Solace & Rosanna Ch. 03

“Bizarrey! Bizarrey!” Solace called as she entered her apartment. “Mommy’s home! Come here, sweetums!” That’s probably why she’s staying away, Solace thought. What self-respecting cat would want to be called ‘sweetums’? She dumped her cane and shoulder-bag at the door and began to search her one-bedroom apartment. She looked in all of Bizarrey’s known hiding places without success—under the bed (which was useless since she would not have been able to see her there anyway); on the window sills, under the table and on the bed. No luck. She returned to the living room, stopped in the middle of the room and began making a slow circle. As she threw up her arms in defeat, she happened to look up and see a lump of reddish brown fur and penetrating eyeballs staring down at her from the top of some very high bookshelves. “Wow! A new trick, Bizarrey? Now what would you have done if I hadn’t looked up? Well, I guess you would have come down for food, if nothing else. You nutty cat!” Solace smiled but suddenly flung herself into her favorite armchair and began crying uncontrollably. Bizarrey jumped down from her lofty perch and onto the arm of the chair, softly meowing and rubbing her soft furry body next to Solace’s arm. She scooped the cat into her arms and stroked the little head that she found so adorable. “Bizarrey, what’s happened? Why has Sanna changed? She had never seemed concerned about…about… Solace could not bring herself to say the dreaded words. Perhaps she had not been aware of the signs. They had known each other for five years and the issue of her visual impairment hadn’t been too much of a problem. Okay. So there had been a few minor accidents. But the consequences hadn’t been catastrophic; they were both still alive. Wasn’t that the important thing? Lately, Sanna had begun focusing a great deal of attention on what she perceived were Solace’s flaws. I think I handled this fairly well, she thought but did not voice.

Bizarrey turned around a few times on Solace’s lap and plopped down, a signal that she was in for a prolonged stretch of petting. Solace began to stroke the length of the feline with one hand as she yanked up the end of her t-shirt to wipe her eyes, stopping short of blowing her nose. She might be distraught, but that would not be good. Bizarrey jumped at the sudden movement, but did not scamper away as she usually did. “You don’t think the fact that I don’t see is horrible, do you B?” Solace asked as she reached for Bizarrey’s head and poked her in the right eye. Bizarrey gave her a nip on her finger and turned around on her lap so that her head was facing in the opposite direction. “I’m sorry, girl.” Solace thought briefly about calling for Chinese take-out, but she found she had no energy. It was as if she had been completely drained. She felt hollow. The only activity she could do was think and thinking was pretty crappy right now because the only thoughts running through her mind were of Sanna. Her mind drifted back to the first time they met five years ago.

1998

Solace stood against a wall, sipping water from a sports bottle. She was eager for the rehearsal to get underway. She had never sung in an all women’s group and she was looking forward to it. She had come as close to the appointed time as possible. In fact, this was positively early for her. No matter that Katrina was going to start in a minute. She congratulated herself on her promptness and placed the bottled water into her overcrowded knapsack. She was absorbing her surroundings and marveling at the immensity of the apartment when her musings were interrupted.

“Do you need any help, Solace?” Katrina asked Solace with a smile in her voice.

“Nah, I’m fine, Katrina. But thank you.” Solace assured her, not wanting to play her poor blind woman role so early in the game.

“Okay. Just let me know, though. I want you to feel comfortable here.”

“Thank you.” Solace smiled an extended her cane in preparation of navigating the large room.

“All right, ladies!” Katrina Belvers bellowed over the din of excited female voices. “If you can get the same volume into your singing as you do your speaking, we should achieve some fantastic crescendos.” Peels of laughter greeted this remark.

“Please find a seat wherever you can. I’ll have more chairs next week. I promise. They were supposed to deliver the rest today, but there was a problem, of course.” She sighed in exasperation.

Solace gingerly picked her way across the room of sixteen women. She was headed for what appeared to be an empty blue chair. As she approached the object, she opted not to use the mobility technique she had learned (where you put your hand out to find out if there’s an obstacle) turned and plopped down on a very shocked Rosanna Romero, who abruptly rose in surprise, toppling Solace to the carpeted floor.

“I’m sorry.” They said in unison as a chorus of embarrassed chuckles rose and fell.

“Well, you might as well introduce yourselves since you seem to be getting intimate.” Came Katrina’s smooth voice as she made to go and help Solace to her feet, but backed away as she saw that Rosanna Romero had the situation in hand.

“I’m Solace Tynan. Did I break anything? I thought you were a chair.” Solace stated while trying to straighten out her peasant skirt and blouse. The women closest to them laughed.

“Rosanna Romero, and, no, you didn’t break anything.” She said calmly.

Solace noticed immediately the low, sonorous tones of her voice. It was very pleasant. She must be a second alto, she thought briefly. She looked up but as the light was relatively dim, she could not make out the features of the woman with the sultry voice standing before her. All she could discern was that her voice came from a slightly higher position, which meant she was a bit taller than her own five feet two inches. Rosanna handed Solace her cane, guided her to an empty seat next to her as if she had been guiding blind people all her life. Solace was rendered momentarily speechless.

