Your Laugh in Other Rooms

[Cast: V1 Inara Ras] [V1: intimate female lead, speech-shaped phrasing, natural pitch, dry close vocal, warm restrained delivery] [Tempo: 92 BPM] [Meter: 3/4] [Key: E major, C sharp minor shadows] [Intro: six bars, fingerpicked guitar, pizzicato cello] [Kantele enters with small answering notes] [Verse 1: V1, close and lightly amused] Mara tells the story wrong. She always skips the start. Then laughs before the ending with one hand on her heart. And halfway through that little gasp, before she finds her breath, she makes the sound you always made when something got you best. [Turnaround: three bars, cello and guitar] [Pre Chorus: V1, piano enters softly] I looked across the table. Nobody else looked up. Funny how a memory can hide inside a laugh. [Chorus: V1, gentle lift] I hear your laugh in other rooms, through half closed doors and crowded afternoons. Not quite yours, but close enough to turn my head before I know. You left it scattered everywhere, in crooked jokes and people unaware. I hear your laugh in other rooms, and somehow, there you go. [Instrumental: six bars, kantele and clarinet trade phrases] [Vocalise: V1, smiling breath] Mm... Ah ha... Mm... [Verse 2: V1, warmer] Jon taps twice against his glass before he starts a tale. Someone says your stupid phrase. Someone else goes pale. Then three of us begin to laugh because we know the line. The fourth one asks what happened. We say, "You had to be there at the time." [Pre Chorus: V1, brushes enter] And suddenly we're telling it the way you used to do. Changing every detail, still somehow keeping you. [Chorus: V1, fuller waltz] I hear your laugh in other rooms, through half closed doors and crowded afternoons. Not quite yours, but close enough to turn my head before I know. You left it scattered everywhere, in crooked jokes and people unaware. I hear your laugh in other rooms, and somehow, there you go. [Interlude: nine bars, pizzicato cello, piano, brushed drums] [Clarinet plays a loose playful melody] [V1: soft wordless] Ah... Mm mm... Ah ha... [Bridge: V1, close, guitar and bass only] I used to think remembering meant holding something still. A photograph. A sweater. A cup upon a sill. But nobody kept your timing. Nobody learned it whole. We only stole the pieces that made their way into our souls. [Pause: one bar] [V1: tender] Maybe that's how people stay. [Instrumental Rise: six bars, waltz returns, cello bows instead of plucks] [Final Chorus: V1, open and warm] I hear your laugh in other rooms, through open doors and ordinary afternoons. Never yours, and still enough to make me smile before I know. You left it scattered everywhere, in borrowed words and people unaware. I hear your laugh in other rooms. I don't turn around now. I just let it go. [Post Chorus: V1, quiet self harmony] Mm... Ah ha... Mm... [Outro: piano, fingerpicked guitar, one clarinet phrase] [V1: close, almost smiling] Someone laughs downstairs. For a second, so do I. [End: soft final chord, natural room decay]