'Sup, my hip young parsons? I told you I'd be back as fast as I could!
Okay, this is the first chapter Haru dances in; I seriously considered using "Once Upon A December" for her dance song, but really, beautiful though it is (and one of my favorites ever) it's been done. I don't want to go all cliché on you or any of that…not that it's cliché to use it!!!! I'm not saying that at all! It's just I don't want to copy other people's work or make you go "oh, good grief, this is just like whatever" or anything like that. You get what I'm saying? Actually, YarningChick used it in her totally butt-kicking story "Refuge" (read it! It's great!) so I didn't want to repeat someone else's performance, I guess. It just seemed like a predictable move to me.
All right, I'll stop excusing myself now! The song she dances to is a very beautiful and dramatic rendition of "Ave Maria," which is also powerful and awesome, and I'm sure you can imagine the music in your head…if you know the song, that is. If you don't, look it up. In the meantime, please enjoy this chapter!
By the way, for a character model, I imagine Papa Moon looking like Peter Boyle, the voice of Muta, only he's not cantankerous like Muta, or Frank Barone from "Everybody Loves Raymond," who he also played. He's a nice guy!
"Our little friend is descended from the Nutcracker family. He has learned his trade well from his ancestors. I am sure he will serve all of you very nicely."—Godfather Drosselmeier, The Nutcracker, chapter 2
Chapter 2: Haru Dances with Steinway
Mr. Stahlbaum was a kind man in his mid-forties with a mess of black hair lightly dusted with gray that made him look cool and brown eyes so dark they looked black from a distance and could almost see into your soul.
He served lunch to Papa Moon and his guests in the parlor and ate with them.
"This is wonderful, Mr. Stahlbaum," said Mom, savoring the food, "Your cooking is excellent!"
"That's why I hired him," said Papa Moon, "but he's more than that, aren't you, Mr. Stahlbaum?"
"Yes, sir," he smiled.
"Are you his…assistant?" asked Mom, not wanting to demoralize their host by saying "caretaker."
"Yes, ma'am," he answered, "Cook, butler, driver, bookie, clockmaking assistant, just about everything!"
"And yes," said Papa Moon with a wink, "He even acts as nursemaid on occasion." Mom blushed.
"Besides being my clockmaker's assistant," he continued, "Mr. Stahlbaum has a rather fruitful hobby of his own!"
"Really?" said Haru, "What do you do?"
"I'm a stonecutter," he said, "I like to make statues, mostly birds. They seem to be my specialty. The one I'm most proud of is up there, on the clock."
Haru and Mom looked at the incredible grandfather clock, all carved with cats and nutcrackers, its long gilded pendulums swinging gently behind the glass door. On top was perched a stone bird—a crow with its wings spread but slightly curved in. It wasn't much in the way of beauty, like the clock, but it was a perfectly crafted bird with every detail sweated into its creation—every feather, every claw, every fine line in its eyes and on its legs, and the curve of its sharp beak.
"That's the most amazing bird statue I've ever seen," said Haru, impressed.
"It must have taken so long to make," said Mom, also impressed.
"He did," nodded Mr. Stahlbaum, "He's my magnum opus. I call him Toto."
"Toto?" Haru smiled. He nodded.
"Would you like more tea, Mrs. Yoshioka?" he asked.
"Why, thank you," she said, letting him serve her.
"So, Miss Haru," he said, carefully replacing the tea pot, "Lune tells me you're quite the dancer." Haru looked at Lune, eating nearby with Yuki.
"I guess you can talk to cats, too," she smiled nervously, "I am in a ballet class, but I'm no better than any of the others, really."
"Oh, Haru," smiled Mom, "You don't have to be so modest! She really is talented, Mr. Stahlbaum. She was recently offered a chance to be prima ballerina!"
'Why is everyone so determined to brag on me?' she thought, embarrassed.
"It's true," she confessed, "I was offered, but I don't really want to be prima. Actually, I want to be the one people would call to model for movie characters—you know, like a dancing model, where they watch the moves and animate the characters on them!"
"That does sound fun," said Papa Moon, "But what would you do in the meantime?"
"Oh, I work part-time," she said, "It pays well—not as well as dancing, but still good."
"Well, Miss Haru," Papa Moon asked, "I hope you won't be embarrassed, but would you be willing to dance for us all in here? Lune has often talked of you."
Haru looked at the cats scattered around the parlor, all eating out of nice china. The room was certainly big enough.
"Sure," she said, "Would it be too much to ask if you'd let my mother play for me? She's a great piano player."
"What?" Mom jumped, "Me, play on a Steinway? I couldn't possibly!"
"You're as modest as your daughter," Papa chuckled, "I'd love to hear you play!"
"I always dance best when you accompany me, Mom," Haru smiled warmly. That did it.
"Okay, honey," she chuckled, "Go change into your outfit and I'll be ready for you. What do I play?"
"How about Ave Maria?" she suggested.
"Good!" she nodded. Haru skipped out with a few of the silver cats, who guided her to the nearest bathroom at Papa Moon's request.
