Angel, my brothers and I have talked it over. For a long time now we have been struggling to keep up with you, so that we can teach you. Javier and I are getting old now and Fernando’s hands won’t let him play well enough. We need to find you another teacher.

by Paula Dillon

---

 
 
Chapter 22
 
 
On Friday, Angel Marquez said goodbye to her mom. She left New York City with her Aunt and cousins all headed home after dropping Raul Vargas off at La Guardia. He gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek as they dropped him off at the curb. He was going to visit other family members, while he was here in the states. It was late when they finally got home. Marcos along with Javier left and headed back home after saying their goodbye. Rolando and Fernando stayed the night at Carmine’s home.

After locking up her guitar, along with her Uncle Javier’s that night, she headed to her cousins room. She placed her new guitar in the corner of the twin's room and the history on their vanity, vowing to read all about it in the next few days. They all changed into their nighties and talked about all that happened this past week. The twins were still excitedly talking about the past week as they all got into bed, even though they were clearly exhausted.
 

*          *          *
 
Saturday morning Carmine headed into to work to save a couple of her vacation days. The girls were up early enough to see her off, while their Uncle and grandfather were still sleeping. Together they began fixing breakfast when they heard the old men begin to stir.

After breakfast Uncle Rolando and grandfather had one more lesson for Angel.

“Angel, my brothers and I have talked it over. For a long time now we have been struggling to keep up with you, so that we can teach you. Javier and I are getting old now and Fernando’s hands won’t let him play well enough. We need to find you another teacher.”

“What, are you and the others not going to come by and teach me anymore?”

“No, we are not going to cut you any slack, we will still come by and play with you, but you are already as good as any of us are. The only thing we have that you don’t is the number of years of experience that we have. Don’t worry Pedro and Ricky will still come by and we will still come and play with you, if only to see how much you have grown. You just need someone who is more technically equipped to teach you.”

“Good. I still need all of you in my life still.”

“And we need you too, Angel. In a way you give us a greater purpose. You have the ability to be a great guitarist.”

Fernando and Rolando put Angel through her paces and they also worked with the twins on their dance. The staccato of their shoe taps could be heard on the slate tiles in the breakfast niche, while Angel and Rolando played.

After lunch the old men gave the girls hugs and kisses before they departed.

Angel pulled out the bound folder to read about her new guitar. Her guitar was made by Amara Verdad Cantu, one of only a few female luthiers. Her biography and picture was included. The biography listed her birthplace, where she grew up and the various luthiers she worked and studied under.

She was amazed as she flipped through the folder. The first section told about the various materials used in the construction. The face was made of old growth Canadian spruce recovered from the depths of Lake Huron. Lumberjacks in the 19 th century had cut down the logs and moved them into the water where they formed large flotillas of logs heading to the lumber mills. A large number of logs sank and they have laid there on the bottom for over a hundred years. The recovered logs have been shown to have superior tonal qualities. The back and the sides were made from old growth Brazilian rosewood, while the neck was of ebony.

Angel was fascinated by all the pictures of her guitar as it was being constructed. Amara documented, in photographs, each step as her guitar was being made. There were 30 pictures that showed her guitar as the wood was being cut, shaped, sanded, assembled and finished. She was surprised to learn that the gold artwork around the sound hole and the top of the sides wasn’t gold paint but was actually gold leafing.
 
 
Chapter 23
 
 
Monday Sierra and Nevada had Angel begin to decorate the guest room. She was allowed to take things that were overly abundant in her cousin’s room, like stuffed animals and pictures on the wall, to use in the guest room.

Angel found out that it was more than just having girly things in a room that made the room girly. Everything had to have its proper place. There was nothing haphazard about the way most girls decorate their rooms. The more important a thing was to a girl, the more important the placement about the room was.

Decorating the guest room was harder because everything that was already in the room was as gender neutral as Carmine could make it. Everything from the furniture, drapes, bed clothes, carpet and the paint on the walls were neutral.

“At the dorm, you are going to need to decorate your part of the room,” Sierra said.

“And while not all girls have an overly girly room, it can only help you to make your area as girly as possible,” Nevada said.

“What do you think this room needs that it doesn’t have?”

“Well I don’t have a vanity in this room, but there is a Queen Ann desk. I guess that with a makeup mirror and some trays so I can sort out my makeup that might work. Some of those crocheted things, you know those round and oval things.”

“Dollies,” Sierra provided.

“Yeah those things. I need a picture of Mom, Aunt Carmine and you guys too. While I have some stuffed animals in here, I don’t have one that is special. Like your Pooh Bear, Sierra and your Simba Nevada.”

“Good thinking Angel,” Nevada said.

“If you could paint this room, what colors would you use?”

“I think pink for the whole room is too much for me. I might use some pink with more baby blue and some pastel yellow. That bed spread and those sheets have to go. I have never liked them.”

“They aren’t too bad, but they’re definitely not for a girl,” Sierra said.

The girls booted their computer and navigated to the J.C. Penny website. They paged through the “Bed in a Bag” sections and the window treatment sections. Angel bookmarked the pages that had what she liked and her cousins approved. While searching stuffed animals she found one that she loved, a full sized plush guitar. She just had to have it; she took out her Visa check card and ordered it.

