Chapter VII – Band Camp! AAUGH!! Part 2
By the middle of the week, all of the students were tired, sore, and very sun burnt. They all had been working very hard at learning the music and the marching drill. Charlie Brown was still struggling to keep in step with the rest of the band, and to remember all of his drill moves. He kept worrying that he would mess up so much that the Little Red Haired Girl would see it, and would think he was a blockhead. He also worried that the Little Red Haired Girl would never notice him, just as she never seemed to notice him while they were in school together. These thoughts occupied Charlie Brown's mind so much that it distracted him from actually learning his music and drill. Because of this, Charlie Brown was quickly becoming frustrated.
"Okay Kid! Take it from the top!" Molly Volley ordered as she directed their mellophone sectional one afternoon. They were gathered in the traditional mellophone sectional area, working on learning "Spanish Nightmare". Charlie Brown had learned much of playing the mellophone, and sounded fairly descent, he thought. He was far from playing BLAT BLAT as he did when he first started. But he was still far from sounding as good as Molly Volley, and far from sounding as good as he needed to in order to impress the Little Red Haired Girl.
Charlie Brown and Molly Volley began playing "Spanish Nightmare". "This is starting to sound pretty good," Charlie Brown thought to himself. The two continued to play in unison, only to be interrupted by a familiar crabby voice. It was Lucy.
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!?!?" she demanded as she stood with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot on the ground.
Molly Volley, very unhappy with the disruption, looked at her crossly and said, "Even if I did know where Mr. Dunlap was, I wouldn't tell you. Why in the world do you have to come in here and interrupt us? Can't you see that we're working? And shouldn't you be working with your own section anyway? Just because we're the best section in the band doesn't mean that you have to bother us!" Obviously Molly Volley was not going to take any nonsense from Lucy.
"Charlie Brown! Where is Mr. Dunlap? You better tell me!" Lucy demanded again.
"Uh...I really don't know. I haven't seen him since full band." Charlie Brown said innocently.
"Don't you treat my section like that, Lucy Van Pelt!" Molly Volley yelled at Lucy.
"And what's this about the mellophones being the best section in the band? Everybody knows that the mellophones can't possibly be the best section in the band." Lucy retorted.
"And just why is that?" Molly Volley said as she stood up and stomped her foot on the ground.
"Because Charlie Brown is in your section!" Lucy scoffed. She then left the place before Molly Volley had another chance to continue the argument. After she was out of earshot, Molly Volley turned to Charlie Brown and said, "Don't worry Kid. We'll show her!"
"My arm is getting tired, Sir!" Marcie complained as she and Peppermint Patty worked on their music during sectionals. Marcie's symphony of constant cymbal crashing had been rewritten. Now with the exception of a few crashes left intact, Marcie was left to hold the cymbals in front of Peppermint Patty so that she could hit them with the drumsticks. Basically, Marcie had to follow Peppermint Patty where ever she marched on the field. Typical, Peppermint Patty thought to herself.
"Don't worry Marcie. You'll get used to it. This is what band camp is for, so that you can get used to all the weird positions that you have to march in." Peppermint Patty said.
Peppermint Patty lifted her drumsticks and began to count off the music. Peppermint Patty rapped away at her snare drum, but every time she tried to hit the cymbal, Marcie would move it. She stopped to reprimand Marcie.
"Marcie! How in the world do you expect me to play this piece with the cymbal part if you keep on moving it?" She yelled in an irritated tone of voice.
"You almost hit me with the drum stick, Sir!" Marcie said.
"I was not going to hit you, I was going to hit the cymbal. But if you keep on moving it around, I'm gonna hit you on accident or maybe even on purpose!" Peppermint Patty said. "Now...let's try this again!" Peppermint Patty counted off and began to play again. When it came time for her to hit the cymbal, Marcie again moved it out of the way.
"Marcie! What are you doing!?" Peppermint Patty said becoming even more frustrated.
