She looked up as she began to play the guitar in earnest. There was about ten people in the area and no one was paying her any attention. She concentrated on what she was doing. First she played four of her more challenging Spanish pieces. Angel looked up and there were more people and they were closer to her, but seemed disinterested in what she was doing.

by Paula Dillon

---

 
 
Chapter 8
 
 
Angel and her Mom Margarita arrived at Aunt Carmine’s place at about 5 pm that evening. Sierra and Nevada were instantly all over them, getting their hugs and kisses. Carmine arrived just after. The five of them had all of Angel’s and Margarita’s luggage inside in no time at all. Angel was placed in the spare bedroom. Angel brought her guitar in by herself and carefully placed it in her closet. With the girls help, they had Angel’s dresser and closet filled. The mountain girls smiled as they didn’t see a single stitch of boy’s clothes.

“No more boy clothes Angel?”

“Are you officially a girl now?”

Angel had to giggle at the twins, “Yep, I are all girl now.”

Sierra and Nevada hugged and kissed their cousin’s cheek.

“Good so now,”

“The girl lessons,”

“Can begin.”

When Angel and the twins came out of Angel’s room, Margarita and Carmine were already sitting in the living room.

“So what does everyone want to do about dinner tonight, eat out, take out, or delivery?”

“How about we all go eat out tonight, on my dollar?” Margarita suggested.

“Let’s go change,” Nevada said, dragging Angel with her followed closely by her sister Sierra.

Sierra ducked into Angel’s room and hit her closet, as Nevada drug Angel into their room. Nevada had Angel select an outfit for her. She knew what her cousin’s tastes in clothes were, but she threw a monkey wrench into the works. She picked out an outfit that Sierra would wear, a short sleeved, red rayon blouse and a royal blue mini.

Nevada, standing there in her bra and panties, took the clothes from her cousin and grabbed a pair of pantyhose out of her drawer. Angel selected a green and brown outfit for Sierra.

Sierra had just come in with an outfit for Angel, so they traded clothes. Angel saw that Sierra had selected a sleeveless, white tank and a gray mini.

All three of them set about getting dressed and then helping each other with their hair and makeup. They pushed the limit that their mom had put on their makeup, by a bit. That is how they hoped to wear them down, bit by bit. Just like the camel’s nose in the tent. It took a little longer than if they had all worked separately, but all three came out of their room looking quite spectacular.

Carmine and Margarita beat the girls by several minutes and they smiled when they saw the girls.

“All three of you look lovely tonight,” Aunt Carmine noted. “But I think two of you went a little heavy on the make up. Don’t think that you are going to wear me down, Sierra and Nevada. I am only letting you get away with it this time, because you also did your cousin’s and this is a special occasion. Don’t push me on this girls.” Aunt Carmine sternly told the girls, although she still had a smile on her face.

At the restaurant, the girls caused a bit of commotion, as guys from twelve to ninety nine stopped what they were doing, to observe the girls as they were escorted to their table and being seated. It was a little unnerving to Angel, but she smiled and didn’t let it show. Carmine ordered two glasses of champagne and three glasses of sparkling white grape juice.

Carmine first raised her glass to her sister, “This is too congratulate Margarita on a successful new career.”

“Here, here,” the girls replied, as they raised their glasses to their Mom and Aunt.”

“Thank you, I couldn’t have done it without you guys, especially you Angel.”

Carmen then looked to Angel, “This toast is for you Angel, who would have ever thought that you would be so special. I would, I guess. I just didn’t know how special.” Carmine admitted.

“Here, here,” the others replied, causing Angel to blush deeply.

They spent the rest of the time talking about Margarita’s training seminar, New York; what the girls were going to do for the next month and Angel’s new school.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to take Angel to the beauty salon and do the things to her that we couldn’t do before,” Carmine said.

“Yeah like finger nails, brows, ears and hair,” Nevada said.

“It’s great that Angel is going to be with us for the summer. We get to practice our dancing more now,” Sierra said. “It’s one thing to dance to music on the stereo, but it is a lot more fun to have someone playing live for you.”

“Yeah, Angel can make adjustments to the tempo, instead of us having to blindly follow the recording. It lets us be more creative. Thank you Angel.”

“No problem girls, I love watching the two of you dance.”

“Too bad you girls don’t play. You could stand to practice your dancing more, Angel,” Margarita said.

“I can dance.”

“Yes, but not as well as your cousins.”

“Maybe you could teach us to play the guitar Angel,” Nevada suggested.

“I have never taught anyone before,” Angel said. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“I am not saying that you have too, Angel, but just think back to how grandpa Fernando began teaching you and you can do the same for Sierra and Nevada,” Margarita said.

Before they realized it, they all finished their meal. They all headed to the ladies room to make use of the facilities and to repair their faces. Margarita had drilled Angel to always check her makeup. Angel had to repair her face by applying lipstick and powder. It was fairly new for her, especially doing it in a crowded ladies room, but she did well.

When they arrived home, they realized it was late, so they all headed to their bedrooms and got ready for bed. Angel was joined by her cousins that night.
 
 
Chapter 9
 
 
Saturday was a busy day. Everyone spent the next hour after breakfast, saying goodbye to Margarita, especially Angel, who hadn’t spent more than a week away from her mother since her divorce. It was a particularly hard goodbye for both of them.