After lunch, she played her guitar while her cousins danced and played their castanets. She even got some dancing in as her cousins encouraged her. They pulled out a DVD lesson that they practiced with.
 

*          *          *
 
Tuesday the girls headed to the mall. They had asked Carmine the day before and had gotten permission from her to do so. Angel had her cousins' dress in their Flamenco skirts, over a pair of shorts and carry their practice shoes with them. She dressed in a borrowed Flamenco skirt, her boots and her Sevillano hat on top of her head. She took her new guitar this time as they headed off to meet the bus.

It was about ten forty when they got off the bus near the park. Angel led them to the area where she had played a couple of weeks earlier. She tuned up her new guitar, while the girls changed to their Flamenco shoes. The crowd, many of whom had been there two weeks ago, began to form around them.

Sierra and Nevada took up a position in front as Angel began playing. She started out playing Flamenco music, while the girls began to dance and play their castanets. The dance started off slowly and sensuously, building up into a furious crescendo. The people gathered there began to clap in rhythm to the music. As the last chords began to fade away, the applause was surprisingly loud.

Angel gave the girls a few seconds to breathe and then began a tango. Nevada assumed the masculine role and took a couple of slow sensuous steps toward her sister. Sierra turned toward Nevada and when she stopped she took a few steps towards Nevada, closing the gap. They continued on into the main tango movements. The people there made room for them as they took up more room, as they twirled and dipped about.

The next song she played was a Rumba. This time around a college aged couple joined the girls dancing. While the twins were better dancers than the college kids, they danced with the other pair, rather than show them up. Eight more people paired up and joined in the dance. Angel extended the piece she was playing a bit to give everyone a nice dance.

After that dance was over Angel switched styles to playing folk music. She sang and played Green Sleeves, Scarborough Fair, and The City of New Orleans. The twins took this time to rest but others continued to dance.

Angel gave her sisters a nod and they got up. She played a couple of more Flamenco songs. On the second song a distinguished looking, older Hispanic gentleman began to dance and the girls flirted with him as they danced with him. He wore a grin that was a mile wide as did the girls. He was slower than the girls but they danced to compliment him. Javier taught the girls to always make their partner look good. When the music ended, Sierra and Nevada took his hand and led him to sit on the planter.

“Muchas gracias niá±as, conceder a este viejo hombre a sentirse joven nuevamente,” (Than you very much girls, for making an old man feel young again.) he said.

“No, gracias, para bailar con nosotros seá±or.” (No, thank you for dancing with us sir.) Nevada said.

“Disfrutamos con un apuesto joven como táº, bailando con nosotros.” (We enjoyed having a handsome young man, like you, dancing with us.) Sierra added flirting with the old man.

“Usted hace mentira a un anciano, pero es un mentira bueno, no es.” (You would lie to an old man, but it is a good lie, is it not.)

Angel sang and played her rock oldies along with playing many of her classical pieces for the crowd. She had to quit a little after noon as it was getting a bit warm. The girls had taken off their skirts and changed back into their walking shoes.

Sierra had cleaned out Angel’s guitar case; there was about a hundred and twenty dollars. Angel split the money three ways to the cheers of her cousins.

From the park they headed to the mall. Angel led the girls to Leo’s music store. She smiled as she saw Leo behind the counter.

“Hi Leo, how are you?”

“Hello Angel, it is really good seeing you. I thought I told you not to bring your guitar without an adult.”

“This is a new guitar, Leo. My uncles and grandfather placed my old guitar in a vault.”

“What you didn’t buy it from me?”

“Sorry, my uncles and grandfather bought it for me, or I would have gone through you.”

“Well let me see it please.”

Leo’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw the beautiful guitar. Angel lifted it out of its case and laid it on a velvet pad on the counter.

“Angel, in all my years working in a music store, I have never seen such a gorgeous instrument. Who made it?”

“A luthier named Amara Verdad Cantu, in Barcelona. My uncles had it flown in by a cousin.”

Leo took out a big book and began searching through it, “Dang it girl, your family does things in a big way. That wasn’t so much as a step down to a new instrument as a step sideways. Do you know what it cost?”

“No Uncle Javier didn’t say. I think he doesn’t want me to know.”

“Then I won’t either, just take good care of it please.” He said after looking at the price ranges of twelve to twenty thousand Euros.

Leo reverently handled the guitar as he looked it over. “It is definitely new. What kind of strings does it use?”

“The booklet that came with the guitar said they are Savarez Cristal Soliste high tension. My other guitar I used D'Addario Pro-Arté EJ46 strings.”

“That sounds about right. Which do you like best?”

“For that guitar, I like those Savarez strings. Do you have any in stock?”

“No, but I can order them.”

“Good order me a dozen set of strings, Leo. Can I lock my guitar up, in the back, so I can go eat with my cousins.”

“Your cousins?” Leo asked, “Please forgive my rudeness. Hello I am Leo Granger,”

“Sorry Leo. We got caught up in things. This is Sierra Santiago and her sister Nevada Santiago.”

“You’re mountain girls, I see.”

Angel and her cousins broke out laughing, “Yes that is us, mountain girls,” Sierra said, laughing with her sister.

“Please Leo, don’t get them started on their mountain girl routine.”

“Follow me Angel, you can lock up your guitar here anytime.”

