Southern Belle's Special Gift (3 page)

“They've got to make it,” Tanya said. “They've just got to.”

T
hat was great, kids,” Mrs. Chambers said at the digital piano in her living room. The Youth for Truth music group sat in a circle behind her. “This ensemble is getting better every week. You'll soon be ready for Carnegie!” She smiled at the group, then turned a few pages in a large black binder that she had posted on her piano rack.

“Aw, Mrs. Chambers, we're not nearly that good.” Robin Ward giggled, grasping the flute like the baseball bat she'd rather be swinging.

“Yeah,” Skye said, her eyes riveted on Chad who sat on the sofa adjusting the strings on his guitar. “The only part of Carnegie we'll ever see will be from the auditorium seats, lookin' up. But this ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' is so cool. I never thought in a zillion years that I'd like anything Bach wrote.”

Morgan held her flute with the same care she would a newborn baby. “There's so much awesome music that was written back then. You don't know how cool it is until you actually try to play it.”

“Yeah,” Bobby added. His chubby hand poked at wire-rimmed glasses that slid down on his nose. He wiped his hand over the top of his spiked brown hair, pretending to arrange it. “I like this kind of music, but maybe that's because my mother made me take lessons since I started breathing.”

The room filled with giggles and snickers.

Bobby, you're so lame!
Skye thought. Her glance bounced briefly to Bobby, then back to Chad.

“I've been taking lessons forever too,” Chad said, his dark brown eyes highlighting his wavy blond hair. “But I've always loved music. Any kind of music. Of course, my parents won't let me listen to the hard stuff. That doesn't bother me much, though. There's so much cool Christian music and other neat pieces, I don't care about rock and rap.” Just as his glance met Skye's, his dimples captured her heart.

Chad, you are so sweet,
she couldn't help thinking.
And you're so wise.

Melissa swept her fingers through her long blond curls. She grabbed a cloth from her case, removed her mouthpiece, and wiped out the barrel of the clarinet. “Some Christian kids get all bent out of shape ‘cause they can't listen to their favorite music. Well, duh! Some of that stuff is just plain gross. The words are, like, creepy! What are we gonna do next, Mrs. C.? And by the way, where's your new foster kid—isn't her name Tanya something?”

Skye glanced from Chad to Melissa. “It's Tanya Bell and she's from Philly. She's in her room.”

“How come?”

“She says she's a loner, and she hates just about everything but books.”

“Give her a little space, kids,” Mrs. Chambers said. “It's going to take awhile for her to get settled here. Robin, I'm very anxious for you to meet her. Maybe you can
become friends, since you're so outgoing. After practice, we'll see if we can get her out here to meet all of you.”

“Well, I did—sort of—meet her,” Robin said with a disgusted look.

“Maybe this time the queen will let you into her court,” Skye said, snickering.

“What was that?” Mrs. Chambers asked.

“Oh, nothing, Mom,” Skye answered. Pushing her long hair back from her face, she shot a glance at Chad, who was still playing with his guitar strings. She then looked at Mrs. Chambers. “Hey, Mom, can we try ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine'? Last week it almost sounded like a piece of music.”

“Yeah,” Bobby said. “Move over, Bach. It's time to do our thing! I bet if Bach ever heard us in concert, he'd turn over in his grave.”

The room burst with laughter.

“Bobby, you are so ridiculous!” Morgan laughed.

“Where would we be without him?” Robin giggled.

Mrs. Chambers smoothed the pages in her music book. “Okay, kids, dig out that praise tune. Oh, I forgot to tell you—Skye's violin teacher, Mr. Baker, has been working on a special upbeat arrangement of ‘Lord, Send Me Anywhere.' Do you think if we get started next week we can be ready to play that for the missions conference in April?”

“No way!” Morgan said, grinning.

“For real?” Skye beamed.

“You kids aren't as bad as you think,” Mrs. Chambers said, facing the group. “All it'll take is a little extra practice. Are you game?”

