| |
It had started as a fluke and a dare. Not long after they had settled in Canyon’s homestead, he’d invited them to accompany him to the Rock Inn Mountain Tavern in nearby Little Switzerland. The Tavern was run by one of Canyon’s old Army buddies and weekly hosted an amateur night on Thursdays that had grown in popularity among the locals.
The Rock Inn had been around for ages and had grown to be one of the most popular night spots for locals as well as tourists. The tavern’s rustic look of rough-hewn logs and rock exterior seemed to draw people in with a welcome, stay awhile atmosphere.
Evelyn declined the invitation, feeling it too risky to be seen in public just yet, but Miriam and Amberlin had graciously accepted.
“I think we could use a little fun in our life,” Miriam had said, and Amberlin agreed.
It was on their third amateur night when Canyon leaned over to Amberlin who had been quietly singing along with the music.
“You have a beautiful voice. Why not get up there and share it with everyone else?”
“Up there?” Amberlin said pointing to the stage where the latest amateur duo was finishing up. “I couldn’t do that. I’d be too scared.”
“Come on,” Canyon had insisted. “I’ll borrow Mike’s guitar and accompany you. It’ll be fun.”
They continued to banter back and forth about it during the next two songs with Miriam joining in to encourage Amberlin to give it a try.
She finally conceded as much to shut the two up as anything. It turned out that Canyon was more than a passable guitarist, and had a pleasant tenor voice of his own, but it was Amberlin’s angelic soprano that had captured the crowd, and much to her surprise, Amberlin enjoyed singing for the enthusiastic throng of neighbors mixed in with a few out-of-towners.
Now, six months later, Amberlin and Canyon had become regulars to amateur night, and she looked forward to spending most Thursday nights at the Tavern and on stage. She spent much of her time during the week listening to Canyon's old radio that sat in the corner of the great room. She found she particularly enjoyed the stations that played a combination of country music and folk songs. She particularly liked the Kingston Trio and the songs of the Weavers.
Each week she would pick out two or three songs she liked and practice singing them as she did her chores in preparation for trying them out at Amateur Night. Even Evelyn had started joining them, though she insisted on wearing a disguise of dark sunglasses, one of Canyon’s hats with her hair tucked up in it, and an old Army jacket of his that made it hard to tell if she was a man or a woman. Amberlin had grown to accept such paranoid antics from her mother. After all, as Miriam had explained to her, Evelyn had had a rough go of it imprisoned for so many years in the mental institution. She might have entered Western Carolina Sanitarium of sound mind, but she certainly hadn’t left that way.
On Monday morning as everyone sat around the kitchen table finishing breakfast, Canyon reached into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled letter. Opening it, he straightened the pages before sliding one of them over to Amberlin.
“Would you do me a favor for Amateur Night this week?” he started.
Amberlin glanced down at the sheet in front of her and started reading what appeared to be a poem. She instantly recognized many of the lines as coming from the Bible.
“Sure,” she replied. “What’s this?”
“It’s the lyrics to a song an old friend of mine wrote. I thought we could practice it so we could sing it on Thursday. Kinda my way to acknowledge and celebrate what will be happening on Friday.”
“Okay, I’m game.” She paused for a moment before adding. “What’s happening on Friday?”
Canyon stared at her for a moment. “You’re kidding, right?”
Amberlin racked her brain trying to remember but came up empty a second time. She shrugged. “Give me a hint?” she asked.
“It happens every four years,” Canyon replied.
Amberlin shook her head again. “Sorry.”
“John Kennedy will be sworn in as our thirty-fifth president,” Canyon replied, a hint of agitation seeping into his voice.
“Oh, yeah, that,” Amberlin replied blushing. She knew Canyon was a huge fan of Kennedy, one of the few in this part of the country. “Are you sure we won’t be hooted off stage?”
“No, I’m not, but I’m willing to take that chance. How about you?”
Amberlin wasn't quite so quick to reply this time. Finally, she said, "Yeah, I guess so, as long as you promise to protect me if we start a riot."
Canyon chuckled. "Not a problem. I'm hoping for just the opposite effect." He pointed down to the paper in front of her. "The song is all about peace, so I'm hoping it'll be well received."
“Do you know the melody?” Amberlin asked after reading over the lyrics again.
“Yeah, pretty sure. We can practice it later this afternoon when I get back from grocery shopping.”
“Okay,” Amberlin replied. “Can I go with you to the Piggly Wiggly? I’d like to take my skates. It’s been cold enough the last couple of weeks that the pond behind the store should be frozen.”
“Me too! Can I go?” Matty chimed in.
“Sure, as long as you have at least half your homeschool work finished. I’ll be heading out around ten.”
“Okay, let’s get to it,” Amberlin said as she and Matty rose from their chairs.
“Will you pull me around on the ice?” Matty asked.
“I don’t see why not?” Amberlin replied.
“Dishes to the sink,” Miriam reminded them. “It’s Evelyn’s and my turn to clean.”
As Amberlin settled in the overstuffed chair in the living room near the large stone fireplace, her favorite place to study during the wintertime, she read over the lyrics again, humming softly to herself what she thought the melody might be. She decided she liked the song and wondered who had written it. She was often surprised by the many people Canyon knew, especially other musicians. Before he'd joined the Army, he'd been a part of a small band that had traveled around the country playing small gigs wherever they could find work. Unfortunately, the group disbanded in its second year due to a number of disagreements among its members, made worse by the lack of money. Canyon had kicked around playing backup guitar with some other bands before finally deciding to join the service to see the world. After his training, he became part of the American forces sent into Vietnam as "advisors" to help the Republic of Vietnam fight Communist insurgents known as "Viet Cong." That's where he met Angus Eisen, the owner of the Rock Inn Tavern.