“Girls! Time to go!” yells Mrs. Bennett up the stairs
making a last minute hair adjustment in the hallway mirror, “You don’t want to be late!”
“Is everyone in the crew
accounted for?” asks Mr. Bennett searching for the handle on his Bb tuba case
which he begins to trail behind him through the cluttered living room of
practice sheets of music that the girls remembered to practice in a family ensemble
last night even though they were given the music a month prior to that.
Smacking on a piece of gum, Kitty
struggles to carry her notebook, trendy women’s magazines to share the samples
with her friends, an opened purse which she forgot to close unevenly balancing
above the books, and her baritone case.
“Dad, we don’t have to be there too early! Everyone usually arrives about ten minutes
after it starts anyway!”
Scratching his head, Mr. Bennett
returns a flat smile since her words are honest but not helpful in his mission,
“I think it would be nice for the entire Bennett family to arrive pronto and on
time once a year. It can be our annual
tradition.”
Smirking Kitty tilts her head to
the side looking up at him, “Dad, we’re not that bad…” then skeptically
reconsidering for a moment their last few months of attendance at any Army
function “well … almost.”
Swinging her trombone case side
to side while attempting to multitask by reading a book while walking, Mary
bumps into the recliner and then ungracefully glides out of the way. She bumps into Kitty who turns around and
pushes her back with the palm of her hand on Mary’s shoulder.
“Mary, I wish you would watch
where you are going. I’m standing right
in front of you!” demands Kitty glaring at her sister.
“You didn’t have to stand in the
walkway. I thought you were headed out
the door behind dad. I can’t help it if
you are in my way” explains Mary turning another page of her recently purchased
thriller from the thrift store “This book is really good. I’ll let you read it when I’m done.”
On the verge of being annoyed,
Kitty looks at the title and the author of the book Mary is holding and then
realizes it is about a blockbuster movie that is just coming out and changes
her mind “Okay. Do you think you’ll be
finished tomorrow? I’ve wanted to read
the book. Books are always better than
the movies, even the best ones. But just
watch where you are walking next time.”
“Where’s mom now?” asks Mary
looking up taking a temporary break in between chapters “Is she already outside
in the van?”
“Here I am. I just found my
timbrel!” squeals Mrs. Bennett giving a couple of shakes for proof “Someone hid
it in the back of the closet and I almost didn’t find it!”
There is a quiet unanimous sigh
amongst the others of the group.
Glancing around not to catch their mother’s eye, they all move uniformly
towards the vehicle.
Finally Mary unable to hold her
opinion for one minute longer speaks, “Mom, I think you need to let Captain
Brandon pick the tempo. He is the
bandmaster and it is his choice.”
“Well, I thought that the song
needed a little more spunk and spirit.
Didn’t you think so? He needed to
move it along. I didn’t mean to cause
any problem, I was just trying to help him get it together with a better beat”
noticing that her family is remaining mum on the subject, Mrs. Bennett defends
her un-rhythmic actions “I didn’t mean to stop the band last month during the
United Meeting. But he really did need
to speed up some.”
In reflection Mr. Bennett
responds, “Well honey, some of us are Klingons, and there are others of us who
are Romulans, and a few actually make it to the crew. As a Klingon, I would like to share this
proverb with you, “Four thousand throats may be killed by one running
man”. Sweet dear one … you are that
man.”
Slightly puzzled, Mrs. Bennett
looks at him but considering that her husband might mean that she is a hero
allows the comment to be received as a compliment. Contentedly, she kisses her husband’s cheek.
On the other side of the van, Kitty and Mary share a secret look with each
other and knowingly smile.
As they arrive at the Crestwood
corps , they see “Maud” pulling into the parking lot. As their sisters crawl out, Jane stretches
before reaching in again to grab her tenor horn case. Standing beside her car, Liz shakes her head
wildly in the wind to let any flying particles leave their home before putting
her hair back into a pony tail. The air
conditioner has gone out again just before the beginning of summer and they had
to drive with the windows down.
“I’m so glad you stopped for the
sweet tea. I didn’t expect it to be this
hot so early this year” offers Jane sipping for longer than usual on her cold
drink “When will you be able to put “Maud” into the shop again?”
“Well, I’m actually considering
purchasing another car. I will miss
her. She is costing more than I can
afford to keep her running. Her expenses
each month are totaling more than a car payment” discouragingly states Liz
patting the roof of her car as if it is a long-loved pet.
“Well, at least we’ll have air”
wiping her brow states Jane as sweat pours down the other side of her face but
not noticing that same of her makeup has also started to melt in the meantime.
Walking late into rehearsal,
everyone else has found their place and sitting in the band. Captain Brandon
turns around to notice the most recent newcomers. “Hello!
