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By the tioing to do this and do it well When she was done, she’d be new and fresh and fantastic She deserved to be those things

She dried herself off with brisk rubs of her towel, purposefully walked past her waiting toothbrush, and went into the closet, where she pulled on the black dress Michael loved She didn’t bother with a cardigan Let people look

Gazing in the mirror over her sink as she finally allowed herself to brush her teeth, she found her eyes ablaze with determination Her hair was a wild mess, but she didn’t plan to tame it She wasn’t in a tame e their routines Stella was going to be the same

After she choked down a slice of dry toast, she stared at her eed with the need for action, for change, for violence There would be no working today People didn’t work on Sundays Once the shops opened, they went out They ran errands They did things together

There was no lossy black Steinway and lifted the fallboard away fro chords for "Clair de Lune," but the song was too slow and too romantic, and it reminded her of Michael She broke fro the her, poured uish into it Her throat swelled, and her heart bled into the notes

That wasn’t enough She gave the piano her rage She pounded chords onto the keys in quick succession like storry wave Still not enough

She did soentle She spoke softly She didn’t hurt anyone intentionally She loved music and order and patterns

She sla off-key jumbles of notes A ain until her pal, and her body shook froainst the noise and herself

A snapping deep within the piano traveled up her fingers and into her ar hands fall away from the keys She lifted her foot fro of the strings The pained stuttering of her heart filled her ears

The piano needed to be tuned

She’d worry about it later The stores were opening soon, and she wanted to go shopping For perfume

• • •

The shop was closed on Sundays, but soo there anyway He unlocked the front door and stepped inside After passing by the e room, he entered the work area in back There, he scanned thethe dry-cleaned clothes, the walls ofmachines

This place was his mom’s livelihood, and she was incredibly proud to be the owner of such a thriving business Of all their extended family, she was one of the most successful Well, she would have been, if not for his dad

To Michael, this place was a prison He didn’t want to do tedious fittings and alterations and dry cleaning He wanted to create so from scratch