Trouble In River City
Missing Scene, set between when Harold is caught and the next morning when he leads the band.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Music Man or it's characters. I'm just playing in the sandbox for a bit.
Marian Paroo blinked back tears as she watched from the doorway while the sheriff and his deputies escorted Harold Hill to the street where a patrol wagon was waiting to take him to the River City jail. Behind her Winthrop had swiped at his own tears, trying to be brave, while their mother held him close. Marcellus Washburn stood in the doorway next to Marian, looking utterly bewildered.
The Mayor stood up in the passenger seat of the wagon and addressed the mob congregated in the yard.
"Right then men! We'll meet at the schoolhouse and we'll decide what to do with him. We'll see if the spellbinder can conjure up an escape then!"
Tears forgotten completely; Marian stepped outside to the porch. She wanted to march up to the mayor and explain in no uncertain terms what she thought of him. But Marcellus seemed to catch on to what she had in mind and stopped her with a firm hand to her shoulder and a warning look.
"Right!" The angry, over-zealous, citizens chorused in reply to the mayors rally.
"Wrong!" A lone, but firm voice rang out above the crowd. The sheriff stepped up next to Mayor Shin to do some addressing of his own. "You'll all return to the sociable or to your homes. It is Independence Day after all. There will be no lynchings, or talk of tar and feathers tonight. We'll all meet at the gymnasium at eight o'clock tomorrow, and decide what to do with "the professor" then."
Mayor Shin looked downright disappointed, as did some others in the crowd. Marian could only glare at them, though no one was paying any attention to her. She looked across the yard and saw her fellow citizens; glanced over the angry expressions that longed for action, to the mayor to the Sheriff, who seemed more disheartened with his peers than with the man in the back of his car. Finally her gaze settled on the bowed form barely visible through the windows of the Ford, and her heart broke for the second time in the last five minutes.
"How could they?" She asked no one in particular. Wondering how these people, her neighbors, friends even, couldn't see how the man they were so eager to lay "justice" upon had changed them for the better.
The beautiful truth was Harold Hill had changed them all without even meaning to. He'd waltzed in with his cockiness, his musical tricks and salesmen frippery; and he had undeniably, irrevocably altered the entire city. He'd put smiles on faces that had known nothing but scowls. He'd offered the children a dream, a passion in the form of music and instruments; they'd taken that dream and run with it. He brought unity -and dare she think it harmony, to a town formerly filled with severance and discord.
As far as Marian was concerned the things he'd given her, and her family, were more than enough to pay for the scheme he'd originally intended. She'd never have believed that in three weeks one man could put a smile on Winthrop's face, light in his eyes and words in his mouth until Harold had done just that. She'd never have believed that she'd find her white knight, until he arrived and battled his way into her heart.
In the car, as if he felt Marian's eyes on him, Harold raised his head and sent a brave smile her way, though it only held a fraction of the confidence he'd had only hours before. She tried to smile back, but an errant tear escaped and ruined the effect as it ran down her face.
He was in that car because of her. If she hadn't held him back he'd be safely on a train, comfortably speeding out of town. But she had held him back. That was exactly what she'd intended to do when she informed him that she knew his secret but he had her heart anyway, and left a tantalizing kiss on his lips. She hadn't anticipated Charlie Cowell returning and ruining it all. And she couldn't bear the thought of Harold being tarred and feathered and run out of town simply because he'd managed to fall in love with her.
"We've got to do something," she whispered to Marcellus as the crowd trickled out of her yard.
"What?" Marcellus still hadn't lost his bewildered look. He was still trying to figure out why Harold hadn't conned his way out of this one, and couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that the reason had everything to do with the petite blonde standing before him.
"We've got to do something, the Sheriff gave us until tomorrow morning," she said.
"But what can we do? With all that evidence against him, and the money and no band…
"There is a band though," she declared. "There's a whole group of boys waiting to show off their uniforms and instruments."
"But we can't have them ready to actually play in…ten hours," Marcellus protested. "I want to help him as much as you do Miss Marian but it just can't be done."
