Festival Day 3: The Old Oak

…

"And now, for reasons unknown,

She looks far into the west,

Allowing no other to approach her,

Maybe wondering if he will yet come home."

The song ended with Pokka strumming out a slow tune on his guitar while Talukka complimented on her violin and Lukka replacing Trikky's voice with a repeat of her notes on his harmonica. They concluded and looked to their audience.

With little money to enjoy the rest of the festival with, Link and Line had returned to the amphitheatre to spend more time with the Sokkarokka Band. The band members had been delighted, especially since they would otherwise be bored and, according to Kookka, more likely to kill each other. They had not even asked for a song; the band had just started playing. The first song had been upbeat with Pea singing about a drunk airman he had known. The lyrics had been quite rapid-fire, and Pea's voice had served to punctuate some of the off-color comments which, afterwards, Lukka had felt the need to warn the boys not to repeat. The following song, well…

"That was… beautiful," Link told them, attempting to pass off a sniffle as simply having a runny nose. "When did you write that song?"

"Oh, two years ago, I believe," Trikky said as she sat down on the chair in front of the black char mark in the middle of the floor. "Around this time, if I'm not mistaken. We were looking for some inspiration, and an airman told us about one of his colleagues who had died only two months before."

"Do… you… th-think… any-any-any—" Line sniveled. When Link looked at him, Line appeared to be only a few minutes away from what Link was sure to be an obnoxious bout of hysterics. Gorkka, sitting next to him, rubbed his back while offering him a baked potato wrapped in newspaper. Line took it and inadvertently chewed off some of the newspaper.

Lukka discovered a spot on top of his harmonica and wiped it against his green shirt. "Hardda see a dry face after those notes," he said.

"I always find myself wanting to cry at the end," Trikky said, dabbing at her face with a handkerchief. From his drum kit near the group, Spakky smacked his sticks together and beat his bass drum twice. Then he gently tapped one of his hanging toms, producing very little sound.

Gorkka put a hand over his heart. "We're all feelin' it, Spakky." He craned his neck at Line. "Do you plan on eatin' the potato?"

Line nodded and sniffed, his eyes still watery. "Yeah, here in a minute," he said in a high-pitched voice.

"Tough it out there," Gorkka told him, patting his back.

"Maybe we should play something more upbeat," Trikky said.

"That's a good idea," Link said as he watched Line nibble on the potato. "I don't think either of us could take another song like that." Ba bum, tshhh. He gave Spakky a confused look, and Spakky responded with a shrug to indicate his own lack of understanding.

"What were those notes we played…" Lukka started, trailing off as he struggled to remember. "Agh, I'm blankin'." Spakky responded with a loud roll on his snare. "No, don't help me, I'll feel it."

"You'd better listenna him," Kookka said. Spakky affirmed the statement with a single beat on his floor tom.

"It's the perfect song, but I can't feel it," Lukka said.

Tshhh! Ts ts tshhh! Spakky played.

Lukka snapped his fingers. "That's it!" Spakky started wildly smacking his cymbals. Lukka held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Spakky punctuated his fit with two notes on his bass drum.

"Well, you went and done it," Pokka told Lukka. "You cheesed him off, and now he doesn't wanna play." Spakky struck his floor tom once for emphasis.

"I said sorry," Lukka said.

Spakky smacked his sticks together, played a quick roll on his floor tom, and ended his "statement" with two crashes against his trash cymbal. "Spakky's right," Pea said. "You should know us better." Spakky crossed his arms and gave Lukka a strong nod.

"C'mon, Spakky," Lukka told him as he crossed the room. He stepped around the drum kit and behind Spakky. "C'moooon, dude." He grabbed Spakky's shoulders and lightly shook him. Then he leaned closer and said, "Spakky, you know I love ya, too. You're a brother and the feistiest guy here." Spakky looked down to cover his failing glare. "Huh? Huuuh? C'mon. For the boys." Spakky sighed and nodded. "That's the Spakky we say good morningga."

Then Lukka gave Spakky a kiss on the cheek and quickly stepped out of the way of Spakky's swing. He rounded the drum kit, causing Spakky to smack his trash and splash cymbals trying to strike him, and ducked low. Line and Gorkka leaned out of the way as Spakky's drumsticks flew through the air after Lukka. Spakky produced another pair of drumsticks and used his bass, snare, and crash cymbal for a few notes of a blast beat.

"He's gonna murder ya in your sleep," Pokka chuckled.

"So we feelin' it?" Lukka asked, holding his harmonica to his mouth. "'The Old Oak'?"

"'The Old Oak'," Talukka agreed as she shouldered her violin again.

Pokka patted the sound box of his guitar. "Old style or new?"

"I like the old," Gorkka said. "Let's hear the old."

Lukka pointed at Gorkka. "Old it is." He quickly played through his harmonica's whole range before telling Spakky, "Buy me a count when you're ready."

Spakky clapped his sticks together once. Twice. Three, four, five, six. Then he started playing a beat at the same time Pokka started strumming his guitar. Talukka jumped in with a high wail which gave a brief voice before blending into the melody. Then Lukka started singing.

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Tall as a mountain, wide as the sea.

She grew on a hill in the middle of town,

And told the people what life might be."

Lukka paused, and Kookka filled the space with a few quick notes from his flute.

"Up came a boy, he was chasin' a girl,

Round and round until he thought he would hurl.

She lowered a branch and smacked his face,

And the boy fell down, his head a-twirl."

Then Lukka, Kookka, Pea, and Trikky all sang:

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Tall as a mountain, wide as the sea.

She whacked that boy and sent him home

And told him just how love might be."

During the pause in singing, Lukka added sound from his harmonica. He continued to play as Trikky sang.

"Up came a girl, she was chasing the sky.

She climbed through the tree, way up high.

The tree parted leaves into a starry night,

And showed a world she won't deny."

Again, all four sang:

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Tall as a mountain, wide as the sea.

She revealed a world so far from life

And told her just how dreams might be."

Pokka's notes changed a bit, and Lukka matched him on his harmonica. The next to sing, after the rhythm returned to the previous notes, was Pea.

"Up came a man with an axe in his hand.

He planned to take her back to his land.

But the tree was tough and withstood his blade,

And the man wandered off, he couldn't understand."

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Thick as a man, friend to you and me.

She stood up for her age, tough and proud,

And told him just how greed might be."

This time, Lukka's harmonica and Kookka's flute created a longer break between the words as they bounced different tunes back and forth as if dueling. Then, after letting Lukka finish the break, Kookka sang.

"Up came two boys, friends to the end,

Fresh from the sea with time to spend.

She shed her leaves to give them some fun,

And the boys played around 'til they couldn't bend."

Both Link and Line started laughing when Kookka pointed an accusing finger at them. While all four sang the chorus as usual:

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Thick as a man, friend to you and me."

Kookka sang the final two lines on his own.

"She gave a couple sailors the time of their lives,

And told them just how rest might be."

Immediately, the other three chimed in with the chorus again, which Link and Line joined in for.

"Down in the realm, there's an old oak tree,

Tall as a mountain, wide as the sea.

She grew on a hill in the middle of town,

And told the people what life might be."