But If There Were No Music...
Vitamins! They keep sending me vitamins!"
"Consider it a compliment to your ability as a character actor," Stephanie McMahon laughed as her friend Kurt Angle arranged the bottles across the hotel's orange bedspread.
He studied them for a long time, "Do you think there's a hospital in town that's low on supplies?"
Stephanie smiled at her friend's kindheartedness, "I'm sure I can find someone who needs them."
He studied her shyly out of the corner of his right eye as she packed the bags of vitamins back into grocery bags. "You gave me that look again."
Stephanie's brow lowered and her bottom lip jutted out in mock-confusion, "A look?"
"That 'if only you were straight, I'd run away with you forever'. Look."
Stephanie flushed, seeming absolutely mortified. Kurt knew that she wanted to do nothing but sink into the green shag pile carpeting, dissolving from his sight completely. Instead, she looked down at her shoes.
"I get lonely a lot," She spoke suddenly, "Joey's always on the road with his band..." They exchanged a knowledgeable glance, "It's no excuse to be unfaithful. It's just that..you're everything I've always admired in a man."
Kurt studied the calluses lining his knuckles, "Thanks." It was all he could say.
She set down the bags of vitamins and planted her purse on the desk, "Here," she said, unzipping her wallet and pulling out a ticket, "Happy birthday!"
His eyes widened when he saw the name stamped in black ink on the green-and-blue stub, "Shawn Colvin!" He crooned.
Steph grinned, "I thought you might like," She sighed, "I wish you were more agreeable to being fixed up. Otherwise, there would be two tickets there."
Kurt shook his head firmly, "No fix-ups."
She sighed elaborately, "Fine then. But don't get mad if you're seated next to a...to a girl!" She blurted out. She flushed again and excused herself.
Kurt groaned quietly to himself. How things had changed since he'd come out! The ticket in his palm might be a ticket to acceptance. He could only hope that he'd meet someone to take the pressure off of his new status.'
****
The Strand was packed to it's rafters with Shawn Colvin fans that night, and so excited were they that he went unnoticed in their masses. Maybe, he wryly noted, they had no cross-over audience. He slipped into his seat and tried to get comfortable for the opening act.
Ahh, this was better..the seat was softer than the one in the limo, his legs fell apart and he sighed in temporary relief.
Unfortunately, his legs became so limp that they invaded his next-door neighbor's space, banging into his knee.
"Oooh! I'm sorry.."
A rapid babble of Spanish curses rang through the air; the voice and hair were far too familiar to mistake.
"Essa?" He asked.
Another rapid babble of Spanish, this one more frustrated. He bent over in his seat and rubbed his sore knee, seeming agitated.
Kurt immediately put two and two together and came to the conclusion that Stephanie had fooled him, perhaps the both of them, into going out together. He chewed his bottom lip, gluing his eyes to the closed red curtain in front of him, all the while thinking up methods of revenge.
Essa moaned beside him, looking utterly frustrated. Another short burst of Spanish flew from his lips.
Kurt groaned and burrowed down in his seat more. The house lights flickered and the stage curtain parted.
The opening act stepped up to her microphone and began to wail some hideous song in a monotone key. Kurt winced. Would there be no end to his suffering that night?! A wicked thought crossed his mind. Glancing quickly from left to right, deciding the coast was clear, began to sign a series of explicit obscenities to the off-key jangle of her guitar in American Sign Language.
To his surprise, Essa snorted in concealed laughter. Actually, He signed back, "Son of a Goat" goes more like this, he jabbed his thumb through his fist, illustrating boldly what he meant.
When did you learn how to speak sign language? Kurt returned, his brow knit to show confusion, I mean, you can't even speak more than a sentence of English...
I can too, Essa lifted his chin, then pronounced, "The Rain in Spain falls Mainly in the Plain. Henry Higgins is a Jackass."
Kurt snorted in agreeable derision.
You see, I understood sign language. When I learned how to speak it, back at the Y as a boy, they showed us things and related them to gestures. He slipped a rattan green-and-tan knapsack off of his shoulders and opened the main flap. He withdrew a succulent orange. Orange, he signed, pointing to the fruit, I know what to sign when I want one. But your spoken language is... he shook his head.
I understand, Kurt Responded,Gee, I'm a native, and I can't even really spell huge words like Automotopia He laughed at Essa tried to string together the rapidly signed letters. I understand what you mean,...
The warm up act abruptly ended her performance, and an announcer echoed through the PA: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Glade and The Strand Present Shawn Colvin."
Essa rose to his feet, and for a moment, he dissolved from Kurt's site too. When Shawn took the stage, the whole world seemed to center. She gave a little bow asked how "Y'all are", and broke into a solo rendition of "Sunny Came Home."
Kurt knew the words to that song of bitterness; so did Essa. For whatever they didn't know, emotion seemed to fill in.
They stomped along to the tune of "Get out of this House," shouted the chorus to "Steady On," and Muttered "She" to every gender-altered verse of "Every Little Thing (He) Does Is Magic."
It was so glorious to be in good company again. To be in sympathetic and understanding arms.
Shawn's encore included a majestic, quiet song he had never heard before. Essa's eyes latched on to his own and, wihout speaking, they stood and moved into the aisle. No other person existed; the language barrier dissolved.
I do know how to say one more thing in English, Essa admitted.
What?
"He reached up and wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck, "Happy birthday," He sighed.
Shawn sang:
I Don't Know Why The Sky Is So Blue
I don't know why I'm so in love with You
But if there were no music I would not get through
I don't know why I know these things but I do...
And it was so entirely true that he could have cried. He WAS crying now, through his peaceful smile as he slow-danced with the shorter man in front of these mesmerized strangers.
He didn't understand. But he did know that he owed Stephanie the moon now. That was his last thought, before the taste of oranges swept over his tongue and he was abandoned to the newness of their love.