Vera played the winning recording only after washing the cups from rehearsal. In the final song, a clear high note rang out, followed by a brief breath in the wrong place. She knew that breath. It belonged to her former soloist, Jelena, who had left the choir six months earlier. At the competition, Jelena had sat in the third row beside her husband, whose arm was in a cast.
This year's soloist, Hana, had been hoarse. Before the performance, the organizer, Damir, assured Vera that the microphone could soften the problem. Vera was arranging twenty chairs and asked no further questions. Now she stopped the recording and called Hana. The young woman began crying as soon as she heard the reason. She had been told to sing softly over a supporting track, supposedly as a precaution. She hadn't known her microphone would be switched off.
Jelena arrived for their conversation carrying oranges. She thought Vera wanted to discuss her return. When she heard the recording, she put the bag on the piano. Her voice had been taken from an old rehearsal without permission. At home, her husband had recognized the song but not her voice because she never played him her recordings. What hurt most was being made an accomplice while she had sincerely applauded Hana from the audience.
Damir claimed that reporting it would destroy the choir. He displayed the bus invoice and spoke about people who had taken a day off. Vera called a meeting. Hana asked to speak first. She explained what she had been told and offered to return the prize herself. Jelena interrupted: "That prize bears all our names. You won't carry it back alone." This time, the twenty chairs didn't need moving. Everyone stayed until the end.
They sent the recordings to the competition committee and surrendered the award. Damir no longer organized performances. Some neighbors called them naive for announcing a mistake many wouldn't have heard. The choir lost two members, but neither was Hana. At the next rehearsal, she sang more quietly and in her own voice while Vera deliberately stood farther from the speakers.
For the winter concert, Jelena agreed to sing one song live. Hana held her music because the stand squeaked. Before the last refrain, both women breathed in together, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. The audience didn't know why. Vera waited for the laughter to pass, raised her hand, and signaled a fresh beginning. This time, the small interruption remained in the recording.