Name: Rita Auricht
Nickname:
Age: 34
Birthday: Sep 7
Sexual Orientation: Heterossexual
Status: Married to Charles Auricht
Job: Works at the Child Care Center. Also teaches private piano lessons.
Religion: Not religious
Chronic diseases/Other Illness: None
Allergies: None
Smokes: No
Drinks: Yes, but she doesn't make a habit of it

At 5'3 one would hardly believe she's Henry's sister. She has brown hair and eyes, and despite her light complexion it only takes a day in the sun for her to get a good tan.

Rita usually doesn't worry too much about what she's going to wear, and because of her job most of the time she's wearing jeans and a plain t-shirt. Never the type to stand for too long staring into the wardrobe, Rita would just rather open the t-shirts drawer and take the one from the top of the pile. A habit she probably picked up from having her older brother as a role model for most of her childhood and teenage years.

She just recently got her hair cut really short and she is still getting used to it. Not having to go through all the trouble to keep it tamed is definitely worth it, though. And she thinks it's fun to experiment with bigger earrings.

Rita is a friendly type. She has a smile for everyone and she doesn't mind putting others before her if she has to make a decision. For some it might look as if Rita is always in a hurry. She talks a bit too fast and may interrupt others without even noticing.

She is one to let things happen to her, rather than make things happen. Not because she is a conformist, but because for a long time she had others defining what she had to do, as if she had no option. And because they always had the best intentions. Making things happen can be a bit of a mistery to her.

And that does make her a little anxious. She hates pressure and will freak out when there's too much of it.

She's not at all cocky because of her talent for music. She doesn't believe it is such a big deal. Having absolute pitch made her find it all quite natural.

You could say Rita is rather happy with her life, but still slightly frustrated that it didn't quite get her anywhere. Such a brilliant mind. What do you do with brilliance, in a world that only cares about... money? looks? results? The here and now, the immediate response and whichever else that the news channel is showing. Or what? In a way, she doesn't really think about it all. She only knows there's something missing. A certain nostalgia of an old feeling, and old happines. Something that was lost and she has no idea of how to get it back.

Rita was born in Chicago. She was the second child of Lucia and Nelson Rodriguez, and her older brother Henry was already 5 years old. Her father was a lawyer without too much free time to spend with the kids and her mother always was a distant type, somewhat aloof, and not because she didn't care. She was just a bit too lost in her own little world.

Running loose in the house, Henry and Rita were always able to find something fun to spend their time with. Rita grew up as a tomboy, never thinking twice to get into the mud with her brother. She was one with too much energy, and her father, noticing it, thought he should arrange some activity for her to use her free time after school, and also to keep her from tearing the house down.

She was only 6 when she started taking piano lessons. At first it seemed like a lost case: the girl couldn't sit still. But the teacher was patience and soon discovered the hidden talent. Rita had absolute pitch. She could tell a musical note with no reference at all, just by listening to it once. It that in hands, the teacher managed to turn the piano lessons into a game, and got Rita's interest. At age 11 the girl was already able to reproduce any song she had heard somewhere once.

Her teacher wanted her to go to New York to continue with her studies, but her father wasn't so sure he could just let go of her little baby. Rita stayed, but the teacher recommended her to a man called Nicolas Braun, a renowned piano teacher in Chicago. She had a talent not to be wasted.

Braun was a strange type. A 67 year-old man somewhat disillusioned with his life and his music. There was no doubt the man was brilliant, and he would become Rita's mentor in life. When she was 14 she started writing her own music. Mostly simple melodies, based on popular songs and ariettas. Braun, on the other hand, wouldn't want her to dream too high. He didn't want her disappointed. There was no space for music geniouses in the world of today, and while he figured joining an orchestra was the thing for her to do, he knew that would be great talent wasted. Or was it? What to do with that talent anyway? Write music? For what? To whom?

At age 15 she wrote the music for the school's graduation ceremony and as far as she know it has been used since. Other places went after her for that young talent. They would be surprised when they found out her age. Was the one who wrote that music really the small girl with brackets, talking more than her mouth seemed able to?

