BrennonAge 10 - 11 years ago
My last picked program had just finished.
This summer it was A.L.T., Agonde’s Live Theatre, not Guitar.
Although, I was still taking that, too. I told Dad I didn’t want to, but he shouted and told me it would embarrass him if I didn’t.
I was nervous at first, but I finally started to get better a couple of weeks ago.
My fingers don’t stick to the strings anymore and the chords were getting easier to find.
Yesterday, my program group even managed to string together a whole song.
But A.L.T., that was more fun. I got to be silly, play pretend, or be serious, and nobody thought it was weird.
Yesterday was Parent’s Day, and I just hadn’t felt like being goofy or silly.
My friends all seemed to recognize it, or maybe they just seemed sad too.
Except Birdie. She had been wilder than ever.
That afternoon, she tried to convince us all to leap right off the edge of the high ropes course.
We were all harnessed in, but still, I was relieved when Cole stopped her.
Today, like every day, after the morning programs, my stomach started to growl. I was ready for lunch and for the giant cookies the kitchen always served as dessert afterwards. They weren’t quite as good as Este’s, but they were close.
After lunch, it seemed like all of Camp got sleepy.
Me included. I was battling a heavy feeling as our whole cabin group marched back toward our cabin, mostly without speaking.
All except for Cole and Xav. The three of us trailed behind because the other kids in our group, they didn’t really matter.
At least not to us. We barely spoke to them anyway, unless our cabin leader, Nathan, told us we had to.
I was sure they thought we were weirdos.
I knew it, actually. From time to time, I caught them giving us funny looks or whispering to each other.
That didn’t matter. Not when Cole grabbed Xav by his shoulders and pretended to jump on his back.
He knew Xavi wasn’t strong enough to carry him, especially since Cole had grown so much since last summer.
Xavi knew that Cole wouldn’t hurt him on purpose and just laughed quietly at our friend’s attempts.
I smiled at them. They smiled back. Xavi reached and yanked me towards them too, taking his own turn to attempt to jump on my shoulders.
“Wait!” I cried, trying not to laugh, “Cole, do you think you could carry both of us?”
Xavi’s eyes went wide, but Cole just puffed out his chest, “Of course.”
But after several failed attempts, where all three of us ended up in a pile in the dirt, Cole finally gave up. Also, Nathan yelled back at us, “Get moving!”.
When we got back to the cabin, most of the other boys headed for their own bunks and the cabin got quiet. Even Xav. He normally spent this time every day reading some book. I hated that. Hated this part of the day. It felt like my house. Too quiet and too lonely.
Or it was, until Cole ducked under the rafters and swung from his top bunk to mine.
We were always supposed to stay on our own bunks during Quiet Hour, but as long as we stayed quiet, Nathan didn’t seem to care.
And same as me, Cole didn’t like to sit by himself, so most days he’d join me on my bunk.
Or I’d swing over to his. Sometimes we played cards or thumb wrestled.
Today, I had my guitar across my lap. I mindlessly strummed the strings while he watched.
“Will you teach me?” He asked as the last notes faded.
“Guitar?”
He nodded, crossing his legs so he was sitting exactly like I was. I handed him the instrument. Once he had it settled on his lap, I flicked the pic in my hand so he could see it.
“First things, first, you need one of these.”
He reached to snatch it, but I snapped it back into my fist.
“Brennon,” he whined.
“What?” I played dumb, smiling, even though he tried a second time to grab my hand. I yanked my arm back again. This time, he waited, trying to play it cool, but his brown eyes were calculating just how he could get the pic from me. He didn’t really need one, but he didn’t know that.
I let my hand drift back down, with every intention of continuing our game of keep away. I’d never beat Cole in a physical fight, but this was a game I could win. Only this time, he was faster than me. He managed to grab my wrist. Fair was fair, so I opened my palm and let him snatch the pic.
He grinned, “Now what?”
I grinned too, “Now you learn your first chord. G Major.”
The rest of the hour, I taught Cole all the chords I’d learned since last summer.
At first, I needed to place his hands and fingers in the right spots but eventually he got it and even started to strum on his own a few times.
We only noticed the hour ending when Xavi crawled up the ladder and said, “Let’s go find Toni. ”
Cole nodded, so did I, although I enjoyed getting to teach him. He handed me back my guitar with a wide smile and said, “One day, I’ll get my own, and then we can play together.”
“Like a band?”
He nodded.
“But let’s not tell Toni or Xav,” he gulped, looking at Xav who was neatly tucking his book back onto the windowsill of his bottom bunk.
“Why not?”
“Have you heard those two sing?” I shook my head, and he laughed, “You don’t want to.”