"You almost hit me again, Sir! I wasn't born to be a practice pad, you know..." Marcie said innocently. "Marcie! I am NOT going to hit you! Will you stop being ridiculous! Alright Marcie, lets try this one more time. And this time don't move? Do you understand me?" Peppermint Patty asked.
"YES SIR!" Marcie exclaimed.
"And will you PLEASE quit calling me 'Sir'!" Peppermint Patty ordered.
"YES SIR!" Marcie again shouted.
"AAUGH!!!" Peppermint Patty screamed with frustration.
Peppermint Patty counted off for a third time. As she made her way through the music and approached the cymbal hit, she half expected for Marcie to pull away once again. But this time, she stayed still just as Peppermint Patty had ordered her to. Peppermint Patty smiled, as the piece was finally coming together. Suddenly, they were both interrupted by the same voice that had interrupted the mellophone sectional.
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?" Lucy demanded from the girls.
"I have no idea, Lucille." Peppermint Patty replied. She always called Lucy by her full first name.
"Well I need to find him!" Lucy snapped.
"I'm sorry Lucille, but I told you I don't know where he is!" Peppermint Patty said, trying to keep her patience.
"Maybe you should check the trumpet section, Lucy," Marcie said quietly. "We haven't seen him around here at all."
Lucy left without saying a word but still maintained the crabby expression on her face. She stormed down the hallway of the school and made her way past the band room. She had already checked the band room for Mr. Dunlap, but she decided she should check again, just incase. Upon entering the band room she found the love of her life, Schroeder. Known for being a child prodigy piano player, Mr. Dunlap had given Schroeder a special position in the band. In the area on the sidelines in front of the field, called the pit, Schroeder had his own little setup; an electronic keyboard and an amplifier powered by a small battery. Mr. Dunlap himself had written difficult piano parts especially for Schroeder.
"Oh Schroeder...." Lucy called, immediately hiding her crabbiness as she leaned over on the keyboard. "Schroeder, if a very pretty girl asked you a very important question, would you answer her?"
"I suppose so," Schroeder replied with out stopping his piano playing. "If there were any very pretty girls here."
"Well then Schroeder," Lucy said ignoring the remark, "Would you tell me if you happen to know where Mr. Dunlap is?"
"Nope. Sorry. I haven't seen him around for a while." Schroeder said.
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.
"I'm positive!" Schroeder said.
Lucy continued to lean on the front of the keyboard for several minutes, which began to annoy Schroeder. "I'm sorry," Schroeder began, "The front of the keyboard has a rental fee of ten dollars a minute. If you wish to lean on the front of the keyboard, you must pay with cash in advance!" Lucy did not move from the spot. He then grew impatient as he waited for Lucy to leave. He turned the volume up all the way and pounded on the keys, sending Lucy tumbling forward.
At that time, the trumpet section was outside working very hard, except for their section leader. The yellow birds played nonstop as Snoopy had fallen asleep on top of the music staff they had created. Before falling asleep he had ordered them not to stop playing, because if they did, he would find out about it very quickly. Woodstock and his friends began to feel very tired as they had been playing continuously for over a half hour. Despite all the noise, Snoopy was fast asleep on top of the music staff.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!? WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" A familiar voice screamed. The shouting startled the yellow birds. They all quit playing at once, causing the musical staff to quickly disappear from the air, sending its occupant falling fast to the ground. BONK! Snoopy landed right on his head.
"Hey! I told you birds not to quit playing! Why did you stop?!" Snoopy reprimanded his section before realizing what was actually going on.
"Just what do you think you're doing!?" Lucy chided him. "What do you mean by sleeping during sectionals? Don't you know there's work to do? What kind of section leader are you, you stupid beagle!"
"!!! !!!! !!!!! !!" Woodstock and his friends yelled at Lucy, trying to defend themselves and their section leader.
"Shut up you stupid birds!" Lucy yelled.
"Now, you better tell me. Where is Mr. Dunlap? I need to talk to him NOW!" Lucy demanded from the trumpets.
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends told her. "What?" Lucy said, now somewhat confused.
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends repeated.
