Natasha Starikovich was a happy camper. As she turned nineteen years of age, she reflected on her satisfaction with her life.
She could not be happier with her academic studies at Northwestern University, as she was thoroughly enjoying being a coed. She was maintaining a 3.75 GPA including non-music courses. She loved expanding her technical knowledge of music, and she could see herself composing music in addition to performing.
As far as performing in concerts, she had already arrived. The reviews in the Chicago newspapers of her debut performance went through the roof in her praise. Word of mouth of her spectacular performance spread like wildfire amongst the classical music lovers in Chicago. That Natasha was born and raised in Chicago assured that she would become an immediate darling in that crowd. There was a groundswell of support demanding more appearances with the Chicago Symphony.
To meet the demand, Dietrich -- in conjunction with Vera, now Natasha's manager, and agent -- arranged with the musicians' union to allow eventually three performances of three different concertos: nine performances in total, during that spring. These extra performances were scheduled on nights that were not yet booked at the Symphony Center.
Natasha was set to perform the Sibelius Concerto in March, the Tchaikovsky Concerto in April, and the Max Bruch Concerto in May. Tickets were first only offered to individual and corporate donors as a reward for their support. The demand was so high that Dietrich and Vera had to expand to three performances of each concerto from the originally intended single performance of each concerto. Even with the expansion of performances, the nine performances were sold out before tickets could be offered to the general public.
Dietrich and Vera had negotiated a recording session to take place in the summer with one of the companies the Orchestra used for its own recordings. Dietrich suggested that Natasha record Enescu's Sonata as well as other music, and he promised he would play the piano for her first CD album. Natasha had said she wanted to include a piece she wanted to compose, and Dietrich promised he would allow inclusion of this music -- provided it was tolerable.
Natasha giggled at the snobbish answer and saucily replied:
"Why, Dietrich, my love, you must know by now that whenever I tackle anything, it is always with the ideal of striving for perfection, not for the mediocre. So, if I intend to compose some music and expose it to the public, then I will compose great music, not just tolerable music."
Dietrich just replied, "Pardon me for questioning your abilities. After all, I have certainly been the beneficiary of the many unquestionable talents you possess."
Dietrich and Vera also were in the tentative stage of scheduling Natasha with the Orchestra and some chamber-music-only performances at the Symphony Center during her sophomore year at Northwestern.
Natasha made it clear that no matter how successful her concerts and recordings might become, she still wanted to complete at least her undergraduate studies at Northwestern, reserving the right to go on to graduate school. She felt that she had the rest of her life to do concerts but that this was the time to complete her education, no matter how lucrative it might become to drop out of school. In any case, her concert career was off to a great start and would not be deterred by her continuing school.
Notwithstanding all of her success at school, and the potential of a lucrative concert career, the greatest source of joy in her life was the fact that she had three lovers who admirably satiated her lusts. She marveled that she had three -- yes, count them, three --all of whom were truly the most satisfactory lovers that a girl could possibly desire.
What was more astonishing about her status in the romance department was the fact that just a little more than twelve months earlier, she had lost Reggie Williams, whom she had believed was her love of her life and her one and only soul-mate. Her immediate reaction to his death was that she believed her sex life was over, as she was firmly in the grip of a truly agonizing despair. Now though, Reggie had become a fond memory, still missed, but Natasha had truly moved on.
What especially gratified her about her three lovers was that they all were men she was proud of, and she could easily boast about to her female friends. Dan Pearson, the junior quarterback of Northwestern University had the quintessential he-man, lumberjack, rugged good looks and physique. His physical appearance would entice straight women to swoon and drive men to envy.
When the two of them walked together on campus, Natasha noticed and was bothered by the envious glances and deliberate staring of most of the passing females they would encounter. Natasha typically responded by making deliberate eye contact with such females and giving a look that seemed to say, "You're damn right he is a gorgeous hunk. And he fucks as good as he looks. But he is mine to enjoy, not yours."
To such a telltale stare from Natasha, the females would quickly move away, reacting exactly the way they would have, had Natasha actually uttered those words out loud. Now, what was truly curious about Natasha's behavior was that Dan was engaged to another, and was not truly committed to Natasha, nor did she even want him as her sole lover.
Still, Dan's fiancรฉe lived far enough away, in California, so that in Chicago in general, and at the Northwestern University campus in particular, Natasha felt that she was Dan's sole female interest. She was a tigress to maintain and preserve this illusion, even though she had two other lovers. And never in her own mind was she concerned about the incongruity; it was simply how she felt.