Prologue:
Music filled the hallways of the concert hall. Chamber music and violas sung in the hall. It was a straight A note. They were just warming up. Tuning, as some called it. Reeds were wet, strings were tightened, and voices warmed up. People were getting ready. Getting ready for the best saxophone player in all of the Northeast United States.
The conductor entered the large, intimidating hall and called for attention from the orchestra and choir. They were silenced by a wave of his long, skinny baton.
"Now," Called the conductor. "Let us give a warm welcome to our guest saxophonist, Miss Massé." Applause thundered, even though it was only the performing group that was in the hall. The show wasn't to start for another half-hour. They still had time to rehearse with the star.
She made her way elegantly down the isle in-between the rows of soft, comfortable seats. The audience would like them very much. That, and the music of course.
The applause rang louder and louder still as Miss Massé drew near to the stage. Finally, she bowed, and the applause slowed to a stop. The applause was just echoing in Massé's head now.
Massé set her case down on a seat, soft and red as all the others, and opened it, drawing out her beautiful, wooden violin.
"Excuse me, Miss Massé," Piped the conductor, whose voice was quite low for a man of his young age. "I had understood that you would be joining the symphony with your saxophone. Did I understand incorrectly?"
"Oh, but I am so good at both, why not just play the violin. Besides, I felt like playing it today anyway. Now, where is my seat?" She turned her head and jogged up the steps to the stage, reaching for an empty seat near the front.
"What are you doing?" Asked one of the bass players, with anger and concern in his voice.
"Moving this chair to the front," Massé replied, without even thinking.
"But that is my seat," Chirped the harpist, who was just wheeling in her harp from off stage that very minute. Miss Massé didn't seem to notice the slightly obese woman, although she was hard to not look at.
Massé dragged the chair to the center front, facing the conductor's stand. She didn't seem worried that she was messing up the whole performance at all!
The choir rehearsed, the microphones were tested, and the French horns, violas and basses were tuned and practiced. All that was left to do was the performance itself.
The time came for the choir and the symphony to get into their places for the entrance. People from all over the state and even farther had gathered outside the large, heavy doors to the hall, hoping that they could get their seats fast. Get the best seats faster than he person next to them could.
People began to file into the concert hall as the ushers opened the doors and told them where to sit.
When the hall was filled up to the capacity, and many more people hung outside of the doors just to listen, the show began. The lights were turned on and shone on the stage, the performers entered through stage right and stage left. The choir came in shortly after the brass section, and the applause sounded.
After two pieces, the conductor introduced the guest star.
"And now, without further ado, Miss Massé on the sax- I mean, on the violin!"
Confused mumbles rang out through the audience, followed by loud and thunderous applause as the star came out on stage. She bowed, violin in hand, and took her place in center front, right next to the conductor. She propped her violin under her chin as the conductor raised his baton, and the hall went quiet.
Music filled the auditorium, and the violin played loudly. She had been practicing for years for this.
After three pieces, which seemed so short to Massé, she had her long solo piece. She began the song on her own, until the harp and choir came in. They sounded like angels singing in Heaven.
The faster part of the piece came, where the bow of the violin looked a blur to the audience. It was hard for the chorus to keep up with her expert talent.
She played and played, fingers moving like lightning across the sky, there then disapperaring to another place on the neck of the violin. She tossed her long luxurious hair as she felt the wave of music crash over her. Then she shook. She shook so violently that her music ran twice as fast.
The audience was amazed, thinking that it was just the performance, but they hadn't noticed that the rest of the orchestra had stopped playing and the conductor looked dumbfounded.
A woman in her late forties, maybe, came running up the isle towards the stage.
"Is there a nurse in the audience?" She called out through the echoing hall, which produced nobody.
"Ma'am, what are you doing?" cried the frightened conductor. The woman was putting Massé on the floor of the stage. She was shaking rapidly.
"Saving her life!" Cried the woman. She pulled a card out of her pants pocket and held it up to the conductor as she tried to steady the woman.
"Lisa Cuddy?" Asked the conductor.