The four waved until they could no longer see Margarita’s car. They then went inside and hurriedly got ready for the beauty salon. Angel had to use eye drops, to get rid of the red and puffiness in her eyes from crying. This was a trick her mom taught her.

Angel dressed in a pair of jeans, a black tank and her pink and white Nike’s. She combed her hair back and put it in a ponytail with a scrunchie and looked at herself in the mirror. Since she was going to the salon, the girls told her not to bother with any makeup.

They all piled into Carmines station wagon and headed to the salon, inside the mall. Carmine and her daughters planed to do some shopping, while Angel was being worked on.

They signed in at the salon and waited for just a few minutes before Angel’s name was called.

“Hi I am Melanie; I will be your beauty technician today.”

“Hi I am Angel, and this is my Aunt Carmine and my cousins Sierra and Nevada.”

“Yes I know Carmine and the mountain girls,” Smiling, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Angel. Please follow me, please,” Melanie said.

At Melanie’s station, Angel and the girls spent about twenty minutes discussing what she wanted done. Sierra and Nevada told her several things, but discussed other things with Angel. Since this was her first time to have her hair styled, they decided to leave Angel’s shoulder length, raven, hair at its present length, but add some shape to it.

The technician also suggested they shape the brows a bit, but told Angel not to be plucking them too much. Fuller eyebrows, with just a slight bit of arch, are coming back into vogue.

Melanie scolded Angel, on the shape that her nails were in, on her right hand.

“Sorry, I play the classical guitar. I like my nails to be a bit longer on my right hand, so I can pluck the strings, but I can’t keep them in good shape.”

“We have just the thing for that. We can do glass wraps and if that doesn’t work, we can do linen wraps, although the linen can be a bit much.” Melanie said, showing them some pictures of the various treatments. “Ok, so we are going to treat, shape and style your hair, pierce your ears, shape your brows, facial, and fiber glass wraps, for your fingernails. Is that right?”

Angel looked at her Aunt and cousin’s. They shook their heads and she said, “That is it for now, I guess.”

“Ok Carmine, you and the girls can come back in about two hours,” Melanie said.

Melanie began with a shampoo and hot oil treatment. Angel put on a plastic cape, at the shampoo station. She began to purr as the lady began to work on her. Melanie was very good at making her clients relax.

“You say you play the guitar, Angel? How good are you?”

“I am pretty good, I am not a master of the guitar, but my Uncles are and my Granddad use to be.”

“I am sorry; he didn’t die, did he?”

“No, gramps is still alive, he just can’t play. He has arthritis in his hands. He used to be very good. I play for him, to show him my appreciation.”

“I am so sorry. I know that he must be proud of you.”

“He is.”

After Angel’s hair was towel dry, she was led back to Melanie’s styling station, where she combed out her hair. A nail tech, named Susan, came by and started to work.

“How long do you want your nails, Angel?”

“I need them short on the left hand and longer on the right.”

The nail tech looked confused for a second, till Melanie told her that Angel plays the guitar. It was an unusual requested, but the customer was always right.

“I will make the left nails a little longer, than we can file them down if they need it,” she said. “It will look weird having different length nails. Are you sure you don’t want them both to be the same length?”

“Umm, no, but can we try it and see how it looks?”

“Sure we can.”

She set about fixing her nails as she requested.

Melanie shaped and styled Angel’s hair, trimmed and shaped Angel’s brows, as Susan worked on her nails. Another lady came and marked Angel’s ears, held a gun up to Angel’s ears and after two quick pops she had pierced ears.

“Your brows aren’t perfect Angel,” Melanie said. “You have some voids in them. I want to suggest that you use a brush to fill them in. Here is how you do that,” Melanie said, as she took a two-toned pot, a cream and a black color, and began to work. She took a stiff brush and applied the cream to Angel’s brows, brushing against the grain. “This gives a better result than using a pencil,” Melanie stated, then began to brush some of the black in, smoothing the brow back into shape. To emphasize the difference, she penciled in the other brow.

“Which brow do you think looks better?” Melanie asked.

They both looked better than they had before, but the brow she had brushed, looked very good.

“The brushed brow,” Angel said.

Melanie smiled and cleaned off the other brow and made it match the brushed brow. She then began to roll Angel’s hair.

“Is there a guitar or music store, in this Mall?” Angel asked.

“Yes, just a couple of stores down and right around the corner,” Susan said, as she was finishing up on Angel’s nails, with a light pink polish.

“I would like to try out my new nails, while my hair dries. Would that be Ok?”

“Sure,” Melanie said. “I would like go with you; I want to hear how good you are.” She put a net over Angel’s hair and showed the girl where the music store was.

A music store was like a candy store to Angel. She knew she already had the best guitar that she could hope for, but it was nice to see what was out there. She saw a Martin Classical guitar sitting in a stand and asked if she could try it out. The guy behind the counter handed her the guitar.

Angel took a minute or two to tune and strummed it a couple of times to get a feel for it. It sounded good, albeit a little brassy to her. She then began to play the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on the guitar. She missed properly fretting the guitar at first but began to get use to the nails. The nails were a little long on the left hand, but she loved the nails on her right. She was so focused on what she was doing, that she didn’t notice that business halted in the store and people were coming in from the mall. The applause startled her, after she had finished. There were about fifteen people standing around listening to her.

“Hi, my name is Leo, I own this store. That was a mighty fine job you did there little lady. Are you in the market for a guitar?”

