Just Rigby - A Marching Band Story

Songs In The Moonlight

***

When it's a clear night like tonight, I like to wake up before dawn and slip out my bedroom window and sit on the roof. It's perfect for some alone time. I like to look up at the sky and just think. This last year, I've been out here more and more.

The sky is dark. The stars are like billions of tiny Christmas lights strung all across the sky. A meteor streaks overhead with a faint hiss and sizzle. I see them often on summer mornings before the sun comes up. They make me think of Mom.

Maybe she's somewhere out there, across the universe, in a better place, smiling down at me.

It's been a long two days since the water bottle incident. Taura is ok. She looks like she's been in an MMA fight, but other than some swelling and a little bruising under her eyes, she'll be fine.

She hasn't said much to me. But I can sense that something is rumbling under the surface there. I'm a little worried that she'll cook up some cruel and unusual punishment for me. I'm not going to lie, I've been looking over my shoulder.

Taura knows that the bottle thing was an accident, but it was MY bottle and I didn't do anything to help her. She saw my contentment in her pain. That's probably worse than just outright throwing a punch.

Another meteor streaks across the sky. I pull out my phone and plug in my headphones. I push play and Moonlight Sonata starts.

How appropriate.

It's one of the first classical songs I learned on piano. Beethoven. It's one of his most recognizable pieces besides the famous symphonies he composed. In my history class, we briefly talked about western music. You can't talk about the Romantic Era of music and art without mentioning Beethoven.

As a pianist, he changed the way composers wrote for piano. As a composer, he pushed the boundaries of the era before him, the Classical Era. Without Beethoven, you wouldn't have the Romantic Era which gave us music that was much more intense and passionate.

The Moonlight Sonata is dark and melancholy. It's simple and full of deep emotion. There is a passion in the notes that you can't find listening to the radio today. I'll never understand how composers can fill a song with such feeling. Every time I hear this sonata, I want to cry. I guess, because of my connection to Mom, the song is more of an emotional experience than just another pop tune on a playlist.

Lightning flashes in the distance and a few seconds later I hear a far-off rumble. Summertime lightning storms are pretty common here. But the timing is surreal.

My heart aches.

Sometimes it feels like there is a thunderstorm inside my chest. I cry a little, but I don't really know how to get it out. Part of me wants to go to the piano and just play...but it just doesn't feel right. Too many memories.

My phone vibrates with a text notification.

It's Chewie. Love that kid.

"its early i know. was thinking about u. jus wanted to c if u were ok"

I text back that I'm fine. He wants to know if Taura had said or done anything. I text him back that she hasn't but that I'm worried that she might try to murder me with her flip folder.

"lol. u cray cray." he replies.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about his text vocabulary. It's almost like he's a 13-year-old girl with a new phone. But I love that he takes the time to check on me. I ask him what he's doing up so early. He says that he couldn't sleep and that he is watching Beatle's remix videos on Youtube.

He's always trying to impress me with anything Beatles. He knows that I love the Fab Four. He's a great friend. The kind you always want around. I'm thankful for him. Without Chewie I think I really would be alone. I mean, sure, I'm surrounded by over a hundred other people in the band who probably think of me like a weird step sibling or something. But even in that band family, I think the way I'm wired keeps me quietly taking it all in.

It's not that I don't feel like I'm a part. I do. I think I just have such a hard time with the chaos of the crowd. It drains me. The times I can come out here by myself, looking up into the sky into the bigness of the night, I recharge. It's like the only way for me to feel like I'm being energized, is to withdraw away from people. I guess dad is right...I'm a total introvert.

Chewie's face pops up on my phone as it vibrates to let me know he's calling. I accept and hear that he's got me on speakerphone. The noise in the background is hard to make out.

"What are you listening to, Chew?"

It sounds like a robot, a computer and an old record player got together to make some music. I recognize John Lennon's voice in the song Imagine, but the rest is hard to make out. Seriously, some things are better left as is.

"It's dub step, Rigs." Chewie is proud of his YouTube remix discovery.

I laugh out loud. "Chew, you gotta leave that stuff alone. It's bad for your soul!"

Although his taste in music is questionable, his timing is perfect. I need a laugh and he's usually the one that makes me chuckle.

"Chew, I gotta go, but I'll see you at camp Monday morning bright and early."

I hang up.

Down below, in the light of the streetlight, a shiny black sedan drives by slowly. I've never seen this car before. It's a nice ride. I instinctively shrink as low as I can against the rooftop, but they can't see me up here. There's usually not much activity at this time of morning around here. It's probably somebody's mom or dad off to catch an early business flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Off in the distance, the lightning continues to light up some dark clouds. A few seconds later thunder rumbles in response. I feel flutters in my stomach as I turn the Moonlight Sonata back on. I need to go back inside. But for a few seconds, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, inhaling the promise of a new day that lingers in the pre-dawn air.

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