Chapter 7: The Bond Strengthens

Once they had dressed following their shower, Gavin and Grace felt comfortable and refreshed. The only joint decision they now needed to make was what kind of meal they would enjoy before exploring Gavin's CD collection.

"It's decision time." remarked Gavin. "I'm leaving it to you. What would you like for dinner? I should mention that I'm in a meaty mood."

"I guess that means you'd like something like steak and chips." said Grace.

"You've got the message," said Gavin, "Although I'm open to other options."

"Okay!" said Grace, "We'll go to that one near the harbour. I've been there before. It's quite good. I think it's called 'The V Shed'."

"I like that one as well." said Gavin, "How shall we get there?"

"We can go there by bus and get a taxi back." said Grace.

With this, the couple set out for the nearest bus route which would take them to the city centre. As they arrived at the stop, almost as if by magic, a bus appeared. Once they reached the centre, they strolled hand in hand to the harbour area and located the pub. Once they had settled down and perused the menu, it was Grace who spoke first.

"Are you still in a meaty mood, because I fancy the large mixed grill." said grace.

"In that case I'll have the rump steak," said Gavin, "With chips, obviously."

"Starters?" queried Gavin.

"It depends what soup is on offer today." said Grace.

The soup of the he day was cream of mushroom, which Grace found very acceptable.

They washed their meals down with pints of lager. While they were waiting for the main dishes to be served, Gavin tried to further ascertain the future direction of their newly formed relationship.

"So far," said Gavin, "Today has been the best day of my life."

"It sounds as if you meant that." commented Grace, "Surely, you must have had better days in your past."

"If I have, I don't remember them." said Gavin, "Look at it this way. So far, I've spent several hours in the company of a wonderful human being, who seems to hold the key to my sanity, even my heart. It's a marvellous feeling. I don't think I've ever felt so calm in my whole life."

"Wow!" said Grace, "That pictures me as some kind of superwoman, which I don't think I am, but we do seem to have a telepathic connection. For a start, I seem to be able to bring you peace of mind, just by looking at you and smiling. When I do that, I can almost feel your anger and frustration evaporating. Also, it appears that I know what you're thinking, even before you say anything."

"I'll have to be careful what I think then." said Gavin, "Having said that, spending time with you seems so normal and natural. It's almost as if nature intended us to be together."

"I feel the same way." said Grace, "I've never felt this way about anyone before, not even Rich. Could this be real love?"

"That is more than possible." said Gavin, "I have had one or two girlfriends before, but they didn't generate the feelings you seem to have aroused."

At this point, the starter plates were taken away and their main dishes arrived. Conversation ceased for a while as they dealt with the food. Once this, and a second drink had been consumed, they returned to the city centre bus stops. Once again they were in luck as a bus going their way came within a couple of minutes, obviating the need for a taxi. Once they arrived at Gavin's house, he made Grace comfortable on the sofa while he made some coffee. When he returned to the lounge, Gavin made a somewhat bizarre suggestion about the music he was about to play."

"Let's start with a funeral march." said Gavin.

"What!" exclaimed Grace, "That's rather a weird idea."

"Yes, it is," said Gavin, "But this is no ordinary funeral march. It's the beginning of the final scene from Wagner's 'Ring Cycle'."

Gavin briefly explained the plot of the tetralogy from the stealing of the Rhinegold by Alberich up to the death of Siegfried. He then described what Grace was about to hear, as he got out a large box of CDs and placed the last one in the player. Grace was fascinated by his description, and anticipated the music with pleasure.

"You say this is performed over four evenings in the theatre." said Grace.

"Yes. What I'm about to play is just the last part of the fourth music drama." said Gavin, "Wagner didn't call them operas."

As the music was playing, Grace listened, spellbound. Apart from the 'Paris' version of the Tannhauser Overture, the Ride of the Valkyries and 'Here comes the Bride' she had not heard any Wagner before. By the time the music finished, it was evident that she was in a state of blissful tranquility. It was some time before either of them spoke.

