Charlotte sat at the desk adding up the column of figures. The numbers just wouldn’t make it this month. Vera and Boris would be wanting their paychecks, and she just wouldn’t be able to give them. What would she do?
She took another look at the expenses for the month. Piano books, higher than last month. The electricity bill, much higher – Boston’s worst January on record. The phone bill, long distance to New York, all the instruments they’d bought but hadn’t yet sold. Insurance, medical bills for Vera and Boris, herself and the children – all normal. No, expenses weren’t the problem. It was income – or the lack of it. No one was buying instruments in the middle of stagflation, fewer students came to take lessons from Boris or any of her other piano teachers.
She’d have to tell Vera and Boris the truth, that they’d have to close the shop – at least temporarily, but Charlotte knew it would be for good. After so many years, too, all the hard work and labor. She’d tell them the whole truth. A lie would be so much better, but no – she’d never lied to her mother-in-law, and she’d never lied to her best friend. Today wasn’t the day to start.
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