They went from Leo’s to the restroom to freshen up and makeup their faces before heading to the food court at the mall. Sierra led them to a gyro shop and they ordered large diet cokes, gyros (minced lamb that has been cooked on a spit in a molded block, then sliced thin and served in pita bread with onion and tomato) and salads.

Back at Leo’s Angel smiled as she saw Willy and Jeffery already there.

“Hey Willy, Hey Jeffery,” Angel said hugging the two guys, “these two girls are my cousins, Sierra and Nevada Santiago.”

“It’s good to meet you girls,” Jeffery said. “Do you play too?”

“No we just dance,” Nevada said.

Willy and Jeffery then began talking with Angel about what songs thwy wanted to play. She only had to say no to a couple of songs, she knew them but not well enough to play them. Leo brought her a guitar and everyone began tuning up.

“Aren’t you going to play your guitar, Angel?” Sierra asked.

“No, Leo uses this jam session to sell his guitars; therefore he wants us to play instruments he can sell.”

At two they began to play, they started out with ‘Rhiannon’. Angel sang as they played. Again a crowd began to form in Leo’s shop. Sierra and Nevada took up chairs behind Leo. Sierra saw Nevada timing the song with her hands like she would play her castanets and she began studying the rhythm too. By the end of the first chorus the girls began to play their castanets. Nobody missed a beat; Leo looked over his shoulders and smiled at the girls.

They then began ‘Dust in the Wind’, ‘More than a Feeling’, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, ‘Uptown Girl’ ‘Mr. Bojangles’, ‘Old Black Water’ and ‘I Heard it through the Grapevine’, before taking a break. A sales clerk just took the second guitar that Angel had been playing that day.

“Can I pick out a guitar Leo?”

“Sure, pick out any guitar you want.”

As Angel went behind the counter she saw another girl standing by herself.

“Hi I am Angel Marquez, what is your name.”

The girl looked shocked at being spoken to. She had been use to people just ignoring her. “Hi I… I am Janice… Janice Fletcher. I saw you playing in the park. I loved your music and followed you here. I wondered if you were going to play in Leo’s jam session.”

“Do you play?”

“I know four or five chords, but I don’t have a guitar yet. I am saving up my money to get one.”

“Which one?”

“That Yamaha acoustic.”

The guitar the girl pointed out was one of the cheapest name brand guitars there. She reached up to the next shelf over and grabbed a nice Martin. Then she found a very good Takashima classical guitar to play herself.

“Come on back here Janice.”

Janice followed Angel back into the area where they had been playing.

“Jeffery give me an E.”

Angel tuned up both guitars to the group and handed Janice the Martin.

“‘Song Sung Blue’, boys.”

Angel began calling out the chords and strumming them. Janice followed and Angel corrected her where necessary. They went slowly through the song twice. Janice smiled as she saw how easy Angel was making it.

“Ok you follow Jeffery, Janice, while I will take my line.”

Together the three guitars, bass guitars and drums played slowly through the song. Seeing how well she was following they played it again, while Angel sang the song. Janice followed very well only missing a couple of chord changes as she played. When they finished, Janice wore a thousand watt smile.

Angel walked back to where Leo was at the drums and whispered to him. “Leo, can you sell that guitar to Janice for what that Yamaha was priced at. I will make up the difference and if you can arrange for her to make payments, I will cover the whole price if she doesn’t pay. But I don’t think that is going to happen.”

“I knew I liked you Angel. We’ll split the difference two ways, I will pay part and you can pay part. If she gives me her name, address and telephone number, she can walk out with that guitar today.”

Leo went and talked to Janice. She wouldn’t accept his offer till she called her Mom first. Leo talked to her for a few minutes. She agreed to let the girl buy the guitar if she could sign for her daughter.

Angel, Jeffery and Willy kept playing, while Leo drew up an impromptu contract. They started with ‘Guitar Man’ then went into ‘Hotel California’, ‘Rock and Roll Heaven’, ‘Diamonds and Rust,’ and they finished up playing ‘Come Monday’.

They put up their instruments and cleared the area where they played. Leo got Angel’s guitar and cut her a check for three hundred and fifty dollars. She didn’t sell as many guitars and the ones she sold weren’t the high end instruments she had sold previously, besides the arrangement she had made with Leo for Janice.

On their way out they walked past Janice and an older lady.

“Angel stop. I want you to meet my mother. Angel this is my Mom Rita Fletcher. Mom, this is Angel Marquez. You really need to hear her play she is great.”

“Hello Mrs. Fletcher, these two girls are my cousins Sierra and Nevada Santiago.”

“Hello it is nice to meet you girls.”

“I didn’t know these girls were your cousins. You should see how those two can dance that Spanish dance.” Janice said, mimicking the Flamenco.

“You mean Flamenco Dancing,” Nevada said.

“Yeah Flamenco dancing.”

“Janice you did real good on the guitar you were playing.”

“Yeah but not as good as you.”

“I have been playing since I was ten. I see that you went ahead and got that guitar.”

Janice shocked Angel when she sat down her guitar case and hugged Angel. “Yes and I want to thank you for that. I don’t know what you did, but I know you did something.”

“I want to thank you too, Angel, while we are not poor, our money is tight at times.”

“I didn’t do anything special.”

“We don’t believe that, but thank you anyway,” Mrs. Fletcher said.

