Forever, Plus One

“Chantelle,” Roman said, turning to the little girl. “How’s my little star in the making?”

Chantelle blushed and replied shyly, “Good, thanks.”

“Want to see the recording studio before dinner?” he asked.

Wide-eyed, Chantelle looked at Daniel and Emily for confirmation. They nodded.

“Okay,” Chantelle said in a timid voice. It wasn’t often that she was bashful these days.

Roman led his guests out of the room and into the foyer, then to a large door. He opened it to reveal a staircase heading downstairs.

“It’s in the basement, of course,” he said.

They all went down. It was very dark and because of the sound-canceling walls their footsteps were almost completely muffled. It was quite a strange experience, Emily thought. Like walking into the vacuum of deep space.

The recording studio was brand new, state of the art. The walls were dark and a large glass partition separated the recording area from the mixing area. There was an old-school 1940s microphone inside the recording room, a grand piano, a large double bass and a concert-sized harp. On the producer’s side of the glass was the soundboard containing a million knobs and buttons and screens that indicated noise levels. Chantelle’s mouth dropped open in awe.

“I’m going to speak to your school about having a choir on the background of my charity Christmas single,” Roman said. “What do you think about that?”