Stage Two Hullabaloo neighbor Retired music teacher Bert Bishop wasn't an official member of the Quetlock Quavers but he came in to help whenever whenever one of their pieces called for a double bass Like Foxtrot for Elephant with the four bar solo at the start the first four bars of their entire set Wait a minute said Dev clocking the empty stool beside him Where is Bert His glasses were still there on the music stand where he'd left them after rehearsals but there was no sign of his music And there was no sign more importantly of Bert himself Dev stood up and peered over the top of his spy style sunglasses sunglasses looking for a tell tale crop of gray hair peeking over one of the other music stands Bert was surprisingly small for a bass player But there was no sign of him No sign of his mischievous grin No sign of his light up musical bow tie And no sign of his bass Oh dear That wasn't good That wasn't good at all Where's Bert Dev said again louder this time Mr Bishop Where are you HAS ANYONE SEEN BERT What's going on back there called Mrs Allegro Sit down Dev it's time we got tuned up ready to start Dev shook his head No We can't start yet Bert's not here What Mrs Allegro turned pale What do you mean he's not here Where is he then
Stage Two Hullabaloo I don't know Miss I haven't seen him since rehearsals this afternoon said Dev looking worried Yes Bert had definitely been there for the run through earlier He'd played his solo brilliantly with low stomping notes that sounded just like a dancing elephant and made everyone giggle with his tall tales and fish flavored hiccups Hic Hic Hic But we're on in Mrs Allegro checked her watch turning paler still Oh my goodness we're on in five minutes We need to find him quickly She rapped her baton against the conductor's stand to get everyone's attention Listen up Quavers We're still waiting for Mr Bishop Has anyone seen him There was a flurry of head shakes and shoulder shrugs Piper chewed at her bottom lip looking worried and Ying shivered in her seat Cody tugged nervously at his lucky hat while Dev pushed his sunglasses back up his nose wondering whether to mention anything or not Bert Bishop did you say his name was asked one of the backstage helpers I'll see if he's down in the group dressing room And I'll check the restroom said another Don't worry I'm sure we'll find him in time Tick tock tick tock Less than four minutes to go All right let's have an A while we're waiting said Mrs
Where's Bert Allegro pointing to the oboes Make sure we're all in tune She was trying her best to act calm but the Quavers weren't so easily fooled They could see the worry in her eyes and the tremble in her legs Now what How could they play their set without Bert What would become of their foxtrotting elephant without his bass solo Quetlock Quavers
