A New Style of Education: Hidden Gifts
By: Annette MacGregor

An authorized story, based on the characters and environment of A New Style of Education by Karen Page.

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Part 5

What was that noise? I stretched, and thinking it was my alarm, hopped out of bed to run to the bathroom and promptly ran into the wall. "Ouch, whaaaa." Then slowly it sunk into my sleep befuddled brain that I was at school, and not at home, and the room was set up backwards a bit from what I was used to. I knew I’d get used to it eventually, but this disorientation had hit me when we moved to Greece too. That’s why I had no problem at the house in London! The same side of the bed was toward the wall as had been the case in Athens. I walked around the end of the bed, and was headed for the en-suite when I heard a quiet tap at the door.

"Dan, are you okay?"

I walked over to the interconnecting door, and replied, "Yes. Thanks, Renee, you decent?"

"Yeah." Since I had my jammies on, I opened the door, and she came in. She had a robe over whatever she had on.

"Sorry, I forgot where I was, and hopped off the wrong side of the bed when the, alarm I assume, went off." I reached up rubbing my forehead.

She giggled, "I almost did, but the bed was bigger than I was used to, so I had a bit of time to wake up and realize where I was. Besides, it’s not like it’s the first strange bed I’ve been in.” I nodded in understanding. “Seriously, are you okay?”

“I think so. I don’t think I hit hard enough to bruise or anything. It’s a good thing our walls are soundproofed, or I might have had more of the year charging in.”

“I didn’t charge in!”

“No, but it’d have been okay.”

All of a sudden, what I’d said about the rooms being soundproofed clicked for Renee. “What did you mean by soundproofing?”

“Dan said that our walls and doors had been soundproofed because of our instruments and practicing in our rooms. By the way, what is so unusual about what you play?”

She looked a little nervous. “Promise you won’t laugh!”

“Of course.”

“Besides the trumpet, I also play the bagpipes, or at least I used to.”

“Wow, that’s way cool!”

“You mean it?”

“Yeah, I’ve never actually met anyone that really played them. I just got to listen to my mom’s albums and such. One of these days, I want to see the Tattoo in Edinburgh!”

“It’s an awesome experience! My dad took me there when I was six.” She looked sad then; I guess she was remembering her dad, though her next comment might have had something to do with it too. “I’ve probably forgotten how to play much. I’ve not had a chance to play since my first foster home. They sold off my pipes because they said they were too loud, and I couldn’t get a new instrument.” She paused then asked again, “What did you mean about soundproofed?”

“Dan said they’d soundproofed the walls and doors to our rooms, so if we practiced, we wouldn’t disturb the other students.”

“I wonder if that means I’ll get to play the pipes again.” She sounded a bit wistful.

“The head said that two of us had unusual instruments for orchestras, and that the director of music had plans to incorporate them. I bet that means you will.” She looked off into the distance at that. “Who taught you to play?”

“My dad, he was an awesome piper!” At my smile, she said, “No, he was a professional, and open rated, that’s as high as it goes.”

“Sorry. It’s not that I doubted you. You just seemed so happy talking about it.”

“I really loved my mum and dad.” She said, as the tears started. I didn’t know what to do, but, I guess I did okay by opening my arms, ‘cause she rushed in and just hung on.”

After a bit, she eased the crying, and said “Thanks Dan. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You miss your folks, don’t you?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“I can guess a little, but at least I’ll get to see mine again in five years. If it ever gets to you again, I’m here.”

“Thanks Dan, I’ve never done that before.” I looked at her at that.

“Do you need to talk to Dan about it?”

“NO! No shrinks! Sorry, I guess I don’t really trust them, even a nice guy like Mr. Mathews.”

“That’s ‘Just Dan’ you know!” which got a giggle, as was my intention. “We’d best get a move on though. But, if you need or want to chat, we can skip breakfast.”

“No, thanks, I think I’ll be okay. Mum always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day!”

“Mine too! But she’s one of those perky morning people.” Which got another little giggle out of her. “If you’re okay now, we’d best get ready. Let me know when you’re done.”