Good to see all of the Bennetts today! We’ve just started with a hymn
tune “Come Thou Fount” as a warm-up”.
Quietly Jane finds her place next
to the now Lieutenant Ellen Ferris who kindly smiles at her and points to the
number where the band is about to play.
In the second chair of the solo
cornet section, Liz Steel impatiently asks “Who is sitting in the principal
chair? It doesn’t look like anyone has
arrived yet! If no one is coming, I can
move up.”
“We are having guests today. I received a text a few minutes ago that they
are stuck in traffic but will be here soon” explains Brandon not wanting to
encourage any movement on her part. “Knightly, there will also be another
euphonium player coming today to join you.”
Rather anxious in that being late
isn’t exactly his favorite pastime, Mr. Bennett finds his chair next to Wickham
who is playing the Eb Tuba part. They
politely nod to each other and flip through their music to distract attention.
“Okay, shall we begin?”
courteously asks Brandon raising his baton to the podium but noticing some rapid
chaotic movement in the corner of his eye.
“What did you say we were playing
again?” asks Alice Hammer sitting in the last chair of the second row of
cornets as her tune books fall to the floor from her stand “I’ve seem to have
lost my place.” Lila Steel takes a moment from her intense focus off of
David removing the moisture from his instrument while sitting across from her
in the trombone section to help Alice Hammer pick up her folder of formerly
organized music.
Shaking her head, Jennings sighs
behind her in the percussion section very grateful that at least it is not her
this time who is lost. Last month she put
up the wrong band piece while playing the bells. She did a good job playing for quite awhile
to the march tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas” before realizing that she was
playing along with the Euphonium solo of a different ballad piece of “What a
Friend with have in Jesus”. Amazingly
the tunes fit rather well together in a slightly western style so at least she
personally felt that her mistake wasn’t instantly recognizable.
Anne sitting next to Ted Ferris resting his
soprano on his knee politely asks “Can I share a stand with you? I’m going to
give my stand which is a bit more stable to Alice Hammer to borrow for the
rehearsal.”
It appears that things are
settling down so rehearsal can begin. Just as Captain Brandon raises his baton
again counts “One, two, three …” a loud permeating sneeze echoes over the
band. Jennings replies “So sorry, I
didn’t know that my nose liked to keep time too!” Brandon smiles at her while Captain Wentworth
on the snare hands her a box of Kleenix which he finds behind the mercy seat
just beyond the band in front of the platform.
Captain Brandon rubs his chin and
wipes his hands against his pants waiting for another pause. He happens to glance up and look at Jane who
looks a little peculiar but he decides not to say anything. It is already starting to be an interesting
day.
The first bar begins with a
flugel solo, he looks to Liz Bennett to see if she is ready for her part. Liz returns a smile and he knows that it is
clear to begin. His hands raise and
stall in mid-air to capture everyone’s attention before beginning. He eyes meet contact with most members of the
band. Mr. Woodhouse sitting next to Mr.
Bennett Bb tuba as well appears to have taken a short quick nap against the
bell of his horn in the midst of the recent chaos. Brandon sharply clears his throat which
brings him to instant wide-eyed attention.
As Liz begins to play, the music
of the band fills the room in its beauty and color. The tone of the band is even and
melodic. It feels as if all nature is in
balance and God is quietly speaking to each of them of their own needs and
concerns as He whispers to them through the notes and chords of a familiar
song. The setting has changed, but the
lyrics have not. As the words resound in
their hearts as they play, the promises are affirmed in reflection of the
music.
In between pieces, Brandon shares
a short note of how the pieces came to be written. Most of the composers were experiencing a
difficult transition or moment in their life when they wrote either the music
or the lyrics which alternately were currently empathetically touching the
lives of those in the band. Brandon
sensitively creates an atmosphere of not only skillful playing but of spiritual
renewal as well throughout the rehearsal.
After playing several pieces, the
chapel doors open. Harriet sitting next to Lila stands up and waves
wildly. Hey it’s Bingley! We worked at camp together a few years ago.
How are you doing? ” she yells from across the room during the short
intermission between pieces.
Immediately Jane freezes and
stares down at the music on her stand trying to focus her thoughts without
letting everyone else in the room feel her trembling expression of sheer shock,
delight, and agony.
In response Liz turns directly at
her sister to see if she is okay and to offer some distant support. Liz finds herself frowning as Jane raises her
face to acknowledge Liz’s concern. “Uh
oh” worried Liz thinks “How can I tell her?”
Liz moves her hands to her cheek and starts wiping her face. Jane just stares back at her. Liz begins to point at Jane and wipes her
face again. But unfortunately, Jane too
nervous about other events in the room at that moment is a little lost in
confusion.
Darcy calmly follows in behind
Bingley which his euphonium case in hand.