"I don't under....Oh never mind. Why in the world am I trying to talk to a bunch of dumb birds?" Turning to Snoopy she said, "And I'm not even going to try to get an answer out of some stupid beagle!" She said as she stormed away.
"Stupid? I'll have you know I was the Valedictorian of my class at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm!" Snoopy thought to himself. "BLEH!" Snoopy said as he stuck his tongue out at Lucy behind her back. All of the birds followed suit, "BLEH!"
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!" Lucy demanded as she barged in on the trombone section.
"I don't know," said Linus as he held his trombone in one hand and blanket in the other. "He hasn't been here to help us yet."
"And why must you carry around that stupid blanket? What to you need with a blanket now anyway? Don't you know that its summertime?" Lucy lectured.
"Ah, but this blanket doubles as a sun visor," Linus said as he draped the blanket over a tree branch they were sitting under, creating even more shade for them. "And it's a trombone polishing cloth!" Linus said proudly as he wiped some smudges from the bell of his horn.
Just then a gust of wind picked up and Pig-Pen's cloud of dust suddenly blew in their direction. Linus quickly held up the blanket, using it to block him and Lucy from the incoming cloud of dirt. "It also serves as a shield from scattered sand storms!" Linus whispered to Lucy. At this point she was not interested in anything Linus had to say.
"I don't care about ANY of this! All I want to know is where is our band director? I MUST talk to him!" Lucy shouted.
"I'm sorry Lucy," said Pig-Pen. "But we haven't seen him. Why don't you go ask the drumline? Maybe the have seen him."
"I already DID ask the drumline, and they didn't know anything! I HAVE TO SEE MR. DUNLAP!" Lucy roared.
Lucy was mad now, which was typical for Lucy. She stormed back into the school building, and searched up and down the halls until she finally ran into Mr. Dunlap.
"Mr. Dunlap! I finally found you!" She exclaimed. "We have a problem in the flute section. You see...its...well I guess that.....It's just....sometimes.....well the other day....but....we.....I...um....I....forgot. I FORGOT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS! AAUGH!!!!!"
By the middle of the week, all of the students were tired, sore, and very sun burnt. They all had been working very hard at learning the music and the marching drill. Charlie Brown was still struggling to keep in step with the rest of the band, and to remember all of his drill moves. He kept worrying that he would mess up so much that the Little Red Haired Girl would see it, and would think he was a blockhead. He also worried that the Little Red Haired Girl would never notice him, just as she never seemed to notice him while they were in school together. These thoughts occupied Charlie Brown's mind so much that it distracted him from actually learning his music and drill. Because of this, Charlie Brown was quickly becoming frustrated.
"Okay Kid! Take it from the top!" Molly Volley ordered as she directed their mellophone sectional one afternoon. They were gathered in the traditional mellophone sectional area, working on learning "Spanish Nightmare". Charlie Brown had learned much of playing the mellophone, and sounded fairly descent, he thought. He was far from playing BLAT BLAT as he did when he first started. But he was still far from sounding as good as Molly Volley, and far from sounding as good as he needed to in order to impress the Little Red Haired Girl.
Charlie Brown and Molly Volley began playing "Spanish Nightmare". "This is starting to sound pretty good," Charlie Brown thought to himself. The two continued to play in unison, only to be interrupted by a familiar crabby voice. It was Lucy.
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!?!?" she demanded as she stood with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot on the ground.
Molly Volley, very unhappy with the disruption, looked at her crossly and said, "Even if I did know where Mr. Dunlap was, I wouldn't tell you. Why in the world do you have to come in here and interrupt us? Can't you see that we're working? And shouldn't you be working with your own section anyway? Just because we're the best section in the band doesn't mean that you have to bother us!" Obviously Molly Volley was not going to take any nonsense from Lucy.
"Charlie Brown! Where is Mr. Dunlap? You better tell me!" Lucy demanded again.
"Uh...I really don't know. I haven't seen him since full band." Charlie Brown said innocently.
"Don't you treat my section like that, Lucy Van Pelt!" Molly Volley yelled at Lucy.
