17

Rock-a-Bye, Baby

SUDDENLY IT WAS FEBRUARY and the concert was only days away. Penny and Min practised their duet daily. Min wished she felt her singing was improving.

“You need to PROJECT, Min!” Penny’s mother urged her. “Shy voices, however sweet, don’t reach the ears of the audience.”

“Maybe Penny should sing by herself,” Min mumbled, scuffing her toe back and forth on the rug and not looking at the woman.

“No way!” Penny yelped. “I can’t do it alone. Besides, Ms Spinelli already has us down as a duet, you nut.”

“You have a very nice voice, dear,” Penny’s mother said hastily. “And it is improving daily. Just try to throw it out at your listeners more.”

Min felt like a pitcher who is about to be sent down to the minor leagues after having a tryout with the stars.

“Start again,” their pianist ordered and began to play the opening bars. When they had sung it through twice more, she said,”I’m sure it’ll be fine on the night.”

Maybe it would be, but Min had a sinking feeling that she might open her mouth and no sound whatever would emerge.

Every class in the school had become involved and most were performing. There were lullabies and silly songs and even rounds. The French teacher had them all singing a song in French and then Ms Spinelli suggested that they insert three or four recitations.

“They’ve actually got my little brother doing ‘Wynken, Blynken and Nod,’ dressed in a nightshirt,” Jennifer told them, trying hard not to giggle. “He looks like a cherub — which he definitely is not. Mum said she would murder any of us who laughed at him, and I think she means it.”

Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday so they had their last rehearsals on Thursday and Friday. Jess had a class on Friday, but she came to listen on the Thursday afternoon. She sat at the back and told them how Jessye Norman’s mother had commanded her to “stand up straight and sing out.” Min had no idea who Jessye Norman even was, until they played a CD of her singing spirituals that evening. Her voice filled the house with mellow sound and feeling too.

“Wow,” Min murmured. “Penny and I don’t sound a bit like that.”

“I’m planning to sit at the very back on Monday,” Jess said, “and I want to hear every word. If I can’t, I’ll stand up and shout, ‘Sing out, Jessamyn and Penelope. Stand up and sing out.’”

Min giggled. “You wouldn’t,” she said.

“Don’t be too sure,” Jess said, her eyes gleaming.

Min felt more and more anxious as the time neared. She sat on the floor stroking Emily. “Maybe we will both get braver soon,” she said.

“Well, I have some good news about that little dog,” Jess said. “I went out to see how Miss Hazlitt was doing. I wasn’t going to say anything, just see if she was having troubles. And I found out she was leaving on the weekend for a month in Florida with her niece, who has rented a condo and has invited Miss Hazlitt to come along and have a rest from the snow. I told her that was wonderful and I did not tell her why. But I know she won’t be home until over halfway through March. Stop grinning or I’ll call you Minerva.”

Min leaped up and began to dance, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Emily shrank back and Jess laughed.

“Keep that up, young lady, and your rescued dog will be begging you to find her a safer place to hang out,” she said.

Then the dreaded day of the concert arrived. Min peeped through the curtains and spotted Raymah and her sister Lisa in the second row. Then she saw Mrs. Willis. No Enid, thank goodness. Laura and Baxter were there with the Dittos, who waved wildly every time the curtain twitched. Toby was nowhere to be seen. She was about to give up on him, with a pang of disappointment, when she saw him sitting beside Jess at the very back.

“Let me have a turn, will you?” Pravda hissed and Min stepped back, satisfied that everyone she cared about was there. Now if only she could make her voice strong and sure — or even just audible!

Twenty minutes later, when she and Penny walked onto the stage, side by side, and looked over at Penny’s mother and saw her wink at them, Min found herself actually excited. She was even looking forward to singing.

Remember the foundlings, she whispered to herself as the first chord sounded.

Then they had started, their voices blending, and she felt fine. As they reached the last wistful notes, she saw Jess, actually on her feet with both hands in the air, applauding like mad. Toby, beside her, was still seated and was hiding his face behind his two hands. Then he dropped them and grinned right at her.

Although Min knew, when they finished, that she was never going to be the singer Penny was, she felt thoroughly pleased with her performance.

“Boy, am I glad that’s over!” Penny exclaimed when they were safely backstage.

Min stared at her. “Didn’t you have fun?” she asked.

Then it was Penny’s turn to stare. “I was petrified,” she said.

Jennifer’s little brother brought the house down with his recitation. He really did look like an impish cherub.

When it was all over, and the money was counted, the students had raised over nine hundred dollars. The parents matched the amount and boosted it a bit so that two thousand dollars went from Victory School to help all the orphaned babies.

When they got home, Min wanted only to fall into her bed, but her attention was caught by what she saw on the wall on either side of the long mirror. On the left hung the framed Christmas tree picture she had given Jess. On the right, also beautifully framed, was her Rock-a-Bye, Baby poster.

“Oh, Jess, they look so … so …” she started.

But she could not find the right words.

“Professional,” Jess said calmly. Then she added, with a twinkle, “To think I kidnapped you without ever suspecting I was getting myself such a gifted daughter.”

Min blushed and then went to bed humming a song. The tune was from Oliver! but she made up new words that started, “Here is love.”