Wendy watched Heidi with interest from her desk as she tutored the larger young woman on the rudiments of guitar. Autumn was an extremely quick learner, no doubt owing to the fact that Heidi was probably the greatest guitar teacher in history. While Autumn was nowhere near the skill level of Heidi by the end of the hour, she was learning basic scales and chords with far more ease than any student Wendy had ever seen. The large young woman was obviously enjoying herself immensely as the guitar came to life in her hands.
A growing sense of synergy filled the room, as if they were all connected on a metaphysical plane, bridged by music. Wendy felt a torrent of experience and knowledge flowing from Heidi into Autumn as the end of the second hour approached. It was difficult to define the intangible connection—it was like intuition, generously mixed with epiphanic waves of inspiration.
Wendy watched Heidi's fingers closely as they flew up and down the fretboard in a melodic blur. Heidi's fingers were extremely long and narrow—Wendy couldn't imagine hands better suited for playing musical instruments.
Looking back at her computer screen, she sighed as Principal Jen Wiley sent her another rain check for dinner. The two of them had met in college and been best friends ever since. Wendy had been trying to pin Jen down for a meeting so that she could tell her about Heidi. Jen had so many projects spinning around that it was almost impossible to see her anymore. Wendy could really use her best friend's counsel right now.
An ascending alto vocal scale pulled Wendy's eyes back to the two young women again. Heidi was singing a simple vocal training scale, obviously having finished guitar. Wendy felt a small shiver go down her spine as Heidi's voice took on a rich timbre that bordered on angelic. The room appeared to subtly vibrate in response to Heidi's glorious voice. Wendy had never heard a voice so full of surface tension. Her voice was like brimming liquid in an open container, pushing the limits of how much emotion a single voice could express without overflowing. There was so much power in her voice, and she was only singing warm up scales. What would she sound like when she actually sang a melody line?