“Sure, you mind if I leave the door open, Dan? I don’t think I’ll break down again, but if I do … “ Her voice trailed off at the end.

“Of course, Renee. Go ahead now.” I gave her a little push toward her room. Once again I turned toward the en-suite, but stopped and went into the closet first. If we are going to be leaving the connecting door open, I’d best have my change of unders in the en-suite with me. While in the shower, I had to wonder a bit at what had just happened. I mean, I’d been hugging a girl. I couldn’t recall ever doing that before, you can’t count mom or Karen, they’re family!

I was ready a short while later, and went to check on Renee. “Renee, you ready?”

“Just about, come on in!” I checked the time on my PDA as I went in. Looking up, I noticed that she’d decided on a skirt today, and I must say she looked sharp. I looked closely, and couldn’t see any sign of her earlier tears.

“Looking for something?”

“Just making sure nothing showed, Renee. You sounded like you didn’t want anyone else to know you’d been crying.”

She nodded thanks, and finished buckling her sandals. Getting up, “Shall we head over for breakfast?” she asked as she grabbed her own PDA.

Breakfast was nice. Kate Mayhew sat at our table, and seating was more or less as it had been the previous evening when Dan sat with us. I wonder if it’s that we’re already starting to develop habits here at school? Ingrid and Fran took their turn serving and didn’t seem to make any mistakes. I guess our demonstration last night made it easier, that, and the single trip for food. I still couldn’t tell. Fran certainly doesn’t act like a dude, but something isn’t quite hanging true. I dunno, it’s not my business anyway. And, Dan did say treat the other kids the way they present. I shrugged my shoulders. I guess, if there’s something she wants me to know, she’ll tell me. Any way, she seems to be a nice girl.

“You’ve all got full days ahead getting to know your teachers and each other. With the exception of Dan, Renee and Fran, you’ve only got your regularly scheduled classes this week. Your specialized classes will start next week. As the Head mentioned, you’ll have classes together to a large extent. When extra classes or other events are added for you, your schedules will be automatically updated. The three of you will see your extra classes on your schedules now. If any of you are confused as to how to find the classroom, click the show me link in the schedule, and your PDA will map you a course from where you happen to be to the classroom or whatever point is indicated.” She paused, and looked around before continuing, “You’re all doing well this morning. If at any time you have an issue or need to talk to your support person, your PDA’s link to your support person with a single click.”

With that she got up, and indicated that Fran should wait, while the rest of us went off to our class. As we headed off, I saw Ingrid coming, and dropped back and whispered. “You’re not sticking with your study partner?” I saw light dawn, and she gave me a quick smile before turning back as if she’d forgotten something. The rest of us continued on to maths.

As we were heading into lunch, Ingrid came up and said “Thanks for earlier, Dan. You were right.” And then she was back over with Fran. It made me feel good knowing I’d helped there. I wonder how the other four would start to bond, and all of us together, for that matter. Lunch was as good as dinner had been the night before, but I was really looking forward to dinner. I’d ordered something that sounded interesting. However, I was nervous about my first class of the afternoon. “Renee, what do you have after lunch?”

“I’m guessing it’s a music test of some sort, Dan. You too?”

I nodded. “I’m afraid I’ll screw it up, and after they went to the expense of that keyboard, I don’t want to.”

“What do you think Fran’s had to do? She’s not changing instruments or anything.”

I thought about it a minute, recalling her serving this morning, and decided that my decision to not worry about Fran didn’t really apply to Renee. “Did you notice anything different about her this morning?”

She was quiet, thinking I guess, as we walked along. “She’s the only student I saw wearing a dress. But that’s it.”

“I know she doesn’t look like a guy or anything, but something about her doesn’t feel right to me, Renee. And adding that in with my question yesterday to Dan, well, I keep thinking that maybe she’s still learning to be a she.”

Renee stopped, and stood there thinking, then replied. “So, you think she’s taking one of those special classes to help her do it better?”

I nodded.

“It makes sense, Dan, but I don’t think it makes any difference, really.”

