Jai
I park near the music shop Simon recommended to Meg. He said they often rent from this place for studio recordings. I'm kind of curious to discover what she'll choose, to see her test them out. I was so incredibly impressed last night as she wrote that song and came up with the tune on the spot. I feel like every time she's given a task, she exceeds my expectations. I'm looking forward to actually hearing her play them and especially seeing the ones she's written.
I open the door for her to the shop. She smiles at me in thanks. I grin at her when she meets my eyes. She's so incredibly beautiful. God, I'm so in love with her. I sigh shakily as I step in behind her. Three more weeks...
We walk through the shop and it's mostly rows of electric and acoustic guitars lining the walls in the front of the building, with amps and miscellaneous items surrounding the area. I follow her as she passes them up walking toward the back. The selection up here is impressive and if we weren't here on an errand, I feel like I'd want to take a closer look at some of these, to play around a little. I glance at Meg and instead of looking at the instruments in the shop, she goes right up to the checkout and speaks to a clerk. That's probably for the best. I'd more than likely spend my time messing around initially but she's getting the task handled first. I walk behind her to hear part of their conversation.
"Sure, we rent to Capitol all the time," the salesman nods. "What are you looking for?"
"Here's my list," she says. She gives him a slip of paper with several things written on it. It looks like it was torn from my notebook and it probably was. I grin at that.
"A xylophone?" he asks smiling.
"Well, I can play the marimba, too, but those are huge and difficult to transport. I'd hate for it to get damaged," she replies.
He smiles and nods, showing her around. This shop is massive. He takes us back to a percussion section and shows her a variety of some hand drums. She sits down on a stool to play a few. I listen in as the salesman offers her different options. She starts out with a bongo—the small set of two little ones. She plays an incredible beat and I'm just in awe. I lean against the wall and observe her. I've never seen her play percussion like this before. I feel like I'm getting to know her more and more each day—me realizing her incredible skill.
Next, he sets another one before her—something called a djembe—and I saw something like that in Jamaica. The sound is the same as what I recollect. She stands and plays a conga but shakes her head, clearly not interested in that particular sound for this week. She sits on what the bloke calls a cajon box and she plays that pretty well. It makes several different sounds—rather interesting for a wooden box.
"I've never played this one before," she laughs. "But I've seen it done." She continues to play. "I like it," she nods. She chooses her selection of drums and the salesman writes up her options on an invoice. Megan joins my side for a moment smiling.
"Those are really nice," she tells me. "I wish they had a taiko drum but these are good. Maybe next time I go to Japan I'll look into a small one of those."
"What kind are they?" I ask curiously.
"Have you never seen that video game with the drums?" she questions. I shake my head. "Mikey has it. Maybe when we're in town, I can try to get him to play me."
I grin at that. I'd like to see her skill.
The salesman takes her over to the xylophones and I do see quite a variety of them—ranging from small to extremely large. I actually know nothing about them. Some are metal and some are wood. I see a huge display consisting of just the mallets to play with. She looks the mallets over first and examines them. She grasps several pairs. She walks over to a medium-sized wooden one and sets a few pairs of mallets aside. She plays a little from memory, then switches mallets. She plays the same melody again and I notice there's a slight difference. She does so for each set. Then, she moves on to another xylophone and does the same thing but sticks with the same mallets. I watch her try a few more instruments out. She selects one and shows him which mallets she wants. The clerk nods and adds them to the list explaining that Capitol had called and said to give her anything she wants, that she can use it for the whole week at the studio.
Megan smiles and shakes his hand thanking him. I do so as well. He leaves us but I assumed she wanted more. I ask her about that.
"The rest will be brought in by whoever Simon hired to play—either they'll bring their own, or they'll rent from here," she explains.
I nod. "So... which one is the marimba?" I ask since I don't know.
"This giant one," she says pointing to the biggest. There's only one like that.
"Do I get to hear you play?" I ask grinning. That thing is monstrous. I'm curious to hear what it sounds like.
She laughs and grabs two sets of mallets.
"You know I'm a band nerd, right?" she laughs.
"You're not a nerd at all," I disagree.
She grins anyway and holds all four mallets—two in each hand. I watch as she starts to play a very familiar tune. I know that I recognize it but I can't quite place from where. She actually plays quite a long song and several people start joining us, some recording her with their phones. I hear everyone whispering around me and I'm impressed that she has something like this committed to memory. Someone says they've seen four people do this on YouTube but never by just one.
"What is it?" one bloke asks.
"Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," another bloke responds.
I grin at her. She is a dag... but she's mine and I love it.
She finishes and several people clap for her. She chuckles and thanks them. The crowd dissipates somewhat but some of them are looking on hoping for more.
"What else do you play?" I ask her.
"The vibraphone and the glockenspiel," she shrugs.
"Which ones?" I laugh lightly. I'm almost tempted to tell her gesundheit teasingly.
"This one and this one," she points to two metal ones. One is about the size of the standing xylophone she chose, the other is slightly bigger than a child's toy—maybe double the size.
I request a demonstration. She agrees and plays something classical on the vibraphone. I actually recognize it—Canon in D. I've heard it at weddings... and I'm almost certain that's what she chose for our wedding. I smile thinking about it. She has lovely taste.
Next, she gives me the option on the little one of the National Anthem or her state's song. I notice those blokes from earlier are still recording. I choose her state song since I don't think the patriotic stuff is as widely loved here as her hometown. She plays. I've never heard this one before. It sounds reminiscent of a rock song on the xylophone and I can't keep the silly grin off my face. It's just as impressive that she can do this all from memory.
When she finishes, I notice the recording blokes clapping. She thanks them and they leave.
"So... what'd you think?" she asks me. She strides over and wraps her arms around my shoulders.
"Bonzer," I tell her smiling.
"I don't know that one," she whispers grinning as she looks me in the eyes.
"Excellent," I clarify.
"Thank you," she says softly before meeting my lips with hers. I responded in kind... and I'm absolutely in love with her.
We play a little with the guitars but she tells me she's happy with mine. I do like my own quite a bit but some of these are good, too. I don't need a second and she doesn't want one either but we have a blast playing around together at the music shop.