In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

ought her bowls and flexi-mat with the greens to the cramped
cooking corner. The rice cooker jitterbugged on the tiny counter.
"That music that was on before, when you came, it is new?" he
asked.
"Sort of. Guess I'm still trying to redeem myself, bells and glass
harmonica setting, using 15/16 time signature, monophonic polyphony,
using the Wendy Carlos harmonic series ―"
Sandro wiped his brow. "Ah, yes Wendy Carlos, previously
Walter. It is very melodious, would be nice with some singing, no?"
"Yeah! Voice tends towards just intonations, that's good."
She fired up the wok and when the surface appeared hot, the oil
no longer glassy, she dumped in her garlic and ginger, tofu, then
vegetables, tough ones first, then tender ones later to steam lightly.
Mr Mocha sputtered into action on the flame. "Wow, you could
sing the Angele Dei into the microphone and I could stretch it, warp it,
put it through my formant processor, even download you into the
vocoder; wouldn't that be cool?"
"Angele Dei …you download me into the what?" he asked,
bringing over the coffee.
"A vocoder, Wendy Carlos, Clockwork Orange? Ode to Joy?
Beethoven rocks the house? It makes your voice sound like a machine,
a robot! C'mon, analog man, just for fun!"
He made a face and popped the opera slice in his mouth.
Penny bit in and looked up, "This has booze in it, Sandro."
"And butter! And chocolate, all those evil things, just like
Opera!" He belted out a B flat major scale. She'd only heard him sing
twice before.
"You'll do it?"
"Beh, the dance for me is finished!" He downed his demitasse.
"I thought you liked the flying," she said over the dishes.
"Yes, but I am like Icarus—I crash land. First the knees and
now the liver. I listen to Montaigne now."
"Gotcha, The middle way. Okay… so you're hired!" She wiped
her hands and handed him the microphone. "Here, but, easy does it,
don't fly away!"
She pressed record and he sang.
Afterwards, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand, he
collapsed into the couch. "You sleep here, no? Would you like me to
open it?"
"I'm not that tired, yet." She scratched her head, adjusting
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