KAREN'S MUSICAL

CHAPTER 1: The Stoneybrook Kids

"I'm-a-live! And the world shines for me-e-e today; I'm-a-live! Suddenly-y, I am he-e-ere today! Seems like fore-e-ver from-to-day; thought I could ne-e-ver feel-this-way! Is this-rea-lly-me? I'm-a-li-i-i-ive, I'm-a-li-i-i-ive, I'm-a-live!..."

That's what we were singing at the Jeremy Brewer Day Center in Stamford. And "we" were the Stoneybrook Kids, a kids' show choir that was started by Mr. Drubek, the choir director at Stoneybrook Middle School, and Jason Everett, who is a hero to me and a lot of us kids in Stoneybrook, which is a little town just an hour and a half outside of Stamford. We'd competed in Washington, DC over the summer, and won a few awards. It was a blast.

Who am I, you ask? Well, I'm Karen Brewer. I just turned eleven years old, and I'm in the sixth grade at Kelsey Middle School. I have a brother named Andrew, who's eight, and in third grade at Stoneybrook Academy, my old school, and he's also a member of the group, as is my stepbrother, David Michael. (Get ready for a big story later on!)

You're also probably wondering what the Jeremy Brewer Day Center is. Well, it's a workshop for physically and mentally disabled people that was started by my grandfather, Daddy's father, who died before I was born. I learned quite a lot when I read his diary.

Well, anyway, back to the concert. As we performed, I glanced over to my left and saw Jason and Kristy, my stepsister, sitting in the middle of the second row. (By the way, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but they started going out over the summer.) They were holding hands. Don't they make a cute couple?

After we finished singing, it was met with a loud burst of applause. There was this one guy in the front row with black hair and a plaid shirt, and he was sitting in a wheelchair. You should've seen how he was carrying on when we finished our show. He was pretty loud and flailing his arms all over the place. Apparently, he really enjoyed it.

After the applause started to die down, a woman walked across the stage. She was a little heavyset with spiky hair that had brown and blond highlights in it, and was wearing a pink sweatshirt, blue jeans and a lot of rings. Since we were a show choir, I assumed that she was the music teacher at the day center.

"Thank you, Stoneybrook Kids!" she smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Crandall," Mr. Drubek answered as he shook her hand. Then, turning to the audience, he continued, "And on behalf of the Stoneybrook Kids, we'd like to thank you for coming to our show tonight, and we'd also like to invite you to join us for refreshments in the lobby. Thanks again."

A few minutes later, David Michael, Andrew, and I met up with Daddy, Elizabeth, Kristy, and Jason in the lobby. The first thing we did was run up to Jason and hug him. "Great job, you guys!" Jason grinned. (See what I mean when I say he's our hero?)

"Thanks, Jason," I grinned.

"Yeah, thanks," David Michael added. "I just wish this wasn't my last show with them."

"Hey, it's all right," Andrew said, patting his shoulder. "We've still got that video of our show in Washington, so you can watch it whenever you miss us."

"Thanks, little brother," David Michael said, cheering up a little. "Tell Archie I said I hope he has fun with you guys."

At that moment, Jackie happened to be passing by. "I'm sure he will," he said. "Hey, remember when we had the All the Children band?"

As soon as Jackie mentioned that, the three of us started singing, "The sun'll come ou-out, to-mor-row-ow, bet your bellbottoms that to-mor-row-ow-w-w--"

"All right, you guys, that's enough," Jackie said, but he was laughing. "But still, I'm sure Archie'll have a great time performing with you." At that exact moment, he tripped over one of his shoelaces and fell against the wall. I'm just glad the fire alarm was up high enough so Jackie wouldn't set it off in the process. Otherwise, we'd have a huge stampede on our hands.

"Thanks, buddy," David Michael said, giving him a Kristy arm-punch.

"I'll tell you what," Jackie said a he tied his shoe. "Why don't we talk to your sister and ask her about making you a roadie."

"That's a great idea!" I exclaimed. (I know, I know, indoor voice, right?) "We'll have to talk to Mr. Drubek and Jason about it, too."

"Okay!" David Michael agreed. All in all, a great evening.