"Yes it can," she insisted. "I've been teaching piano for almost three years now and if there's one thing I've learned it's that parents could care less how the group sounds as a whole. And their children can do no wrong as long as they're playing their heart out."
"But…ten hours. How are we gonna get all the kids together?"
"You and Tommy still have the list of who bought uniforms right?"
Marcellus nodded.
"Good, find the boys on the list and tell them to meet at the library to practice."
"The library?"
"It's the only place big enough for all of us. Make sure they have their uniforms, instruments and practice books. Between you, Tommy and I we can teach them enough notes to pass them off as learning music. Once they put on their uniforms and perform tomorrow no one will care that Harold hasn't made a symphony out of them yet."
"Miss Marian that plans so crazy it just might work!" Marcellus crowed.
"You'll help me then?"
"You bet."
"Good, give me your list and go find Tommy. I'll find as many of the boys as I can and get the library unlocked. I'll give you an hour."
"I'll see you then," he promised, dashing down the porch steps. Halfway across the yard he turned back, "What do I tell the parents?"
"Anything, as long as it gets those boys to the library!"
She didn't wait for a reply before heading inside. She found her mother and brother sitting at the kitchen table. Winthrop still looked heartbroken, and a solemn expression had set up camp on her mother's face as well.
"Winthrop get your coronet and your uniform, I need your help."
Winthrop looked up confused. When he glanced at his mother she only nodded her encouragement so he leapt from his seat and raced upstairs to his room.
Katherine Paroo seemed to already know that her daughter had something in mind and didn't bother asking about.
"What do you want me to do m'girl?" She asked instead.
A hopeful smile dawned on Marian's face.
"Just be at the schoolhouse tomorrow morning at eight and follow my lead," was all she had time to say before Winthrop came bounding down the stairs ready to go.
Marian snatched her purse and keys from their hook in the hallway, and hugged her mother goodbye.
"Thank you," she shot over her shoulder as she strode out the door.
Katherine caught Winthrop in a hug as well and then let him dash off after his older sister. The two siblings spent the better part of an hour at the park chasing down band members and getting them to the library with their instruments and clothes. When they had only fifteen minutes to spare before everyone was supposed to meet up they headed to the library and Marian unlocked the doors and turned on a few lights. With Winthrop's help she shoved table's and chairs out of the way on the main floor so they had plenty of room to practice lining up and marching in as well as go over some actual music.
At eleven-oh-seven on the dot Marcellus Washburn walked in with Tommy Djilas and ten more boys in his wake.
"Is that everyone?" Marian asked.
Tommy glanced over the group already inside, as well as the boys joining them.
"That looks like everyone," he nodded.
"Wonderful," Marian said, satisfied that everything was working out so far..
"Men," Marcellus announced. "We have a problem and we need your help. We have nine hours to get this band performance ready or Professor Hill will not be teaching here any longer. I think I speak for all of us when I say we don't want that to happen."
A chorus of assents started up and Marcellus waved them down.
"All right then. I know Professor Hill has been teaching you the think system and that you don't have much experience actually playing your instruments. Tonight we need to change that. Now Miss Paroo has graciously lent us the library to practice in and her time to help you learn to play I expect you all to work as hard with her as you have with Professor Hill. And hopefully by tomorrow you can make him proud."
Cheers rose up again and the boys gathered their instruments, they were as eager to actually play them as they were to help out their beloved band professor.
"How are we going to do this?" Marcellus asked Marian quietly before directing boys where to go.
"We'll split them up," she explained. "I'll take treble, you take base, and Tommy you take percussion. Only work on Minuet in G, I don't want to put any more pressure on them over this than we have to."
"All right," Marcellus and Tommy both agreed.
