"We can't do it!" exclaimed Alan, looking around at the others. "We're not remotely as good as the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. How can we cover for them?"
Fern's lips suddenly spread into a confident grin, and she turned to face her friends. "Buck up, guys. We're gonna play in front of that audience, and we are gonna blow them away!"
Her zeal was met with looks of incredulity from Francine, Arthur, and Alan.
"Fern, I think it's great that you've come out of your shell and all," said Arthur, "but Alan's got a point."
"Are you gonna cover or not?" asked the bear man who had asked for their help. "We don't have time for pep talks. If you don't cover, nobody will."
Muffy turned to Van. "Can I be announcer again?" she asked.
"Sure," Van replied.
Sue Ellen raised her fist. "Fern's right. Let's get out there and knock their socks off!"
Reluctantly, Francine started to disassemble the drum set. "I guess a fourth grade jazz quartet is better than silence," she muttered.
"I want you and your instruments on the stage in five minutes," said the bear man, who then walked away toward the main hall.
And five minutes later, they were there. As Van and Sue Ellen watched from stageside, Muffy's usual introduction was greeted with moderate applause from the impatient fans, and Fern began to serenade them with a Duke Ellington standard:
"Missed the Saturday dance, heard they crowded the floor.
Couldn't bear it without you, Don't get around much anymore."
The bear man who worked at the concert hall stood behind Sue Ellen, Van, and Muffy, watching and listening to the kids with interest. "They sound really good," he remarked.
Van spun his wheelchair around to face the man. "What happened to Wynton Marsalis?" he asked. "Why is he late?"
"You won't believe it," was the reply. "I'm not sure I believe it. It's crazy. It's like someone was trying to keep them away."
On the main stage, Fern sang with aplomb as her three friends struggled to play competently, driven by the fear of being mocked by half the population of Elwood City.
You had plenty of money in 1922,
You let other women make a fool of you.
Why don't you do right like some other men do...
The audience cheered and applauded more and more fiercely with each song that went by. The Reads were in the audience (with the exception of Arthur and Kate), as well as the parents of Fern, Alan, Sue Ellen, and Francine. Nigel and Rodentia Ratburn sat next to an aisle; Nigel had his arm around Carla, who was seated next to him. The Cooper family took up what seemed like half a row, and Muffy's parents were conspicuously absent.
About forty-five minutes went by, and the audience was going wild for Fern's singing and the trio's backup. Upon ending a song, the fatigued Fern reached for her water bottle, only to see the bear man enter the stage. He stood in front of the microphone and announced, "The Wynton Marsalis Quintet has arrived." The response of the audience was overwhelmingly and deafeningly enthusiastic.
The kids in the quartet basked in the glory of their accomplishment, despite knowing that the current applause and cheers were intended more for Wynton and company than for them. Sporting ecstatic smiles, they waved at the audience, then started to congratulate each other. Fern embraced Arthur, then Francine. When she reached Alan, she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him forward...and kissed him directly on the lips.
Alan's eyes bulged. He pulled his face away from Fern's and began to sputter. Fern backed away, her expression one of severe embarrassment. Alan glared at her sternly for several seconds, then grabbed his bass and started to carry it off the stage.
As soon as the kids had removed their instruments, several music hall staffers began to quickly fill the stage with the Marsalis quintet's equipment. Meanwhile, Arthur and Francine greeted Sue Ellen, Van, and Muffy, and saw that the great Wynton himself was signing Sue Ellen's cast with one hand and gripping his trumpet with the other.
"I wanna hear you play when that arm gets better," he told the girl. When he was finished signing, he handed her the pen and strode onto the stage to receive the audience's loudest cheers yet. "Wynton! Wynton!" chanted his adoring fans.
Van had nothing but praise for Arthur and Francine's work. "You guys were fantastic!" he told them.
"I didn't think we could pull it off," said the astonished Francine.
Not far away, Alan and Fern were having an offstage spat.
"What were you thinking?" yelled Alan. "You kissed me in front of thousands of people! You kissed me in front of Wynton Marsalis!"
Fern hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But I was so excited, because we played so well, and...oh, Alan, I..."
Alan narrowed his eyes at her. "You...no, don't tell me..."
"I like you, Alan," said Fern sadly. "I've liked you for a long time."
Neither of them spoke for what seemed like half a minute.
"It's okay for you to like me," Alan finally said. "But if you wanted to kiss me, why not some other time and place where we could be alone, and not in front of all those people?"
Fern lowered her eyes and didn't answer.
"Do you know what's gonna happen now?" Alan continued. "You and I will wake up in the morning and look at the front page of the newspaper, and there'll be a huge picture of you kissing me, and the whole city will think we're in love, and all that'sbefore we go to school on Monday!"
"Look, guys," said Muffy to Arthur, Van, Sue Ellen, and Francine as she pointed at Alan and Fern. "They're arguing like two old married people." She began to giggle.
Alan groaned and slapped his forehead. "It's already started."
When he looked up again, Fern had disappeared. He turned his head and saw her racing toward the stage exit, her face buried in her hands. "Silly girl," he muttered callously.
"Well, you hurt her feelings," Muffy informed him. "It was her moment of triumph, and you spoiled it for her."
"She kissed me!" Alan exclaimed angrily.
Muffy waved her hands nonchalantly. "Those show-biz kisses don't mean anything. Why, I was watching the MTV Music Awards once and these two female pop stars..."
"Okay, okay!"
Francine walked up to Muffy and Alan, rubbing her sore wrists. "I thought they'd never show up," she complained. "I thought we'd be out there all night. What took them so long, anyway?"
"They had car trouble," explained Sue Ellen, who was still gazing down at Wynton's signature on her cast. "Lots of car trouble."
"They rented a car to ship their instruments," Van added. "It broke down. So they rented another car, and that one broke down."
"And their instruments kept disappearing," Muffy clarified further.
"Weird," mused Francine.
"Very weird," Alan remarked.
He was still pondering on the weirdness of it all when his mother tucked him into bed after the concert. "Good night, my little jazz idol," said Mrs. Powers, pecking him gently on the cheek.
"G'night, Mom." Alan rolled onto his side as his mother shut off the light. He wished he could simply stay asleep for the next two weeks, until the publicity and rumors about Fern's unsolicited kiss died down.
A dream descended upon his mind so quickly that he wasn't certain whether he had fallen asleep yet.
He was cavorting in a carefree manner through a field of beautiful, fragrant flowers. The sun warmed the skin of his face, and only a few small wisps of clouds could be seen in the sky. It seemed that all was well with the world, that nothing could ever go wrong. He was in a state of utter, blissful innocence.
At the end of the field was a small dirt road, where a figure stood next to a horse-drawn carriage pulled by two wild-looking steeds. Drawing closer, he recognized the figure as a person he longed for with all his heart.
He ran faster, almost stumbling in his haste. And then it suddenly dawned on him that something was wrong with this dream. Terribly, horribly wrong.
Nine hours later he bolted upright, panicked and screaming.
(To be continued...)
