The Music Box by Jody Wenner
from Dystopia: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
Jumping up and down, the boy said, “Play it again, Bapa!”
“Okay, but we must be quiet.”
“Why?”
“Uh, so we can listen to the lyrics.”
The tiny legs froze in place. “What’s lyrics?”
The old man scratched his beard. “They’re the words in the song.”
“I know words!” the little one proclaimed. “But what’s a song?”
“It’s like a poem, but with music.”
“What happened to it?”
“Music? Well, a long time ago, people played instruments—”
“Wh—”
The man tutted. “Let me finish, child.”
Bapa collected his thoughts. “Instruments are what created the sounds you hear floating out of the magical box. They weren’t easy to master, but in the early times cultures passed the skills down to the young ones, teaching them how to play tunes by ear. When that was lost, people learned to read notes on paper, like a key. Eventually, I’m afraid, we lost the key in the war.”
“If there are no more keys, Bapa, then how did you unlock the music?” The boy pointed at the box sitting on the table between them.
“I… spoke to it.”
The boy smiled. “Do it again!”
“Okay. But remember, it’s our secret.”
This story appears as part of Dystopia, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series.
Bio
Jody Wenner is a Midwestern author and editor. She has several independently published mystery and suspense novels as well as two works released by The Wild Rose Press in 2023. Shorter stories and articles can be found in the pages of Punk Noir, Mystery Magazine Weekly, The Keepthings, Thriller101, and The Motley Writer’s Guild. When not writing, reading, or editing, you can find her walking her dog or obsessively knitting.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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It was nice to read a pleasant tale for a change. Totally enjoyed
Great story that really hit home.