At the end of the show the band left the stage, but the audience kept clapping and shouting and whistling and whooping.
Dad came up to us, his hair plastered with sweat. He ran his arm over his forehead and gave us a huge grin. “Hear that, Cal? They loved it!”
“Yeah! So did we, right, Shayla?”
“It was so, so amazing!”
“Well, hang on a minute, Shayla, because we’re going back out there to do one more song, and I have something I want you two to do for me. You willing to help us out?”
“Yeah!” we both said.
“Zeppo!” he called. “The Frisbees.”
Feet started stomping. The crowd wanted Little Johnny Coconut to come back out.
Zeppo ran over with two boxes of fluorescent-green Frisbees. He pulled one out. “Like it?”
Printed on it in dark blue was a coconut tree on a small island, and Little Johnny Coconut’s Rocket Ride Tour.
“Yeah!” I said. “These are great! What are they for?”
“For you and Shayla to zing out into the audience during our last song. You watch … the place will go nuts!”
“You mean, go out there?”
“Piece of cake. You can do it.”
I looked at Shayla.
Man, I was suddenly so nervous I thought I would faint. Go out there in front of all those people?
Zeppo handed us the boxes of Frisbees.
I looked at Dad. “So, we just throw them out there?”
“Spread them around. Try to get them all over so no section feels left out. Do your best.” Dad grinned and called to his band. “Let’s go!”
They jogged back onstage. The place roared like thunder in the mountains. So wild it gave me chills.
Little Johnny cranked on his guitar and let loose on a song called “Black Cadillac.”
“Zip ’em!” Zeppo shouted, pushing us out from behind the curtain.
Shayla and I ran out with the boxes of Frisbees. Lights exploded in my eyes.
I couldn’t see anything. I raised my hand to block the glare.
Little Johnny sang, “I love my black Cadillac, my shiny Cadillac, yeah, just my buddies and me…”
Shayla grabbed a handful of Frisbees and shoved a bunch at me. She ran to the other side of the stage. When the audience saw what we were about to do, everyone started leaping up and waving for us to throw the Frisbees their way.
Zing!
The first one I tossed went toward Darci. Stella caught it and gave it to her. Darci held it high, jumping up and down to the music.
Zing!
Zing!
Zing!
It was so much fun I couldn’t even believe it. What had I been so nervous about? Shayla was zinging those Frisbees way out into the audience. She was dancing really good, too, almost like she was part of the show. It made me smile. Shayla was a rock-star dancer!
Ho!
“Black Cadillac” ended right after we tossed our last Frisbees. Perfect. Dad and the band took a bow and motioned for us to join them. Holy moley!
Shayla and I ran off the stage with the band.
It was absolutely the biggest thrill of my life.
“Wow,” I said to Dad. “You do this every night?”
He laughed. “Not every night, but close. You two did great out there, I mean really, really great!”
Shayla and I looked at each other. She couldn’t have smiled any bigger if she’d wanted to.
“Here,” Dad said, handing his guitar pick to Shayla. It was green, like the Frisbees, with the coconut tree on it in blue. “Something to remind you of tonight.”
Shayla squeezed it. “I’ll never forget this, ever!”
Dad winked at me.
I could hear people talking and laughing as they slowly made their way out of the concert hall.
Dad and his band fell into some folding chairs. Zeppo tossed them ice-cold bottles of water.
Man, the sound of that crowd would stay with me for my whole entire life. And the sight of Shayla, squeezing that tiny guitar pick.
See? the little voice said. See what you did?
Yeah.
It was kind of like seeing a falling star.
One minute it’s there, so surprising.
Then it’s gone.
But deep inside, you know you’ll never forget what you saw.