Kira at Tanglewood
Copyright© 2026 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 5
Mr. Williams was the first of several people to reach Kira. “Kira?” he said, obviously puzzled.
“Mr. Williams, this was both my and Jan’s mistake. He asked me yesterday if he could use my cello for his recital piece, and I told him it was okay with me, but it is really someone else’s instrument, and I had to ask Rachael for permission and that I would get back to him. He assumed that when he didn’t hear from me, the answer was yes. Mr. Williams, I was really tired yesterday, and every minute of my day was music. I was barely able to stay awake and got a bus ride back to Miss Hall’s. The driver had to wake me when we got there, and this morning I was late, and in my rush, I forgot again. Mea culpa.”
There was a woman older than Kira’s mom who arrived in time to hear the most of her explanation. She sniffed. “Well, that’s a story. Mr. Clarke, is it?”
The young man nodded.
“Have you ever met Miss Kinkaid before?”
“I was never formally introduced.”
Mr. Williams smiled. “Ellen, Janos Clarke is Jerry Gora’s son.”
The woman laughed. “An overly verbose answer and something that wasn’t responsive. I am all a-quiver with anticipation to hear the young people play ... if it has half as good as that story, it will be remarkable.”
“Yo Yo Ma assures me that she’s the best of the gang of cellos. She is easily head and shoulders ahead of the other conducting students; she needs more experience, but that will come with the fullness of time. I was sorely tempted to play her symphony first ahead of anything else, but I was committed to the first schedule. I shoehorned in one of Miss Kinkaid’s shorter works anyway. There is not any way that I won’t let her conduct the Pops next week in her symphony ... although I was hard-pressed to decide whether to let her play it or conduct it. I’ve heard her play it, and it was really some of the best cello I’ve ever heard; I want to see how she does conducting it. Ellen, I have the tapes of her performances; I promise they will knock your socks off.”
The woman named Ellen, evidently the Tanglewood Music Director, turned to Kira. “Miss Kinkaid, show up in my office with Miss Morganstern at one p.m., and any other interested parties. Until then. Please, don’t forget me.”
“Yes, ma’am, we’ll be there. And no, I won’t forget.”
Jan handed her the cello as people started down the hill. He waited a second, then said softly, “Why? That meeting will be to determine if they send you home.”
Kira giggled. “You told me the trees made you do it. I love trees.”
“I read in the paper about your park. I thought I was trying a variation on the ‘my dog ate my homework’ excuse. It was the only thing I could come up with on short notice. You do seem fond of trees.”
“We need to get back to the rehearsal. Mr. Williams has allowed me to rearrange the cellos. Your third chair of the first cello section.”
That stopped Jan. “Mom and dad got divorced; actually, Mom did the divorcing. She says I need to have something on my college admission form like extra credit. Third Cello was all she’d let me audition for. I’m supposed to study math in college, not music.”
“I start at Red Bluff Academy after Tanglewood.”
“I hear that’s really a tough school; they teach the classics.”
They went into the Shed, and for the next two hours, it was one piece after another, different composers, different conductors.
Kira did tell Rachael about the events of the morning, over lunch. Rachael sighed. “I heard, and I got a personal note from the Music Director that you and I are to appear in her office after lunch, or I should book my reservations for Phoenix now.”
“I never imagined you would get in trouble because of something I did.”
“Dear Kira, I mean this in the nicest way, but girl, you are without guile. That means you can’t lie without it being obvious. Normally, I’d have wanted to check with my father, but he was already thinking of loaning it to Jan when you came along. Jan’s mother is a big, fat nincompoop.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.