A/N: This idea for this story came to me after watching the recent LIVE production of the Sound of Music play. A huge set was built in a sound stage, complete with a mountain. The producers made a vintage musical feel real, engaging, viable and alive again for a new audience. Songs are performed in different places and songs not used in the movie are sung. Even their clothes have been given a more modern look. The screen writers placed the Captain's home in the town of Nonnberg. And the music festival is the Kaltzberg Festival.

I begin my story after Maria arrived at the Captain's home. She has heard the whistle and met the children. She is now alone with them. Marta and Brigitta find her guitar; she hopes to have the children sing with her. She's been told, "we don't sing." The children hear her reply, "I'm going to teach you how to sing."

Maria's persistence and enthusiasm soon wins them over. They paraded up and down the double staircases and out to the terrace where they use the fountains steps to finish the song.

The housekeeper has visited Maria. Liesl and Rolf have danced among the trees on the mountain. Liesl has climbed through the window. The thunder began and soon the other six children had invaded her bedroom.

The Beginning

Maria was surrounded by all the children lying on her bed laughing and giggling. "Children, the thunder has stopped. You should go back to your rooms and try to get some sleep."

"I wish we could sleep with you."

"Gretl, you'd be the first to be pushed on the floor. You belong in your beds. Marta and Gretl, do you need me to take you there?"

"I'll take them, Fräulein."

Liesl took Marta and Gretl's hands and made sure they were both tucked in their beds. She returned to Maria's room. The door was slightly agar.

"I thought you might return. Come sit on the bench with me, Liesl. I promise you that whatever you tell me is just between the two of us." She patted the place beside her.

"Tell me. Who were you with tonight?"

"A boy from school."

"Have you met him often in the evening?"

"Only when he has a telegram to deliver here. We used to talk at school. He's a year ahead of me."

"Is he your first boyfriend?"

"Yes, Fräulein."

"What do you like about him?"

"He's so worldly. He knows things. He told me two weeks ago he would have a telegram for Franz and would deliver it at seven o'clock tonight. He even knew it was from his sister, a birthday greeting."

"Interesting, Liesl, anything else."

"He's polite and maybe a tad shy; he asked permission to come see me tomorrow. When I reminded him he couldn't be sure he would have a telegram to deliver he began to tell me a secret. Do you know anything about Austrians who want to be Germans?"

"No Liesl, I don't. In the Abbey we don't read the newspaper or listen to the news on the radio. Maybe he was only trying to impress you. Do you have feelings for him?"

"My stomach gets all jittery, especially when he holds my hand."

"Have you kissed?"

Liesl covered her face with her hands; it had turned a deep shade of pink. "Yes, tonight for the first time; he took off on his bike a moment later. I lay in the grass, dazed."

"So that's how your uniform got so dirty."

"Have you ever been kissed by a boy?"

"Only once, by a boy when I was a very little girl. We had danced an old folk dance together, called the Laendler. My stomach didn't get jittery. It was just a kiss."

"Fräulein, do you have any idea how nice it is to talk with you? You're very much like my mama."

"That pleases me Liesl, you and I both need to get some sleep."

"Are we going to have school time in the morning?"

"Your father told me, he expected you to still study. I can't totally disregard him. But I can make it fun. You'll see. I'll see you at breakfast."

After breakfast, Maria gave the children time to use the bathroom before meeting them in the school room.

Maria could hear them talking as she approached the room. "Louisa, please don't play any tricks on Fräulein Maria. I really like her."

"Why Kurt?"

"She's different from all the others. She wasn't afraid of father; she gave the whistle back to him. And he didn't say a word, he walked away."

Maria was thinking. I have four of them who like me; I need to find out about Friedrich and Louisa. And Brigitta really does speak her mind. She thought about her comment concerning her dress. She's just like the Captain; he didn't think my dress was appropriate either.

Maria took a deep breath and entered the school room. "Good morning, children, your father just left for Vienna. We're going to have a great time together. First, we must do some school work, I have a feeling you are all excellent students. I prepared a simple quiz for each of you."

"For me too, Fräulein?"

"Yes, Gretl, I have one for you. While you complete them, I'm going to look around your school room."