“Sure.” Chad's dimples flashed.

Robin flipped her pigtails back. “I'll just do a double practice on rainy days when the softball team is grounded. This sounds totally cool.”

“There's nothing that would make Pop happier than me campin' out in the basement with my trumpet,” Bobby said. “That way the walls downstairs will go out of their mind. But he won't.”

Everyone laughed again.

By now, Mrs. Chambers' blue eyes were sparkling. “Well, this is great. If you want to go for it, I'll tell Pastor Newman to put you in the program for the conference. Of course, now you need an official name. So how shall we introduce this infamous group to the world?”

“Well, we're all part of the Youth for Truth church group,” Melissa said. “Can't we use that somehow?”

“Hey, I got it!” Skye said. “Mom used the word ‘ensemble' before. Why don't we just say the Youth for Truth Ensemble?”

“Yeah, I like that,” Chad said. “That sounds very professional.”

Everyone agreed.

“The Youth for Truth Ensemble it is,” Mrs. Chambers said before turning back to the keyboard. “Okay, everyone, ready with this next piece? I'll use the harpsichord setting. We'll take it real slow the first time. I mean, really, really slow. We'll do double time when you know your parts better.”

They all prepped their instruments.

“And I'm not goin' flat at the end this time,” Skye declared, carefully positioning her bow.

Mrs. Chambers counted, “Then on four…one and two and three and four…” and the group played their hearts out.

Snyder County's ears never had it so good,
Skye mused, sliding her bow gracefully across the strings. She smiled, pretending she and Chad were on center stage at Carnegie with thousands of people cheering them on. She turned to her last page, her foot keeping 4/4 time with the
rest of the group. Carefully, she slid into the last chord and held it for the eight slowing beats.

“Hey, I did it!” she said. “I didn't flat on the ending!”

“Way to go, Skye,” Chad yelled.

Mrs. Chambers smiled at the group. “You're getting it, gang. Morgan and Robin, you're both doing better on those triplets. Now, that's the way!” Her eyes darted to the arched entrance into the living room. “Well, hi, Tanya. How long have you been standing there?”

Everyone looked at Tanya.

Tanya crossed her arms and leaned up against the archway. “I just came in. I've been listening in my bedroom—I couldn't help it. The walls were dancing! But I've never heard such cool music. What was that you just played? And the one before it?”

Melissa rose from her chair next to Morgan. “That was a praise chorus we're learning for our missions conference.”

Skye slid onto the sofa next to Chad and then looked at Tanya. “And the other one was ‘Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' by Bach. My music teacher arranged these with more of an upbeat. Aren't they cool?”

“You mean that was classical and religious music?” Tanya's mouth fell open. “I thought all that stuff was for elevators and funerals. Of course, I've never really listened to it.”

Mrs. Chambers pivoted toward Tanya. “Why don't you join us? I'd like you to meet everyone.” She pointed, starting at her left. “Bobby Noll on trumpet, Chad Dressler on guitar, and you know Skye plays the violin. Melissa Richards plays the clarinet, and Morgan and Robin Ward each play flute. They're all better known as the world-famous Youth for Truth Ensemble. They start their tour of Europe next week.”

Giggles intermingled with a barrage of hellos. “Yeah, right,” Skye joked. “Not in this lifetime.”

“Do you play an instrument, Tanya?” Melissa asked.

“Yeah,” Bobby added. “We could always use a tuba.”

The room exploded in laughter.

“He's just kidding,” Morgan said. “But, for real, do you play one?”

Tanya shifted her weight and leaned against the wall again. “Nah. When I was little, Mother wanted me to take piano lessons, but I just wanted to listen to music, not play it. I guess if I had to choose, I'd rather just sing.”

“Well, it's never too late to learn,” Mrs. Chambers said. “Why don't you come over here and sit next to me while we finish practicing. If you'd like, just sing along. Most of these pieces have words to them.”

