Story within a story from chapter 4 - NaNo2010

“Once near the beginning, there was a boy who couldn’t hear the music inherent. When his mother hummed or his father danced or his sister played counterpoint on her pipe, he only heard their half of the melody and rhythm. He couldn’t join in.



“He asked them how they heard the music, what it was like, but their explanations didn’t make sense. His sister said it was like the smell of the ground rain, rising up from below, and she just had to keep her feet bare to hear it well.


His father said it was like the feel of the breezes, sometimes soft and sometimes wild. He heard it best when he closed his eyes.


His mother said it was like breathing, something always happening whether you noticed it or not.


The boy tried his hardest to find the music. He would go out alone and dig his toes in the ground. He’d close his eyes and feel the wind. He would breathe deep and shallow, fast and slow. But the music never came.


And the longer he waited and hoped and searched, the more lost he felt. He knew he was meant to dance and sing. His family pounded drums and sang for him but he knew it was only an echo of what they themselves heard.


So he left.


He left his family and his home and everything except the clothes on his back and the hope in his heart.”