Fiction Friday: Story #2 - D-flat
CHAPTER ONE - D-FLAT
“Seventeen microtones from perfect,” Allia whispered in a
hushed tone. “Can’t he hear that?” I shrugged in reply. My ear was not nearly
as sensitive as Allia’s but I had good relative pitch. Allia had perfect pitch,
so tuning came more easily to her than to me. Absolute pitch was all that was
required to qualify to be a core tuner. Allia was ready to move from training
to her internship. Me? My future was not so secure. I was sure I wasn’t going
to move on into the next phase of core tuning.
Alllia nudged my arm. “Are you listening to this?” She hissed, “he’s moving farther away from center. The is AGONY!”
I shrugged again as my gut clenched. This final tuning test
determined everything for my future, and my turn was coming soon. I was unsure
of my pitch matching abilities on the best of days, and this day was nowhere
near one of my best.
I took a deep breath, trying to focus on my mindful mantra.
Deep breath. “I am in charge of my own destiny.” Exhale. “I am in charge of my
own destiny.” Inhale.
Allia nudged me again. “Your turn.” I took one more deep
breath and stood up, wobbling as I walked to the core.
I tried to center my breathing, placed the headphones over
my ears, and waited for the sonic pulse to commence. When the aural onslaught
began, I jumped. This was always excruciating to endure. The start always
disoriented me even after doing this for so many years. There were so many
tones coming into my ears that my brain and nerves started shivering.
Inhale.
Focus.
Listen.
Mantra.
Exhale and begin.
My fingers moved slowly at first, twisting one knob to the
left, locking it into place, then reaching for another knob. The pattern was never
the same, so my orderly brain was not able to find the patterns it craved in
the cacophony.
Inhale. Twist. Lock. Exhale. Don’t look at the clock. Twist.
Focus. Lock. Inhale. Important to breathe after all. Twist. Lock. Twist. Not
the clock! Exhale. My fingers were moving faster and faster as tones linked
into synchronization with one another. Inhale. Twist. Lock. Breathe. Almost
there…almost finished. There. The last knob locked into place. Chimes replaced
the tones in my headphones indicating the end of the tuning examination.
Two questions remained in my brain. First, did I move fast
enough to qualify for my internship? Second, did I come close enough to D-flat
with the final tone?
I stood, headphones on my ears. Listening to the chimes of
my completed process. I kept my eyes closed, still not looking at the clock,
and awaited my results.
“Pass,” the disembodied voice announced in my ears. “Proceed to Door C.”
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