A New Precious

Chapter 12

So, for the next few days, we practiced the songs we'd chosen for Open Mic Night. On Friday night, I dressed in a baby blue onesie, this time with no tail. I felt so incomplete without my tail, but I didn't know if I should dress that way for this particular event. Well, at least I still had my zipper down the front, and it felt wonderful. I looked down at it, and giggled softly. "Well, Precious, are you ready to sing tonight? Are you ready, my sweet little zipper?"

"Are you talking to your zipper, Sméagol?"

I looked up suddenly, and my face turned bright red when I saw Aaliyah standing in the doorway of my bedroom with a cheeky smile on her face. I swallowed my pride. "Yes. Sméagol is talking to his zipper."

She giggled. "There's no shame in that."

I giggled sweetly. "I wuvs my zipper," I said in a cutesy voice as though I were loving a baby. "It's my baby."

"Your zipper is your baby?"

"Yes, my sweet wittle zipper is my pwecious wittle baby."

Aaliyah giggled again. "Sméagol, you're so cute."

"Awwww," I cooed as I hugged my zipper to my chest.

"Well, are you and your zipper ready?"

"Well, let's ask her. Are you ready, Baby?" I took hold of my zipper, and zipped it up and down. I giggled at the sound it made, and as the vibration and movement tickled my belly. "She says yes. She's ready to sing with me."

Aaliyah and I both laughed as we left.

When we arrived, Aaliyah signed us up as performers. Then, we headed to a table, and ordered our meals as the music began to play. The first performer stepped onto the stage with a guitar in hand, and began to sing and play a rather catchy tune.

"Oh, I love this song," Aaliyah said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's called 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz."

"Oh, it's lovely!" I giggled as I watched Aaliyah bopping and swaying to the rhythm.

The singer was a rather young-looking man with a beard and a strange hairstyle, strange yet very lovely. Aaliyah said it was called a mohawk. It was very different from what I was used to seeing, but still very beautiful it was to me. The young man also had a wonderful singing voice. It was a bit raspy, but in a very pleasant way. It fit wonderfully with the songs he was singing.

Soon, our food arrived, and we enjoyed our meals as we listened to more and more wonderful performers.

As the night went on, more and more people were called to perform. My name was still not called. I was getting a little worried. I didn't believes they forgot about me, or overlooksed my name. I knew it would eventually be my turn to sing. I was more worried about making it to Grady's. I thought about Máiréad. Poor thing needed a friend. I wanted to be the friend she needed. I didn't wants her to think I forgot all about her, or that I didn't cares about her. I said a silent prayer for her, and promised myself that I would be there the following Friday.

"Next up, we have Sméagol Stoor!" they announced.

"Oh, that's you!" Aaliyah said as she jumped up from her seat. "Come on, Sméagol."

I, too, stood up from my seat, and followed her to the stage. She took her place at the piano as I took hold of the microphone. I smiled shyly at everyone. "Hello," I said timidly. "I'm Sméagol, and I wants to sings three songs for you. I loves to sing. I wants to spreads love and joy with my music. I hopes the songs I sing will makes you all feel loved, because you are loved."

"Awwwwwwwwww!" everyone cried.

Then, Aaliyah began to play the piano as I sang my first song, "Angel" by a beautiful artist by the name of Sarah McLachlan. I poured my heart out as I smiled at everyone in the crowd. I wanted to make sure every person in the room felt my love. No matter what they goes through, no matter how much pain they may feels, I wanted them to knows that somebody cared.

When I finished singing, everyone applauded and cheered at the top of their lungs as many of them leapt up from their seats. So touched I was by the reaction. I brushed away a few tears. "Awwwwww!" I cried. "Bless you all! So kind you are! This next song is my message of friendship to you. No matter what you goes through, no matter what you do, no matter what may come your way, you will always have a friend to stand by you." Everyone listened intently as Aaliyah played the accompaniment for my next song, "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders. I looked out into the crowd, and my heart broke when I saw some people crying. I blew them kisses to let them know that everything would be alright. So much I wanted to hugs them, but I couldn't. The microphone was not cordless like the one at Grady's.

Once more, everyone leapt up and cheered loudly for me, and I could not holds my tears back anymore. "Awwwwww!" I sobbed. "Thank you! Thank you all so very much! I sings from my heart. I do, yes, straight from my heart. My last song I sings for you tonight is about love and kindness, and that, no matter how awful things are, we should always remembers to love one another. 'When life leads us blind, love keeps us kind.' Wise words from a magnificent artist." Yes, my last song was "The Messenger" by Linkin Park. Aaliyah was the one who recommended that beautiful song for me to sing, for it perfectly conveyed the message I wanted to spread.

Looking out into the crowd as I sang my heart out, so hard it was to fights the temptation to jumps off the stage, and hugs everyone, for once again, so many were sobbing their poor hearts out. All I could do was smile lovingly, and blow them kisses.

When I finished, I received yet another standing ovation, but this one was much bigger. Oh, my heart was singing so happily! I placed the microphone back on the stand, and hurried off the stage to greets everybody. So quickly I was buried in hugses and warm embraces! I returned the hugs, and thanked them profusely for their kindness.

As I sat back down at the table, the host of the event handed me my form. Aaliyah helpsed me to fills it out. It listed different types of venues for me to choose from. It asked if I wanted to perform at restaurants, bars, pubses, nursing homes, hospitalses, churches, parkses, schools, and special events within the community. I said yes to all of them, as I wanted to spreads my love to as many as I possibly could.

"How much do you wanna charge?" Aaliyah asked.

"I don't knows," I replied. "I don't wants to asks for too much."

Aaliyah smiled. "How about however much they want to pay you?"

"Yes, good. They gets to choose how much they wants to gives me."

"And, do you want to perform in the morning or afternoon or at night?"

"Hmmm, whenever is alright with me. Whenever they wants me to."

"And, they want contact info, so I'll just give them my e-mail and phone number since you don't have a phone or computer yet."

I smiled.

"Great! All done!"

Aaliyah and I handed in our form with smiles on our faces. Then, as we headed out the door, I remembered Máiréad. We stopped by Grady's to see if she was still there. We hurried in, and my heart sank to the pit of my stomach when we saw that karaoke was over, and Máiréad was nowhere in sight.

When we arrived back home, I changed into a onesie with a long, fluffy tail, and I sat on my bed with my hands clasped together. "Máiréad, Precious, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you tonight. I promise with all my heart and my zipper and my tail that I will be there next week. I hopes you don't think I forgot about you. I could never forgets you, Sweetie. I thinks about you all the time. You touched my heart when I meets you. The moment I saw you, I knew there was something so special about you. Please takes good care of yourself. I wants to see you again. Eru, please look after that precious little sweetie-pie. Please. Thank you."