“Thank you. My name is Angel, and sorry, no thank you. This Martin is very good, but I have a better guitar at home. I just got my nails done and just wanted to try them out.”

“I hear acrylics don’t last.”

“Those aren’t acrylics Leo,” Melanie said. “They are fiberglass wraps.”

“Okay, whatever those are. I heard the mistakes you made at first Angel, but you corrected your fingering and did a whole lot better. What kind of guitar do you own.”

“I don’t know the brand, it belonged to my great-great,” Angel looked to be deep in concentration, “grandfather, I might have missed a great or two in there somewhere.”

Leo looked over the girl and saw that she was either Spanish or Italian, probably Spanish he thought. “Where was this relative from?”

“Madrid, back in the 1800’s.”

“Wow, Madrid had some great luthiers back then? Would you… could you bring your guitar so I can see it, please.” Leo asked, pleadingly.

“If I can, I will.”

“We get together and have a little jam here on Tuesdays, at about 2:00. You would be surprised at how much our sales increase during those jams.”

“It may be a little difficult to be here then, but I will try.”

Angel handed the guitar back to Leo, who put it back in it’s stand.

Melanie couldn’t stop praising Angel on the way back to the salon. Angel was getting a little embarrassed by all the praise. The old men she worked with would simply smile when she had done good and from them that had been enough.

Susan looked up from working on another client as Angel came in.

“Well, how did the nails work, Angel?”

“Great, but the nails on the left could stand to be a little shorter, not much just a little. I had a little trouble with my fingering.”

“She did great Susan. We have a Maestro in our salon today.”

“I am not that good, Melanie. My Uncles are better and my grandfather was a lot better.”

Melanie took the hair net off of Angel’s head, took out the rollers and did a comb out. She sprayed the girl’s hair to set the style. They hadn’t asked for it, but Melanie then did the girls makeup. She made out in her mind that Angel had to be about fifteen and did what she thought, a mother might approve in a makeup job, emphasizing the eyes just a bit. Angel had two lovely dark eyes to go with her raven hair. She finished with a pink lipstick and lip-gloss that went well with the girls new nail color.

Angel loved the way the curls framed her face and the way the makeup enhanced her looks. The other times she had been expertly made up, it was her hair and brows that detracted a bit from her looks. Now with everything done, she was mesmerized a bit by her appearance. There was absolutely no trace of the boy Angel in the mirror.

Carmine and her daughters came in to pay Angel’s bill and pick up her niece. Carmine had to smile as she saw the girl stand. The twins got all excited when they saw Angel and ran over to her to find out all that was done to her.

Melanie told Carmine what a hit Angel was at the music store, while Carmine told her about all the people that taught Angel to play.

“Girls, I like what Melanie has done with Angel’s makeup. If you two are good, I might let you two start doing your own like this next year.”

“We will be thirteen in two months, Mom!” Sierra said.

“Get through the next school year and keep your grades up. Those are my terms. No negotiating.”

Sierra and Nevada were clearly miffed, but accepted their Mom’s terms.

“Angel your Mom and I have talked about it. While you won’t be able to use much makeup at school, this look is somewhat appropriate for you.”

Carmine paid Angel’s bill and gave Melanie a nice tip.

“Come girls, we need to get Angel a nice dress for church tomorrow.”

Angel had more clothes now than she ever had at one time, but Aunt Carmine was right, she didn’t have any ‘go to church’ style clothes.

The four of them hit a couple of dress shops before lunch. They found a pretty shirt-dress that came to just below the knee. It was a print dress; that had a splash of color in light pastels. Angel also got some appropriate underwear, bra, panties, a full slip, because the dress was a light weight cotton and a pair of pink, low heel pumps.

They had a nice late lunch at a Mexican restaurant, in the mall, Spanish cooking is very similar, but at the same time different, than Mexican cooking. On top of that, much of the food served in Mexican restaurants, is a highly Americanized version. Angel guessed that local tastes changed the way food was prepared. The food at this restaurant in particular, was pretty good, albeit a little greasy.

They talked as they ate. After listening so much to their conversations, Angel felt like she was beginning to understand what girls talk about and joined the girls. Sierra and Nevada was pleased to hear their cousin join in their girl talk about fashion, stars and music.

Angel did bring her second favorite topic into the conversation. Angel just happened to be a manga and anime addict. The twins had seen her vast manga collection and the anime she had on her computer. They even found some interesting, but not like Angel. She collected various Shoujo and Shonen, words that would mean very little to the twins. Her prize collections though, were a few series of gender bender manga and anime, she found those fascinating, considering her situation.

After lunch they walked the mall, doing nothing more than getting a bit of exercise in and seeing what the various stores were selling as fashion. They did stop at one of the major bookstores. The twins made sure that Angel picked up a half dozen magazines, including Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, Teen Vogue and US Weekly. Angel found that the store had a decent collection of manga and picked up a Mai Hime, a Detective Conan and one she hadn’t seen before Seishun Panda.

They got home an hour before Carmine needed to begin dinner. Carmine made Angel change into a mid calf skirt and had her practice kneeling and standing, with the skirt on. Carmine had a family altar in a spare room; it had a kneeling bench. It was there that Angle had to learn to pull her skirt up a bit, before kneeling and how to stand up after having been kneeling for several minutes.