Bingley beams walking up to Brandon having noticed that Jane is already
there even if she hasn’t looked up to notice him yet. “Where would you like me
to sit? I’ll play any part. I’m so glad you allowed us to play along with
you today. It’s fun to play in a band
wherever I go”.
“We’re glad to have both of you
join us today!” shaking their hands Brandon points his hand to their respective
chairs and they find their places.
As soon as he sits down, Bingley
looks over to see if he can capture Jane’s attention. But she has raised her stand and turned it
towards him so that the view is blocked.
So, he scoots further back in his chair, and raises himself just a bit
to see if he can catch a glimpse of her for a moment. She bends further below her stand as if
trying to clear already removed moisture again out of her horn. Then Bingley filled with another idea, bends
over placing his mute on the floor next to his chair to see if he can look at
her under the stand. She turns her knees towards Ellen making this
impossible. The band is watching them
having heard most of the gossip in the division about their previous break-up
rather amused by their routine.
Undeterred, Bingley intentionally hits his stand so that a piece of
sheet music goes flying into the air towards the horn section. Seeing this movement from under her stand,
Jane turns to her father behind her “Dad, do you have some valve oil?”
Her father kindly looks at his
daughter, “Uh … Jane … I think you might need to take a break for a moment. There is something I think you might need to
fix.”
Not entirely sure what her father
means, Jane stands up from her chair and quickly walks past Bingley towards the
bathroom who in turn follows her out of the chapel into the fellowship hall.
“Jane, wait a minute! I would like to talk to you!” runs Bingley
after her as she walks even faster towards the restrooms. He catches up with her and gently touches her
arm. “Jane, how are you?”
Finally Jane looks up not sure
how she wants to respond.
Bingley furrows his brow and
opens his eyes widely “Jane, I think there is something wrong.”
“Yes, of course there is” affirms
Jane surprised that he actually recognized that something has not been quite
right between them since he left last fall.
“I think you need to take a look
at yourself” stammers Bingley before any other words can come out.
“What? I need to look at myself? What about you? What have you been doing?” with indignation states Jane.
“I’m here. I mean … I meant… there’s a problem” taping
his cheek while speaking Bingley attempts to warn her.
“Yes, I know there has been a
problem. You stopped speaking to me”
firmly states Jane feeling somewhat at ease in that of his recognition that a
problem has existed between them.
“Yeah, I know” trying to figure
out what exactly is being said Bingley continues “I think something is sticking
to you”.
“What? Like bitterness? Maybe
hurt?” snaps Jane “What do you expect when you didn’t return any of my emails
or even attempt to try and contact when we were such good friends.”
“Uh … no that’s not what I’m
talking about … but it isn’t like that” stumbles Bingley shaking his head “I
mean that you have a right to feel that way but that’s not what I’m trying to
say.”
Interrupting him while he is
still speaking, Jane uncharacteristically rattles “What are you trying to
say? You haven’t said anything for so
long do you even know what you want to say?”
Completely unnerved and
tongue-tied Bingley puts a hand on each shoulder, “Jane, you have dark make-up
streaming down your face. I think you
might have smeared your mascara and eye-liner.
You look a little more like a zombie than the Jane that I know.”
“You think that I look bad?” as
Jane’s eyes fill with tears not haven’t ever dreamt that she would look so
silly when finally meeting up with Bingley again “I didn’t want to look ugly
when I saw you again” as she begins to weep.
It is beyond humiliation that she
feels able to endure at the moment. She continues while sniffling, “It’s
because the air condition in Liz’s car broke.
It was so stinking hot today and she refused to take my car because she
wanted to save on gas. She bought this
makeup at a flea market and gave it to me.
I didn’t know it would smear.”
While she is still speaking,
Bingley grabs a napkin from one of the tables which is prepared to bring lunch
for the divisional band and begins and slowly wipes the dark smeared makeup
from her face. He pulls her close and
hugs her.
“I’m so sorry Jane. I should have told you why I made that
decision. We probably would have kept in
touch if I had given you a chance to explain rather than listening to a lot of
irrational gossip of others” sincerely apologizes Bingley holding her closer to
him “You meant and mean everything to me.
I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry
that I hurt you and acted like a fool.”
“I’ve miss you so much too”
hugging him back Jane continues “Maybe I should have let you know how I felt
about you, it might have been easier for you to know how to respond. I heard
some of the gossip and it really wasn’t true.
My heart belonged only to you not to anyone else.”
“I know that now. Do you think we
could start over?” sweetly asks Bingley looking into her eyes “I think that I
might act a little differently this time.
I’m not going to run away from you.”
Looking up and smiling at him
while Bingley holds her, Jane softly replies “I don’t want to go anywhere other
than being next to you.”
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