"That was more than marvellous." said Grace, after a long silence,"Thank you for playing it. I fully understand why you find that so pacifying. The end, where everything returns to nature was heavenly. The sound quality was amazing as well."

"It might surprise you to know that the recording is fifty years old." said Gavin.

"It certainly doesn't sound it." said Grace, "I've heard more recent digital recordings, which are nowhere near as good as that."

"Back then, that record company was starting out making stereo recordings." said Gavin, "They already had a reputation for high quality mono records, so they wanted to maintain that level with stereo. With this set of the whole of Wagner's Ring Cycle, they set the bar even higher. One thing you might have noticed about Wagner's music dramas, is that every theme represents a thing, an event or a character."

"I did wonder how this conclusion to the whole work linked musically with the rest." said Grace.

"It is all linked." said Gavin, "That majestic theme in the funeral march was the Siegfried leitmotif and very near the end you heard the leitmotif representing the Rhinemaidens. You may also have noticed a bit of the Ride of the Valkyries when Brunnhilde rides her horse into Siegfried's funeral pyre."

"I did." said Grace, "So the music tells the story with very little singing. That is rather like ballet. Having said that, that music was so majestic and so beautiful. I completely lost myself in it."

"It sounds as if I've found a new fan for Wagner's music." said Gavin.

"You have!" said Grace, "Although it's dramatic and majestic, it's so calming. It's impossible to feel agitated after hearing that."

"I agree with you there." said Gavin, "I wish I could feel as calm as I do now all the time."

"I think you could if you tried." said Grace, "You're far too ready to let little things annoy you. Then you let your anger build up until you lose control. You seem to get angry with yourself a lot of the time as well. Why?"

"I suppose I try to live by a set of 'rules'," said Gavin, "And they're quite restrictive. When I break one, I feel I must take the consequences and, as a result I get angry with myself. I feel I have to punish myself. When I'm angry with myself I'm very irritable, and it doesn't take a lot more to set me off."

"Perhaps you, or your parents, set up your 'rules' when you were a lot younger." said Grace, "Now you're nearly an adult, perhaps you should realise that some of them might no longer apply."

"You're giving me a lot to think about." said Gavin, "I also get annoyed when others break my 'rules'. That's why I was so agitated in Morocco about Luke and Franky."

"Yes, I remember that." said Grace, "You even growled at one point. I even had to tell you to 'calm down'. You frightened me."

"Coming from you, that worked," said Gavin, " But, I don't think anyone else could have pacified me."

"I think you should be a lot more 'laid back'." said Grace, "You have very high standards, and you get annoyed when you feel you haven't lived up to them. You also seem to judge others by your own 'rules'. That can only lead to a lot of totally unnecessary stress, and an intolerant attitude towards anyone who isn't you."

"As usual, you're right." said Gavin, "I really will have to think about what it is about you, and about Wagner's music that calms me down. I'll also have to rethink my 'rules' for life. All they're doing at the moment is making me a very angry person."

"I suspect that one of your 'rules' is 'Big Boys Don't Cry'," said Grace, "And I would suspect Siegfried from that music drama is a role model. In your world, boys are supposed to be strong and fearless. In your world, they should show very little emotion, unless it be hate or justifiable anger, and love is there, but it's a long way down the list. Of course, that is very 'British'. The 'stiff upper lip' is one of our less endearing qualities."

"You've got it in one." said Gavin, "That's exactly what I've been brought up to believe. The feelings I have for you are something I feel just might be wrong, but they are so strong that I can't ignore them."

"As I mentioned before," said Grace, "I feel you'd be a lot happier if you relaxed a little more and didn't try to project your fearless 'he man' image so much. Until we had that long conversation in the plane back from Morocco, that image had deterred me from getting to know you."

"It did attract some very pretty girls in Cardiff," said Gavin, "But, as I've already said, they were somewhat lacking in the culture department."

"And then I came along." said Grace, "I knew I had this pacifying effect on you, but I was put off getting to know you better by the image you were projecting; that of a brainless he man. Now I've got to know you, I've penetrated your facade and I've come to realise there's a lot more to you. Anyway, we came here to listen to some music and the discussion arising from that Wagner has turned into quite a heart to heart."