Angel hadn’t gone to church as a girl yet. Angel the boy, was well known to the priests, at her church back home. So this would be a first for her.

Carmine also gave Angel a mantilla. In most catholic churches, the wearing of head coverings by women, ended many years ago. For the Ramos women, this was not an option. Even the mountain twins were not about to buck that tradition. They found that many of the old women at the church they went to appreciated the respect they showed.
 

*          *          *
 
Sunday was rather anticlimactic for Angel. They went to the early Mass. Angel found that she had no problems fitting in with the teen kids, around her age. She and her cousins were all dressed in longer skirts and wore their mantillas, which raised some eyebrows from some of teen girls, but nothing that was belittling or cruel. It was just one of those, ‘Oh, your parents are really strict,’ type looks, or ‘I am glad my parents aren’t that strict’ looks.

The priests here were young and more with it, than some of the relics at Angel’s church. They still had some of the litany that she was use too, but the music at times, was fresher and more interesting. Even the sermons here were more interesting, Angel thought.

After the service, Sierra and Nevada introduced her to some of their friends. Angel liked a lot of the girls and got along well with them. There was one girl, Lisa Caldwell, who looked to be about sixteen, and was quick to put out the ‘Your not on top of the pecking order here, and the sooner you realize that, the better we will get along,’ type of vibes.

Her cousins tickled her, they seemed to extrude the, ‘You better think twice about that girl, before we have to take you to the square circle and do sumpin to your ass,’ type feeling. Lisa just harrumphed and left them there. Angel felt it was probably just the usual girl group dynamics. She had seen the same type dynamics amongst the boys, but they were more likely to get physical, more so than girls were. Girls, she noted, tended to be more catty about their turf.

Neither Angel nor the twins let on to Carmine that there had been any kind of problem, and really there wasn’t any.
 
 
Chapter 10
 
 
Angel was awakened, when Carmine called for the girls to get up and get ready for school. The twins had spent Sunday afternoon cramming for the tests that they would be taking this week. Angel had helped out the girls where she could, answering questions that they had about this or that and making sure that they had everything that they needed like cokes, chips and other snack food.

The girls made mad dashes for the bathroom when they woke up. As much as Angel needed to go, she kept out of their way until her cousins had taken care of business.

Aunt Carmine was already dressed for work in her uniform. She was an assistant manager at the local Marriot and was in charge of Reception and Reservations. She worked from seven to four, Monday through Friday with only an occasional weekend due to staff vacations or sickness. She had been there for ten years and liked what she was doing. She had been offered managers’ positions several times, but always turned them down. She didn’t want the added responsibility and she didn’t want to have to relocate.

She was a lot like her sister. She didn’t really have to work, but her job allowed them to have the little extras they couldn’t afford on Rodrigo’s salary. His life insurance had been more than enough for Carmine to quit and just take care of the girl’s, but she loved being with her coworkers. Besides, her girls were already in school and she got to spend a lot of quality time with them after school, including weekends. She had to spend a lot of time commuting; the hotel was slightly more than two miles from her home (yes that was sarcasm) and three miles from the girls’ school.

She kissed her girls and Angel, as they ate their breakfast and said, “Girls be good and do well on your tests. Angel, I’m sorry you will be here alone, but take care. I’ll see you all after work,” then she was out the door at 6:45.

“I’ll take care of the dishes and the kitchen,” Angel said, as her cousins got up from the table.

They kissed their cousin’s cheeks and rushed to their rooms, to get dressed. Angel cleared the table and began washing the dishes. She had already finished, as her cousins rushed out the front door, a few minutes before the school bus arrived.

Alone, Angel took out the magazines and the manga that she recently bought. After dressing in one of her mini’s, a blouse and a pair of her 3 inch heels, she read the manga Seishun Panda. She found that the story was cute and decided that she might just start collecting it. She then read many of the articles in ‘Seventeen Magazine’, dog earring the pages that dealt with clothes, makeup and relationships. She still hadn’t figured out what she would do about boys.

Angel hadn’t taken the time to figure out her sexuality. She didn’t know if she liked boys, girls or both. She liked reading the juicy romance mangas and she dreamt of being in a loving relationship, but she didn’t know who it was with.

For lunch, Angel made a fresh pitcher of ice tea, salad and a ham sandwich. She continued reading the magazines while she ate. She took a quiz that was in Cosmo Girl and found out that she was a true romantic. ‘Tell me something I didn’t know,’ Angel thought.

After cleaning up from lunch, Angel washed her hands and took out her guitar. She sat on a stool and began to play, after tuning the guitar.

She knew the words to most of the songs she played, at least the songs that actually had words, but rarely did she sing as she played. Today she chose to sing as she played. She started out singing a Neil Diamond song, ‘Song Sung Blue’.
 
 

"Song sung blue,  everybody knows one.  Song sung blue,  every garden grows one.    Me and you are subject to the blues now and then,  But when you take the blues and make a song,  You sing them out again.  Sing them out again."

 
 
Angel loved singing the songs, she didn’t know how well she sang, but she knew she sang on key and loved her voice. She loved her pitch, she was glad her Mom allowed her to take the testosterone blockers. Her voice was still high and feminine.

Angel finished the song and didn’t miss a beat, as she started to sing ‘Sweet Caroline’.
 
 

"Where it began, I can't begin to know when  But then I know it's growing strong  Was in the spring  Then spring became the summer  Who'd have believed you'd come along?"

