Read The Lucy Variations for Free Online Page B

Kristoff’s Hagspiel was there for all of it.
    Will said, “I’d love to try it out.”
    Grandpa Beck gestured to the bench. “That’s what we’re here for.”
    Will and Gus sat at the piano. Aruna had settled onto the small love seat, and Lucy joined her. Grandpa Beck took the wing-back chair, of course, which meant Lucy’s parents had to stand. Martin had followed behind them with a trayful of glasses and a bottle of brandy tucked under his arm.
    Aruna leaned into Lucy and put her lips close enough to her ear that Lucy felt her breath. “When it’s time for us to go, just give me the elbow, and I’ll get Will out of here. Once he’s at the piano, he loses track of things like time and space and social niceties.”
    “Don’t worry, my mom never loses track of social niceties,” Lucy muttered.
    “What are we going to play?” Will asked Gus.
    Gus looked blank. Usually he was told, not asked.
    Will hit a few notes. “Oh, this is nice. I feel the history.” He launched into some Gershwin, one of Lucy’s grandmother’s favourite modern composers.
    How did he know?
But then, Gershwin was only one of the most well-known composers of the twentieth century; Will choosing him was coincidence. She stole a glance at Grandpa Beck to see if he was thinking about Grandma, too, but his face showed nothing.
    So she watched Will.
    His left leg moved up and down with the gentle tapping of his heel. His fingers, confident, glided across the keys. They had less arch to them than Grace Chang’s but more flexibility than Temnikova’s and produced rich dynamics. He was good. Better than good.
    “Gus,” he said, while playing, “do you know this?”
    “Sort of. Not really.” Gus had scooted over to the far right edge of the bench.
    “Play what you were working on with Madame Temnikova for the showcase,” Grandpa Beck said.
    Will grimaced, then smiled, at Gus. Only Lucy and Aruna could see. “Nah. Work starts Tuesday. Let’s just have fun.”
    Lucy waited for her grandpa to make a pronouncement about what Gus should be playing and when. He stayed silent, though, and so did everyone else. Will had cast a spell on them.
    “Okay, Gus,” he said. “How about we improvise a little?”
    He abandoned Gershwin and started to play a bass line that was not classical or jazz. More blues, or rock.
    Gus kept his hands on his thighs. “I don’t…”
    “Yes you do.” Will didn’t stop. “Go ahead.”
    Lucy’s breath became shallow. She felt as nervous as if it were her sitting there instead of Gus, asked to be spontaneous in front of Grandpa, the king of calculation. And yet, the whole situation excited her. When was the last time she felt anything but some combination of boredom and suffocation here in the house? Will had energy. It filled the room.
    “Come on, Gustav,” he said, “jump in.”
    “Go ahead, kiddo,” her father said, tapping his toe and looking dangerously close to dancing.
“Ça passe ou ça casse! ”
    Roughly: sink or swim. The French came out when he was tipsy.
    Lucy’s leg twitched. She didn’t want this moment to wither away. She wanted it to bloom. And she wanted to hear her little brother blow their minds, like she knew he could. “Have some fun, Gus,” she urged.
    He turned to her, and she grinned.
Show them
, she thought.
    He did. At first his notes didn’t exactly go with what Will played, but then he picked it up. Lucy exhaled and leaned back against the love-seat cushion. If Will was the person he seemed to be, then things could be different for Gus. Maybe the chokehold could come off and—
    “Lucy,” Will said, loud and sudden, startling her out of her thoughts. “Now you!” He gestured with his head for her to get up.
    Me?
    She wedged her hands under her thighs. Gus stopped playing and scooted off the bench to make room, his eyes alight. He actually thought she was going to do it.
    “No, thank you,” she said, keeping her voice steady.
    Will’s bass line continued.
    Aruna