“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You misunderstood me. Would you like to live a musician’s life?”
“Me? A musician?” Kristen laughed.
She saw the serious look in my eyes. “Yes, you.”
“Why?”
“I’ve seen you play. I’ve seen you help Amy. You get almost as much joy out of music as I do, and you put less than a tenth of the effort that I do.”
“Me?” Kristen was completely taken by surprise.
“You become a musician—a millionaire musician,” I said, smiling. “I’ll become one as well. Together, we can redefine music together.”
“The two of us?” Kristen said.
From the look that Kristen gave me, it occurred to me that she never even considered this option.
I found one of my best male friends in the hallway the next day. “Roy? I need help with a female singer.”
Roy looked at me strangely. “The musical is over, the concert is over. Are you thinking of putting words to Pomp and Circumstance?”
I laughed at the suggestion, and tried to merge the words ”Hooked on a Feeling“ to the processional to Pomp. The two of us laughed at that. “Actually, I have somebody with a wonderful voice, but it has never been trained.”
“How old? Fourteen?”
“Not Merry, and she’s fifteen,” I smiled. “Eighteen.”
“Kristen?”
I nodded. Roy and I seemed to communicate a lot with few words.
Roy thought a few moments. “Eighteen is old.”
“Not impossible, though,” I said.
“Didn’t say that. What’s her range? Alto?”
“Don’t classify her. Let her find her own range.”
Roy nodded. “She plays keyboards surprisingly well. You starting a group?”
I laughed. “Maybe eventually. How long before we could get something… interesting?”
Roy shrugged. “Have you told her your plans?”
“Not exactly.”
It was Roy’s turn to laugh. “After you get out of the hospital, Jim!”
I was sitting in the music room. It was the Monday before the Senior Weekend. Thursday evening would be the Prom. For the rest of the weekend, Kristen made her own plans that involved us as well as Camille, Patty and Toby, Wendy and Gerry, Roy and Jill, Jackie and a guy named Steve, Lynette, Tiny and June. Tiny and June were a surprising last minute addition, and Lynette and Camille were both going stag.
Mr. Proilet was in his “father” mood.
“Jim, you can turn a bunch of musically challenged students into the equivalent of a Broadway production.”
“You’ve told me that.”
“You cannot turn Kristen into the female Jim Crittenhouse in a matter of weeks!”
“I’ve got a couple of years…” I started.
Mr. Proilet let out an audible sigh. “Kristen is talented. Have you talked to her about singing?”
“No,” I admitted. “I wanted to sound it out with Roy and…”
“That’s not the way you do it, Jim, and you know it,” my teacher told me. “You’re not her Svengali!”
“Her what?” I asked.
“Look it up at the library. Ask your friend Camille. You’re trying to turn her into Pygmalion… look that up, too.”
“What are you saying?”
“Why do you do all you do with music?” Mr. Proilet asked.
“Because I love it.”
“Exactly!”
“Exactly what?” I asked, confused.
“If you force music on Kristen, it will turn her off. What happens when somebody tries to force you to play a stringed instrument?”
I remembered a particularly obnoxious music teacher in elementary school that thought that I should be a violin virtuoso.
Suddenly, I understood my teacher’s worries. “Am I doing that?”
“Sadly, yes,” Mr. Proilet said. “If you force her, she’ll resent it. You’ll be driving a wedge between the two of you.”
I sighed. “How do I do it, then?”
“Slowly, and let her choose her own pace. She’s not you, so don’t use yourself as a benchmark. Treat her the same way as you treated that actor that played Harold Hill in the musical. Work with her, but don’t push her. Keep it fun, and let her be herself.”
My teacher gave me more advice that day, but I realized that I learned the important bits.
At the senior prom, I danced to a lot of the songs with Kristen. As I listened to the group that was performing, I was assessing their talents, spotting their weaknesses, and thinking how slight changes could transform them from a band that did proms to a band that could get the bigger venues.
June Rodgers and Tiny Jonas found the two of us on the dance floor, and June asked if we could switch partners.
I smiled. “Sure.”
I then took Tiny by the arms and started to dance with him, which had the effect of reducing Kristen and June into convulsions of laughter, among other people.
We quickly switched so that I was with June, and Tiny was with Kristen.
June was a lovely cheerleader, and she was about three or four inches smaller than Kristen. She had a cute face, and she was very light on her feet. Dancing with June made me feel that I was a much better dancer than I really was.
I looked at Kristen and Tiny. They were dancing close together. June saw where my attention was, and moved closer to me and we slow danced together as well.
After that song, it seemed that I was on a list as a partner for each and every cheerleader present at the prom. One after another, they took over, one dance at a time.
When Lynette Robbins took her turn, I asked, “How come I’m the focus of attention from the cheerleaders?”
Lynette looked at me as if I was kidding her. “You don’t know?”
“No,” I answered, seriously.
“The cheerleaders never had as good a friend as you, Jim.”
Lynette said this so seriously that I was speechless. Despite the fact the song the band was playing was a fast number, she pulled her body close to mine, and I could feel the warmth of her body through my clothes.
After the end of the song, Camille started toward us, but Lynette shot her a look, and continued dancing the next song with me.
The next song was a slower number, and Lynette was still slow dancing with me. Lynette moved her lips toward my ears and whispered, “You are the most wonderful guy in school. You refuse to take advantage of girls when given the opportunity. You also alerted Cammy about the best cheerleader we’ve had. You had a lot to do with getting rid of that asshole Tim Hawking.”
I shrugged. I knew that Lynette didn’t know the entire story about Tim Hawking.
“You hang out with Cammy, but you don’t really ogle the cheerleaders. In fact, you’re the opposite of a cheerleader groupie; you are a real friend. We owe you a lot, and we seniors will be saddened to know that we won’t be around with you the next couple of years.”
“Cammy said you and she have a thing for Kristen,” I said, trying to change the subject.
Instead of looking shocked, Lynette simply nodded. “Cammy and I swing both ways.”
I remembered my conversation with Will Swift last Thanksgiving, and adapted one of his favorite sayings. “That means you have the capacity to love twice as many people as I can.”
Lynette actually stopped dancing and stared at me. She didn’t see me laughing at her. After a few moments, she started dancing with me again. “You know, if I said that to any other guy, they’d try to tell me how much they understand while trying to get me to agree to a threesome with Cammy. You didn’t do that. You really are amazing.”