Cindy at Music Camp By Teek © 2019 Chapter 05 Marcus and Cindy

Summary: Marcus? Mr. Elks wants a Rock'n Roll guitar player to be a classical music piano player? The other question is what will Mr. Elks decide to do about Cindy now that he knows. He didn't flip out, but that doesn't mean he will allow Cindy to stay.

“Marcus plays the electric guitar and only Rock’n Roll,” Jessica explained. “He doesn’t play the piano, and he certainly will not play this type of music. I have been here four years, and I have never heard him play anything close to the type of music in my composition.”

“It will be a tough sell, but I think I have a way that might convince him to join your group,” smiled Mr. Elks. “If Cindy here will help?”

“Me? I’m a worthless little nine year old, classical music flute player. What can I do to convince a fifteen year old Rock’n Roll guitar player, to play the piano in our little orchestra?”

“First things first. No one is worthless. You should never view yourself or anyone else as worthless. We all have something to contribute to this world, and based upon what I have heard this afternoon, you have an amazing future ahead of you playing the flute. Now Cindy,” Mr. Elks looked directly at Cindy. “Do you want to play your flute in this Orchestra as Cindy or Frank?”

“That’s easy, Cindy. That can’t happen though. Mommy sent me to camp as Frank and will be expecting to see Frank playing in the final performance. These guys all want Cindy there, but . . . she can’t be.”

“It is up to you,” Mr. Elks assured her. “I assume, I was scheduled to come here today in order to be introduced to Cindy, and then Jessica would try to convince me to let you be Cindy for the rest of Camp?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Jessica admitted.

Samantha added, “I figured you would accept Cindy after I saw your daughter Lizzy kissing that other girl.”

“Yeah,” George interjected. “If you accept your daughter being a lesbian, then we figured that you would at least listen to us about Cindy here.”

“I see. A true team effort to ambush me, and convince me to let Frank turn into Cindy for the rest of the week,” Mr. Elks looked around at all of them nodding their heads. “Well, our camp does have a Transgender policy. We will not discriminate against children who are Transgender. The problem comes with Frank not coming to camp as Cindy. This really complicates things.”

Mr. Elks considered his options, “Cindy, do you have any girl clothes to wear?”

“No, she doesn’t,” replied Samantha. “But if you let Cindy stay, she will have a full girl’s wardrobe by bedtime tonight.”

“How? No, don’t tell me,” Mr. Elks said shaking his head back and forth. “I am better off not knowing. Just like I don’t want to know how she managed to get a haircut yesterday before dinner. And yes, I did notice an unknown girl at dinner last night.”

Jessica, Samantha, and Cindy all looked at each other with guilty grins.

“As the director of this camp, I will not stop one of the students from dressing up in clothing that does not match the gender on their registration paperwork. It is up to each child to dress themselves each morning. My job is to teach you music. And yes Samantha, if it wasn’t for Lizzy, I probably would have a different view on all of this. If Cindy is going to be here, we can’t have her in the boy’s dorm. But, since we have Cindy registered as a boy at camp, we can’t have her in the girl’s dorm either. I guess she is going to have to stay with my wife and me. We have a spare bedroom where we occasionally have a camp member stay. Cindy, if I say yes, would you be okay staying at my house?”

Cindy wasn’t sure if she heard all of that correctly. She looked around at the other kids. Jessica and Samantha were both nodding their heads yes. George just held his hand out, putting the decision back onto Cindy. She could be Cindy? That is what it sounded like. Mr. Elks would let him dress however she wanted each day. Could Samantha get her clothes to wear this week? After the conversation in Samantha’s bedroom last night, it sounded like it would be easy to get enough clothes to get through the rest of the week. Mom may never let Frank turn into Cindy again. This might be his last chance to ever be Cindy.

“When my mom dropped me off at camp, she made it very clear that she was not done yelling at me and she would continue when I got home from camp. I am going to get yelled at again about being Cindy when I get home no matter what I decide to do here,” Cindy paused as she thought for a minute. “I am Cindy, even when I am dressed up pretending to be a boy named Frank. I want to do it, but what are you going to say to my mom?”

