NABCABL ~ {2: The Luthier Upstairs}
When Marly woke up, she got to work quickly. She cleaned around the apartment room, and she finished the majority of her chores. The Burmese then scraped up all of her money that she could find, and awaited for her parents to wake up. It was a Tuesday, so she knew that her father had already gone off to work, but she knew that her mother would wake up soon.
When Mrs. Divata walked into the main area of their apartment room, Marly smiled, already having changed and was now wide awake.
“Goodmorning, Mom!” Marly meowed. Mrs. Divata turned her head to look in Marly’s direction, a groggy smile set on the molly’s face. Marly’s mother padded over to the kitchen table, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Marly walked over to her mom as the coffee was poured. The young Burmese’s nose scrunched up ever so slightly, as she was never a big fan of coffee, or the smell of it. When Mrs. Divata finished pouring her coffee, Marly began to speak.
“So, I was thinking that I could get the cello fixed sometime soon, perhaps today?” Marly mewed, fidgeting with her fingers. Mrs. Divata thought for a moment, taking a sip of her coffee, before responding.
“Hm. Well, dad is off and work, and I need to stay home and take care of your siblings,” After another sip, Mrs. Divata continued, “How about you visit more neighbors, and I’ll think about it? We don’t even know if there’s anyone in the area who would know how to fix a cello, nevertheless someone who would take a job from a Filipino,” Her mother sighed, and so did Marly. She knew a little bit about the whole Asian immigration limitation by the law, but she didn’t know all that much about it. So, the Burmese just smiled at her mother, heading towards the door of their tenement room.
“Alrighty then!” Marly chirped, slipping on her shoes, then her cello case, “Today I’ll check out the upstairs neighbors,” The Burmese opened the door, waving goodbye to her mom.
“Bye, love you!” Mrs. Divata called out to her daughter.
“Love you too!” Marly chirped, before closing the door, a warm smile on her face. Marly stood out in the hallway of the tenement for a while, before softly skittering to the staircase. She adjusted the strap on her cello case, making sure it would stay on her back, before climbing the staircase, muttering to herself.
“One day I may as well end up tripping on this thing, then falling to my death, and my cello’s,” Marly mewed jokingly. Staircases were a bit of a challenge for the cellist and the bassist, whose instruments were either around their height, the same height as they were, or taller. For Marly, her cello, when in it’s case, went about to her shoulder when she and the case were both standing upright. Marly’s footsteps were quiet, despite the fact that she was lugging around a large wooden instrument. Soon the Burmese reached the next floor, and Marly thought it would be funny if she found the room that was right above her’s. So she counted the rooms, until she reached the ninth one. Marly took a deep breath, before knocking on the door softly.
For a few seconds, Marly was unsure if someone would answer, as there were no distinct noises of moving behind the door. But as a click could be heard as the door opened, her ears perked up. The young Burmese was greeted by an elderly cat, who started at Marly with a warm gaze. The tom-cat opened the door fully, revealing a well groomed pelt that fluffed up around his neck, almost like a boa feather drape.
“Goodmorning, young musician,” He meowed calmly, looking down at Marly. Marly smiled, and glanced at his right eye, which was a blank light blue. He was blind in that eye, it seemed. Marly smiled at her neighbor, his greeting was quite the unique one at that.
“Hello!” Marly chirped, “How are you?” She mewed. Most people would have her play something for them or have her let them touch her cello before deciding that she was a musician. This was the first time the Burmese has met someone who notices it how it is.
“I’m doing well, how are you, little one?” The tom-cat replies, “Would you like to come inside, it's probably better than standing out in the hallway,” He opened his door fully, gesturing for the cellist to step in. Marly nodded her head as she walked into his tenement room.
“I’m good, thank you,” She responded politely as she looked around. It was clear that this tenement had been in use for a while, and it's been taken good care of. The decoration was very cozy and warm, but a different warmth, unlike the summer heat. More so the type of warmth like that of a warm hug. The lights were dim, but were still bright enough that one could concentrate to do work. The tom-cat closed the door, looking over at Marly.
“You may call me Archie,” Archie meowed, smiling at Marly. The Burmese nodded her head as another cat approached them. She was a female manx cat, with a smaller build and small ears to go along with it. She was kind looking, and it was clear that she was quite the spunky one when she was younger. As she got closer to Marly, Archie went over to stand by his wife.
“I’m Della,” the manx molly mewed, giving Marly a kind smile.
When Marly looked closer, her ears perked up and her eyes widened as she noticed how Della’s left eye exhibited the same foggy blueness that Archie’s right eye had. Both cats had one seeing eye, along with one blind eye. Marly smiled as she glanced from cat to cat, though she didn’t mention it. They were like two halves of a whole, in this sense.
“Nice to meet you all!” Marly chirped, “Marly Divata,” The Burmese introduced herself. Archie smiled as Della spoke.
“Marly Divata…” She meowed, as if trying Marly’s name out, “The cellist?” Della asked with a small grin on her face. Marly’s ears perked up when she said that. It sounded like a nice title, one fit for her.
“Yes, the cellist!” Marly nodded her head, returning Della’s grin. Archie chuckled as he listened in, and Della’s eyes lit up as she pointed to her husband.
