100 word challenge #73: The Arbitration of the Strings

I just came across a neat idea, the 100 word challenge.  It resides on this blog: Julias Place.  The idea is to take a starting phrase and write 100 words around it.

This is week #73,  the phrase is …the notes from the piano…

How have I missed this for so long?

The Arbitration of the Strings

The notes from the piano buzzed off the old worn strings, rattling decades of dust off the soundboard. The discordant fusion of quarreling strings leapt mercilessly out of the piano and beat indiscriminately upon the arbitrator’s eardrums, but he was prepared for this. He turned the screws one by one, pitting one string’s cries against another’s.  They screamed only for themselves. He turned the screws again, forcing them to cry out with their neighbor.  Good or bad, their voices were music to his ears.  He continued turning the screws until their howls melded together and sang out harmoniously as one. The piano was tuned.

I've completed editing of my third book, The Beat of a Different Drummer.  Now I am returning to The Diva of Mud Flats, a book which I have already started a couple chapters.  I breezed through the partial chapters, still in edit mode but also catching up with where I left off, then hit a chapter with instructions, "add something about the phone call here."

I came to a screeching halt.  I need to change hats from my editors hat to my more creative writers hat, and found I wasn't quite prepared.  Maybe some caffeine will help.