 
 
Angel loved many of Neil Diamond’s songs. Ricky Montez, one of the men who taught her, liked Neil’s style too. She then switched to a Cat Stevens song ‘Wild World’.
 
 

"Now that I've lost everything to you  You say you wanna start something new  And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'  Baby, I'm grievin'  But if you wanna leave, take good care  Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear  But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there    Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world  It's hard to get by just upon a smile  Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world  and I'll always remember you like a child, girl."

 
 
She just loved the guitar riffs on the chorus. After strumming the last chords of ‘Wild World’ she changed pace and started in on ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’ by ‘The Carpenters’.
 
 

"Talkin' to myself and feelin' old  Sometimes I'd like to quit  Nothing ever seems to fit  Hangin' around  Nothing to do but frown  Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down."

 
 
She finished playing ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’. She began to get serious about her play and started playing ‘Recuerdos De La Alhambra’, Fantasie Hongrosie Op65-no. 1, ‘Espana’ and ‘Preludio’. She finished playing and singing ‘American Pie’.

Susan had done a wonderful job, with her nails. The left hand nails were now short enough not to get in the way and the right hand nails were great for plucking the guitar strings.

Angel wiped down her guitar and carefully put it in its case. She thought about what she would do tomorrow. There was a bus that ran in front of the house and it would only be a twenty-minute trip to the mall. At first she was just going to blow the whole thing off, but then she felt like she really needed to get out of the house. She didn’t want to grow up to be a recluse.

Checking her watch, she saw that the time was two thirty. She decided to help Aunt Carmine out and make dinner. She headed into the kitchen, put an apron on and looked to see what was available. Inside the fridge was a round steak. She cut it into cubes and shook it in a bag with some cornstarch and set them aside. She poured some EVO into a skillet and heated it while she crushed some garlic, chopped up a couple of peppers and some onions, sautéing them till they were golden brown. She took the prepared meat and added it to the pan, stirring it till the meat had browned. To the mix in the skillet she added corn syrup, a can of diced tomatoes, and a cup of grape juice. After stirring it and bringing it up to a simmer she transferred everything to a casserole dish and placed it in the oven at 330 degrees.

Next, she began to set out the things she needed for sautéed peppers, eggplant, potatoes and steamed Broccoli with onions and olives .

While she was cooking, the twins got home. Angel just told them to study till Aunt Carmine got home.

Dinner was ten minutes away, when Aunt Carmine got home. She smelled the food and told the girls she needed to get changed, as she ran to her room.

Sierra and Nevada set the table, as Angel got the food in serving dishes and on the table. After the food was blessed, everyone dug in.

“See girls, anybody can cook,” Aunt Carmine said, giggling.

Sierra gave her Mom a serious look, “Mom, you know we can cook, you made us learn,” but she couldn’t maintain her cross expression. “You did a pretty good job Angel, but you left off the salad.”

“Don’t let my sister belittle what you did Angel, this is very good, but a salad with it would have been nice.”

“Sorry girls, I didn’t plan the menu early enough to do everything. I didn’t make a desert either.”

“If the girls wanted a salad, they could have made one Angel. I am proud that you did what you could. You don’t have to do it everyday, but it is nice to come home to a cooked meal. Thank you.”

“Your welcome, Aunty. I just wanted to do it, to thank you for what you did for my mother.”

“She is my sister too. I couldn’t let her down for such a little thing.”

“Yeah, it is good to have you with us this summer, Angel.” The twins said.

Angel had thought all day about going to the mall, without telling her Aunt. She knew her Mom would expect her to tell her Aunt, if she planned on leaving the house and where she would be going.

“Oh, Aunt Carmine, would it be alright if I go to the mall by myself during the day tomorrow? The proprietor of the music shop invited me to a jam session.”

“Do you think you’ll be alright by yourself? I know you know the area, but…”

“Yeah, I’ll be alright, Aunt Carmine.”

“Ok, but call me if you need me and if you are still at the mall when I get off, I’ll come pick you up. You have the number for my cell phone number.”

“Yes ma’am, Aunt Carmine.”
 
 
Chapter 11
 
 
After Aunt Carmine left for work and the twins rushed off to catch their bus, Angel went to her room to get ready for her day. She experimented with her clothes and makeup. She wanted to look older and more mature. She dressed in her panties, a padded brief and one of her better-padded under wire bras. She chose a very frilly, white rayon blouse, that had a strip of ruffles down the front. She dressed in some off-black, lace patterned, pantyhose and a mid-thigh, black mini skirt. Finally, she put on her black patent leather pumps, with a three inch heel.

She then draped a towel around her neck and began to work on her makeup. She tried to achieve a glamorous daytime look. The look she was trying to create was a little more than the usual daytime makeup, but she worked hard not to look too dark, or slutty. She tried to remember what others had done to her and about some of the things she had read in her magazines. It took her three tries to get the eyeliner and mascara done right, but in the end, she liked what she had created. She put her compact and lipstick in her purse and checked her nails, as she had been told. They still looked nice and shiny.

It was only a little after ten. She walked around the house a bit and checked herself in the mirror a few times, seeing if she could find any flaws in her looks, or her mannerisms. She looked good and felt that her mannerisms were as good as she could be, at this time.

She fidgeted about the house till she couldn’t stand it and then grabbed her purse and guitar case, and left. She hadn’t meant to leave this early, but well, she would find something to kill some time.

