Mikki’s dad opened the door, which made me feel instantly awkward even though it was his house, so why shouldn’t he open his own front door when somebody rang the bell? I guess I’d just assumed I’d get Mikki because he knew I was on my way over. But mostly I felt awkward because Mikki’s dad was still in his pyjamas. For some reason, I didn’t know where to look.
‘You’re up bright and early, Alberta,’ he said cheerily.
‘Oh, hi, Mr Watanabe,’ I said. ‘I hope I didn’t wake you?’
‘No, no,’ he said. ‘We’re all up early around here.’
I started to kick off my shoes but Mikki’s dad stopped me. ‘Mikki’s outside in the garage. Come, I’ll show you,’ he said.
I followed Mikki’s dad back out the front door and down the path around the side of the house. ‘Thanks for hiring the speakers for us, Mr Watanabe,’ I said.
‘My pleasure, Alberta. Let’s just hope it all works. It’s quite an ambitious event you two have planned.’
‘Yes, quite,’ I agreed. In the Watanabe’s garage Mikki had all the components of the plant-music device spread over the ping pong table.
‘Hey, Berts!’ Mikki said. I could tell by the look he gave his dad that Mikki was embarrassed about the pyjamas too. ‘So glad you’re here. I’m busting to test the plant-music device.’
All I could see was a tangle of wires and leads and the event speakers that Mikki’s dad had hired for us. Mikki’s dad looked slightly concerned.
‘All going okay, Mikki?’ he asked.
‘Great!’ Mikki said. ‘The device lets you choose from a bunch of sound settings. There’s one hundred and twenty-eight instruments and a choice of scales too. Take a look.’ Mikki scrolled through the instruments list on the plant-music device … piano, harpsichord, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, tubular bells, church organ, accordion, harmonica, guitar, violin, viola, cello…
‘I don’t get it,’ I said. ‘I thought the Memory Tree was going to play its own music?’
‘It will,’ Mikki said. ‘Like Massimo said – the vibrational pulse is alive in the tree and the device detects that and feeds it through a synthesiser. It turns vibrations into musical sound.’
‘Oh,’ I said. I must have looked disappointed.
‘So now we need to choose the type of instrument sound best suited to the Memory Tree … Let’s just try a few and see, huh?’
‘One hundred and twenty-eight instrument sounds?’ Mikki’s dad said. ‘I might leave you to it.’
‘Okay, Dad,’ Mikki said.
‘Thanks again for all your help, Mr Watanabe,’ I said.
‘My pleasure,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to see how it all goes on the night.’
‘Sorry about my dad’s PJs,’ Mikki whispered once his dad was out of earshot.
Mikki and I took the device out to the back garden to find a suitable tree to test it with. There were so many trees to choose from, and not just Australian natives either. I immediately recognised an oak, an elm, a sycamore and a birch and there were more that I didn’t know the names of too. Together the trees created a magical, shade-filled glade. All completely still. While Mikki was busy connecting all the wires to the plant-music device, I looked for a tree with low enough branches, one where we could reach some leaves without needing to climb.
‘How ’bout this one?’ I asked. ‘I love the leaves. Each one is a red star.’
‘It’s called a liquidambar,’ Mikki said. ‘My mum’s favourite tree too, but she said it shouldn’t be turning red so early. It’s not even autumn yet.’
‘Same thing happened last year,’ I said.
Mikki singled out the wire with the metal probe at the end and pushed the spike into the soil close to the base of the tree. Then he took the wire with the clamp on the end and attached it to one of the liquidambar’s leaves. He turned on the plant-music device and … just like in my worst case scenario … nothing happened!
‘Total nightmare,’ I whispered.
‘Have patience, Alberta!’ Mikki said. ‘This is what rehearsals are all about.’
Mikki checked the digital display on the plant-music device. ‘Mmm … Bad Contact,’ he read out loud. Mikki unclipped the wire and tried it with a different leaf, firstly wetting the leaf with a little saliva.
‘What if the device says “bad contact” on the night?’ I asked. ‘We won’t be able to do anything about it.’
But Mikki didn’t respond, it was like he hadn’t even heard me. I felt completely useless, especially as there were still so many other things to do. Not only that, I felt like all the questions I was asking would have been annoying. I felt like I’d become Clementine!
‘Mikki, I’m not much help with the technical stuff. Maybe I’ll keep working on my speech?’ I asked. ‘I’ve nearly nailed it but I need to get a print-out at the library. I could come back later, okay?’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Mikki agreed, a little too enthusiastically.
Just then Seth appeared and Mikki explained the bad contact issue.
‘It’s no big deal,’ Seth said. ‘If it happens on the night I can be up that tree in no time at all.’