“Well Cindy,” Mr. Elks responded. “Parents pay me to get the best out of all the participants at camp. Kids come from five different states to attend this music camp. So many kids want to attend this camp that we have to screen kids through audition tapes. Only the best get to come here, and we promise parents that their children will leave better players than when they arrived, or their money back. Today, I heard Cindy playing significantly better than Frank ever could. If that is because you are wearing a dress, then all I will tell your mom is that you dressed that way on your own each day and you played better in a dress. I did my job, find a way to make you a better flute player. Parents don’t see kids before the concert, and if Cindy doesn’t play until the last song, your mom will not know you are Cindy until it is all over.”

“Now that we know Cindy is going to be part of this Orchestra, we now have to convince Marcus to join,” George brought everyone back to the biggest challenge in front of them.

“I haven’t said yes to Cindy, and I am not sure Cindy has said yes to being in your band. For the moment however, let’s go with that,” Mr. Elks said looking down at his watch. “Let's see. It is 2:15. Marcus should be in band practice. I will send his band teacher an e-mail and you George go get him. If the band teacher gives you any trouble, ask him to look at his e-mail.”

As George left the room, Mr. Elks typed an e-mail on his tablet. Then, with the help of the girls, he moved one of the dividers away from the wall. They put a chair behind the divider and Cindy was asked to stay behind the divider with her flute and Molly. She needed to stay hidden until asked to come out.

A little over five minutes later, George returned with Marcus.

“What’s going on Mr. Elks,” Marcus questioned as he looked around the room. “This is an interesting group of people you have collected here. Top Piano player, expert on the french horn, a Little that can out play anyone on the violin, and then me, Rock Star. Whadda you want?”

“Hmmm, impressive. Even playing Rock, you keep up on the top talent at camp.”

“Yeah well, they are competition, and you try to get us all to play together at least once during camp.”

“That I do,” Mr. Elks smiled. “There is one person missing though.”

“You mean that weird Little who can charm people with his flute playing, what’s his name Fred or Frank, or Fridder. I don’t know, but yes, with him you would have the best talent in the camp all in this room.”

“Up until today, I would have agreed with you on the top five performers at camp this summer. The group you see in front of you Marcus, have shown me that I was wrong. What if I told you that Frank wasn’t the best flute player and Jessica over here wasn’t the best piano player at camp.”

“Your nuts Mr. Elks. I make it a point to hear everyone play during the first week, even all the Littles. Jessica is definitely the best and so is that Frank kid.”

“Okay, maybe you are right, but Samantha, Jessica, and George think they have found someone who can play even better than Frank.”

“In fact,” Jessica added. “That player, who’s a Little, and Samantha over here might just be the best two players at camp. Period.”

“hmf, two Littles better than me, forget it.”

“Sounds like an interesting challenge. Let’s start with something simple. We will have our mystery person play and you tell me if it is better than Frank. Mystery player, please play us something you like.”

Cindy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Putting the flute up to her lips she started. She felt her way through her favorite flute solo. When the piece was done, she opened her eyes and put down her flute.

“Impressive,” Marcus stated. “I heard nothing that good last week. You are right, the kid is definitely way better than that Frank kid.”

Cindy smiled as Mr. Elks asked her to come out. She grabbed Molly and joined the others.

“Wow, a real little like the violin player there.”

“You like shocking your audience, don’t you Marcus?” Mr. Elks inquired with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, it’s no fun if I don’t shock or impress them at least once during a performance.”

“Well, Cindy here was shock number one and now for a few more,” Mr. Elks grinned. “Jessica here has written a composition for the piano, flute, french horn, and the violin. Jessica was going to play the piano part but the group found out the piece sounded better if she was conducting it. That caused them to need someone to replace Jessica on the piano. Let’s play the piece so you can hear what we are looking for.”