“Not in the way we treat her, I know. It was something else it made me think of ...” We were walking again and almost to the point we’d have to split up to go to our classes. “I’ll explain it to you tonight, okay?”

She nodded, “Wish me luck, Dan.”

“Okay ‘Break a leg’,” I said with a smile.

“You too, Dan.”

I went on and ended up in what I think must have been the mansion’s music room. There was a beautiful grand piano sitting there. I didn’t see anyone in the room, so I went over to look at it. It looked to be in good condition. Which, as I thought about it was typical of this school.

“Well, go ahead and sit down, young man.”

I spun around, and standing against the wall. was a middle aged lady.

“I umm … I”

“Sorry, I’m Mrs. Russell, the head music teacher here. We’re here to assess where you are on the piano. You are Dan Humphrey, aren’t you?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Okay then. How about you take a seat and warm up.” I started a quick warm up, and winced each time I hit one of the Fs. Danged that key was flat. I stretched my normal warm up to cover more of the keyboard. It seemed that the rest of the piano was tuned properly.

“Try that piece, please,” she said, indicating the music.

I looked it over, and could see that it made heavy use of the F. Should I just play it as is? It will sound pretty bad with that key so far off. I don’t want to do that, so do I change it, or transpose? I guess if I drop it half a step I can keep things close to how it is written. The tune includes the flat key in the melody occasionally, so I can’t just replace the harmonizing chords. Okay, transpose it is. I nodded to myself, and started slowly. It’s a bit hard transposing on the fly in my head. Luckily, the piece wasn’t that difficult. I made more mistakes than I’d have liked, but I did get through it. When done, I turned around and looked at her, and was happy to discover a smile on her face.

“That was very well done, Dan! Much better than they had led me to expect. Why don’t you tell me why you didn’t play it as written?”

“Well, that F was way flat. If I’d included it, the piece would have been ruined.” At her nod, I continued with why I’d decided to transpose the piece down rather than take some other approach to address the issue. “Some of my mistakes were caused by me trying to drop the sounding of the F when it was needed by the transposition.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that the key was off and the piano needed tuning?”

“You said to play, and while warming up I checked that the one key was all that was off, so I didn’t want to fail the test.”

“That wouldn’t have failed Dan. Recognizing that a key which was critical to the piece was flat was all that was required for the test. You took it to the next step, which I was very pleased to see.”

I smiled in relief at that.

“Before you get too swell headed, let me show you something.” She indicated that I should stand, and she played the first bit again, but in a different key than I’d chosen. “What do you think?”

“That hit the tone the composer originally intended better than my choice. I’m not sure why it did, but it just did.”

“I’m glad to see we still have something to teach you there!” I looked down sheepishly. “Oh, there’s no need to be embarrassed. “Could you fix the flat note?”

“With a hammer, I probably could get it close enough that most wouldn’t notice it. But it wouldn’t have the rich tone the rest of the piano has.” I was watching her, so I saw the smile light up her face.

“Good tuners are hard to find. I can get it pretty close, too, but we have it tuned carefully when needed. And, I’m afraid George will be very upset with me for mucking with that note. Now, on to the other topic of our session today; I see you studying composition. Ahh, I take it you like that idea.” I nodded pretty vigorously. “How would you like to learn about orchestration as well?”

“I can?”

“Yes Dan. And, from what you’ve shown me today, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see you doing some of our arrangements before you’re finished.” I think my jaw bounced off the floor on that one. “Oh, not any time soon, you have to walk before you can run,” she said, smiling. “And, we will make sure it’s up to our standards before it’s performed. Have no fear on that.”

“That sounds wonderful! Thank you so very much!”

“Now, for what you’ll be playing with our orchestra. Oh, don’t go shrinking back like that. I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble in the percussion section.” I must have winced or something, because she smiled and continued. “No, you’ll not be playing the drums, at least not for a few years. We have two very good drummers. You’ll be starting out on other elements of the percussion section. I suspect I’ll have you start with the glockenspiel.” I guess my perplexity showed, “The glockenspiel is also sometimes known as the bells.” At my continued look, she continued, “Oh not the kind of thing you hold in your hand and ring, though those are lovely instruments in their own right. The bells are similar to the xylophone. The tone bars are laid out like the keys on a piano, and the music is noted the same way. You’ll strike them with beaters.”