So it was. She wrote several little meaningless hymns for this and that school or church. She enjoyed it. And didn't quite understand why that made her mentor so mad. Braun was frustrated. He would arrange for her to perform solo, but it was hard to convince others to take her serious. She was a small teenage talkative girl, and who wanted to listen to what she had to play? Her own composition? Right.

Braun died of a heart attack when Rita was 17. At that point, Rita felt lost.

The next year she joined an orchestra, a bit unwillingly. The maestro was a close friend of Braun. His name was Mario Beneducci. He recognized the girl's talent and somehow took her under his wings. He continued Braun's effort to arrange her solo performances. But Rita didn't belong with the orchestra. She still wanted to write her own music. And there seemed to be no space anywhere for her.

Life, though, led her through another path. She met Charles (rather, saw him again, because they used to go to school together, though Charles was a few years older) in the beginning of 1993, and a few months after that her mother went away. She joined her brother in the task of finding out where she was, and Charles offered to help. Lucia had left a note saying she was going to Mexico, but they didn't think that made any sense at all. When at last Nelson received a picture of her -- in Mexico -- standing in front of aztecs ruins with a tall white-haired mexican man, Rita was lost again.

The maestro's pressure for her to perform bothered her. She wanted to get out of her father's house and get her own place, like her brother had done. She needed a job. She was 20 years old and she couldn't live on her father's expense anyore. Charles asked her to move in with him, and she accepted. She started teaching piano lessons, and that soon yielded her some good enough income.

Mario Beneducci died a couple years after that, as frustrated as Braun.

Rita started leading a rather simple life. She would write her music and play for friends, sometimes she played at religious festivals and every sunday she performed at her neighbourhood church. Her unrestness seemed to fade as time passed. One could say it was Charles. Say he soothed her. And perhaps that's the truth. They got officially married after living together for nearly 2 years.

Arthur was born when Rita was 28. She was thrilled. Yet, it was around that same time that a certain melancholy struck her, and there were days Charles got home from work to find Rita staring at the closed piano, sitting very still, immersed in thought.

She decided to move to Pleasant Port after her brother did. She missed him a lot, and maybe some quietness was really what she had been missing for the past few years. Charles made a deal with the former owner of the insurance company and they moved.

Works at the Child Care Center and teaches private piano lessons.

Address: 19 Oxford Drive
Does he live alone? She lives with her husband Charles and her son Arthur.
Lives in town since: March 2007

Bike. Her husband has a 2000 Volvo S40.

Nelson Rodriguez (67). Father. Nelson is a lawyer in Chicago. They try to keep in touch but Nelson is a bit too busy. He loves his daughter and it pains him a little when he have the feeling she's not quite as happy as she could be.

Lucia Rodriguez (62). Mother. She's supposed to be in Mexico, living with a man called Luiz, but Rita isn't sure about that. She gave up on finding out news about her mother, but she misses her. Lucia left the US when Rita was 20, and never came back.

Henry Rodriguez (40). Brother. Rita loves her brother and they get along quite well, even though it might look as if they were complete opposites. She worries a lot about him because he's too impulsive, and because he never seem to talk openly about his feelings.

Charles Auricht (40). Husband. They are pretty much in love. Charles is very caring, though sometimes he can be just a bit too stubborn. It bothers her that Charles and Henry don't get along.

Arthur Auricht (6). Son. Light of her life.

Nicolas Braun (deceased). Her mentor in music and life. He was afraid if she dreamed to high she would be disappointed, and he died sure he had been right.

Mario Beneducci (deceased). Tried to continue Braun's work, but failed. His pressure bothered Rita.

Activities: Playing the piano, playing the guitar, writing music, bike riding.
Likes: Music, children, theatre, dogs, volleyball.
Dislikes: Noisy places, horror movies.

Favorite film: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
Favorite music: Classical music, jazz
Favorite quote: "It's better to help people than to be like a gnome in the garden."