“Nah—I'm not into that kind of stuff,” Tanya said.

“Ah, c'mon. It's awesome,” Skye said.
Maybe this will get her out of her bedroom.

“Hey,” Bobby added, “for now you can clap to the beat. We need some percussion anyway.”

Everyone laughed. Tanya gave a half-smile. “Well…”

Mrs. Chambers stood. “Please, Tanya. Sit here on the right side of the bench, and you can watch everything I do. I can always use a page turner.”

“Yeah. C'mon,” everyone chorused.

“Oh, all right,” Tanya huffed. “Just this once.”

F
or the umpteenth time, school is school!” Tanya snapped when Skye asked her how she was doing with new classes at Madison.

The three girls sat in the Chambers' game room late one Saturday morning, all lined up at the computers along the wall. Brilliant sunlight beamed through two high windows on the wall while the wooden entrance door rattled from the sharp February wind outside.

Skye wrestled with a controller, attacking “Superfly,” her favorite motorcycle game. “Hey, are you two gonna make the honor roll? I've been workin' my head off to get a B in history. Then I'll make it.”

Morgan had her eyes glued to the screen while she played Battleship online. “Zowie! Down goes your destroyer. You're sunk, Margie44, whoever you are.” She glanced briefly at Skye and Tanya—then looked back at the game. “I have one minor problem before I get on the honor roll. It depends on what Mrs. Price gives me on my speech this Thursday. If I get a B in English, I'll make it.”

Tanya relaxed in her chair, calmly moving her mouse button as she read something on the screen. “Well, if you
two have to know, I've got straight A's right now. School's no problem for me. Studying for tests is a piece of cake. Hey, you should see the neat stuff I found out on the Web about mares and foals. There's tons of stuff here about how to care for them.”

Skye put her whole body into working the controller. “Get back on the road, you idiot!” she yelled at the screen. Somehow, although engrossed in her game, she picked up Tanya's words. “Mom and Dad have all kinds of books upstairs about breeding. They've been into horses for years. Just ask them what you want to know.”

“I'd rather find out myself,” Tanya said smugly. “But I will ask to borrow their books. And the next time we go to the mall, I'm going to buy out the horse section of the bookstore. I have to help Belle and her baby make it through this. I just have to.”

“What's with you and this horse?” Morgan said, never glancing away from the screen. “It's like you're big time obsessed with her or something. When you first came, you said you hated horses, and now all of a sudden, Belle can't burp without you goin' crazy.”

Tanya looked at Morgan. “Horses burp?”

“She's just kidding!” Skye said. “You'd better do lots of reading about horses. You need it.” Skye's game came to a musical end, and she started another round. “Hey, Tanya, have you tried to call your Aunt Barb yet?”

“Nah, maybe tomorrow,” Tanya said, eyes returning to the screen. “Oh, this stuff is really cool. It shows a foal being born and everything. It tells exactly what to do to help the mare. I'm going to print this out so I have it when the time comes.”

Skye spoke with a scolding tone. “Didn't Mom say at supper last night that you were definitely supposed to call your aunt today?”

“Hey, get this, Skye, and get it good. I'll call her when I'm good and ready.”

“Tanya, you're gonna get it big time from Mom when she finds out. We're trying to help you.”

“Don't say we didn't warn you,” Morgan added. “And don't play little Miss Innocence when Mrs. C. faces you on her terms.”

“Yeah, and this would be a bad time to get yourself grounded,” Skye said. “Your parents are coming to see you next Saturday, aren't they? How would you explain that to them?”

“Will you two just cut it out?” Tanya's tone was sharp. “I wouldn't have to explain anything because they'd both know it wasn't be my fault. Nothing is ever my fault. So there!”

“And another thing,” Skye insisted, “don't get all out of sorts over Belle's new baby. Doc Gonzalez—and Mom and Dad—will be here when it's born. They'll give Belle the best of care.”