“Beaters?” I had this picture of what my mom used to scramble eggs.

She smiled. “They are sticks with a head, designed for striking the bars. Let’s see what was it you Americans call them. Oh, yes, hammers.”

“That isn’t much more help, I’m afraid I’ll need to see it. Your description of the instrument does sound like it will be better than I’d feared.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, and by the time of our first concert nobody will have a clue you’ve not been playing for years! Do you have any questions?”

I looked at the beautiful grand piano, sighed, and said “I don’t think so.”

“Wouldn’t you like to play this piano, once it’s tuned that is?”

“Of course, but I assumed it was reserved for staff or such. I mean you’ve already put that wonderful keyboard in my room.”

“No, you are welcome to play this piano, Dan, well, after George takes care of it anyway. If you ever notice it out of tune, just let me know, alright?”

“Oh, thank you!”

“You may not thank me, once I hand you the pieces you’ll be learning,” she said with a smile on her face. “Now run along. I’ll see you at three.”

I had to think a minute and then it occurred to me. “Orchestra rehearsal!”

“Yes, young man. I’ll see you there.”

I went back out, and pulled out my PDA to see if there was anything else scheduled before three. Since there wasn’t anything, I sent Renee a text message that I was out. I figured that if she wasn’t done, she’d ignore it. I got an immediate reply “Back at the room.” I guess hers got over way before mine. Though if Mrs. Russell was the head, I wondered who was checking her out.

I went up to the rooms and tapped on Renee’s door. When she opened it, I saw her standing there with a long black recorder like thing. “Hi Dan, come on in.”

“I’ve not seen a recorder like that before,” I said as I came in.

“Oh, it’s not a recorder. It’s a practice chanter.” At my quizzical look she continued. “My unusual instrument, the Bagpipes, well this is a practice instrument to help learn tunes.”

“Would you play a bit for me?”

“I’ve forgotten so much. I was just trying when you knocked.” She put it to her mouth, and blew a quick something. It sounded off somehow, but internally consistent. I filled that away to ask later.

“Wow, you were playing that when I knocked?” She nodded. “I couldn’t hear a thing; Dan was serious when he said our rooms were sound proofed.”

“But I heard you knock?”

“Yea, that’s right. I wonder ...” I said as I walked back over to the door “Renee, come over here, and let me make some sounds out in the hall, and see if you hear them.” I closed the door, and clapped my hands, then I stomped my feet. “Can you hear any of this?”

At which point Fran open her door. “Yes, Dan, I can hear it fine. Why are you making so much noise out here?”

“Sorry, Fran, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” At which point, Renee opened her door.

“I could hear you too, Dan, loud and clear.”

“Fran, apparently Renee and my rooms are somehow supposed to be insulated against sound coming through going out, but not in. Would you mind going inside your door, and knocking to see if we can hear it out here?”

She gave us a questioning look, and went in and we heard a nice loud rap. “That’s good Fran.”

She came back out then. “I guess you heard me. Now what’s this about insulation in your rooms?”

“I want to figure this out. Would you go into Renee’s room and knock the same way?” She was really giving me a strange look at my request, but complied anyway. “Any time now Fran.” I waited a minute. “You can knock now. I’ve not gone anywhere.” And the door opened.

“I was knocking my knuckles blue. Why couldn’t you hear me?”

“I think it’s that sound proofing Dan talked about.”

“You keep talking about that, but Renee and I both heard you just fine making noises, and you say you heard me knock on my door. That means it’s just Renee’s room, and maybe yours that are strange. What’s the story?”

I was looking at Renee’s door at that point, and absently responded “I sometimes play my piano at strange hours, and Renee might practice her instrument in the room sometimes, instead of going to one of the practice rooms. I guess they didn’t want us disturb the rest of you with our strange hours.” Then more to myself, but so they could hear it, I continued. “Now there must be a microphone and speaker somewhere. It needs to be somewhere here.”

