Angel Marquez-The Angel Blossoms chapter 3

by

Paula Dillon

Angel continues to grow and blossoms as she cements her place in the hearts of her friends. Along the way she gets a few surprises.

Angel was amazed by the number of groups that wanted a piece of her time when things got rolling at school. She had a commitment with the choir, a chamber music group wanted her to play with them, a girl’s rock group wanted her, even Madeline, Natsuko and Carol Rawlings wanted to form a group. Mrs. Bloomington was very helpful in deciding which groups would help Angel. Besides the orchestra and the choir, she liked the idea of Madeline’s group. She urged Angel not to accept any others, yet.

School was school. There were lessons to be learned and a lot of studying to be done. The Wednesday study session was very helpful. A key point was that there was always someone there who could be helpful. Angel used this time to keep abreast of her classes.

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After lunch on Tuesday, Angel picked up her guitar and hurried to the choir room. There were about thirty girls in the room when Angel got there. She was enthusiastically greeted by some of the girls as she entered the room. They stood around talking for a few minutes until Linda Macy, the choir director came in.

“Settle down girls,” Ms. Macy said. “We have a lot to do. Let’s give Ms. Marquez a warm welcome,” she said, turning to Angel, clapping.

The rest of the girls did the same. Angel began to blush a bit.

“Okay girls, that is enough. We have a show coming up at a children’s hospital in three weeks. Angel, we want you to participate in two songs with us. Do you know ‘Sing’ and ‘Rainbow Connection’?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Can you play and sing them for us?”

Angel took out her guitar, sat on a tall stool and tuned it. She then went into the intro to ‘Sing’. She then sang with the piece. Angel’s voice was clear and strong, as she sang.

Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things, not bad
Sing of happy, not sad.

Angel sang through the song and then created a bridge that allowed her to change keys and rhythm and lead directly into ‘Rainbow Connection’. She sang it through and bridged back to ‘What’s so amazing, that keeps us stargazing’ and sang it through to the end.

Everyone was silent until the last chords Angel played dissipated into nothingness. The choir then erupted into applause, which last ten… twenty seconds. Ms. Macy then got the attention of her students.

“Girls, girls, that is enough. We have got a lot to do,” Ms. West said. “Angel I loved what you played. It was nice how you bridged the two songs together. Unfortunately, the two songs will be separated in time. ‘Sing’ will be the song we will lead with and ‘Rainbow Connection’ will be our closer. I like the way you played ‘Rainbow Connection’ let’s make that our arrangement. Now for ‘Sing’…”

Ms. Macy then went on to explain what she wanted, to the choir and Angel.

Amanda Walker got a stool and sat next to Angel. Ms. Macy then began to direct. Angel began playing and sang the first line, Amanda sang the second. They traded lines and then the choir and piano, joined them at ‘Sing of good things, not bad’. They sang it through and bridged back and repeated from… ‘Sing, sing a song, Let the world sing a long’… to the end of the song. The choir faded out repeating ‘Just sing, sing a song, Just sing, sing a song’, and then Angel and Amanda sang ‘Just sing, sing a song’, one last time.

Ms. Macy gave them some comments and changed a few things, then had them sing it a couple of more times. She smiled when they finished the sing through.

“I like this girls, good job. That is how we will perform it. Now, while we have Angel with us, let’s do ‘Rainbow connection’.”

She went on to tell them what she wanted. She went through the music, assigning sections and a couple of soloists, to sing throughout the piece. Angel held up her hand to speak.

“Yes Angel.” Ms. Macy said.

“This is for kids at a children’s hospital right?”

“Yes, it is. Go on.”

“Well, it would be so cool if Ms. Boucher, she is a pianist, could carry in a small piano, like Schroeder plays. You know, Schroeder from Charlie Brown. She and I could play the intro.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful, a sort of mixed up cartoon number. Charlie Brown meets the Muppets. Let’s talk to your roommate after class.”

They then sung through ‘Rainbow Connection’, a couple of times.

When the class was over, Angel was packing up her guitar when Madeline came in the room. She looked around and then walked up to Ms. Macy.

“Did you send for me, Ms. Macy?”

“Yes I did Ms. Boucher. Angel…”

Angel walked over and joined them.

“… had this wonderful idea. I will let her tell you.”

