Lauren--Part Twenty-Two

Splog # 76

Twenty-Two

   Before Lauren could respond to Splog's offer, Austin started barking and ran past the rear of the train. He stopped and barked at something across the tracks that Lauren couldn't see. His tone seemed rather one of greeting than animosity and Lauren wondered if another interesting character was about to be introduced to her. But Austin stopped barking as suddenly as he had started and ran back to where Lauren and Splog were sitting.

   He stood before Lauren panting and wagging his tail.

   "What's the matter, boy?" she asked as she reached for another piece of cheese and held it out to him.

   Austin took the cheese and swallowed it in one gulp. Then he ran back to the rear of the train, gave one loud bark, and lay down facing whatever was across the tracks from him.

   In the quiet following Austin's commotion, Lauren began to hear another sound. It seemed to be the song of a bird, but it was more intricate and melodious than any birdsong she could remember. When it first touched her ear, it was a light, high, trilling note, a long vibration like a bow slowly sliding across a violin string. It gradually increased in volume for a longer time than she had thought any bird could sustain a tone. And then it cut off abruptly but, before the sudden silence could make itself felt, the song resumed - tripping speedily down a few notes and then back up to higher than where it had started. It then slid down a few notes and again climbed higher still. This pattern repeated a few times, until the sound began to reach tones that seemed to be almost higher than a human could hear. And then, after floating on a tone so high that it was nearly a squeak, the song began to slowly slide down and down and down. The sound became fuller and richer and rounder and, when it arrived on a note that seemed to give the singer great pleasure, it stayed there and expanded and contracted in volume for a period of time. It stopped again at the peak of one crescendo, as if silence were as much as part of the song as melody was. Then it resumed the same note, found another that complemented it to perfection, and bounced back and forth between the two.

   In the midst of these vocal acrobatics, Mason had emerged to retrieve his commissary cart. As he reached the bottom of the ramp, he became aware of the sound and he stopped and a smile of joy lighted his countenance. He closed his eyes and reveled in the serenade.

   As quietly as possible, Lauren began to finish off her grapefruit. She wondered if she should wrap some bread and cheese in a napkin in case she and Austin got hungry before they arrived at the inn. Would the inn be far away? And what about Splog? Why wasn't he going to come with her? She turned to Splog and opened her mouth to ask about their different destinations when Mason made a gesture and Splog, still chewing steadily, put a finger in front of his mouth to keep her from speaking.

 

   As she focused again on the music, she found that the unseen musician was rapidly going up and down along its entire range of notes, while at the same time varying the volume of the song so that sometimes the lower notes were loud and the higher notes quiet and sometimes the result was just the opposite. Then, at one point, the pitch began to rise higher and higher and get softer and softer at the same time. It disappeared in a whisper at the height of its range and then, after about three seconds of absolute silence, came back strongly, seesawing between two notes that were very close together. This also faded to a whisper and then one note emerged, quietly at first and then louder and louder until she thought whatever was singing would burst with the force of its song.