“Dan, what are you looking for?” Renee asked.

“Oh, sorry. I can’t believe that it’s one-way insulation, and since in the room we can hear stuff out here in the hall, but out there, they can’t hear things even when the door is banged on, there has to be a microphone and speakers somewhere.”

“The mic could be powered by sound I guess. But for the signal to have enough oomph to power speakers, it would need some amplification which means power. So, there needs to be a power source, as well.” Fran said, as she came up and looked at the hinges. “These aren't normal hinges Dan.” She said pointing at them. I’d not looked very carefully before, but they looked pretty normal to me. “Here, look at the ones on my door.” She said going to the other side and opening the door so we could see. “See how the plate and pin are much narrower? I bet if we took the plate off your door, we’d see a wire going through it.”

“Okay, that explains that bit, but where’s the mic?”

“Somewhere near the middle of the door would be my guess; to have the best pickup range.”

“No, it couldn’t be that simple could it?” I said. And, at their questioning glances, I pointed at the knob. “You think the mic is in the keyhole?”

“Easy to test Dan. Just cover it with a pillow and try the noise test again. It should be muffled.” Renee ran in and grabbed a pillow from her bed and brought it out. I took it, covered the knob and said “You know Fran, I feel really silly about this. But, would you mind knocking on Renee’s door?”

She made a little laugh, and complied with a sharp rap to the door. I took the pillow off and said. “Did it work?” before knocking on the door again.

“Yes Dan. It was much quieter.”

“Okay, we’ve found the mic I guess. Now, let’s find the speakers.” I said going into the room. You guys think it’s in the ceiling?”

“That would make sense Dan, if it were in the door on this side, there’d be no need for the wire other than power.”

“Well, let’s check the knob anyway.” After a bit of checking, we determined it wasn’t in the door, and under the rug didn’t make sense, so we pushed one of the tables over and I climbed up while they kept it steady. “With this textured ceiling it’s hard to tell. Wait. I pulled out my PDA and sent Ingrid a call. When she answered, “Ingrid, this is Dan. Don’t ask why now, but would you mind coming over and knocking on Renee’s door a bit. We’ll tell you when to stop, and explain then. Okay?” “Thanks.” “Ingrid’s going to knock on the door now maybe I’ll be able to hear where the sound’s coming from. Listen down there too, okay?” They nodded, and a moment later, the knocking started.

“It seems to be from up here somewhere. I moved around trying to hear where it was loudest, and it seemed to be centered above the door, but just to be sure, I moved over to each side and got too close to the edge. “Aaaiiihhhh” I yelled as I fell off the table onto Fran. I was able to leap clear mostly, but Fran hit the floor pretty hard. As we got things straightened out, it was obvious that Fran was in some pain. I went to help her, while Renee got the table set back up. “Renee, get Ingrid, she’s at the door.” I hit Dan’s page icon on my PDA, and when he responded, “Dan, we’ve got a medical issue in Renee’s room. Fran fell, and has been injured. I don’t want to move her.” “Got it, Ingrid will be in the hall waiting.” “Ingrid, as you can see, there’s been an accident, I’ll explain in a bit. For now, just keep the door open, wait in the hall, and direct whoever Dan’s sending for medical help in here.” “You’ll be okay Fran. Help will be here in a minute.” I said pulling the hem of her dress further down, covering her bottom. Renee and Ingrid didn’t need to see anything now, if they didn’t already know.

“Sorry, I wasn’t watching and knocked you over. I don’t see anything broken, but best let the experts check you out.” Fran was obviously in pain. I just kept up a babble to let her know someone was there, and to reassure Renee and Ingrid. Eventually, I’m sure it was only minutes later, but felt like much longer, some adults arrived, including Kate. I guess that wasn’t surprising. When directed, I backed off, and stood next to Renee.

“Is she okay, Dan?” Renee whispered.

I quietly replied, “I think so, I just wanted to make sure. She fell pretty hard.”

