Maybe she said she was glad or "That's wonderful" – I'm sure she said thank you – but all I remember is her shaking my hand, how I'm taken aback and nearly give her my left. Her hand is cool and smooth – one that's probably gloved every time she goes outside in the winter, but of course, she's a musician. I could feel the joints under my fingers, small ones, not big and blocky like mine, and her slim fingers gripping my hand rightly, so that for a split second I feel like the busy room has been reduced to just me, and her hand-arm-shoulder, and her eyes looking at me earnestly so that suddenly I'm looking for a way to elaborate on what I just said, try to fully explain without descending into teenage melodrama just how much her work has meant to me. I want to go back and reiterate some of the things I told her, and to add some others, some that I can't even tell my friends, but I feel like I know this woman. Then she loosens her grip and the world comes back. I know there are people standing in line behind me, am once more aware that I have left Sophie, who I am supposed to be looking out for, standing outside on a city street on a winter night. I say "Thanks," and "Good night," and make my way out the door and up to the street. Waiting for one of my parents to show up I tell Sophie what happened (in part, only in part), and scuff my foot and grin – "She shook my hand!" and we giggle like twelve-year-olds. She rolls her eyes, and I giggle again.
(Again, only minimal editing.
--Anna).
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1 comment:
Nice work. Your attention to detail--to conveying what it actually feels like to hold another's hand--is done very well.
I'm a little confused in the beginning of the piece--the order of events is a little off. The narrator is not nervous because of the handshake, but before the handshake. Who is this person? Why is the narrator so nervous?
Tell us a little more specifically how the musician makes the narrator feel--what exactly is it like to love and admire this person. That way when we get to the handshake we are also waiting nervously.
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