Maria saw them, one by one, sit with their hands folded. "I see you are finished. While I go over them, I'm sure you can find a book to read; you have quite a library."

"Fräulein, are you a real teacher?"

"Why do you ask, Brigitta?"

"Because, you're different from our other governesses."

"Yes, I am. I have a degree in education from a University in Vienna. I taught fifth grade at the Abbey School. Is your book your father took away from you still downstairs?"

"No Fräulein, it's here. The maid returned it to the classroom."

For a few minutes, the classroom was very quiet. Maria read over their papers. It was as she had expected; each of them was well beyond their grade level. She let them read for thirty minutes.

"Okay, children, you can mark your place. It's time for music class. Let's go to the terrace where we will have plenty of room to move around."

Frau Schmidt stood there shaking her head. Maria remembered what she had told her. 'The Captain doesn't allow music in his home.'

"This is music class, Frau Schmidt. One of the children's required classes." She smiled and walked away.

"Can we sing the Do-Re-Me song you taught us yesterday?"

"Yes, of course, we can parade around the fountain and go in and out of the doors to the house."

While they caught their breaths, Friedrich confessed. "Our mama liked to sing. Some of us remember those nursery rhyme songs she sang to us."

His confession didn't surprise Maria. She remembered what Frau Schmidt had told her about the wonderful evenings she had witnessed when the Captain's wife would sing and he would play the violin or the guitar.

"Which ones do you remember, Friedrich?"

"Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old MacDonald Had a Farm."

"Does anyone else remember any?"

Soon Maria had a list of almost a dozen. They sang the remainder of the morning. After lunch, Louisa moaned. "Do we really have to march this afternoon, Fräulein?"

"We do need to get some fresh air. You can march if you like. I want you take me to your favorite places."

"Can I show you where I get my toads?"

"Yes, Louisa, what do you do with them?"

"She would climb into your bedroom and put them in governess's bed." Brigitta told her.

Again Maria had a memory. It was Liesl's words. 'Louisa could climb the trellis with a toad in her hand.'

"Don't worry Fräulein; I wouldn't put toads in your bed."

"That's good to hear."

They spent the afternoon walking all around the neighborhood of Nonnberg. Maria heard a few people remark. "The von Trapp children aren't marching today."

The children were always served dinner very early. Bedtime for all of them was eight o'clock. Maria would change that; dinner time was fine but she allowed them to stay up until nine. Marta and Gretl would sometimes get sleepy by eight-thirty and Maria would help them get ready for bed. A task Liesl used to do.

The boys shared a room; as did Louisa and Brigitta. Liesl had her own room. It was easy for her to leave and go talk with Maria almost every night, like she did that night.

"Since, Mama died, I've never had anyone to talk to. It's so hard being the oldest; I feel I must be a mother to my brothers and sisters. I tried to make them stop playing ticks on all the governesses my father hired. They laughed at me. And poor Gretl stopped trying to get close to them; she knew they would leave soon. I was so surprised to see her hold up her arms so you could pick her up."

"I was surprised too. Liesl, I've had my share of sadness. Both of my parents died when I was Marta's age. A distant relative raised me. She lived on a farm high in the mountains surrounding Nonnberg. Sometimes, I would come down the mountain and climb a tree near the Abbey. I watched the sisters at work and longed to be one of them.

"That idea stayed with me as I got older. I finished my degree at the University. All of us celebrated by hiking the mountains. After we hiked over my beloved mountain, the Untersberg, I left my friends and walked to the gate of the Abbey and asked to be admitted. I wanted to be one of them.

"As hard as I tried, I had difficulty conforming to their strict rules; especially the one about singing in the Abbey. The Mistress of Postulants always reminded me after I had started singing. The Mistress of the Novitiate didn't think I was a worthy candidate. I was sent to you after the Reverend Mother received your father's letter.

"I was not happy about being sent here. I told myself, it was only until September and then I could return. Liesl, now that I'm here; I know I'm needed. God wants me to find a way for your father to be close to his children again.

"It's late, Liesl. We both need our beauty sleep."

"Thank you, for caring about us. It's been a long time since anyone has shown love to us."

"I'm touched by your comment. Maybe one day your father will find a way to express what is still in his heart."