“Okay, let’s get her on the board and take her down to the clinic. I think she’s okay, but I want an x-ray to make sure.” That lady seemed to know what she was talking about. They had her on the board, and were out the door pretty quickly. Kate brought Ingrid into the room, and looked at us.

“Would you mind telling me what was going on?”

“We were trying to figure out how the insulation worked, Ms. Mayhew, and Fran, Renee and I figured out there was a microphone in the door knob on the outside. Then, we came in here to try to see if we could find the speakers that would be needed. When we couldn’t find them down here, we moved the table over and …”

“And you had Fran up on the table?” she interrupted.

“No, it was me up there. Fran and Renee were steadying the table down here. When I couldn’t find something that looked like a speaker, I called Ingrid to knock on the door so I could find the speaker by listening.”

“So that’s what I was doing out there. Why didn’t I hear the screaming in here though, wait, don’t tell me, you said something about soundproofing, right?”

I nodded, “Dan told me that our rooms had been soundproofed, but we could still hear knocks on the door, and as we found, other sounds out in the hall too. One way soundproofing didn’t make sense, so we were figuring it out.”

“Dan,” interrupted Kate Mayhew. “Why is it that you were on the table, but Fran’s the one that got hurt?”

“I’m afraid I was a little careless as I moved back and forth on the table and moved too far. The table tilted and I started falling off and screamed. At the last second, I gave myself a push, and was able to tuck into a roll when I hit. I think I kicked the table when I did that and it bounced back into Fran. Either that, or I hit her as I left the table. In any case, as soon as I got to her I, called Dan for help.”

At that point her PDA chimed, and she took a look. “Okay, the x-ray came back negative; she’ll come out with just a few bruises.” Turning back to me, she said, “Next time, why don’t you just ask someone? There’s nothing classified in how it works. Though, we may have to modify things a bit, if someone in here could get hurt, and someone in the hall couldn’t hear about it. The speaker is there above the center of the door, as you seemed to have deduced.”

“Perhaps a two way system, where some sound from the rooms gets out there, the same as gets through any normal door. Then, if you give us a switch, we can turn it off when we practice so others are not bothered. Or make it a smart switch that reacts to sound level.” I started trying to solve the problem out loud.

“That might work, but back to this afternoon’s issue. Do you know why someone got hurt?”

“Yes.” I said with a sigh. “I didn’t think things through as far as the investigation was concerned. A pedestal table is not that stable when a lot of weight is on one side. I’m actually surprised Renee didn’t get hurt too.” I turned to look at her, almost having to turn half way around she was behind me. “You are okay aren’t you?” She nodded, so I turned back to Kate. “Mrs. Mayhew, I’ll be sure to think more before I act. I’m really sorry this happened.”

“I know you are, and I believe you’ll try. One more thing you should remember. My name is Kate. I don’t want to hear you calling me Ms. Mayhew again. Alright?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Now Ingrid, would you like to go get Fran?” At her nod, the two went off to wherever they’d taken Fran.

Once they had left and we were alone, I turned to Renee. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. I caught the table as it bounced toward me. I saw you falling. How’d you avoid getting hurt?”

“It’s just like I told Kate,” I started, and she flinched at the name. “What’s wrong, Renee?”

“She’s so scary, Dan; I thought she was going to chew your head off at one point.”

I looked at Renee carefully, “You’re still shaking.” And not knowing what else to do, I opened my arms, and she almost flew in to them. Why is it that shrinks bother her so much?

“Renee, what’s wrong?” She was quietly crying. “Renee, I’m still here.”

“Th … thanks, Dan. I’m sorry. I was just so scared you might get hurt.” Her tone changed, becoming more tremulous, “She looks so much like my second foster parent.”

“And that’s an issue, isn’t it?” She nodded. “Do you want to talk to Dan about it?”

“N … no. At least not yet.”

“Okay, but you can always talk to me if you need to.”

“I will. Thanks so much for being here.”

“Are you going to be okay now?” As she nodded, I relaxed my arms, and she stepped back. “You’d best go clean up. Your eyes are all puffy.”

“Thanks Dan.”

