Chapter 16 - Sing

“Mmmmmorning toughie.”

Keel woke up the next morning with a soft, yet firm naked body molded against him like a warm tropical ocean wave. Long, black silk was strewn over his chest, concealing the angelic face underneath.

After dining alone the previous evening, he had gone for a walk down Jasper Avenue into the downtown area. There had been a time when the city’s social scene had left the area, but the last few decades had brought them back. The castle-like Fairmont Hotel Macdonald Edmonton had been restored overlooking the river valley and Canada’s largest not-for-profit theatre was located right in the heart of downtown on 101st A Ave. The Citadel Theater was a combination of five performing spaces: Shoctor Theatre, Maclab Theatre, Rice Theatre, Tucker Amphitheatre and Zeidler Hall. Looking up at the building, you couldn’t help but be impressed, especially at night. Its all-glass construction, combined with the evenings shimmering lights made it look like an in-city formation of the beloved Northern Lights.

Passing along the sidewalk, Keel took in the year’s schedule of events. There was a always a Shakespeare play going on, but it seemed the main theme this year was teens. It was a program to promote and support teens with mentorship and development by offering workshops in playwriting, production, directing and designing.

She would be interested in this he had thought.

Continuing along, Keel came upon a sight that held a special memory. The Francis Winspear Concert Hall, opened in September of 1997. It wasn’t because of the Davis Concert Organ, the largest concert organ in Canada, the crown jewel of the center and it wasn’t because of its extraordinary acoustics.

“Morning Sing”, replied Keel.

It wasn’t that he was a lover of the arts, but that she was. It had been to the remarkable building that Keel had taken his musical angel to on their third date to see the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra during the Pops series. After that evening, they both knew it was over for them – they were stuck with each other, and couldn’t be happier about it. It was now 2 years later.

It had taken them four months after that third date for the two of them to finally sleep together. There had been no hurry, plus, she had been raised in an extremely conservative family.

That night, that moment of sudden deep passion and reckless abandon had also come with spectacular tragedy. Sing had received a phone call from her godfather who told her that both of her parent’s along with her older brother had been killed in a freak boating accident. Their bodies had been discovered and pulled from the Straits of Johor off the coast of the Malay Peninsula. Their yacht had been found anchored 5 km away. No cause of death had been determined.

Sing had fallen into Keel that night, first for support and comfort, and then for the need to feel something other than pain and anguish. They had made love that fitful night until she had fallen asleep. Keel had stayed awake, unable to find slumber while Sing’s tears continued to roll onto his chest, even in sleep.

The next day, they said a sorrowful goodbye when she boarded a flight to go see her family one last time. One last time to say goodbye to them. One last time to visit the family home. At that moment, she thought perhaps one last time to visit her country of birth. Once last time to the small, yet immensely beautiful island city-state of Singapore.