Cantabile 4-- Crack -

Nevertheless, he picked up the silver-strung bow and the violin that had belonged to his mother. It was a Guarneri del Gesù, dated 1735, its belly repaired so many times that the sound holes had become asymmetrical. He had once described it to a luthier as a violin that knows how to scar .

"Maestro?" she whispered.

The second note followed, and the third. They did not form a melody. They formed a landscape —a frozen lake in the instant before it gives way. Each note was a hairline crack spreading outward, branching, seeking the weakest point in the ice. Cantabile 4-- Crack

Ilona began to cry. She did not know why. The tears came not from sadness but from recognition —the way a dream recalls something you never knew you remembered. Nevertheless, he picked up the silver-strung bow and