Prelude
I swam across a sea of sound as you cast a glance from across the stage. Even before the music sounded, the symphony had already begun. It spun itself in gold and rose, and wandering shadow. The two men beside me, the one who tapped his fingers restlessly on his knee, the old woman with the shiny scarf, the guy with the pony tail, even the old man nodding his head to the side, fighting the urge to sleep and losing -- became transparent. Shining through them were beams of light, soft and warm, sometimes dark. And then I opened my eyes.