And she ran off to wash her face. I realized I’d barely gotten to hear how the chanter sounded, and hadn’t had a chance to ask about what sounded off when she played earlier , or how her test had gone. Well, I figured it must have gone well, since she had seemed to be in such a good mood when I got here. I looked down at my PDA to see the time. Oh, we’ll have to hustle to get to Orchestra on time. “Renee, we need to get going, if you’re okay.”

She came out, and left her chanter on her desk.

“You don’t need that?”

“No, the guy that tested me said Mrs. Russell would let me know when it was needed, and arrange for me to have tunes I’d need to learn. But for now, I’m just to practice and get back my basic form.”

She was looking more in control of herself, so we headed off to rehearsal.

When we got there, I glanced at the time, and was relieve to see we’d made it on time after all. Looking around, I noticed the rest of our year had gotten there ahead of us. I noticed Ingrid nodding to herself. I guess she was checking as well. It was nice seeing her watching out for everyone.

“All you year one students, come over here for a minute please?” Looking in the direction of the call, I saw Mr. Hobson. Instruments it looks like, yep. He called all of the others over and handed them their instruments. “Dan, as you’ll be learning percussion this year; you’ll not be taking an instrument with you. Mrs. Russell will let you know what you should be doing. Ahh, here she is now.” I turned, and saw her coming across the stage to our group.

“Hello, Renee and Fran,” she called out. “You’re our two trumpeters.” Then she looked over at Mr. Hobson. “It would be nice if you could stop doubling the trumpets up on me.” Turning back to us, “Well, we’ll start with Fran in the first chair and Renee in the second. After a week, the two of you will swap. Don’t be surprised if I swap you a few more times before things settle down. You can go take your positions now.” I winced as I saw Fran limping a little. I’d have to apologize after rehearsal. Mrs. Russell turned and called to one of the older students. “Stacy, come here a minute, will you?” Then turning back to us, she continued. “Stacy’s in year four, but she’s also leader of the orchestra. Stacy, Mark, Wayne and Prudence will be in the string section. Why don’t you go get them situated?” I watched Stacy.

Huh. I thought a teacher would be the leader. Not one of us. “Excuse me Mrs. Russell.”

“Yes Dan?”

“I thought you led the orchestra.”

She thought a minute. “Oh, you mean my reference to Stacy as The Leader. That’s the title we use for first violin here in the UK. You may be more familiar with the American term ‘Concert Master’. They mean the same.”

I nodded. Okay that makes sense, but to be Concert Master and year four, she must be really good. She was talking to the three as she led them off to their places.

“Moving along now, you must be Sally,” she said to Sally. “I must say it’s refreshing seeing someone of your stature playing the tuba.” She then turned back to the orchestra. “Tim, please wave.” Turning back to us, she said. “Sally, you’re over next to Tim Harper there. Go ahead and get set up. Trust me, Tim doesn’t bite,” she added with a smile.

Finally she turned back to me. “Well Dan, as you see, no piano right now. Let’s go introduce you to Andrea and Andy, our full time percussionists.” We walked over to the percussion area. “Andrea and Andy, this is Dan. He’ll be filing the third slot with the two of you. Andrea, you cover the main percussion for the first hour of rehearsal. Andy, I want you showing Dan what he’ll be doing on the glockenspiel. After an hour, if he’s not getting the hang of it, you can switch.” Then she turned back to me. “Eventually, I want you able to play any of the percussion instruments with the exception of the drums. Later, we’ll work you into snares, but we want you to have time to keep up your piano, too. I’ve a few pieces in mind that will challenge you there as well.” With that she was off.

Andy was good at showing me the glockenspiel, they’re a nice instrument. I think it’s going to be fun playing them. Apparently I’d gotten enough of a hang of it that Andrea was able to go back to other instruments after another half hour. This rehearsal was a lot of work though. Sheesh, and the older kids acted as if it were nothing. I hoped I might someday get to their level, but I knew it wouldn’t be any time soon. Mrs. Russell was right in that my piano playing did translate and help me with the glockenspiel. I hadn’t had much time to see much of what anyone else was doing. I’m glad we spent the day on just the one piece. I wonder what else we’ll be playing.