“The choir is going to a children’s hospital to sing. We are going to sing ‘Rainbow Connection’. I thought it would be so cool to have you bring in a small piano, like Schroeder plays in the Charlie Brown shows.”

Madeline was deep in thought, while Angel told her their plans.

“There are tiny piano’s that play like celestas, they play like a piano, but have metal bars instead of strings. I could say dress in a formal tux with tails and carry it in, along with a real tiny stool.” Madeline said. “Could I also do ‘Schroeder’ from ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown’?”

“That’s what I am talking about,” Angel said.

“That is a great idea Ms. Boucher. Let me see about getting the piano,” Ms. Macy said, “We could add ‘Schroeder’ at the middle. This could be wonderful.”

“It would be cooler if you could play a small guitar or ukulele and Natsuko could play a tiny violin.”

“I could do that if I had the instrument.”

“We only have three weeks, girls. Get on it if you can.”

“Let’s find Natsuko,” Madeline said. “She should be leaving her violin class.”

Angel and Madeline rushed out; they didn’t have far to go. They found her and pitched their idea on the way back to their cottage.

“I have a quarter size violin, but it is back in Kobe.”

“Leo, he could help us out,” Angel said.

Angel hurried into their room and got her cell phone out of her desk. She called Leo at the music shop.

“Put him on speaker phone, Angel,” Natsuko said.

The girls then told him about the show and their idea.

“I can do the guitar and violin easy. I have both of them in stock. I know what you want for the piano, you couldn’t carry it in, but … em. Let me see what I can do.”

Angel gave him a contact number for the school and Ms. Macy’s office.

“Our next practice will be Thursday afternoon, Leo.”

“I can’t promise anything, but I will try.”

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The next choir class found Angel, Natsuko and Madeline standing in front of the class with Ms. Macy talking. There was a knock at the door and a big burly guy stuck his head in.

“Where do you want the new piano, Lady?” He asked.

“Right here,” Ms. Macy said smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

The guy came in with a broom and swept a path into the room and a large area, big enough for a concert grand piano. He then left. A minute later, they could hear men grunting. The double doors to the choir room opened and two huge guys were pushing a tiny piano, on a huge dolly. The guys could have played defensive tackles for a professional football team. The piano was about eighteen inches tall, shaped like a grand piano. It was two feet wide and about four feet deep. A third man carried in a piano bench; that was about eight inches tall. The two men strained and grunted, as they lifted the piano off the trolley. The girls of the choir were laughing and having a ball.

Leo then came in, carrying two small cases. Angel smiled and rushed to give the man a hug.

“Hello Leo.”

“Hello Angel.”

“I loved that entrance, Leo,” Ms. Macy said. “That would be good to incorporate into the show.”

Leo handed Angel a small guitar case and Natsuko a small violin case. He and the guys just stood back.

Madeline made a show out of raising the top of the piano and putting the support in place. She then sat on the tiny bench. It was kind of strange seeing one of the tallest girls at the school sitting on the tiny bench, in front of the tiny piano. Angel and Natsuko took their small instruments out and tuned them, as Madeline got use to the piano.

Madeline stood and made a big show of bowing to where the crowd would be, she turned to the piano and made a motion of flipping her non-existent tails up, as she sat on that tiny bench. She leaned over the piano, like Schroeder did in the cartoon, before she tickled the ivories a bit. She then played the first four measures. The piano sounded more like a glockenspiel, than a piano. She then looked at Angel, who played the first four measures and then Natsuko played the same four measures. They then played them together and then continued with the song, with Angel singing.

Ms. Macy was laughing and almost crying as the girls finished. Leo and the guys were applauding loudly and laughing, as was the choir. It took several minutes for the girls to settle down enough for Ms. Macy to get control.

“That was wonderful, you three need to practice some more with those instruments, but you guys did pretty good. Now let’s try it again with the full choir.”

The second play through with the choir, Angel, Madeline and Natsuko were much better. Ms. Macy decided that they would forgo the usual piano accompaniment and just go with the girls. She had them do it another time.

Regina Wilson then came in and draped herself, like Lucy, on the piano, Mrs. Davis, the choir’s pianist, began playing Beethoven on her grand piano while Madeline hammed up like she was playing the tiny piano. Regina then sang the song ‘Schroeder’. Madeline as Schroeder looked irritated at Lucy, while Lucy made goo goo eyes at Schroeder.