"And what's this about the mellophones being the best section in the band? Everybody knows that the mellophones can't possibly be the best section in the band." Lucy retorted.
"And just why is that?" Molly Volley said as she stood up and stomped her foot on the ground.
"Because Charlie Brown is in your section!" Lucy scoffed. She then left the place before Molly Volley had another chance to continue the argument. After she was out of earshot, Molly Volley turned to Charlie Brown and said, "Don't worry Kid. We'll show her!"
"My arm is getting tired, Sir!" Marcie complained as she and Peppermint Patty worked on their music during sectionals. Marcie's symphony of constant cymbal crashing had been rewritten. Now with the exception of a few crashes left intact, Marcie was left to hold the cymbals in front of Peppermint Patty so that she could hit them with the drumsticks. Basically, Marcie had to follow Peppermint Patty where ever she marched on the field. Typical, Peppermint Patty thought to herself.
"Don't worry Marcie. You'll get used to it. This is what band camp is for, so that you can get used to all the weird positions that you have to march in." Peppermint Patty said.
Peppermint Patty lifted her drumsticks and began to count off the music. Peppermint Patty rapped away at her snare drum, but every time she tried to hit the cymbal, Marcie would move it. She stopped to reprimand Marcie.
"Marcie! How in the world do you expect me to play this piece with the cymbal part if you keep on moving it?" She yelled in an irritated tone of voice.
"You almost hit me with the drum stick, Sir!" Marcie said.
"I was not going to hit you, I was going to hit the cymbal. But if you keep on moving it around, I'm gonna hit you on accident or maybe even on purpose!" Peppermint Patty said. "Now...let's try this again!" Peppermint Patty counted off and began to play again. When it came time for her to hit the cymbal, Marcie again moved it out of the way.
"Marcie! What are you doing!?" Peppermint Patty said becoming even more frustrated.
"You almost hit me again, Sir! I wasn't born to be a practice pad, you know..." Marcie said innocently. "Marcie! I am NOT going to hit you! Will you stop being ridiculous! Alright Marcie, lets try this one more time. And this time don't move? Do you understand me?" Peppermint Patty asked.
"YES SIR!" Marcie exclaimed.
"And will you PLEASE quit calling me 'Sir'!" Peppermint Patty ordered.
"YES SIR!" Marcie again shouted.
"AAUGH!!!" Peppermint Patty screamed with frustration.
Peppermint Patty counted off for a third time. As she made her way through the music and approached the cymbal hit, she half expected for Marcie to pull away once again. But this time, she stayed still just as Peppermint Patty had ordered her to. Peppermint Patty smiled, as the piece was finally coming together. Suddenly, they were both interrupted by the same voice that had interrupted the mellophone sectional.
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?" Lucy demanded from the girls.
"I have no idea, Lucille." Peppermint Patty replied. She always called Lucy by her full first name.
"Well I need to find him!" Lucy snapped.
"I'm sorry Lucille, but I told you I don't know where he is!" Peppermint Patty said, trying to keep her patience.
"Maybe you should check the trumpet section, Lucy," Marcie said quietly. "We haven't seen him around here at all."
Lucy left without saying a word but still maintained the crabby expression on her face. She stormed down the hallway of the school and made her way past the band room. She had already checked the band room for Mr. Dunlap, but she decided she should check again, just incase. Upon entering the band room she found the love of her life, Schroeder. Known for being a child prodigy piano player, Mr. Dunlap had given Schroeder a special position in the band. In the area on the sidelines in front of the field, called the pit, Schroeder had his own little setup; an electronic keyboard and an amplifier powered by a small battery. Mr. Dunlap himself had written difficult piano parts especially for Schroeder.
"Oh Schroeder...." Lucy called, immediately hiding her crabbiness as she leaned over on the keyboard. "Schroeder, if a very pretty girl asked you a very important question, would you answer her?"
"I suppose so," Schroeder replied with out stopping his piano playing. "If there were any very pretty girls here."
"Well then Schroeder," Lucy said ignoring the remark, "Would you tell me if you happen to know where Mr. Dunlap is?"