She walked half a block to the nearest bus stop and sat on the bench and waited. She smoothed the skirt under her, as she sat and carefully crossed her legs. She had only been waiting for about ten minutes, when the bus rolled up. She stood and when the door to the bus opened, she stepped up into the bus.

“Hello, ma’am. That will be a dollar and a quarter,” the bus driver eyed her up and down.

Angel already had the fare in her right hand and handed it to the driver.

“Where are you going today, ma’am?”

“To the Hillbrook Mall.”

“Ok, we are about twenty two minutes from that stop. Please take a seat.” The driver waited till the girl had a chance to take a seat, before moving away from the curb. It wasn’t because of any altruistic reasons, but that he could admire the young lady as she went to take her seat.

The bus drove towards the city, stopping to pick up and drop off riders at various points. The bus wasn’t crowded, but there were about ten riders on the bus. Angel thought many of them looked to be women heading to town to shop. It was between the early going to work group and the main shopping, lunch-time crowds.

They were getting close to the mall. Angel could see the tops of the tall buildings that anchored either end of the mall. She also saw a park, which was about a quarter of a mile, from the mall. She reached up and pulled the cord that would signal the bus to stop, at the next stop. The bus pulled up to the next stop and let her off.

Angel waited for the crosswalk sign to show walk before she attempted to cross four lanes of traffic. She crossed and then walked half a block before entering the park. It was a pretty park, about ten acres in size. There were already quite a few people there relaxing in its beauty.

Angel saw a fountain that wasn’t flowing and went over to it. When she got over there, she saw that the fountain had been turned into a planter and had all colors of flowers growing in it. She sat on the concrete rim. She sat her purse down next to the edge and her guitar case next to it, so that when she opened the case the purse would be hidden. She opened the case and took out her guitar. After crossing her legs and adjusting the guitar on her lap, she spent a few minutes tuning. She began with some of her practice lessons.

She looked up as she began to play the guitar in earnest. There was about ten people in the area and no one was paying her any attention. She concentrated on what she was doing. First she played four of her more challenging Spanish pieces. Angel looked up and there were more people and they were closer to her, but seemed disinterested in what she was doing. She began to play several of her classical pieces and soon had a crowd around her that seemed to appreciate her playing. She ended her classical work with Classical Gas, which drew a lot of applause.

She then began to play some rock starting with ‘Black Magic Woman’. She sang with the music as she played. She then went into ‘Hotel California’, ‘Cracklin’ Rosie’, ‘The Guitar Man’, ‘Our House’, ‘Brandy’, ‘Black Water’, ‘Mr. Bojangles’ and she finished with ‘We Will Rock You’. She was surprised with the audience participation on the chorus of that last piece.

She was beginning to get hungry so she went to put her guitar away, to much grumbling. She was shocked, when she looked down in her case, there was a lot of coins and bills there. She had to clear out all of the money before she was able to set her guitar down. After closing up the case, she counted the money, before she put it in her wallet. There was ninety-three dollars in ones, fives and a ten, and another twelve dollars and forty-five cents, mostly quarters, in change. The change had to go into the bottom of her purse and made it heavy.

She headed to the mall and once inside, she went directly to the food court. Angel picked up a taco salad, a seven-layer burrito, a brownie and a diet coke for lunch. She ate quickly, so she could stop at the bookstore and get some more manga, before heading to the music store. The clerk at the bookstore was a little miffed at being paid in mostly change, but a sell is a sell.
 
 
Chapter 12
 
 
Angel arrived at Leo’s Music Emporium at about one twenty. The store was narrower at the front. The first twenty feet was about fifteen feet wide and had a counter on either side of the store. There were instruments in the glass counter and larger instruments behind glass, behind the counter. The back area looked to be about forty by twenty-five feet and held hundreds of instruments. Leo smiled when he saw her and came over to greet the girl.

“Hi Angel, it is so good to see you again .”

“Hello Mr. Leo. How are you doing today?”

“It’s just Leo, Angel.”

“Ok, well hello it’s just Leo.” Angel said. She couldn’t control her giggling.

“Everyone’s a comedian,” Leo said laughing. “Is this your guitar?” Leo said eyeing the guitar case.

Angel set the case on the counter, opened it and carefully removed the guitar. “Yes it is. It has been in my family for ages.”

The guitar looked old, it lacked a lot of the ornamentation you generally see on guitars and the finish was worn in places but not too badly. Leo could tell that the guitar was well taken care of.

“May I take a closer look at it Angel?”

Angel was pretty protective of her guitar and wouldn’t let just anybody touch it, but Leo seemed to understand how people feel about their instruments. She handed the guitar to the man.

Leo looked closely at the instrument; he confirmed that outwardly it appeared to be in good condition. “I want to get a scope and check out the insides of the guitar,” he said, setting the instrument on a velvet pad on the counter. He then went into the back and came out with his laptop and a long snake like thing.

“This is a flexible fiber optic scope, which I use to check out the instruments that come in for repair.”

Leo loosened the bass strings and snaked the scope into the sound hole. Angel could immediately see the insides of the guitar on the laptop. She had never seen the guts of a guitar before and watched the laptop closely.

“The insides appear to be in very good condition, and it doesn’t appear to have a maker signature, although there is a number on the back. It just says 50. Mind if I take some pictures?”