Janice and Angel traded email addresses and hugged one more time before Angel said, “Well just keep up your practice Janice, you’ll be playing well in no time, and you can catch me at the park on Tuesdays. We have to get on home now.”

“Well thank you again Angel,” Janice said.
 
 
Chapter 24
 
 
Angel was with her cousins in their room just after breakfast one day.

“There are several of things every girl knows that you don’t Angel,” Sierra said.

“They need to know their favorite doll.”

“They need to know about sleepovers.”

“And they need to know how to talk about boys, fashion and makeup.”

“These are all of the dolls we had as little girls,” Sierra said, pointing at her bed.

The bed was covered with about twenty dolls. They were all lined up from little baby dolls to Barbie dolls to a couple of taller porcelain dolls with stands on top of their dresser drawers.

“Girls begin to be trained to be mommies beginning with their first baby doll at about two and a half to four years old. They learn to feed their dolls from baby bottles, diaper and dress their babies. As they get older the doll gets a little bigger or older,” Nevada said.

“They also make up names for their dolls; every girl remembers the names of most of her dolls, especially her favorite dolls. Almost every girl then moves up to Barbie dolls between six and eight. Some girls don’t because their parents think the dolls are too mature,” Sierra said, picking up one of her Barbie dolls.

The three of them sat down on the floor and played with the dolls for the rest of the morning. At lunch they had a pretend tea party with their dolls and their stuffed animals at the table.

“You miss the full impact of the tea party because most girls also dress up in party dresses, or their Mom’s over sized clothes as they sit around for their tea party,” Sierra said. “Girls are taught to how to be good mommies and wives, doing these things.”

“But there are many Barbie dolls out now, where the girls can play business professionals, doctors and astronauts.”

“I knew one girl who had several dozen Barbie dolls, many were still in their original boxes,” Sierra said.

“Why keep them in their boxes?” asked Angel.

“There is a large market for collectable Barbie dolls. Some of the first are quite valuable, especially if they are in their original boxes,” Nevada said.

“Let’s check it out on the internet.” Sierra said.

Angel sat at the family computer and booted it up. She clicked on their browser and did a google on Barbie. All three of them were surprised at the millions of hits. Angel clicked on an Ebay url and saw hundreds of Barbie dolls on sale there, priced from twenty dollars to over nine thousand dollars for some of the original or rare Barbie dolls. Other urls took them to various sites about the dolls. A couple of sites shared some of the controversy about the dolls. Some sites gave an estimate of Barbie’s measurements if she were a real adult. There were hundreds of estimates about Barbie’s size if she were a real person; most gave some ridiculously small waist and hips sizes or an extremely unrealistically tall woman of average sizes.

“This is incredible, it seems the company is selling young girls into trying to be this size. What is your size Sierra?” Angel asked.

“We both are five foot three, a hundred and five pounds, 32-24-34 and we are almost a full A cup.”

“Gee your waists and hips are larger than a real life Barbie’s would be and you two are small compared to most girls out there.”

“Oh that is so ridiculous,” Nevada said, “I can’t see us with smaller waists or hips.”

“You two are a size 2P right?”

“Yes, in ladies sizes or a size 3 in juniors, junior’s clothes are more in our tastes. We are not ready to dress like our Mom yet,” Sierra said giggling.

The three girls then spent the next couple of hours shaping and painting each other’s toe nails, fingernails and then braiding each other’s hair. The girl’s told Angel that this was just a part of what goes on at a sleep over.

“You need to go back to the salon and get your nails filled Angel,” Nevada said. “Your nails are growing out and you can see where the wraps end now.”

Angel looked at the base of her nails and saw just how noticeable the gap was, there was a clear delineation between her glass wraps and her cuticle. “I see, I guess we can go back on Tuesday early and get them.”

“You say I need to talk about boys, do you two do it.”

“Yes we do,” Sierra said. “Girls always talk about boys from age four or five. At that age they talk about how yucky boys are. Then somewhere between ten and twelve boys aren’t so yucky anymore and they start becoming yummy.”

“That’s something that I have never thought about before. What do I do?”

“Well do you know some guys your age or older?” Nevada asked.

“Of course I do.”

“Are any of them particularly handsome, cute or interesting?”

“Some of them I guess. I spent my time in middle school just trying to not get caught, pretending to be a boy.”

“Tell us about the boys you found particularly intriguing.”

For the rest of the afternoon, they talked about boys. At first it was just Angel telling the twins about the boys she knew at school. Sierra and Nevada would stop her only to ask questions about the boys Angel was describing. Later they started correcting Angel on how she described them, changing some of the adjectives she used, the things she had noticed about the boys and her body language while she was describing the boys. Sierra and Nevada also told Angel about the boys they knew, the boys they were interested in and about the boys they would never be interested in. All of this while they were doing their nails, braiding each others hair and fixing dinner.

Angel was shocked to hear her cousins talk about the boys and girls they knew, in the terms they used. She had never considered her twelve year old cousins as ‘sexual creatures’. Both girls admitted to thinking about doing “IT” with this or that boy, but they also admitted to having not done “IT” yet. Girls it seemed thought about many of the same things that boys thought about, but as a whole girls seemed to show more restraint than boys. She had to admit though, that the adjectives boys used tended to be cruder.