“You already know that he’s Archie, but many people around her know him as The Luthier,” When Della said this, Marly tilted her head. A luthier, she’s sworn that she’s heard the word before, but she wasn’t sure what it meant or where it came from.
“To put it more simply,” Archie piped up, “An instrument mender,” He held his arm up, motioning to a nearby wall. The lighting along this wall was different compared to the rest of the tenement room. It was brighter, as if this was the place’s main attraction, the spotlight. There were a lot of objects in this specific part, making it look cluttered from afar. Marly’s eyes widened as a smile crossed her face as she took it all in.
It was a workspace, that much was clear. With a large wooden desk, built to hold tools along one of the sides. The wall space above the desk held even more tools, spanning from wood files, hand saws of all sizes, clamps, sharpening tools, a lot of things often used for wood work. There were also several types of glue, the ones perfect for the repair of wooden instruments. Even glue for fixing a snapped bow. The array of materials placed in this work space were clearly Archie’s work, each thing picked out, preened, and placed in the place that would make it most useful to the luthier.
A luthier…someone who fixed broken instruments. This was perfect for the cellist! Marly quickly turned back to Archie and Della, slipping off her cello case as she spoke quickly.
“Oh my!” She started, “I didn’t know that a luthier is what an instrument mender is called, but I really need one right now,” Marly unzipped her cello case, gingerly showing them the crack at the top. “It’s not fatal at the moment, but I’ve heard that if they’re not fixed in a certain amount of time it gets worse. And my family isn’t sure where we could find a mender, or one that would take a job from us-” Marly stopped here, not wanting to mention heritage, before continuing after taking a deep breath, as she was out of breath from speaking fast. “And the neighbor next door doesn’t like asymmetry and the crack makes my cello like that and I needa get it fixed,”
After her rambling, Archie and Della looked at one another, before Archie chuckled softly. He held out his paw to Marly, motioning that he wanted to see her cello. Marly handed it over gingerly, and Archie took it, holding it by the neck, his paw just under the scroll.
"Well, it's just a small crack, I can probably get it fixed in three days," The tom-cat smiled.
Marly's eyes lit up as she smiled back, "Thank you!" She mewed, before quickly digging into her pocket, pulling out a small wad of money, along with some coins. It wasn't much, most of it was collected via playing out on the streets for fun. The Burmese waved it at Archie, wanting for him to take it. Archie stared at the money for a while, before reaching a furred paw out. As he did, Della looked like she was about to speak up, but her husband flicked his tail, so she hushed. Archie soon grabbed the money, sorting through it. As he held a few coins in one paw, Archie also held the minor wad in the other paw.
The elderly tom continued to hold the coins in his paw, but he held out the rest of the money back out to Marly. The Burmese tilted her head as she stared at the money in Archie’s paw. Why would he be holding it out to her? The total amount of money that she handed him wasn’t even enough to cover the actual cost of one full repair! Marly tentatively shook her head.
“Nuh-uh,” She mewed, “It’s for you, and Della,” She meekly whispered. Archie simply smiled.
“Take it. What I’m getting, these coins, are enough to pay for food for this week,” He pushed the money to Marly’s paw gently, and she grasped it, a small smile on her face.
“Thank you,” The Burmese mewed softly. Marly knew that the money she had wasn’t even enough to pay for a small repair, so Archie taking only a portion of the offered amount puzzled Marly, but she was grateful.
Archie, who was still holding Marly’s cello, motioned Marly over to his apartment room window. The young Burmese followed, and as she peered down the window. From the window, one could see the outside world, and that included the tenement building next to Marly’s. Said building, was the one that contained the Hellers.
“I was there yesterday!” Marly squeaked when she saw the building. Archie chuckled softly as he lay Marly’s cello down on the ground near his desk, before him and his wife joined Marly, all three of them peering down at the neighboring building.
“That’s right,” Della replied, “I remember me and Archie were talking over tea, and we spotted a small figure lugging around something almost as big as they were,” Both of the elder felines chuckled as Della said that.
“And you knocked on the door of the Heller House,” Archie meowed, “And they let you right in,”
“It's not often we see someone approach the Heller House, so it's nice to see someone going there for once,” Della put a paw on her hip.
“Oh, really?” Marly mewed, breaking her gaze from the window to look at Archie and Della.
Archie nodded his head, “Do us a favor, okay, Cellist?”
Marly grinned. A possible nickname, and one that fit like a pair of warm mittens. “Of course!” She chirped, “What is it?”
“It's not hard,” Della assured her, “We’re not going to make you go on some across-the-States journey,” They all laughed at that, and as the laughter ceased, Archie spoke up again.
“Just go over there, and befriend those Hellers. Like we said, it's been a while since we’ve seen someone go over there, and it would be nice to see those kittens being out and about with other's, alright?” He smiled softly.
Marly nodded her head, “I can do that,” she meowed.
“Good!” Della grinned, “Now, would you like some apple juice? We just restocked on it,”
Marly nodded her head once more, “That would be swell!” She mewed. The elderly molly smiled as she left to bring in beverages, and the three would discuss music theory, over a nice cup of apple juice.
So the little cellist now had a mission. One that she was happy to do. Befriend the Hellers. To be honest, Marly didn't need to be told to do something such as this. She would love this mission immensely. Though she did see a challenge in befriending Mordecai, that made it all the more fun for the Burmese.
