Kira at Tanglewood
Copyright© 2026 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 13
The second time Kira danced with Linda that night, Linda spoke up. “You are very quiet tonight.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Kira replied. “Not about us, about me.”
“My father has told me a few times that girls who are new teenagers need to rethink everything if they think they know what to do.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting him, Linda! I have trouble explaining it to myself, much less how others will react.”
“React to what, dear Kira?”
Kira sighed. “I’m probably full of myself; it’s what everyone will think. Mr. Williams gave me a composition assignment the first evening I was here. I finished it before the next morning. I was asked how the other conducting students thought I was doing. They said I was too diffident. Linda, I was too diffident! I changed what I was doing. Since then, no one criticizes my conducting.”
“My fellow cellists said they didn’t like any of the pieces they wanted that we were practicing. I didn’t either. Then Yo Yo Ma suggested the Elgar Concerto. Oh! Oh! Oh! The first time I heard it, I knew it was perfect for me. Today, Mr. Williams said I was holding back on how I play it.
“Linda, you have no idea! It tore me up inside! I can only go full out on the piece once! Just once! Then I’ll never be able to play it again! How can I tell someone like Mr. Williams if I don’t hold back ... that’s the last time I can play it? Anner Byslma, Yo Yo Ma?
“Sunday, Linda. Sunday I’ll arrange to go home and then on to school. Until this week I never knew Elgar existed. I need experience, Linda, first and foremost. I am a music sponge and above all, I need more experience. Tanglewood was a drug ... for three days. Now I’m just spinning my wheels. I’m not running from you, dear Linda, but from my inexperience. Dear Linda, I dread what I’m going to tell Rachael.”
“Do you love her?”
Kira smiled. “Of course. My cello teacher brought me to an understanding of my instrument. Rachael taught me how musicians work together. Words fail me to describe the debt I owe her. Taylor Ford helped, and showed me how good I was. I love them all!
“I know that this sounds self-serving, but for now Tanglewood has taught me all I can learn. I need to get better grounded in other music.”
“You won’t forget me?”
Kira laughed. “Linda, Linda ... you are my breath, you buoy me up where many try to weigh me down. I’m going to arrange to come up over Labor Day and visit. God, I hope we can at least kiss!”
Linda was didactic. “Whatever you think, before you leave, I’m going to kiss you!” She glanced around the room. “Just not now.”
Kira leaned close and pecked Linda’s lips.
“Soon!”
That evening when they parted, Linda gave Kira a kiss that curled her toes. Kira, ever a quick study, left Linda floating in bliss.
At the end though, Kira brought them both back to earth. “We have to stop, Linda. Else we go too far.”
“I know, Kira.”
“I will be in Seattle on Labor Day weekend; we should talk more then.”
They traded a hot kiss for another minute, then Linda turned and walked away.
Rachael returned to their rooms an hour later and saw Kira sitting on her bed. “Nerves,” she asked.
Kira laughed. “Whatever for?”
“Twice you play Father, Mother, Daughter, then the Elgar Concerto, then Dueling Cellists.”
“I can play any of them in my sleep. I will be awake the last time I play the concerto.”
“I expect they will want you to play the work over and over again,” Rachael said.
“Once all out. Never again.”
“Kira, what are you saying?”
“I’ve bought tickets to go home on Sunday; I’ll be at the school when the new term starts on Monday.”
“Tanglewood?”
“I learned a lot, Rachael. The most important thing I learned is that I have no concept of the length and breadth of music. You told me once that you’ve heard 95% of the good music. Rachael, I’ve heard maybe a third, maybe a lot less. I need to hear more.”