Frances's Arrival

"Wunderkind" takes place on a winter afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio, presumably in the 1930s ("the present," when the story was written). Fifteen-year-old Frances arrives at the home of her music teacher, Mr. Bilderbach, for her piano lesson. She is a bit early, and as she sits down to wait we see that she is restless and agitated; her fingers are twitching uncontrollably, and we are told that the sight of them intensifies "the fear that had begun to torment her for the past few months."

This fear seems to be centered on her music, which she has not performed as well lately as once she had. She silently encourages herself to have "a good lesson—like it used to be." As Bilderbach emerges from his studio to greet Frances, her thoughts drift briefly into the past (as they will often throughout the story), and we...