered being so beautiful. Joel would be hard pressed to get a better looking woman then his own wife.
Another moan echoed in her ears.
She went to the door and flung it open. There was noise that she clearly heard. It was not another woman and it might never have been. It was classical music. Violins and flutes fought with drums and piano keys to make beautiful music all over the cottage. She walked down the hall and turned away from the kitchen toward the sitting room. Joel sat on the couch in there staring into the window where piled snow pressed against the glass. She was afraid he would not hear it.
�Do you hear that, Joel?�
He never looked at her.
�It�s so beautiful.�
They remained where they were. Madeline stood in the open doorway staring at her husband while Joel sat on the couch staring at the window. Joel twitched and turned his head to look at his wife. Madeline put her face into her hands.
�Don�t look at me!�
Joel stared at space in the open entryway where Madeline had been. Something was amiss with her appearance. His mind could not focus any further so the actual part of her appearance which was amiss was beyond his recollection.
He just stared at the entryway.
At the space which once occupied her.
She returned to the entryway but Joel had to slightly turn his head to view her in full. She now stood in the exact center of the entryway. Joel stared at her and knew now what was once amiss. Her face was now completely made up whereas earlier, when she stood off-center in the entryway, only the left side of her face looked done. Al of the preceding is correct but there still seemed to be another idiosyncrasy.
The music had stopped.
Madeline spoke.
�Do you still find me attractive?�
Joel found her more beautiful than ever.
�You are a song.�
�What kind of song?�
He heard the music start anew.
�A song that doesn�t need swords.�
She walked to him. They put the situation at the forefront into an impertinent perspective. They flourished in the realm created by their ignorance. Madeline�s moans echoed through the cottage.
They sounded familiar to hear ears.
