First Chair

First Chair — page 5 — Always slobbering I said Always knocking us down Always had breath that knocked us down I said Baylor propped her elbows on the table and sighed I miss Cal already Me too I said Cal was Baylor’s old neighbor’s dog The Harveys didn’t have kids So they called their overweight bulldog Cal their son They really acted like he was too They stuffed Cal’s big gut into extra large doggie T-shirts He even had his own closet to hang them in When the Harveys worked late they paid Baylor to walk Cal to the dog park Lots of times I’d go with Baylor just to hang out Cal was a good dog Mostly There was this one time he lifted his leg on a toddler at the park Not good Maybe your new neighbors will have a dog I said 6

First Chair — page 6 — If they do they’ll probably just have their son walk him True I said But you can show him the way to the dog park If he’s cute that is Hope James My mom knocked on my door and stuck her head in Have you practiced at all today I noticed you haven’t logged your time yet Mom keeps a practice log on the side of the fridge I’m supposed to write down how many minutes I practice playing my flute every day And Mom checks it A lot If she doesn’t see numbers being logged she bugs me Like now I’ve practiced I said How many minutes Mom asked I looked at my watch Probably thirty so far Thirty Honey you know that’s unacceptable Mom stood in my room now Unplug that air hockey table and get out your flute I will Mom I said We’re just finishing our game here 7

First Chair — page 7 — One hundred and twenty minutes each day Hope You know that’s how much time your sister practiced her flute to keep first chair I know Mom How could I ever forget Mom is constantly reminding me that Miss Perfect Mara practiced perfectly and played perfectly Earning a college scholarship requires a lot of practice Mom said I’m only in seventh grade I don’t think about college much yet But no way would I tell Mom that Besides she thinks about it enough for both of us So instead I promised to practice as soon as we finished our game That satisfied her For now Where were we I asked Baylor Oh yeah I was just about to score another point for the win wasn’t I I smiled Ha ha Baylor served Not this time We batted the puck back and forth Baylor might be right The more we played the harder it was to score on her She was getting better 8

First Chair — page 8 — Sherman Baylor said sending the puck to my side Huh I asked Baylor moved to one side and made an awesome block His name is Sherman Whose name I asked The new boy My neighbor she said And his last name’s Frye Sherman Frye I froze Yep Baylor hit the puck hard It slid right into my goal My point Baylor laughed and kissed her mallet When I didn’t say anything Baylor asked Hey you didn’t let me score did you I don’t like it when somebody just gives me points I still didn’t say anything Hello Baylor waved her hand in my face Hope Are you there Hope The Sherman Frye I asked I guess so So what Baylor said 9

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