“Okay, we just worked on the Mozart piece today. Friday, we’ll be working on Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. We’ve not yet finalized the program for our autumn concert, but it should be sorted out early next month. We’re considering a medley and perhaps a few shorter pieces. .Let me know if you have any questions. That’s it for tonight. Go and enjoy your dinners.”

And with that, she was off. I turned to Andy and Andrea. “Thanks for showing me this stuff, guys. It’s awesome.”

“I wasn’t sure what to think, with you trying to learn and play at the same time, but you picked it up pretty fast. It took me a while to learn the glockenspiel. Drumming is what I like, and what I was doing before I came to Hayfield.” said Andy.

“I think so too, Dan. Do you play your piano as intently?” asked Andrea.

“I dunno. I guess so.”

“He’s really good!” chimed in Renee. I’d not noticed her walk up behind me. “I got him to play for me last night and he’s awesome!”

“Well, we’ll look forward to seeing what you can do, mate.”

“Thanks Andy.” They headed off to their years, and I turned to Renee. “Thanks Renee. I don’t know what to say when folks go on like that. Hey, you just jumped in talking to folks you don’t know.” I said the last with a smile.

“I couldn’t let you just get by with false modesty, Dan. You’re good! You’re at least as good as any of us today anyway!”

“Ummm. Okay. I’m afraid I was concentrating too hard trying to play this thing. Hey, looks like Fran and Ingrid stuck around,” I said. changing the subject. I really wasn’t comfortable talking about myself.

“I asked them to. I figured Ingrid wanted to know what happened, and Fran has something she wanted to say.”

We went over to join them.

“How are you doing Fran? I’m sorry about the accident.”

“I’m okay Dan. I just twisted my ankle. They wrapped it, and said if I’m careful, I should be doing better by tomorrow. By the way, how’d you get by without getting hurt? You’re the one that was coming off of the table.”

“I guess I was lucky.”

“That’s not what you said to Kate?” Ingrid corrected.

“Okay, when I realized I was falling, I pushed off some and then tucked and rolled like I was taught. But I was also lucky nothing was in the way. I was really stupid climbing on a single leg table!”

Ingrid nodded while Fran continued, “Dan, did you find the speaker?”

“Sort of, Kate said it was in the ceiling tile above the door like we thought.”

“Well, that all makes sense.”

“Why do you two have insulated walls?” asked Ingrid.

“Apparently they expect us to fight a lot,” I said with a straight face as we were walking toward the dining area. Both Fran and Renee laughed at that. “Okay, that’s not it. With me doing my double instrument training, I’ll be doing some practicing in my room. I relax by playing the piano, and I’m afraid it’s sometimes at, well, let's just say 2:00 am happens. My folks didn’t complain too often, though my brother did. And Renee’s got her primary instrument with you Fran, but she’s got a secondary too, that, now that I know what it is, might annoy folks if she practiced it at all, indoors.”

They both gave me quizzical looks. I glanced at Renee and caught her nod. “She plays the pipes.”

Light dawned on them about the same time. “I think I’m going to be glad I won’t have to listen to that all the time,” said Ingrid. “Is the wall between your rooms insulated?”

“Dan said not. I guess we’re expected to listen to each other, in addition to studying together,” I said with a chuckle.

Dinner wasn’t that memorable, I guess the adrenaline that had carried me through rehearsal was wearing off. Renee was looking as bad as I did, so when we got back I suggested we go to sleep early, and do our work in the morning before breakfast.

“Good idea. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through dinner tonight.’

“See you in the morning,” I said as I went through the door, leaving it open without really thinking about it.

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Author's Note: I want to thank Karen for allowing me the pleasure of continuing this story and I hope you all get as much pleasure out of reading it as I've had writing it. I also want to thank the two individuals that proofed and commented on the story as it developed (Karen Page & Penny Cardon). Their comments and criticisms helped immesurably! I also want to thank Holly Logan, the person that gave the chapter a final review to hopefully reduce the mechanical errors (typos and the like). Any problems remaining are mine and not that of any of these remarkable ladies.