"Point taken." said Gavin, "What would you like to hear?"

"You said you liked rock music from the last century." said Grace, "Let's hear some of my that."

"Okay!" said Gavin, "We've had a reasonable interval since the Wagner, so let's have something quite emotional."

Having put the 'Ring' cycle away, Gavin selected a CD by Swedish group Europe, inserted it in the player and selected a track. Before actually playing it, he made a comment.

"There's one track on this album I'm not going to play." said Gavin, "It gets played to death and is probably the only song most people know by this group. The first song I will play is one I hope doesn't apply to us, as its about a 'last goodbye'."

Gavin had selected the third track: 'Carrie'. He then let the CD play through to its end. During this, he sat on the sofa next to Grace, gently caressing her right shoulder and her upper arm.

"I really enjoyed that." said Grace, "I've certainly heard 'The Final Countdown', but I had no idea that the same group had so many other really good songs."

"I won't play it right now," said Gavin, "But their track, 'Superstitioun' has a guitar solo to die for. Also, some. of their earlier stuff was real heavy metal. Time's getting on, so we'll have some more classical music. How about some more 'normal' opera?"

Gavin, after explaining the plot of the opera, played the last act of Puccini's 'La Boheme'. He also mentioned that Puccini was another composer who used leitmotifs to represent characters and events. Grace listened, spellbound. This was the first time she had listened seriously to any opera. At the end, she found it necessary to wipe away more than a few tears.

"What did you think of that?" asked Gavin, "I did notice you wiped a tear away at one point."

"That was beautiful but heartbreaking." said Grace, "During one talk we had, you mentioned the plots of some other operas. They all seem to end with someone, usually the heroine, dying. Do any operas have happy endings? Even in that Wagner extract, the hero was dead and the heroine committed suicide."

This one stumped Gavin for a few seconds, as he tried to think of an opera with a cheerful conclusion.

"I know it used to be thought of as a comic opera," said Gavin, "But 'The Magic Flute' ends happily with the two couples ending up together. Turandot is in love with Calaf at the end of that opera, though I must admit the body count in Puccini's 'Turandot' is quite high."

"I've heard of Turandot." said Grace, "Isn't that the one that contains 'Nessun Dorma'?"

"Yes." said Gavin, "In that aria, the prince has challenged the princess Turandot to find out his identity before dawn. Of course, everyone has been sworn to secrecy. During the interrogation, Prince Calaf's slavegirl, Liu kills herself rather than reveal the prince's name and the prince is singing that none shall sleep that night."

"You seem to be as familiar with operas as I am with ballets." said Grace, "I hardly know any operatic plots."

"And I don't know very much about the stories of the ballets." said Gavin, "I know 'Sleeping Beauty' of course, because it's such a well known fairy tale. Most of the others are like an unexplored country to me."

Grace and Gavin continued listening to and talking about some less common classical music from Gavin's CD collection and discussing their relationship until about half past eleven. It was now time for Grace to make her way home. Since it was now late evening, Gavin offered to walk her home. The couple walked hand-in-hand the short distance back to Grace's home. Before she walked up her drive, Gavin embraced and kissed her, his hand making the most of the skin of her bare back.

"Well, Gavin," said Grace, "You certainly meant it that time."

"I did." said Gavin, "There's something about you that I can't define, but it makes me want to be very close to you."

"I feel the same way about you." said Grace, "This is going to make it so much harder when I see Rich again, because I believe we'll certainly be a couple by the time he comes back from Germany."

"Perhaps he'll take the hint if we behave like a couple." said Gavin, "But I suppose you are going to have to explain the situation to him at some time. Still, 'Sufficient unto the morrow the evil thereof'. We'll have to think about what to say when he comes back."

The couple said 'Goodnight' to each other after making arrangements to meet again, the next day. Although they had been really close for only a few days, they now felt like an established pair, totally in love with each other. The many bonds that had formed between them now seemed almost unbreakable. They had indeed become an 'item'.