I play the violin and thought it'd be fun to have Tully play it also.
"Whatcha got there Tully?" Asked Hitch looking down at the large package his friend had received. Tully shrugged and then began to tear away the brown paper, his brow furrowed as something black came into to view and then a grin spread across his features. "A violin!" Hitch exclaimed surprised.
"Violin to you, fiddle to me," Tully said. He brushed away the last of the paper and sat staring down at the black leather case. Carefully, he opened the lid and checked to see if there had been any damage, "Looks okay, gonna need to tune it though, the heat did a number to it." He took the fiddle out and then inspected the bow, "Needs a little rosin," he opened a small compartment and pulled out a small lump of honey-colored rosin. He ran it up and down the bow hair several times until satisfied. "This is gonna sound pretty bad til I get this tuned." He warned.
Hitch covered his ears and winced as a horrible sound came from the fiddle, Tully turned the small wooden pegs attached to the scroll back and forth until he got the desired sound. "What can you play?" Asked Hitch.
"Oh, lots of things, me 'n my family used to play together a lot." Tully dragged the bow across the D string and the A string and began to play an upbeat jig. He soon finished and Hitch clapped while Tully made a theatrical bow.
"Is it very hard to play the fiddle?"
"I dunno, I began when I was knee-high to a tadpole so I never really remember struggling, you can try." He held out the fiddle and Hitch took it gingerly not sure what to do, "Here, place this part under your chin and hold onto the fingerboard with your left hand." Tully instructed.
Hitch did so and frowned at the different position he was in, "Sure this is right?" He asked.
Tully nodded and handed him the bow, "Now place your thumb on this part and place your other fingers here," He stepped back and surveyed his friend, "I guess that's 'bout as close as you're gonna get."
Hitch tried to keep the bow on one of the strings but it kept getting to close to the fingerboard or the bridge or it slid around touching the other strings. But he kept trying and by the end of the day with Tully's help, he managed to learn to play a very, very shaky version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Troy and Moffitt were walking by when they heard something that sounded like a bird screeching and nails running down a chalkboard. "What's wrong, is somebody hurt?" Troy asked bursting in.
Tully burst out laughing and Hitch glared at him sullenly, "I thought I was doin' okay, at least for a beginner." He muttered. But laughter was contagious and a smirk soon graced his features, "Okay, we get it. You can stop now." He said lightly swatting Tully.
Tully smothered the rest of his laugh and sighed.
"What's so funny?" Asked Troy.
"Nothin'," the privates both replied. Hitch handed the fiddle back to Tully who put it back in its case.
"Man, I'm thirsty," Hitch said licking his lips, "Anybody up for a beer?"
They all nodded, "Maybe you could learn to play the harp." Tully remarked as they made their down to a small bar.
"Very funny."