Cello

The Cello is Lucy's musical instrument and, after Mrs. Yamamoto's death, the object at the center of Lucy's fearful account of the accident. A costly possession that Lucy has not seen since the death, it becomes more than an instrument in her memory: its changed position is linked to a fatal fall, though another witness remembers Mrs. Yamamoto as habitually clumsy.

Identity and Absence

Lucy refers to the instrument as her cello and recalls that George Fly and Miriam Fly always said musical instruments were very expensive. She has not seen it since Mrs. Yamamoto died. The Cello's absence is therefore concrete as well as emotional: Lucy remembers both the instrument's value and its disappearance from her life after the accident.

The Accident and Responsibility

When Mrs. Katoh visits, Lucy immediately launches into a defense. She says she did not mean to kill Mrs. Yamamoto, explains that she put the Cello in a different place, and insists she did not know Mrs. Yamamoto would trip over it. In Lucy's account, the instrument's relocation is the circumstance that connects her action to the fatal fall, even as she calls the death an accident.

Recollection and Significance

Mrs. Katoh does not accept Lucy's framing as the whole story. She remembers Mrs. Yamamoto as clumsy, says Mrs. Yamamoto described herself that way, and recalls warning that an accident would happen one day. Lucy tries to test this recollection against her own memory, but cannot even picture Mrs. Yamamoto's face. The Cello thus occupies an uncertain boundary between object and evidence: Lucy associates its placement with responsibility, while Mrs. Katoh's testimony supplies a competing context for the fall.