“Look Angel, we have gone past the ‘Prince Charming’ stage as girls, and from what I have read girls these days are thinking of and doing sexual things. That doesn’t mean Sierra and I are itching to lose our virginity, but we are thinking about guys in more sexual terms.”

“Is that because of Sex Ed?”

“I don’t think so and I can’t speak for others, but everywhere we look someone is using sex to sell something. Our TV shows all have a sexual nature to them, even most of the shows that appeal to teens,” Sierra said. “A lot of Sex Ed was on how to protect ourselves from pregnancy and disease. True there was some how to and some about the body. They also talked about gays, lesbians and people like you Angel.”

The conversation got back to boys, and Angel thought about the boys she knew, she tried to see them in the same light as her cousins would. She knew which kind of boy she liked and which ones she would definitely avoid, but she didn’t picture things in a sexual manner. After a while she was able to evaluate the boys she knew as a girl would and share the details that girls saw as important, in the language girls used.

As of this point Angel hadn’t given much thought about sex with either boys or girls. Her biggest trial in life had just been getting her body to line up with the picture of herself, in her mind.

After dinner, they watched TV shifting from VH1 to MTV to other shows that were slanted towards teens, their ages. They critiqued the clothes they saw, the makeup that the stars were seen in, and who was hot and who was not.
 
 
Chapter 25
 
 
The next day the twins were both a little cranky, as Aunt Flow took this time to make her call. The girls were more than happy to explain to Angel exactly what was happening to them, without giving their cousin a more graphic lesson. They made Angel go online and do research about a girl’s period. Angel did find one interesting detail that she might need. Girls that live in close proximity to each other, like in the same dorm room, tended to have their periods at the same time after they had lived together for two to four months.

Angel just realized that if she was going to live in a dorm room with other girls, that she would also have to find a way to keep up with when she would have her period, how to give off signs that she indeed did have a period and to detect when her dorm mates were having their periods, without being to obvious about it. She then researched ways to simulate having her own period.

Angel talked with her cousins about this and they both agreed. They even suggested that she start wearing a sanitary pad when ever they were on their period too. Nevada handed Angel a light days pad with wings and told Angel how to use it.

“Also don’t flush a tampon or a sanitary pad Angel,” Sierra said. “They will expand and clog the drains. Then others will know something is fishy because they wouldn’t do it themselves. There will always be a trashcan; either in the stall or nearby to dispose of them. You can take the wrapper from your next clean pad and wrap your current used one in it or use some toilet paper and then throw it in the trash can.”

Sierra and Nevada both showed Angel calendars they kept in their purses. They marked the onset of their period and each day they bled with a red dot. They then put red circles on the days that they expected their next period. They suggested that she buy a calendar to keep up with things like this. They also told her she needed to always make sure she had some tampons, sanitary napkins and Midol in her purse.

While Angel was on the computer she checked her email. There were some from her relatives, her Mom, and one from Janice.

Angel O:-),

I needed to send you an email thanking you. I know you talked to the store owner and helped me get my guitar. The guitar you helped me buy is much nicer than the one I was trying to buy. I already know about ten chords and am learning how to put them together to make music.

Will you be at the music store again this Tuesday? I would like to see you and show you what I have learned. My poor fingers ache, as I haven’t built up a callous yet, but I practice everyday.

Again I want to thank you for your kindness.

Janice.

Angel typed up a reply for Janice.

Janice ; -)

It is good hearing from you. I didn’t do anything that other people wouldn’t do, who had the means. I know you like to make music like I do, I can see it in your eyes. I didn’t have to work to get my guitars my Uncles and my Grandfather gave me two wonderful guitars. They also took time to teach me to play like they play. I am glad that I can share my music with you. Keep up the good work.

God willing I will be there on Tuesday, I really love playing with Jeffery, Wee Willy and Leo.

Angel O:-)

p.s. Thank you for the idea of that emoticon. I know it means angel, but I never thought to use it.
 
 
Chapter 26
 
 
The next day Angel got an hour and a half of practice in using both of her guitars, while her cousins danced. Sierra and Nevada then got her to put on one of their Flamenco skirts, and shoe before handing her a pair of castanets. They played a CD that they used to practice and took turns dancing with her. She was hardly a novice, but the girls worked her hard to improve her dancing.

They giggled when Angel missed the floor a couple of times with her toe taps. As absurd as that sounds, it actually happens quite often to dancers who are learning to tap rapidly. Her castanet play was good, but not as good as her guitar play was. Her form in the dance was basically correct most of the time, but she lacked the attitude that female Flamenco dancers generally show as they dance. Flamenco dancers put a lot of attitude into the dance as they stomp and sashay around. The women’s movements shout femininity. Angel actually was getting better, but she had a long way to go.

After their dancing the girls got out their teen magazines and went over them with Angel. They asked what she thought about this article or that story and then told her how various girls might think about what was covered. Having read every page in the five magazines she had bought, Angel had no problems talking with her cousins. She asked why girls did certain things and why they reacted in a certain manner to this and that, the twins answered as best they could.
 

*          *          *
 
Early Saturday the phone rang in the Santiago residence. Aunt Carmine answered it and after a few words were spoken passed the phone to Angel.

“Hello,” Angel said.

“Hello Angel this is Joyce Drummond. I am to be your new music teacher.