“Not at all, Leo.”

Leo got out his digital camera and took about thirty pictures of the guitar from as many angles.

“You say your grand parents came from Madrid right?”

“That is what I have been told.”

“I am not certain about who made the guitar, but I have a good hunch. Will you play it for me?”

Angel took her guitar, tuned it and began to play ‘Cavatina.’ The guitar had a warm rich tone to it and a good volume.

“Girl, if that guitar is what I think it is, that is the last time you bring it here without an adult present. Take extremely good care of that instrument. It is extremely valuable. Put it back in its case and we will lock it up in the office.”

Angel detuned the guitar, carefully wiped down all the surfaces and put it in its case. She followed Leo to his office and placed it safely there.

“I thought I was going to play in a jam session, Leo.”

“You are. I like everyone to use one of the instruments I sell. It helps me sell them, when people can hear my instruments played well, Angel. I have some high end guitars that I want you to try out.”

Leo went behind the counter and selected four guitars that were three thousand dollars plus. “Try these out and tell me what you think.”

Angel took one after another of the guitars; she tuned them and then played several riffs on each one. She went back to the second and third guitars. Leo smiled at her choices; they were his favorite too. She then played ‘Cavatina’ on both of them.

The first was a three thousand five hundred dollar ‘Takamine’ classical guitar, and the second was a five thousand dollar ‘Alvarez’ classical guitar. Both guitars had superior tone and volume. Angel settled on the ‘Takamine’.

“I like my guitar better, but I would like to play this one, Leo.”

“I like it too, Angel. Take a seat over by the drums and get use to it.”
 
 
Chapter 13
 
 
Angel went to the open space in the back and began to play. It wasn’t a bad instrument it just wasn’t her instrument. As she played, someone came in and cordoned off the area with a velvet rope, like they use in theaters and such. Another guy came in and took one of the other guitars that Angel had tuned and joined her in the back.

“Hi, I am Jeffery Wilkins and this guy is Wee Willy Jenkins. I play a rhythm guitar and Willy plays a bass.”

“Hi, I am Angel Marquez, I play a classical guitar.”

They spent about ten minutes talking about what pieces Angel could play.

“Geez, don’t you know any modern pieces,”

“You have to understand, my oldest teacher is 78 and he thinks the stuff my youngest teacher teaches, is new fangled stuff. My youngest teacher is 49 and is still stuck in the eighties.”

“Ok, then lead and we will follow you.”

Angel started out with ‘American Pie’, she was a few measures in when the others joined in with her and by the chorus and Leo joined in on the drums. Angel felt like singing, so she did, Leo and Willy sang harmony. She found areas to let the others solo. She like the way Jeffery and Willy played. Leo also did an acceptable turn on the drums. She suspected that she was taking his place.

She jumped right into playing and singing the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. She was a little startled when the others came in on the supporting vocals, but again, she really like the way they sounded.

Angel saw that they were beginning to have quite a crowd in the store. They applauded when they finished the second piece.

Alice came over to Angel, “May I have that guitar please, I have just sold it.”

Angel handed the guitar to the girl and was handed another. She took a few seconds to check the tune and to let the others tune to her. When everyone was ready, she began to play ‘Hotel California’.

Angel found herself exhilarated by the enthusiasm of her troupe and the people listening. She thought her friends were playing and singing very well.

After they finished that song, she began ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. The guys next accompanied her on her classical pieces, beginning with Recuerdos De La Alhambra, then, ‘Espana’, ‘Preludio’ and finally ‘Classical Gas’. Jeffery and Willy figured out the keys and rhythm of the music and joined in.

Between Espana and Preludio she again had to trade guitars with a sales clerk.
 
 
Chapter 14
 
 
The guys wanted to take a break after ‘Classical Gas’.

Leo went to get everyone a drink, and Craig came over to Angel.

“Angel, a gentleman wants to buy that guitar, if you will autograph it.”

“Autograph it?”

“Yes he was very specific about that. That is an eight thousand dollar Cass Williams (fictional luthier) guitar. He has agreed to pay eight five if you will autograph it.”

David led Angel behind the counter to where a man stood apart from other customers.

Angel held out her hand like a lady does when greeting a man. “Hi I am Angel Marquez.”

Angel could see that the man was well dressed. She would hate to guess how much that suit cost him. His hands were soft in hers, this was no player she thought, and his nails were well manicured.

“Well, hello Ms. Marquez. My name is William Price the third. It is nice to meet the young lady who has been serenading us today.”

“You want me to autograph this guitar?” She asked.

“Yes, I do.”

Angel was stunned, but asked, “What do you want me to write?”

The man thought a few seconds and said, “Played by Angel Marquez 6-03-06. You see, I am a collector and if you continue to play as you did today, I can see this guitar becoming very valuable in the years to come.”

Angel asked David for a pen and a piece of paper. He handed her a sheet of plain white paper and a black Sharpie permanent marker.

She wrote on the paper, and included a stylized angel.

“Like this Mr. Price?”

“Yes, exactly like that, I love your handwriting.”

Angel practiced her signature a couple of more times before she approached the guitar. “Here,” she asked, indicating the area of the guitars face.

“Very nicely done, Angel. I am going to place this guitar away, somewhere safe.”

Angel again shook hands with the man. He placed the guitar carefully in its case and paid the clerk, using his platinum Master Card.

Angel looked at her watch, it was now three forty five.

