"Hey! Look at this!" my friend excitedly shouted. My friend was Carrie and she lived in Houston, Texas. "What?" I asked. Carie pointed at a poster. It was summer vacation, so my parents and I went to Texas to visit Carrie and her family.
On the poster, it read, 'Junior band tryouts! If you're lucky enough, you might perform in City Hall on Saturday 10:00 am. Tryouts are in the second floor of the symphony hall. Room 2G. To sign up, please call: 810-4627 or sign up at the information center in the symphony hall.'
I shrugged. "So?" Carie rolled her eyes. "I play the violin! I bet I could be in the junior band." I laughed. Big deal. I've been playing piano for over two years now!!! But Carrie wasn't listening. She was rubbing her hands together. "I'll bet I could get my parents to let me join that band!" she said, "It'll be great!"
We walked back to her house. As soon as we walked in, Carrie's head swiveled around. "Dad!" she yelled. Her father came into the living room where my parents were making travel plans. "What is it?" he asked in Chinese. Carrie pulled the poster out of her pocket, "Can I join?" Carrie asked pleadingly. "It'll be super!" Carrie's full name was Carrie Pin Yu Zhou. so I'll just call her dad Mr. Zhou.(j-oe). Mr. Zhou rubbed his chin. "I'll think about it," he said in Chinese finally. Then he went and talked about it to both of our families.
"Come on!" Carrie said, "I'll go show you my violin!" We went upstairs to her room. She dug around in her closet and came up with a black case. Carrie opened it up and picked up the violin. "Ta, da!" she grinned, "Cool, huh?" she asked me. I shrugged. "It's just a regular violin," I said, "nothing special." Carrie frowned. "But I got it when I was seven!" she insisted. "Whatever!" I muttered.
"Carrie!" her dad shouted in Chinese. "We agreed that you can join. The junior band is playing the original Ode to Joy. We called the symphony although you're performing at City Hall!" "Yes!" Carrie cheered. She put her violin case in a black gym bag. Suddenly, my mom's voice rang up the stairs. "Amy! You're also joining the band, so start practicing piano!" she called in Chinese. "I didn't bring a piano!" I complained. "You're going to practice at Symphony Hall! They have a spare grand piano!" my mom ordered.
Carrie and I trotted down the stairs. Carrie was carrying her black gym bag. The adults were chatting something about money and fairness. Then, I followed Carrie to the book room and she began to play. The moment my father heard it, he said, "Amy, go to the symphony hall with Carrie for tryouts!" I replied, "No problem!" Carrie's face twitched, "Wait a sec. I gotta go to the bathroom." she left her gym bag next to the sofa. I waited in the kitchen.
When Carrie came back, she couldn't find her gym bag. "Hey! That's funny. I left my bag next to this sofa. It's gone now." "Huh?" I said. I looked down. It was gone. "Mom!" Carrie called, "Have you seen my bag?" Her mom looked up. "No, I haven't." Mrs. Zhou replied. "Just go for tryouts!" my dad grumbled. "They've got extras."
We headed towards the hall. I noticed that Carrie was gloom. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted to come!" I asked. Carrie answered in two words, "My violin." I tried to cheer her up. "Come on," I said cheerfully, "they've got extras." Saying this made Carrie's shoulders droop. "That's my only one!" she grumbled. "Look!" I pointed, "There's the symphony hall!" That seemed to brighten Carrie up a bit. "Race ya there!" she said as she took off.
She had started earlier although I beat her there by 3 seconds. "I won!" I cried gleefully. All the running must have made Carried tired and she seemed to forget all about her violin. We walked upstairs to room 2G and knocked on the door. A man with glasses and short hair opened the door. He smiled down at us. "Hi! Must be here for band tryouts?" He guessed. "I'm going to be your trainer. You can call me Richard." Richard told us. Carrie informed him, "I can't, uh, find my violin so do you have any extras?" Richard shrugged, "Sure, come on in!" We followed him in.
Richard went to a supply shelf and pulled out a violin. "Here you go!" Carrie beamed. "Gee, thanks!" Richard rubbed his chin. "Ah," he pointed at me, "what are you playing?" I stared at him blankly. "Ode to Joy on the piano." I shrugged. Richard pointed at the piano. "Let's hear you play. Here's the script." After I played it perfectly 3 times, Richard clapped. "Brassizmo!" he cheered. "But next time, do it with the metronome." He turned to Carrie. "Now let's hear you play." Carrie began to play Ode to Joy on the violin. After she played it three times, Richard clapped. "Great! But next time, watch the dynamics." We did what we were told to do. Richard smiled. I think you'll be darn-tootin ready for the performance." He looked down at his checklist. "Hmmm. You dudettes are the last one!" Richard exclaimed, "Now, y'all will just have to memorize it before Saturday. Think you guys can do that?" he asked. "No problem!" Carried said. "Although, I want to use my own violin."
Richard shrugged, "you can use this one 'till ya find it!" "Thanks," Carrie said sadly as we headed out the door.
When we were out, we slowly headed towards Carrie's house. I really wanted to find Carrie's violin so she'd be like her old self again, so I tried to find the violin. Carrie helped. When she was digging in the upstairs storage room, she found it! "Hey! I found it!" Carrie cried out gleefully. "Really?" I said hopefully. Carrie held it up with pride and honor. She unzipped it and found her mother's gym clothes. "WHAT!" she cried in horror. "Wait a minute," I said suspiciously. "I know where your violin is." "Where?" Carrie asked hopefully. "Ask you mom where she put the black gym bag. These are exactly alike, so your mom probably thought that your bag held her gym clothes," I said matter-of-factly. "You're a genius!" Carrie cheered. She ran downstairs, tow at a time. "Mom!" I heard her shout. "Where did you put a black gym bag?" "In my bedroom," Mrs. Zhou answered, "Why?" "You took my violin by accident and my violin was inside." Carrie quickly said.
She hurried to her parents' room and came back with her violin.
Two days later, we memorized Ode to Joy and did perfectly on the performance. Everything was back to normal again and my family and I moved back to San Francisco.
THE END
