Music From Standing Waves by Johanna Craven Page A

playing the flute at a
conservatorium. She turned to me. “So you serious about your
music?”
    “I want to go and study in the city,” I said.
“Andrew says I’m good enough to get into the Conservatorium.”
    Lily smiled wryly. “It’s a bitch you know;
the Con.”
    I frowned. “Why?”
    She rested one arm on the door and steered
the car with two fingers. “All that studying puts things into
perspective. Makes you realise how impossible it is to actually get
anywhere in the music industry. And how many wankers there are
waiting to shut you down if you do.”
    I looked out the window, picking edgily at
the seam of my jeans. “Your friend got into the orchestra,” I said
finally.
    Lily smiled to herself. “And that’s such a
rare occasion that we’re driving for twenty-four hours to go and
bloody see it.”
     
    When I woke up the next morning, the sun was
low in the sky and the inside of the car was pleasantly cold. I
pulled my jacket over my shoulders and looked out the window.
Houses began to sprout amongst the brown paddocks as we passed
through the outskirts of Rockhampton. A sign directing us to
Brisbane rushed past the window before the endless paddocks
returned. I stretched my legs across the back seat and closed my
eyes again, listening to Andrew and Lily chatting quietly.
    “How’s the little one?”
    “Good. He’s four now.”
    “I still can’t believe you’re wasting your
twenties changing nappies. What happened to travelling the world?
Doing your masters in Austria? You would have gotten in to Salzburg
for sure.”
    “Yeah well…” said Andrew.
    Lily laughed a little. “Remember how we were
going to go to Europe after uni and make every decision by tossing
a coin?”
    “There’s time for that.”
    “Yeah right. Ever wish he hadn’t
happened?”
    “Not a day.”
    I was glad. Lily’s water bottle crackled.
    “Do you ever wonder how things would have
turned out if we hadn’t gone to that shanty town for graduation?”
she asked.
    Andrew paused. “Sometimes,” he admitted.
    “Me too,” said Lily. “You might be playing
gigs in a real town. We might be in Paris together. Imagine
that.”
    “Lil…”
    After a while, she spoke up again. “You can’t
really be happy there. You’re just wasting your talent. Don’t you
want to be back in the real world?”
    I was scared Andrew might leave me for the
real world. I was relieved when he said:
    “I’m staying where I am.”
    “But only cos you feel like you have to now.
You’re not really happy there…”
    “Lil… Abby doesn’t need to hear all
this.”
    “She’s asleep. Is that why you brought her
along? So you had an excuse to not talk to me about things?”
    “No,” said Andrew. “If I wanted to do that I
would have brought Hayley.”
    “Hayley, Hayley…”
    I was glad when it was Lily’s turn to sleep
in the back seat.
    “So are you happy in Acacia Beach?” I
pushed, hoping I would have more luck than Lily in extracting an
answer.
    “I knew you were awake.” Andrew felt around
in the glove box for his sunglasses. “Yes Abby, I’m very
happy.”
    “What about your music? Are you happy even
though you hardly get to play any more?”
    Andrew didn’t take his eyes off the road.
“Things change, Abs. Priorities change.”
    “Is that a good thing?”
    “Depends.”
    I wound my ponytail around my finger. “I
think Lily’s still in love with you,” I said boldly.
    Andrew smiled in amusement. “No she’s not.
She’s just angry.”
    “About what?” I asked. “Did you ditch her for
Hayley?”
    “No. Well… Kind of… You ask a lot of
questions.”
    “I’m just learning the ways of the
world.”
    Andrew laughed. “Shut up and look out the
window.”
     
    Coming from a town with one supermarket, one
pub and a servo on the edge of the highway we pretended belonged to
us, Brisbane was a heaving, smoky beast I was afraid would swallow
me whole. I was too nervous to walk more than three paces behind
Andrew