“I need to go catch my bus, Leo.”

“Can you call someone; I don’t want you taking that guitar on the bus and I would like to talk to your parents.”

“Why?”

“Like I told you, that guitar may be very valuable.”

“Well, it will just be my Aunt Carmine. My mom is at a seminar in New York City and who cares where my father is.”

Angel called her Aunt. She told her that the owner wanted to talk to her and she agreed to come by the store.

Angel hung around and talked to many of the patrons there. Some of them asked her about how she learned to play and what she thought of this guitar or that one. She honestly answered the people’s questions.

About twenty minutes after four, she saw Aunt Carmine and the twins enter the store. She smiled and waved at them.

“Hi Aunt Carmine, Sierra and Nevada.”

“Hi Angel. What’s this all about?”

“Hello Ma’am, I am Leo Granger.”

“Hello Mr. Granger, I hope my niece hasn’t made any problems for you.”

“No, no she hasn’t been any problem. I just wanted to talk to you. If you would follow me.”

Leo led the troupe of ladies to his office. After they had a seat, he began. “I have enjoyed having Angel here with me, today. The reason I wanted an adult here is because of the guitar. Do you know anything about it?”

“Well, it belonged to Dad and he got it from his grandfather, who got it from his father and I am not sure after that.”

“Angel told me they lived in Madrid, is that right?”

“Yes, until 1949, I believe that is when they immigrated to the US.”

“Is that guitar insured?”

Aunt Carmine said that she didn’t think so and turned to Angel, who just shrugged.

“I am not an expert on rare guitars; I have seen a few and handled a few. I am just guessing that that guitar is worth at least six figures and maybe a lot more. There were a lot of famous luthiers in Madrid in the 1800’s. If I had to guess, I think this one might have been made by the granddaddy of them all, Antonio de Torres. Please take the guitar to a couple of experts, get it appraised and then insured. It is a wonderful instrument.”

“Oh my, I have heard that name before,” Aunt Carmine said.

“I also have something for Angel,” Leo said, handing her two checks, one for eight hundred and seventy five dollars, and another for five hundred dollars.

Angels mouth hung open, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Oh My God, what are these for,” Angel said showing her Aunt and cousins.

“You helped me sell four guitars, for seventeen thousand five hundred dollars. The five hundred dollar check is from Mr. Price. Mrs. Santiago, Angel sold an autographed guitar. The guitar was a custom guitar, that we listed at eight thousand, Mr. Price paid me eight five for the guitar; the rest of the money was for Angel’s autograph on it.”

“Wow, thank you Leo.” She surprised the man by giving him a big hug. “Thank you for everything.”

“You’re welcome kiddo,”

Angel placed the checks into her purse and she picked up her guitar case. As a group, they headed out of the office.

“Hey Angel, can you play one more song with us,” Jeffery called out to her.

“Sure, how about ‘Cracklin’ Rosie,’” Angel said, taking her guitar out of its case. “This time I am playing my own guitar.”

“Sounds great girl,”

Angel tuned up her guitar and began to play and sing,
 
 

"Cracklin' Rosie, get on board  We're gonna ride till there ain't no more to go  Taking it slow  Lord, don't you know  Have me a time with a poor man's lady."

 
 
Wee Willy, Jeffery and Leo on the drums, all took her lead and joined her singing. Leo took the lead on the chorus, as he had a nice deep voice.

As they were singing, Angel saw a Marine Sergeant in uniform that had pressed forward through the crowd. When they finished that song, she waited a few seconds and sang a cappella
 
 

"Far  We’ve been travelin’ far  Without a Home."

 
 
Leo caught on and gave her some drums and the boys joined in on the beat. She then began to play ‘America.’
 
 

"But not without a star  Free  Only want to be free  We huddle close  Hang on to a dream."

 
 
From there she launched into ‘Philadelphia Freedom.’
 
 

"I used to be a rolling stone  You know if the cause was right  I'd leave to find the answer on the road  I used to be a heart beating for someone  But the times have changed  The less I say the more my work gets done."

 
 
They got a rousing applause from those gathered, as the last chords faded away to nothingness.

“Angel, you can play with us anytime, but give us a break on your transitions. My fingers are tired.” Jeffery said, shaking out his right hand. “Cause girl, you were smoking.”

Angel laughed and gave Jeffery and Wee Willy a hug, after she took care of her guitar. That seemed to placate their male egos a bit.

“Jeffery, Wee Willy, this is my Aunt Carmine and my cousins Sierra and Nevada. Aunt Carmine this is Jeffery Wilkins and Wee Willy Jenkins.”

The twins giggled as they were introduced, Jeffery was high on their cute meter and Willey wasn’t too bad either. Too bad they were both in their mid to late twenties.

“Angel where did you learn to sing and play like that,” Willy asked.

“Sorry about the singing, but I blame my play on my Uncles.”

“Sorry? You mean you can sing better than that. You sounded like you had years of voice training.”

“No, just singing to myself in the showers.”

Angel and her family all said goodbye to Leo and the guys. They went straight home and Angel put her guitar in her room, before they all went out for dinner.

Later that night, Carmine burnt up the telephone lines. as she called her sister, father and uncles to discuss all the things they learned. They all decided to get together and go to New York City on Friday.

Angel had to tell her cousins everything about her day, from the Park to what happened at the Mall.

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To Be Continued...