Joyce Drummond had a strong voice in the upper registers. Her voice had an ageless quality that seemed to be between twenty and forty; Angel just couldn’t nail it down. It was a perfect voice for a woman in a position of authority.

“Uncle Javier said he was going to get me a new teacher.”

“Yes he called me on Thursday and asked me to take you on as a student. I am still considering whether I will or not. He also told me that you are very good at playing the guitar.”

“Yes, I guess I am, but there is always room to improve.”

“I like that attitude Angel, you are right there is always room to improve. Now I just want to confirm what I was told. You are fourteen right?”

“Yes, I will be fifteen in September.”

“How long have you been playing the guitar?”

“For almost five years.”

“How often and how long do you practice?”

“Everyday for a minimum of an hour, usually an hour and a half to two hours, depending on the circumstances.”

“Good are you doing anything tomorrow, say around three?”

“Let me check,” Angel said. She turned to her Aunt and asked.

“No Angel, three is fine for us tomorrow.”

“We are free tomorrow Ms. Drummond.”

“Good and that is Mrs. Drummond. How well can you read a music score?”

“Not all that well, I can take sheet music and with time figure the piece out, but I can’t just pick up the score from a new song and just play it well.”

“Can you play a piano?”

“I can’t play well, I sometimes use a piano to work out an unfamiliar score. I do know all the keys on a piano and I have memorized the frequencies of the keys.”

“Really,” Joyce said. The she asked Angel the frequencies of about a dozen keys, which Angel answered correctly. “Why do you know the frequencies of all the piano keys?”

“I don’t know, I once saw a chart of piano and guitar frequencies. I thought it could help so I took a couple of weeks one summer to memorize it. It is helpful to me in tuning up.”

“Do you have perfect pitch?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay we will check you out tomorrow.”

“Okay I am looking forward to meeting you.”

“I want you to start warming up at two thirty, okay.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Bye.

“Bye.”

Two hours later Angel received a letter from Christie’s Auction house. Inside a 9 by 12 inch envelope was a twenty page document and two cover letters. The cover sheet boiled down what the document concluded. The first section set out a detailed provenance for the guitar, from the ancestor who first purchased the guitar, in October of 1879 in the city of Almeria, Spain, down through the various relatives who had owned the guitar. Angel was amazed that the line of ownership was more inclusive than what her grandfather had remembered.

The next section dealt with research on the guitar itself. It covered forty five criteria from the materials; the woods used, the various finishes, the construction, the appearance and the tonal qualities of the instrument.

The next section compared the guitar with six known Antonio De Torres guitars; by size, shape, materials used and appearance.

The last section of the cover letter contained the conclusions of the researchers. Three hundred and seventy two words of the cover letter came down to the last two sentences of the document.

The guitar presented to our research department was consistent in every way with an Antonio De Torres guitar. Therefore we are confident enough to Vet that instrument as authentic and issue this provenance as an Antonio De Torres guitar.

The cover sheet was signed by Michael Dunn Appraiser and by each of the scientists and researchers who worked on the enclosed document.

Angel felt a lot of trepidation about what was to become of her guitar. She was afraid that it would be taken away and locked up, but she knew that she had to talk to her Mom and the old men.

Angel’s woes became true after she talked to her Mom, uncles and grandfather. The cost of insuring the instrument was too high to store the instrument at her or Aunt Carmine’s home. They weren’t taking the guitar away from her, but for her safety and the safety of the guitar, it had to be locked up. She was happy to hear that Leo’s did have a bonded secure storage for musical instruments. She was to take her guitar to Leo’s on Monday and lock it up. Till Angel was eighteen she would need to have an adult with her to sign it out. She would also have to notify the insurance company before she retrieved it and when it was returned.
 
 
Chapter 27
 
 
Sunday after church and lunch, Angel began to warm up on her new guitar. She began with some of her simpler pieces to loosen up. Her fingers glided effortlessly across the strings that sang as she plucked and strummed them. She was in a world of her own as she went on to some of her more complex pieces across the many genres of music she knew. Her Aunt and Cousins just watched in awe as she played.

She was playing Recuerdos De La Alhambra when the doorbell rang.

“Keep playing Angel, I just love that music,” Carmen said, as she got up to answer the door.

Carmine opened the door to a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties. She appeared to be very professional in her appearance. She was around five foot six and a hundred and thirty pounds. She had blonde hair in a bun, fair complexion, hazel eyes and a tight smile. She was dressed in a black skirted suit, a simple white blouse, off black hosiery and black low heel pumps. She had a black purse, a black satchel and was pulling a long case on its wheels.

“Hello I am Carmen Santiago; I take it that you are Joyce Drummond.”

“Yes Mrs. Santiago, I am Joyce Drummond. I am here to evaluate whether I want to teach Angel.”

“Please come in, and please call me Carmine.”

“Thank you.”

Joyce followed Carmine to where Angle and her cousins were. Angel was just playing the last notes of Recuerdos De La Alhambra.

“That was very nice. You must be Angel Marquez,” Joyce said. “I am Joyce Drummond, and who might these two beauties be.”

“Mrs. Drummond this is my cousin Sierra and my cousin Nevada Santiago.” Angel said.

“It’s nice to meet you girls”

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Drummond,” They both said.

“Can we have a little privacy, please?”