With Mr. Elks back on the piano, and Jessica conducting, the group played the piece for Marcus.

“Pretty good,” Marcus praised. “Sounds like Jessica will probably win the coveted last piece in the concert.”

“They probably will if they can find someone to play the Piano,” Mr. Elks pointed out. “I told you earlier that there was a better piano player at camp than Jessica. We want that person to play the piano part in this orchestra. Here, let me play a song this performer did for me.”

“Okay,” Marcus was puzzled.

Mr. Elks started tapping away on his tablet and then a lovely piano solo started playing. When it finished, he looked around at the group.

“Wow-wee,” Samantha exclaimed!

“Extremely impressive,” was George’s response.

“I am sad to admit,” Jessica sighed. “That was way better than I can play.”

“Sounds like you have your perfect replacement for Jessica on the piano,” Marcus commented. “So, why am I here?”

Cindy just smiled at Marcus while she hugged the Molly doll.

“You see Marcus,” Mr. Elks explained. “We need you to convince that individual to play this piece.”

“What is the problem? Who wouldn’t want to play in the final performance of the concert? It is coveted by almost everyone here at camp. Who is it that you want me to talk to?”

Samantha started to giggle, and shortly after Cindy and Jessica followed.

“What’s up with those weirdos?” Marcus looked down at the little kids.

“We want you to play the piece in the performance,” George said.

Marcus coughed, “You want what?”

“That recording you heard,” Mr. Elks explained. “Was your performance six years ago when you did a solo as the final performance in the concert.”

“But, I don’t play the piano anymore, and I definitely don’t play any classical type of music,” Marcus was wide eyed as he looked around the room.

“You told me that Frank was the best flute player, and we said he wasn’t. Well, we found out that Frank was really a little girl named Cindy, and playing as Cindy she was much better than Frank.”

Marcus looked at Cindy with a quizzical look.

“You told us that the person on that recording would be perfect for the piece. You also said that almost everyone wants to perform in the final performance of the concert. Well,” Mr. Elks looked at Marcus. “Do you?”

“That’s not fair Mr. Elks. You tricked me.”

“We may have done that, but we never lied to you. Cindy really is a better player when playing as Cindy instead of Frank. You really are a better piano player than Jessica, and, this composition will most likely be the final performance of the concert this year.”

Jessica jumped up and down holding in a scream.

“Now Marcus,” Mr. Elks continued. “You want to shock the audience? Just imagine their reaction when the camps Rock’n Roll guitar player gets out on stage and plays the most outstanding piano performance.”

“You have me there. That would definitely be something to shock the audience. Any chance I could do a Rock’n Roll performance right before the final song, so I don’t even leave the stage, just put my guitar on it’s stand and walk over to the piano while these guys are walking onto the stage?”

“You really do like shocking the audience don’t you. Well, I will have to think about that. We usually do not put a Rock’n Roll piece mixed in with the classical music. On top of that, you are asking me to give you a performance in the concert without me even hearing what you want to perform. Before we address that though, are you okay playing in an orchestra with a child who is transgender?”

“Mr. Elks, my favorite band of all time is KISS. An individual’s looks and behavior do not phase me. I don’t care if someone is an alien from Mars, just as long as they can play.”

“One last thing you need to know before you decide,” Cindy added. “My mom may get so mad when she sees me dressed as Cindy up on stage that she may stop the performance and drag me off the stage.”

“Really,” Marcus looked at Mr. Elks and then at the others who were all nodding their heads. “You mean a parent of a classical music camper could stop a performance and drag a kid off the stage at the final concert? It has almost happened a few times with the Rock’n Roll campers, but it hasn’t happened yet. I have pushed my performances away from camp at times, trying to get my mom to do it, but she has never gotten that angry at me. The possibility of being part of a group that may be stopped by a parent is tremendously tempting. I gather she does not approve of Cindy.”

“Nope, not one bit,” Cindy said as she hugged Molly tight.