That seen brought tears to everyone’s’ eyes as they laughed at the two girls.

After class, Angel put up her little guitar and skipped over to Leo.

“How were we, Leo?”

“Ya’ll were great! This school has a really good choir. I especially liked how you three hammed it up.”

“I just want to thank you. How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing, the guitar is yours and Natsuko can keep the violin. The piano was the most expensive; you can just donate it to the children’s hospital.”

Angel just gave Leo another hug.

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Angel got together with Janet and Rebecca after school for a guitar lesson in the Student Union building. They practiced chord progressions and played some songs together.

“How did you get so good, Angel?” Rebecca asked.

“I don’t know? Determination, lots of practice, a family with many good musicians, a bunch of great teachers, and an excellent instrument that makes you just want to play it, I guess.”

“Whatever, you play very well!” Janet exclaimed.

“I just feel all this music, in my soul, which is shouting at me to play it. I can’t describe what I am feeling when I am playing well.”

“Better than sex,” Rebecca joked.

“I wouldn’t know about that yet,” Angel said. “But it just may be.” Angel’s Mom and Aunt had told her that there may be conversations that might be like this. They told her that girls talk about sex almost as much as boys do. She had talked and practiced with the twins.

“How would you know about sex, Rebecca? Have you done it yet?” Janet asked, kidding her roommate.

Rebecca blushed, “I haven’t done it myself, but I have been close to doing it a couple of times. We kissed a lot and his hands were everywhere, except down there. I did touch a boy down there, once. How about you, Angel?”

“I haven’t really had a chance. Between my music and my mom watching over me, I really haven’t had the opportunity. Mom won’t let me date till I am sixteen. She just started letting me play with makeup this summer.”

“How much do you practice your guitar playing, girl?” Rebecca asked.

“An hour and a half, maybe two hours a day.”

“Everyday?”

“Pretty much. I might have missed a few days over the last four years. That’s what it takes to be really good.”

“And you’ve never gone out with a boy?”

“Not yet. Mother was a stay at home Mom. After she divorced my sperm donor, I helped her get over him and start living again.”

“You hate, your father. Did he abuse you?”

Angel’s eyes began to glisten with tears forming, “He never touched me like that, but he did hit me once with his fist. He was a sexist pig and a control freak. Everything he did had to be a certain way, which was his way. After he hit me, Mom clocked him on the head with a frying pan and told him to get out. He never came home again, after that.”

“What did you do to get him so mad?”

“I didn’t have to do anything in particular, he was just a jerk.”

“How old were you?”

“Six.”

“I am so sorry Angel,” Rebecca said, as she reached over and hugged Angel.

She cried on Rebecca’s shoulder. This was the first time Angel could remember crying over this. She was wishing that she would have had a loving father.

“Please Rebecca, don’t spread this around.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. I know when something is too important to tell.”

Janet walked with Angel back to her cottage.

“Let me guess, your father hit you, because you are like me.”

“Yes and my Mom really did hit him with a frying pan.”

“I understand, Angel. If you need to talk, find me. I understand where you are coming from.”

“I will. Thank you.”

They hugged and headed to their own cottage.

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Wednesday morning the freshmen were in their formal uniforms and in the library. Angel brought her laptop as did most of the girls there. Angel spent the first part of the class getting familiar with the library’s intranet resources. The front page had menus of what was available. There was an online card catalogue, music resources, periodicals that included most major newspapers that could be read online, virtual art galleries, virtual museums and so much more.

She did her homework and emailed it to her teachers, when she finished it. There was a math program on the library's homepage that let her do her algebra and insert the symbols she needed. From her English teacher’s homepage she selected her research paper’s topic. She chose to do her paper on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes.

She chose to read the novel ‘The Hounds of Baskerville’ and the short stories ‘A Case of Identity’, ‘The Adventure of the Red-Headed League’ and ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’. She also found ‘Howdunit Book of Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers’ and ‘The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes’. That was a lot of reading she had to do, but she was a fast reader and she loved detective stories. The Library had the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and would order the other two books using a library exchange system.

