and eat in the cafeteria which means we can eat hot dogs and pizza every day if we want And sodas All the sodas we want for breakfast lunch and dinner Take it Take it She shoved the brochure at me again impatiently I finally got hold of it and leaned back in my seat so she wouldn’t be tempted to grab it again before I could look at it for myself On the cover a teenager clutched a mic eyes closed and mouth fully open as if he was really belting out a lyric Stage lights sparkled all around him It’s absolutely perfect for both of us Pinky said My mom signed me up last night You have to come My mouth twitched from side to side I had never been to an overnight camp before Usually Mom forced me to go to City Recreation Camp at the community center where we had to make dry pasta necklaces and paint pet rocks We can form our own band if we want Mom said that I could finally start the guitar while I’m there Pinky knelt backward on the seat but crouched down so Ms Screws wouldn’t notice We both can if you’re ready to try something besides the piano She screwed up her face And maybe you can break away from those uh how should I put it those 6
chirpy songs you play I mean Danny Boy and What a Friend We Have in Jesus are catchy tunes and all but dude unless you want Danny and Jesus to be your only friends something’s gotta change Ha ha I said I’d been playing piano for only a couple of years My lessons were with Ms Maisie who lived in the senior housing building where my mom used to work but she wasn’t a professional piano teacher or musician And yes I wanted to learn to read sheet music and to play Bohemian Rhapsody Rhapsody and the theme from Star Wars but mostly Ms Maisie taught me church songs and old show tunes she knew She was kind of set in her ways Anyway I want to stay with the piano I murmured murmured as I studied the brochure The photographs of kids behind drum sets keyboards and sound equipment equipment jumped out at me Form a band and develop practice skills with other musicians with similar experience and style Hone your skills with musical instruction from professionals and practice stage performance in concerts 7
Discover the secrets of songwriting recording promotion Wow this does sound great I said Lately when I practiced at home on my keyboard I’d been making up my own tunes I could only play when I was by myself because my sixteen-year-old brother Spencer was always studying when he was at home and I wasn’t allowed to disturb him in our tiny apartment And Mom didn’t really like to hear me play because it reminded her of Dad who died when I was three He’d been a musician and played in a band She didn’t talk really about him Several years back when we were moving from our previous apartment into the one we lived in now I’d seen her pulling out a big keyboard from a closet I’d gotten really excited and started to drill her with questions who did it belong to why was it hidden away could I play with it Mom’s face had gotten all trembly She’d set the keyboard on the bed and rushed out of the room When I’d plugged it in and started playing with it Spencer had come in Look what Mom found I’d said Want to try it 8
Spencer had stared at it for a long moment before he came over and solemnly pressed a key A low note hovered in the air That’s Dad’s keyboard he said A cloudy memory had come back to me standing standing at the keys while Dad played the upright piano we had in the old house He would stop mid-song and wait for me to plink out a few notes before he picked it back up Spencer had glanced toward the other room where I could hear Mom and her friend moving things out to the truck she’d borrowed You’d better better not play it while Mom’s around It just makes her sad Now looking at the brochure my heart began to patter I could learn how to read music and to really play music I knew I had to do it I’ll ask my mom as soon as I get home I said 9