Katrina began again “First, I want to welcome you to the first rehearsal of the Upper Manhattan Women’s Ensemble. I know the name may sound a little old school, but I’m open to suggestions. You can e-mail me with your ideas. Next, I’d like to let you know that Myron Owens, our Manager, for those of you who don’t know him, has already booked our first gig on September 29. I know that doesn’t give us much time, but I have ultimate faith in you all.” This last sentence she stated to sixteen women sitting there with their mouths open. “Okay, ladies, we haven’t begun to sing yet, so you can close your mouths.” Everyone laughed. “And now we’ll break into sections. First and second sopranos in the first two rows and first and second altos fan out where you can find seats.

“As usual, the sopranos get the seats. They’re such divas!” came the deep voice of a woman as she passed Solace, who had been guided to a seat by Katrina, probably hoping to avoid another accident.

“That’s right! That’s the way the Goddess meant it! All others bow down to the superior ones.” Proclaimed the woman sitting next to Solace.

“Ooh!” chorused the other sopranos in the section, except Solace, who was engrossed in removing her Braille music from her knapsack. As she laid it on her lap, the woman who had shouted the witty retort turned to her and said, “My name’s Ann.”

“Nice to meet you, Ann. I’m Solace.” She stuck out her hand to be shook.

“Great name.” Ann replied, giving Solace’s hand a brisk shaking.

“Sometimes.” Solace admitted.

“Is that all our music?” Ann asked in awe.

“Not all, just the pieces we’re studying tonight. It’s a helluva lot to learn.” Answered Solace.

“I’ll say.” Agreed Ann, opening her own folder.

The rehearsal commenced and all attention was riveted to the process of making beautiful music. The women had been chosen for their abilities and their potential for enhancing the group. Solace was pleased that her Braille music skills were up to the task of keeping pace with such a challenging choral group. She felt exhilarated and was crestfallen when the rehearsal came to an end. Katrina thanked them and the women scattered in all directions. Ann stood and placed her hand on Solace’s shoulder saying, “You have a beautiful voice, Solace. It’s going to be a pleasure singing with you.”

“Thank you, Ann. You, too. This is gonna be so cool!”

“It is.” Ann agreed. “Do you need help getting out?”

“Thanks, but I’m okay.” She assured her.

“All right. See you next week!” Ann called back as she left.

“Okay!” Solaced answered.

Solace reached under her chair and began searching for her knapsack, which she was not finding. I thought I put it right here. She got down on her hands and knees and started feeling to her left and right when she heard a familiar voice say, “Is this yours?”

Solace stood up quickly and took the proffered knapsack. “Thank you. Rosanna, was it? Asked Solace.

“Yes. You have a great memory for names.” Rosanna answered. She remained standing in front of Solace.

“I wish I could remember other things as well. It’s just a fluke. Did you enjoy the rehearsal?” Solace asked while attempting to put on her knapsack, the straps seemed to have shrunk.

“Need some help?” Rosanna asked innocently.

“No. I’m just trying to get—“ Solace said through clenched teeth. “This damned thing seems to be—“

Although it was slightly amusing watching this woman struggling to get her knapsack on, Rosanna felt a twinge of guilt.

“Maybe you need to loosen the straps a bit. Here. I’ll do it.” She extricated the flailing Solace from the bag and yanked the straps out to an adult size, walked behind her and slipped it on her shoulders. “Is that better?” She asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Solace said gratefully, feeling slightly flushed. “I guess we better get out of here before Katrina throws us out.” She added.

“She won’t, but you’re right. Can I walk you out of here?” Rosanna asked tentatively, not really sure why she had.

Solace thought about it for a moment and decided to put the Super Blink act to bed for the night. “Sure.” She said, smiling up at the mostly unseen figure in front of her.

They went down in a well-lit elevator which finally allowed Solace to see the strong, café au lait features of the other woman. She had short, dark hair with fringed bangs that gave her face a youthful, sexy look. Sexy? And the blue chair turned out to be a blue tailored pant-suit covering what looked like a silk shirt. They exited the building and stopped under the awning.

“Where do you live?” Rosanna asked.

“On one hundred ninth street and Fifth, near the park.” Answered Solace.

“I’ll walk you home.” Rosanna stated.

“I walk these mean streets alone all the time.” Solace snapped before she could stop herself.

“I’m sure you do. I’d just feel better if you’d allow me.” Rosanna answered before she could stop herself.

“I just don’t want you to think I’m some poor, helpless blind chick who—“ She began and then realized the last part of Rosanna’s statement. Solace relaxed until she realized that she wasn’t quite sure which way was Madison Avenue.

“Er, Rosanna, could you tell me which way is Madison?” She whispered.

“Come on.” Rosanna took the arm without the cane and they began to walk west.

“And, yes, I enjoyed the rehearsal…very much.” Answered Rosanna belatedly.

“So did I.” Solace agreed and smiled “I think it will be a fun, challenging experience.” Neither of the women knew how prophetic those words would turn out to be.