Angel copied the Dewey Decimal Classification for the Sherlock Holmes books and went in search for the books. A roving senior sent her off in the right direction. Once she was in the right area, she quickly found the books she needed. When she got back to her computer she had an email from the librarian. Angel was able to download a Kindle reader program and the two books she wanted.

Next she wanted to check out some Spanish History. She found books in both English and Spanish. She decided to read some of each. Again, Angel was able to find a couple of books and download one in Spanish. On a whim she emailed her Spanish teacher and told her about a discussion she had with her family in Spain. She had a recording of her great, great, Aunt Carmelita Ramos. Angel wrote a little about her 104 year old Aunt and what was in the recording (in Spanish, of course). She remembered that there wasn’t anything in it that gave her away. She offered to let her teacher use the recording if she wanted.

Mrs. Rosales was quick to reply to Angel, she initiated a chat program with her student. She wanted to know what media was the recording in. Angel replied that she had the recording on her hard drive of this computer. She asked if Angel could send her a copy. Angel found the recording and sent the file to her teacher. Mrs. Rosales said she'd received it and thanked Angel.

After four hours in the library Angel met up with her roommates and headed to lunch. They were glad it was lunch time, they had each used the time judiciously, but four hours is four hours.

It was still strange seeing so many girls in their formal uniforms. Unlike some schools, the uniforms here looked good and the formal uniforms with their ruffled blouses looked especially nice. Most of the girls acted particularly ladylike on Wednesdays, none were more ladylike than Madeline. She always seemed elegant. She would make an excellent straight woman for a comedy routine.

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As much as Angel loved playing music, she also loved listening to music. Music appreciation this week was no different. Angel took notes as a string quartet played some classical music. Amy and Carol were in this group. Then there was a small choral group singing a cappella. There was a harp solo, a pop/rock group and lastly there was a senior who sang ‘Stetit Puella’, ‘In Trutina’ and “Dulcissime’ from ‘Carmina Burana’. The music was a full orchestra recording.

When Angel got back to the dorm, she checked her email. Mrs. Rosales sent her an email thanking her for the recording and asking her to come to the Advanced Spanish class room 208 at eleven on Thursday. Mrs. Rosales stated she cleared it with Angel’s Government class teacher. She got emails from the twins, Aunt Carmine and her mother. She also saw one from Servando Morales.

Dear Angel,

It was wonderful finding your videos on the computer. My assistant constantly checks what you call YOUTUBE, for interesting new artists. She brought your videos to my attention. Imagine my surprise at seeing that young lady that I played with in Madrid on her computer screen. Anita was surprised to hear that I already met and played with the young lady she was bringing to my attention. I loved watching you play and dictated a comment to her.

Anita checked up and read the other comments, and she found your reply to my comment. She did some research for me and found your school. I have corresponded with your school. I assume they checked me out. Four days later they sent me an email and said that they would be happy to forward an email to you.

I am glad for the opportunity to write you and tell you to keep up the good work. I will be in New York to play with the New York Philharmonic in December. I would love for you and some of your friends to attend this concert. Please tell me how many might attend and I will send you tickets.

With admiration and affection

Servando Morales.

Angel checked her calendar and saw that Servando was a guest Soloist and got the dates. She also noted that they also had a concert in New York the weekend before Servando Morales’ performance. We won’t be playing at the Lincoln Center, but still, I think we are a very good orchestra, Angel thought.

Angel composed an email back to him.

Dear Mr. Morales,

I enjoyed your comment on YouTube almost as much as when I got the opportunity to play with you.

I still remember the day I met you. I thought I was doing a favor for a nice old man. I was surprised though when you began to push and challenge me musically to play better. You remind me so much of the ‘Old Men’ who taught me how to play. My Grandfather and two great uncles, Pedro Aguilar and Ricky Montez taught me to love Classical and Spanish guitars.

I will always remember the time we played together fondly. I need to check with my mom and school about attending your performance. My school also has a concert in New York on December the sixth. It may not be the Lincoln Center, but I would like to invite you to attend it. I know that you may have a busy schedule, but it would be nice having you there. I may be playing ‘Spanish Romance’ or ‘Recuerdos de la Alhambra’. That is what I am practicing with our Orchestra. We have a very good orchestra for an all-girl high school.

Thank you for writing to me, I hope you will always be my friend.

Love,

Angel

She hit send and then printed out Servando Morales’ email.

(to be continued)