She thought she would disturb his plan to seduce her by jumping off the roof. They sat side by side on the edge, feet dangling, moonless night. A floodlight from above bleached the two figures colorless against a flat, black sky. A bottle of red wine was passed slowly between them.

Like a composer who knew more intimately than the musicians themselves every lingering note of the clarinet, every vibration of the cello, each movement of his had been strained over, subtracted and defined seamlessly, until what finally quivered and transpired before the public was no more than a calculated execution of all that went before it. What remained was what must remain. The rest had been carefully discarded. His overture demanded a subtle maneuvering of lighter conversation into deeper themes of soul exposure, coupling vulnerability with unmistakable strength. There would be the necessary troubled outbursts and whispered confidences, a delicate sprinkling of bleak childhood memories that he interspersed with heavy silences and bowed heads. If he mouthed the words weakness, fear, and hatred, then the score included potency, imprudence, and love. There was no place in his world for impulsive words that formed like spittle. He believed explicitly that life was transitory and with each moment there was an obligation to reap.

Wait for the story to appear and the collection to come out to read more…

“Seduction” will be published in Danse Macabre in July, 2010