By one in the morning, Surong Valley had finally decided it had heard enough of Dominic’s high notes.
The last song had barely faded when Donita’s neighbor appeared at the edge of the clearing, clutching a flashlight and wearing the expression of a man who had reached his noise tolerance for the year.
“Children,” he called out politely, “it is already past midnight. Some of us must wake up at four to feed the animals.”
Donita clapped a hand over his heart. “I apologize, uncle. We will silence our inner divas.”
The neighbor nodded, mollified, and shuffled away with the slow dignity of a man who had survived three encores of “I Will Survive.”
The karaoke machine was switched off. The sudden quiet settled over the riverbank like a blanket. Crickets hummed. The water whispered over the st