Haru walked gracefully back into the parlor in her tutu—not the poofy kind that stuck out like an umbrella, but the kind made of flimsy material that trailed behind her like snowflakes. It was sparkly dark green and the top part was red velvet with soft sparkles. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her slippers were green satin with matching ribbons twining nicely around her legs from the knee down.
"That tutu's much prettier than the black one she wears in class," Lune whispered to Yuki, "Not that it doesn't look good on her; it just makes her harder to find, since they all wear the same thing." Yuki nodded.
"Ready?" asked Mom, seated at the Steinway piano. Haru nodded, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes to draw forth that feeling of peace that freed her heart and helped her dance so well, that inexpressible joy she'd first felt as a small child the first time she'd done a pirouette.
As Mom summoned the intro, Haru rose to her tiptoes with her forearms delicately crossed in front of her, as if a master puppeteer had pulled a string from the crown of her head that ran down her spine and into her feet.
When the song began officially, Haru raised her arms and kicked her right leg out to the side. The dance that followed was intricate and perfectly executed, with the more dramatic parts involving her leaning back with her arms out or giving quick turning leaps. Mrs. Yoshioka grinned happily; she was never so proud as when watching her daughter at her best. It always made her happy to help Haru dance by playing for her—and on a Steinway, no less!
Haru finally finished the dance in a smooth, graceful bow with one hand out behind and one lowered in front. Her audience applauded her enthusiastically, including the cats, who were meowing and…clapping their paws?
'Okay, that happened,' thought Haru, weirded out.
"Let's hear it for Mom!" she motioned to her mother, "I told you she was great!"
"You weren't kidding!" said Mr. Stahlbaum as he clapped, "Masterful playing, Mrs. Yoshioka!"
"Indeed," said Papa Moon, "You certainly are a prima ballerina."
"Thank you, Papa Moon," Haru blushed. Suddenly she could feel someone watching her, besides all the cats. She turned around and saw something she was amazed she hadn't noticed before.
A dark cherry wood cabinet with framed glass doors stood next to a second door; on top was the biggest cat Haru had ever seen! He was white with a brown ear and he was asleep with his mass of fat and fur settled comfortably around him.
"That's Muta," chirped Papa Moon, "my other favorite cat, the big fluff."
"Oh." That wasn't where the feeling was coming from, though; inside the cabinet were old preserved dolls and antique toys and hand carved furniture. In the middle of the top shelf was a tall cat figurine dressed in a creamy white suit with a bow tie and a top hat neatly placed between his ears. His left arm was folded across his front with a cane in his gloved hand; his right one was similarly folded behind his back, like he was about to bow like an English gentleman.
But what captured Haru the most was his eyes—two gem-shaped emeralds with cat's eye pupils in the centers, shining brightly in the sunlight, catching even the silhouettes of the falling snowflakes and the wavering reflection of the candlelight.
"Oh," she sighed and touched the door, "Papa Moon…Did you make him, too?"
"I did," he answered softly, "As Mr. Stahlbaum would say, he's my magnum opus. Would you like to hold him?" She turned her head back.
"Could I?" she asked in surprise.
"Of course," he beamed as he opened the cabinet and carefully took him out.
"Haru Yoshioka," he introduced as he placed him in her hands, "Meet Baron Humbert von Gikkingen."
Haru stared at the strange cat doll she was holding; she just couldn't take her eyes off him, especially those eyes!
"He's so cool," she finally said.
"Thank you," said Papa, "He's a nutcracker." He pulled on the arm folded behind the doll's back and moved it back and forth; the doll's mouth opened and closed. Haru giggled. One of the eyes caught a spot of light like he'd winked at her! She blushed.
"He likes you," Papa chuckled, "Here. Let's let him stand on the mantelpiece, where he can see better."
Papa Moon spent the rest of the day entertaining Haru and her mother; he showed them his cozy yet large house with its rooms and kitchen (Mom loved the kitchen), his gardens and pond outside in the backyard, and pointed out the woods beyond with its many paths. He had all sorts of stories to tell about his cats, his clocks, his estate, everything; he proved to be a masterful storyteller.
But with every trip and tour, they always ended up back in the parlor, and every time Haru would look up at the handsome nutcracker, with his mysteriously beautiful eyes that seemed to peer ever so gently into her heart.
"Papa Moon," she asked over tea, "How did you get his eyes to do that?"
"Oh, the baron's?" he said, "I just put my heart into him, more so than my other creations. When you pour every ounce of yourself into something, it shows." Haru looked at the old man; his old eyes were on the nutcracker. He had a faraway expression. She looked back at the baron; was it her imagination or did his eyes suddenly look sad?
Author's Review:
Yeah, I know—cliffhanger. Bleh…
Just as I modeled Papa Moon's look on Peter Boyle, I also modeled Mr. Stahlbaum's on Elliott Gould, the guy who did Toto's voice in the movie. Not very clever or creative of me, but there it is.
Magnum opus is a Latin term I picked up reading "Charlotte's Web." According to it, the phrase means "masterpiece," or "great work," or something like that. For some reason, Toto strikes me as someone who uses Latin terms, as was evidenced in my one-shot, "Royal Wedding."
The reason Muta is Papa's favorite cat will surface in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this! See y'all soon!