Sierra and Nevada both got up and went into the living room. Joyce set her things down on the kitchen table and open the case she had been dragging. Inside was a Roland Fantom G8 keyboard. She set it up on the kitchen table.

“Angel I must admit, that I don’t play the guitar, but I am very accomplished on the keyboard and in music theory. I am not certain about how I may be of assistance but we shall see. Now play me your most challenging and eclectic music, till I say stop.”

Angel started by playing several Flamenco pieces, Spanish guitar, Classical, Jazz and Rock pieces.

“Ok, that is enough for now; I see that you really are a very advanced guitarist.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you have a music list?”

“Yes ma’am, Mrs. Drummond.” Angel went to her room and wheeled out a dolly with two boxes and a 2 inch ring binder. She handed the ring binder to Joyce and said. “This is my music list. I have it sorted alphabetically, by title, author and by genre. The boxes contain my music books and sheet music.”

Joyce looked over the binder.

“You have a strange collection of music, Angel.”

“Yes ma’am, I have five teachers and each has his own favorites.”

“Who are your other teachers?”

“My Grandfather Fernando Ramos, Uncle Javier Ramos and Uncle Rolando Ramos teach me Spanish, Flamenco and classical music. Pedro Aguilar and Ricky Montez teach me Jazz, classical and rock.”

“I have heard of Pedro Aguilar and Ricky Montez, before.”

“Yes, they played for several rock groups in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. They also did set work in Nashville, Detroit and LA,”

“Okay now I am going to check your ability to discern notes? See if you can identify the notes I am playing.”

Joyce stood in front of her keyboard and played a couple of dozen notes. Angel identified the notes by key number, note and frequency, such as key 49-A4-440hz, key 20-E2-82.4069hz and key 67-d#6-1244.51hz. She turned a dial on her keyboard that skewed the pitch slightly and played middle C.

“That is key 40-C4 but the note is a little sharp. It is between C4 and C#4, but closer to C4.”

“Very good Angel, you seem to have perfect pitch. Now let’s see how well you read music.” Joyce reached into her satchel and pulled out a sheet of music, handing it to Angel.

The sheet of music did not have a title, and she didn’t recognize it. It had four parts, violin, violin, viola and cello. “May I write on this sheet Mrs. Drummond?”

“Yes you may.”

Angel got a ruler and a pencil and began figuring out the chords for the score. It took her about ten minutes to do that, and then she began to mentally compose a part for the classical guitar. She took her guitar and began to play bits of the piece and make adjustments. After about thirty minutes she played it through a couple of times working on the chord progressions.

“Okay I think I have got it,” Angel said, and she played it.

The piece was baroque and not unlike many of the pieces Angel played. She liked the way it sounded to her.

“That was very good Angel, did you like the piece?”

“Yes it is like a lot of my classical pieces.”

Joyce and Angle did a post mortem on the piece, and they talked about the piece. Joyce played the tune on her keyboard as Angel played it on her guitar. Joyce would stop and either make a change here and there or have Angel make a change, before they would continue. They then played the tune all the ways through with Joyce recording on her synthesizer.

“Who wrote that piece Mrs. Drummond?”

“I did, as a part of my studies at college.”

“Do you play any string instruments?”

“I play the violin some, but not as well as the piano. You don’t have to play an instrument to be able to compose for it, sometimes it helps, but it isn’t a requirement.”

“Now I will play a few pieces from your list, try to compliment rather than lead.”

Angel was use to being the lead and she had to work at playing with Joyce. They played Minuet in G, Prelude in C minor, Fur Elise, and Paganini’s Caprice no. 24.

“You follow pretty good, now lead on Classical Gas.”

Angel was surprise at the way they sounded together. She had never played that piece with accompaniment before. The piano gave it a whole new dimension although the guitar was still the star. When she finished that piece, Angel just smiled and continued into Bohemian Rhapsody. Within a few notes Joyce was playing along with her.

“Well, I see what we need to do; first you really need to learn to read music faster, you did well for the most part, but not nearly good enough. We need for you to learn to play with other instruments, and expand your repertoire. I have twelve simple scores, I want to you to practice playing without taking time to work them out first. Learn to play while you read.”
 
 
Chapter 28
 
 
Monday Carmine traded a weekend with her boss to get today off. She would work Saturday and Sunday for Monday and Tuesday. At ten that morning she headed to the Mall with Angel and her daughters. Angel reluctantly opened the safe and took out her beloved guitar, leaving her new guitar still there. Together they headed to Leo’s at the mall.

“Hello Angel,” Leo said as the four ladies entered his shop, “and hello Mrs. Santiago, Sierra and Nevada. What can I do for you ladies?”

“I understand that you have a bonded secure storage for musical instruments,” Carmine said. “It appears that we are in need of your services.”

“Oh yes, I was kind of expecting that, come with me back to the office.”

Back in his office he offered Carmen and Angel a seat while Sierra and Nevada were checking out the store.

“Now I suppose you need a locker big enough for your guitar is that right Angel,”

“Yes sir, Leo the insurance cost was too prohibitive for me to keep the instrument at my home.” Angel stated.

“Which insurance company did you go with?”

Carmen supplied him with the name of the company.

“I hate not having my guitar at my side, but I know it will be safer here than with me carrying it around.”

