Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
TAP
…tap… tap?!?! The prompt word is tap?
are you sure?
OK, I just went online and saw that the word is ‘TAP’ and god knows, if it’s online, then it has to be true. Give me a minute. Late start. This element (of warm-up) is coming at 8:06 am Thursday. yeah! I know! (There’s a window of ….something for me, for writing. too much real world and whatever aspect of my brain that enjoys doing this withdraws and hides, the 5 year boy, tolerating the company clothes demanded by the occasion, spotting the opportunity of an un-attended empty bedroom (with a pile of coats on the bed, like a high fashion igloo), withdraws and refuses to come out until all the strangers have left the house.)
…ah well.
oh, yeah… New Readers? here’s what we do. zoe provides us with a prompt word and our job is to make up a story using that word. A Six Sentence Story. the six in the name refers to the number of sentences it should contain. give it a try. it seems real hard and, if you’re not careful it might feel like work, but it is not. it’s fun (see? nary a capital letter in the last bunch of words! the only rule, really has to do with sentence count. ain’t nobody said nothin about grammar! like I said, Fun!)
PAT
“Tap”, he said.
Patricia thought is was strange to hear a single word, spoken in a solidly-baritone voice, given where she was at the time.
She sat at the console piano, in one of (many) practice rooms in the Music building, sounds of a variety of instruments lightly filling the air, in a quiet barrage of notes and timbres, none loud or assertive enough to proclaim the instrument of it’s birth, it was the sound of an mute orchestra in an asylum.
‘Tap, Tap, Tap.’
Now she was sure she heard it, words and not notes, the fact that she sat in a room that consisted of four walls, a ceiling and a floor, all of which, (except the floor and a little square of glass in the door), was covered in acoustic tile, looking like a sponge pressed into two dimensions; she looked at the sheet music tilted over the keys, ‘Mozart’s Table Music No.3’.
… said he, “Pat.”
About clarkscottroger
Ooh, I love this! You set a very clear scene with “the sound of a mute orchestra in an asylum” and the acoustic tiles lining the walls. There is a spooky tone to this, it gave me good pause!
thank you… (in part) a remembered scene from college days. the music building did have this one section of practice rooms, couldn’t have been more than 6×8 just enough for a piano and a music stand and a chair.. mostly soundproof and you’d walk along the corridor and could see in the single, small window in each door, someone playing something.. without being able to hear them
I remember walking by those “practice rooms” too, and it was oddly strange that no sound came forth.
He said? Who said? Pat said? What said, “tap, tap, tap.” Who’s on first?
lol… the clue to my attempt* at cleverness in rhetoric lies in the title of the music on the piano!
*mostly unsuccessful, but fun
My first response was, “wait, what?” Back to read again…
Nice one!
Reminded me of the sound lab at NOVA. Tiny little room with sound board and reel to reel. And it was in the basement of the building to boot. I only got scared when I remembered where I was lol.
The sound of a mute orchestra-you kill it every week
ty
Those rooms — i remember, in high school, too. The faint sounds you had to block out so you could practice.
distant and yet all mixed up
I remember these rooms in college. Often the tap was on the glass window when your friends were trying yo distract you.
oh when a door opened on someone playing!
There was something sad about those practice rooms where the music was trapped inside desperate to escape!
it was (seeing these for the first time) one of the most indelible of impressions when first to school
Fabulous ending!
Thank you, R
Welcome.
Interesting. Very interesting, particularly if you know of the Table Top Duet.
this (this weeks’ Six) was a good example of the fun (and freedom) to experiment with the word arranging and such… I started with the Tap and, for god knows what reason, thought of Palindromes… that immediately impressed me with how far beyond my abilities that would be… so then the Pat-Tap endings and I was, well, there’s got to be something less literal than a palindrome and, somehow ended up with Table Top Duet (which I had not heard of before) and I was all, ‘holy shit!’ how cool is that! Tried but did not succeed at a bi-directional story. but the fun of trying!*
*and the atmosphere here, in the place that zoe creates each week, has totally everything to do, not only with my feeling like trying (to write such a thing) but my enjoyment of the process of not succeeding. ya know?
“Mute orchestra in an asylum…” Nice wordsmithing. I always loved those music practice rooms. Great Six!
(one of) the best parts of college*
*along with Thursday nights… and sometimes, Sunday nights**
** I attended what was referred to as a commuter college, and while there was a sizable dormitory population, many of us went home for the weekends