The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

Frances arrives at the home of her piano teacher, Mr. Bilderbach, and waits for her lesson with fear and anxiety about her talent. Mr. Bilderbach and Mr. Lafkowitz, another music teacher, invite Frances into the music room where they are working on a sonatina for the violin. Mr. Lafkowitz asks how Francis is and shows her a magazine article about his student, Heime. The article lauds Heime’s talent; Frances has to put it down, overwhelmed.

As she listens to Mr. Bilderbach and Mr. Lafkowitz, Frances thinks of the word wunderkind—a term for someone with immense talent and success at a young age. Mr. Bilderbach called her a wunderkind when she first joined him, and his other students agreed. He was impressed with her talent when she began studying with him at age 12. Since then, she has spent a lot of time in Mr. Bilderbach’s home, growing close with him and his wife. Now, a year later, she realizes that they have no children and notices that there is tension in their relationship. She has lessons on Tuesdays and Saturdays and often stays for dinner after. Some nights, she stays over with the Bilderbachs, going home the following morning.