“The company wants notification of when we deposit the guitar in your vault and when we remove it for any reason,” Carmen said.

“Okay storage is one twenty five a year. My vault is climate controlled and extremely secure. I will make notifications when necessary. I need the signatures from Angel and an adult. Any additions to the authorized lessees will need to come here with the same signatory that signed the original leaser.”

Leo spent the next five minutes talking terms with Carmen Santiago. The three of them then signed the lease. Angel would not be able to take the guitar out of storage without an adult signatory present till she reaches the age of eighteen.

“Okay let’s lock this baby up,” Leo said.

Angel and Carmen followed Leo out of his office and through a door on the other side. After he shut and locked the door he led them around the corner. They were surprised to see an eight foot steel vault door.

“What was this place, a bank,” Angel asked.

“You’re pretty sharp young lady. Yes before I moved my store here this place was a bank. They went out of business before construction ended. The Mall management tried everyway they knew to get another bank in here, but you just don’t see many banks inside of Malls anywhere. I have a fifteen by twenty foot vault. It is time locked from eight to three seven days a week. You can pick your instrument up anytime within those hours, outside of that I need twenty four hour notice to be able to have the vaults opened for you.”

Leo opened the large vault door and to one side was a key box to the other was a small room. Leo checked one key out.

“All the doors are double locked like a safe deposit box, but the boxes are a lot larger. If you want to check your instrument out first use the side room. When you are ready come on out. I suggest you loosen or remove the strings for long term storage in there.”

Angel took her guitar into the room and loosened the strings till there was no tension. She then wiped down the instrument and carefully placed it in its case.

Together they headed to her locker and locked up her guitar.

“You know I hate you a little for this don’t you. I was blissfully playing an enormously rare instrument till I met you.”

“I know Angel, but it was too much risk for a person to carry it around. There are too few instruments made by the masters around these days. I hope that you will forgive me.”

“I do, but it still hurts.” Angel appreciated that Leo said person instead of child.
 
 
Chapter 29
 
 
Tuesday Angel met Janice in the park. She didn’t play to the crowds this time but sat on the grass playing with and teaching Janice to play the guitar, while Sierra and Nevada just sat around listening to the girls play.

“I don’t think that I will ever be as good as you Angel,” Janice said in frustration.

“Sure you can be, if you want to and try hard enough. You already play pretty good for a beginner. I am sure that you can learn.”

“How did you get so good? You could be playing professionally, I think.”

“I don’ think that I am quite that good, but I had a lot of very good teachers helping me learn. My grandfather and great uncles were driven so to speak to teach me. So I just found myself driven to be the best guitarist I could be.”

“You are that good; you must have spent your whole life practicing. Do you still have any time for your friends?”

“I… I don’t have many friends… I have always had a hard time making friends. Except for my cousins, I would be lost with them.”

“I can’t believe that, you seem so bubbly and outgoing to me.”

“I… I have to admit, I have changed a lot,” Angel said. ‘Boy have I changed,’ she thought.

“Well if this is the new you, I hope you never go back to the old you. I hope that you can call me a friend.”

“You are Janice, I like you.”
 

*          *          *
 
It got hot really early that day so the girls headed to Mall early. They dropped their guitars off at Leo’s and headed to the food court at about eleven thirty. Angel was amazed at how well her cousins fell in with Janice. She amazed herself even at how open she was with this girl.

It took them about thirty minutes to make it to the food court as they window shopped on the way. Many of the stores had their holiday displays in their windows and they all had to stop and look at them as they moved through the Mall.

They all stopped at the pizza shop and got a slice, a salad and a drink. They happily talked about this and that as they ate and watched all the people come and go. That is until they heard.

“Girls, I can’t believe that you would sit down and have lunch with that thing!”

The girls turned and saw Lisa Caldwell coming in their direction.

“Ya’ll get away from ‘IT’,” Lisa all but shouted.

“What are you talking about, Lisa!?!” Sierra said, as she stood and stepped in between Lisa and the rest of them.

“That thing is a lie, that thing is not a girl,” She said, pointing toward Janice.

“For that matter, I am not so sure about YOU,” Nevada yelled back to Lisa.

“Why you bitch,” Lisa shouted, at Nevada.

“No, you got it wrong; you are the only bitch around here!” Angel shouted back at her. “So just get your ass in gear and get on out of here!”

Lisa began to cower as Angel and her cousins got in her face. She could see the murderous gazes in their eyes and began to back away.

“We’ll just see about this.” Lisa said, before turning away and leaving.

The girls turned back to find Janice with her head on the table crying. “I am so sorry about all of this. You must hate me now.”

“Why would we hate you? It’s that bitch Lisa that we hate,” Angel said. “She is just a spoiled rotten bitch.”

Janice then began to speak softly, “But it’s true. I am a freak.”

“What are you some sort of mass murderer, rapist or terrorist?” Angel asked.

“No, I am a boy, who wants to be a girl.”

“You look like a girl, talk like a girl and think like a girl,” Nevada said. “So in my book you are a girl.”

Sierra agreed with her whole heartedly.

Angel started to confess to Janice, but looks from her cousins stopped her.

“Janice, you are more of a girl, than that Lisa Caldwell is,” Angel said. “Just live your life like you feel you should.”

---

 
To Be Continued...