Morgan took her hand off the mouse, relaxed back into her wheelchair, and then giggled. “Four games of Battleship is enough for me. I feel a little seasick. Maybe I'll play a few games of Scrabble, just to get my brain out of water limbo.”

“Hey, down there!” Mrs. Chambers yelled from the top of the stairs. “Lunch is ready. After we eat, Tanya, we can have a voice lesson for a while, if you'd like!”

“Be right there!” Skye answered.

Mrs. Chambers yelled again, “Morgan, do you want Mr. C. to help you with the chair lift, or do you want to go outside and come up the ramp?”

“I'll come up outside, Mrs. C.,” Morgan said. “There's no ice or snow out there now, so I won't slide to Antarctica.”

“Okay,” Mrs. C. said. “I'll put the casserole out.”

“Casserole. Not again!” Tanya complained. “Whatever happened to steak and baked potatoes?”

“Unreal,” Skye said, gently placing her hand on Tanya's shoulder. “Keystone Stables' budget doesn't allow steak three times a week like you're used to.”

Tanya pulled away. “Well, even once a week would be a break from the other trash I have to eat!”

After lunch, Mrs. Chambers and Tanya headed to the living room for Tanya's first voice lesson. Mr. Chambers went downstairs to his computer store/office in the basement, and Skye and Morgan got busy clearing off the table.

“Hey, Mom,” Skye yelled, “can we sit in there and read while you two do your music thing? You know, ‘girl' time?”

“That's up to Tanya,” Mrs. Chambers answered. “Some kids get nervous when other people listen to them practice.”

“That won't bother me in the least,” Tanya yelled from the living room. “If they want to jeopardize their hearing, that's entirely up to them.”

Mrs. Chambers added, “I certainly hope you girls weren't planning to do homework. It won't be very quiet.”

Morgan turned the dishwasher on and headed toward the living room. “Nah, my homework's done. I'm reading this really neat book about the first seeing eye dog.”

The wheelchair led the parade with Skye, Tippy, and Tyler following. Morgan parked by an end table, and Skye flopped on the sofa. The dogs found comfortable spots on the floor.

“Yeah, my homework won't take long,” Skye said. “All I have to do is finish a report on Afghanistan. I'll do that later in my room. I'm reading this really cool story about a deaf boy who gets lost in the wilderness.”

“Okay,” Mrs. Chambers said. “Then all I ask of you two is no talking. Tanya needs to concentrate.”

“No problem,” Skye said, opening her book.

“My lips are zipped.” Morgan giggled and then pulled her hand across her mouth.

Mrs. Chambers sat on the right side of the bench with Tanya sitting next to her. “Now let's pray and ask the Lord to help you do your best. Then we'll review your first scales.”

Mrs. Chambers said a short prayer, and then Skye and Morgan started reading. Skye's mind drifted in and out of her book while catching all the action at the piano.
Tanya, you can be so cool when you want to be,
she thought.

Mrs. Chambers switched on the digital piano. “Now remember, Tanya, singing or playing any instrument is a gift from God. I'm so glad you're willing to try. Just have patience with yourself. You won't master it overnight. I've been playing the piano for years.”

“Can I try singing that neat song you all were playing the other night?” Tanya asked. “I think it was ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine.' ”

“That will all come soon enough,” Mrs. Chambers said. “For now you need to learn how to handle your voice and how to hit certain notes in beginner's scales. Once we figure out your range, then we can start with some simple praise tunes. Now, let's see you sit nice and straight and use your diaphragm to breathe. Okay, let's try the C scale.”

Just as Tanya began, Skye's and Morgan's eyes met. Both girls smiled, and Skye gave a thumbs-up sign.

“Very good,” Mrs. Chambers said to Tanya. “Now try your G scale slowly. You might not know this, young lady, but God has given you a beautiful voice. And you're picking up these scales beautifully.”

“This is surprising me too,” