Composers

In time, the pianist performed a suite. She finished. Uproarious applause erupted throughout the auditorium. She courtsied.

The thunderous applause continued for ninety-six minutes. She walked off the stage and had four encores. Piles of roses mounted in front of her. She finally walked backstage for the last time.

“That was a good show,” Sawuisha Halder said with every bit of understatement.

“You know you have to keep this up when we get to Wilmington. DIT is a great venue but the Mercier Theater is where you want to be,” her manager Tilda Iona said.

“I get that,” she swigged some electrolyte solution like an athlete.

“We have something for you,” Tilda smiled.

From out of a room adjacent to her dressing room, two burly men presented Sawuisha with a plaque reading twelve million record-equivalent streams to her.

Sawuisha nearly cried.

“I thank you all,” she announced. In front of her stood a team of hairdressers, costume artists, electricians, riggers, light specialists all catering to her. In support of this one of thousands of composers who decided to study the classics rather than hip hop. Sawuisha was just one of the few who broke out and achieved success across the board.

“I’m telling you. All of this is because you have put in the work. It’s only right that you share in this moment of celebration.”

She issued air kisses and fled to her dressing room.

Tilda followed her. “What the hell was that, Shawuisha?”

“What?”

“You expressed gratitude for everyone but me. This is here and that is there because of me. I should be the first person who you thank. If it wasn’t for me, you would still be doing scales in a cooped up corner of some juke joint.”

Shawuisha then stood up and faced Tilda.”You sound selfish, but you’re not. You’re being self-absorbed and self-centered. True selfishness would have led you to see that I had a bouquet of roses made for you tonight.”

Tilda looked crestfallen. “I—”

“But don’t worry about it. I’m just so focused on myself that I can’t show a woman who has been part of my life for the past decade something special. Not to mention a raise in her salary so she can be in the decamillions.”

Tilda was damn near in tears. She reached for Shawuisha and hugged her.

“It’s okay. I know you’ve got a lot riding on this. But you’ve got to know the difference between self-esteem and self-involvement. You’ve been my rock all these years and we’re tight. We should be on this road until we stop. Literally and figuratively,” Shawuisha laughed. Tilda did, too.

“I just want to be recognized sometimes. I just do so much. And I didn’t know about the roses or the raise. I appreciate you more than you can understand. I just have to put out the work strongly and for longer. I have to keep focusing only on me.”

“See, again, it’s positively okay to believe in yourself and to be concerned with your interests, but you have to be truly selfish, you have to be objective. To be pure to your own soul means that you regard no one except I. That comes with a caveat. Other people exist and you should be able to trade with them through mutual benefit.”

“I noticed you over time developed these theories. Just tonight I found that you were totally sincere. With our heavy workload we will be even tighter after we assume our roles as being elevated in monetary gain.”

“Yes, the money is great. But it must stem from somewhere other than the motion of our limbs or the sounds of our voices. It starts in the mind. Everything man made is mind made. There is nature and then there is man using nature to shape his own vision. Once we realize that there is nothing above to dictate or direct our actions, we have a greater chance at knowing each other more.”