"Nope. Sorry. I haven't seen him around for a while." Schroeder said.
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.
"I'm positive!" Schroeder said.
Lucy continued to lean on the front of the keyboard for several minutes, which began to annoy Schroeder. "I'm sorry," Schroeder began, "The front of the keyboard has a rental fee of ten dollars a minute. If you wish to lean on the front of the keyboard, you must pay with cash in advance!" Lucy did not move from the spot. He then grew impatient as he waited for Lucy to leave. He turned the volume up all the way and pounded on the keys, sending Lucy tumbling forward.
At that time, the trumpet section was outside working very hard, except for their section leader. The yellow birds played nonstop as Snoopy had fallen asleep on top of the music staff they had created. Before falling asleep he had ordered them not to stop playing, because if they did, he would find out about it very quickly. Woodstock and his friends began to feel very tired as they had been playing continuously for over a half hour. Despite all the noise, Snoopy was fast asleep on top of the music staff.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!? WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?" A familiar voice screamed. The shouting startled the yellow birds. They all quit playing at once, causing the musical staff to quickly disappear from the air, sending its occupant falling fast to the ground. BONK! Snoopy landed right on his head.
"Hey! I told you birds not to quit playing! Why did you stop?!" Snoopy reprimanded his section before realizing what was actually going on.
"Just what do you think you're doing!?" Lucy chided him. "What do you mean by sleeping during sectionals? Don't you know there's work to do? What kind of section leader are you, you stupid beagle!"
"!!! !!!! !!!!! !!" Woodstock and his friends yelled at Lucy, trying to defend themselves and their section leader.
"Shut up you stupid birds!" Lucy yelled.
"Now, you better tell me. Where is Mr. Dunlap? I need to talk to him NOW!" Lucy demanded from the trumpets.
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends told her. "What?" Lucy said, now somewhat confused.
"!! !!!!! !!!!" Woodstock and his friends repeated.
"I don't under....Oh never mind. Why in the world am I trying to talk to a bunch of dumb birds?" Turning to Snoopy she said, "And I'm not even going to try to get an answer out of some stupid beagle!" She said as she stormed away.
"Stupid? I'll have you know I was the Valedictorian of my class at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm!" Snoopy thought to himself. "BLEH!" Snoopy said as he stuck his tongue out at Lucy behind her back. All of the birds followed suit, "BLEH!"
"Where is Mr. Dunlap?!" Lucy demanded as she barged in on the trombone section.
"I don't know," said Linus as he held his trombone in one hand and blanket in the other. "He hasn't been here to help us yet."
"And why must you carry around that stupid blanket? What to you need with a blanket now anyway? Don't you know that its summertime?" Lucy lectured.
"Ah, but this blanket doubles as a sun visor," Linus said as he draped the blanket over a tree branch they were sitting under, creating even more shade for them. "And it's a trombone polishing cloth!" Linus said proudly as he wiped some smudges from the bell of his horn.
Just then a gust of wind picked up and Pig-Pen's cloud of dust suddenly blew in their direction. Linus quickly held up the blanket, using it to block him and Lucy from the incoming cloud of dirt. "It also serves as a shield from scattered sand storms!" Linus whispered to Lucy. At this point she was not interested in anything Linus had to say.
"I don't care about ANY of this! All I want to know is where is our band director? I MUST talk to him!" Lucy shouted.
"I'm sorry Lucy," said Pig-Pen. "But we haven't seen him. Why don't you go ask the drumline? Maybe the have seen him."
"I already DID ask the drumline, and they didn't know anything! I HAVE TO SEE MR. DUNLAP!" Lucy roared.
Lucy was mad now, which was typical for Lucy. She stormed back into the school building, and searched up and down the halls until she finally ran into Mr. Dunlap.
"Mr. Dunlap! I finally found you!" She exclaimed. "We have a problem in the flute section. You see...its...well I guess that.....It's just....sometimes.....well the other day....but....we.....I...um....I....forgot. I FORGOT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS! AAUGH!!!!!"