Change Is Hard

It takes a lot to lead a band, Harold Hill learned that the hard way.

After weeks and weeks of rehearsals with the boys, the pieces were sounding quite nice and he was beyond ready for the public to hear them. He had been working just as hard after hours, learning about the instruments (letting his lovely librarian teach him along with using a few wonderful reference books) as well as the music itself. He was confident not only in the boys, but also in what he had learned.

In their strapping red-and-white uniforms, he arranged them on the stage so that the low brass was behind the high brass and the woodwinds, and the percussion all the way in the back. Baton at hand and Tommy at his side as his "drum major", he was ready for his audience to hear what the boys had worked so hard on.

For the first time, it wasn't cacophony. The music was nice and it was clean and he knew how to keep it that way. Pride registered in his face, and in the faces of the parents who watched their boys performing their hearts out. And even from behind his nearly flawless embrasure, Harold Hill saw the smile of his cornet soloist.

At the end of the concert, parents took their children into hugs and led them home, perhaps to have a late dinner or just because it was a late night and they should go to bed. But Winthrop, wrapped in the arms of both his mother and sister, stuck around for a few moments. Harold Hill watched the boy and his family with a grin, his eyes wandering to the librarian.

Leading a band was hard, but finding the right way to propose to his beloved was harder.

"Winthrop!" Harold called to the boy as his family started to take him out of the park that September night. The entire family turned around as he rushed up to them. "You did a great job tonight, son."

Winthrop's smile beamed back up at the man. "Gee thankth, Profethor!" His mother and sister continued to take him away.

Harold thought to continue chasing afterwards, but he just called for the lady he wished to speak to. "Miss Marian!" He called, and the young lady approached him. Her mother and brother paused in front of her, waiting for the blonde librarian to rejoin them. "May we… talk?"

"Of course…" Marian smiled, but glanced back to her family. "Tomorrow. Mama and I are taking Winthrop out for ice cream—"

Little did Marian know, Mrs. Paroo and Winthrop were already far ahead of her and Harold had taken her arm. "Oh, I won't keep you long. Don't worry about that." Marian wasn't worried about that. She was certain that Harold Hill had other things to do other than to talk to her. Had he gathered all the music, or cleaned up from the concert? The organized librarian took over herself, and the romantic sank back down for a while. "I do hope you enjoyed the concert, Miss Paroo."

She nodded. "It was beautiful… such a change from a few months ago!" It was true. Since the last time the town had heard the boys' band, the musicality had improved. Now he knew what he was doing a little better, the band was better off. "And Winthrop's solo was very nice, a great improvement." But Marian knew that he didn't want to talk about music. They were heading toward the footbridge. No one ever talked about music at the footbridge.

"Marian, I—" Harold gulped. A lump formed in his throat and he nervously tugged at his collar. "I've been thinking about this for a while." Not the concert she knew, but he pulled her up onto the footbridge. His nerves got the best of him, and for a moment he just admired the bridge itself and the memories there. "Funny, if I had been here a few months ago I would've called myself crazy…"

"Harold?" She looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. Then he sank further down onto the planks of the bridge.

With one knee to the floor, he looked up at her and pulled a box from his pocket. "Marian Paroo, will you be my wife?" She started to laugh, not out of rudeness but out of surprise. She helped him to his feet and wrapped him in a hug. Marian could not stop nodding in agreement to his question. Oh, what an idea! He pulled out of her hug and put the ring on her hand. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen (for an ex-conman she suggested go into business with a man who sells glass diamond rings, the stone was very real and he had exquisite taste in jewelry) and it fit on her hand like a dream. "Now I do believe that your mother and brother were going to the ice cream parlor, yes?"

Marian's euphoric smile fell. "Oh god." She muttered under her breath. Harold's eyes filled with confusion as he scooped up her chin. Blue met green. "Mama… what will Mama say?"

Harold laughed a little. "My dear little librarian, you always worry over trivial things, don't you?" Marian laughed a little too, blushing as he took her hand again. "Now let's not leave them waiting. I'm certain your mother will have you up all night talking wedding details, but your brother probably shouldn't be out all night."

He led her out of the park and to the ice cream parlor, where Mrs. Paroo and Winthrop waited at a table for four. Just about everyone from the band concert was there: Tommy and Zaneeta, Ethel and Marcellus, all of the ladies (chattering in the corner, per usual), and the barbershop quartet humming between spoon licks. Harold and Marian practically ran to the ice cream parlor, and once they got in everyone stared at the disheveled music professor and the tidier winded librarian behind him. Harold thought to announce the wedding to everyone in that ice cream parlor, he felt like shouting it to the world! Yet Marian stood there quietly, not saying a word as she felt the judgmental eyes of the ladies glaring at her. Marian squeezed his hand, and he made his joyous announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future Mrs. Hill!" Looks of pleasant shock filled the room as the ladies surrounded Marian. Harold slipped out of the crowd and went to see his future in-laws. Mrs. Paroo gave him a pleased smile, and the boy wrapped him in a wordless hug. Change was hard, the former conman learned that over the few months he had spent in River City. But that change paid off that very night. That night Harold Hill gained more than a fiancée, he gained a family.

Author's Note: "Change Is Hard" was a suggestion by our Constable. Honestly I liked his idea, and I'm so thankful that the cast doesn't think I'm crazy for writing this… well, if you're reading this PLEASE REVIEW. I feel like I'm writing for a comatose audience… let me know what you think!