For the Love of Verdi...

“Un dì, felice, eterea... Mi balensate innantie”

Lisa rolled her eyes as the music began wafting through the window.

"I can't believe this is happening again," she griped as she rolled out of bed and threw on a robe.

While Verdi's La Traviata had been Lisa's favorite piece of music, the revenge-filled Internet prank of a hacker ex-boyfriend caused her to reconsider. Almost every night for the last two months, strange men had shown up on her doorstep playing recordings of the love song from the first act before making awkward professions of their supposed love. It took the threat of arrest by the police before she discovered why.

Her internal music critic allowed herself to smile bemusedly as she walked to the front door. It was the best rendition she had heard yet. Still, she and the neighbors had had quite enough of the prank. The baseball bat had proven to be the most effective solution to the problem the past few nights, so she grabbed it. After a large exhale ,she opened the door to find a small orchestra.

The handsome singer's voice faltered the moment he realized his predicament. The large bouquet of roses he was holding nearly fell to the ground. The look of shock that crept onto all the musicians' faces suggested they might soil their tuxedos at any moment.

“I'm sorry, I thought this was Lisa's house...” began the singer as he took one nervous step backwards toward the retreating violins.

The bat dropped from Lisa's hands.

If only the hacker ex-boyfriend had been as romantic.

“Ah, se ciò è ver, fuggitemi”

“If he is trying so hard to find love,” Lisa reasoned to herself as she sang. “Then so can I.”

Word Count: 294