The first hitch of the night passed when the boys weren't certain if they played treble or base instrument. Once that was cleared up the three different groups settled about the library. Marian took her group upstairs and settled them across benches. She quickly discovered they all knew the Minuet in G as well as Winthrop did, but no one knew the actual notes. It quickly became apparent that it was going to be easier to show each boy exactly what to play on their instrument rather than try to teach them the notes and then teach them what to play. So she spent the next three hours going through the instruction book belonging to each of the seven boys in her group and showing them how to play the notes in the song. A few of them drifted off while waiting for their turn and she couldn't blame them; she doubted any of them had been up past eleven before, much less three in the morning. When she finished with the last boy she roused them all and coaxed and coddled them into practicing together for an hour before sending them downstairs to join the rest of the group.
She shared a sympathetic and grateful look with Marcellus and Tommy, who were just as exhausted yet determined as she was to pull this off, before directing the entire rag-tag band to start playing together. Another hour later it was apparent they were all attempting to play the same song. A few tries after that and the song was even recognizable.
"You're doing great guys," Marcellus encouraged. "Just one more time please."
Marian watched as a few dispelled groans and raised their instruments yet another time.
"They can't keep going like this," she whispered to Marcellus as conducted them.
"They've got a bit left. We'll show them how to line up and then they can catch a few hours of sleep."
"Where, they can't all go home, we'll never get them back." She flinched at her own words, feeling guilty for asking so much of the boys.
"They can curl up here for a couple hours," Marcellus said amiably. "They won't mind a chance to sleep inside a library for a little bit, it'll be an adventure."
"An adventure of cricked necks and achy backs," Marian retorted, her own lack of sleep echoed in her tone.
"Their tough, they'll make it," he turned his attention back to the band as they finished. "Great job. Now everybody line up, tallest to shortest."
They did so in record time, happy to be doing something different. Marcellus split them down the middle.
"Now this will be the front row, and this the back," He said, showing them where to stand. "You'll all follow Tommy in and you," He pointed to the boy who would be first on the front row," Just walk in front of everybody once you get on stage and they'll follow you. Now give it a shot."
Tommy led them in a march from the doorway to the center of the floor in the library until they all knew exactly what to do.
"Thanks men, that's enough practice for tonight," Marian announced and smiled wanly at the answering sigh of relief. "You're not going to go home though. In a few hours you'll have to get up, put on your uniforms and head over to the gymnasium to show your parents what you can do. So we'd like you to stay here for the rest of the night."
Excitement lit the boys' faces at the prospect of a sleepover at the library, just as Marcellus said it would. Marian silently thanked whoever was listening for letting them pull this off. Now all that was left to do was wait, and see what happened at the gymnasium in the morning. She watched as the boys settled in chairs, on benches, against bookshelves and some even against each other to catch a few needed hours of sleep before the night was over. Everyone was exhausted enough that despite their 'grand adventure' they were asleep with in minutes.
"You should go home," Marcellus told Marian gently.
"What?"
"Go home. You need sleep as much as anyone but I doubt you'll find a bench in a library as thrilling as they do," Marcellus explained. "Tommy and I can get them into their uniforms in the morning, they won't want a girl here for that anyway," he grinned. "Go on, you can get changed and we'll see you at the gymnasium."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay," she said. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Marcellus."
"Don't thank me, you're the one who orchestrated this all. I never would have believed we could pull it off."
"I wouldn't have been able to without your help. Thank Tommy too, would you? I don't have the heart to wake him."
Tommy had been one of those to sit down against a bookshelf and drift off to sleep almost immediately. Winthrop and another boy -Davy somebody?- had settled against him and nodded off too.
"Well he won't be getting any kiss from me," Marcellus said with a grin. "But I'll thank him."
Marian smiled in reply and handed him her key to the building.
"I expect this back first thing tomorrow."
"Sure thing, Miss Paroo."
With that Marian headed towards the door.
"Marian?" Marcellus' voice stopped her and she turned back to him. "I never expected Greg to find a girl who he thought would be worth getting busted over. But I'm sure glad he did."
Marian smiled at him once again and turned back to the doors, hoping that tomorrow Harold would agree with him.
A/N: There is a possibility of there being more to this but I have no idea when. Feedback is much appreciated so go click the little purple/bluish button. Thanks for reading!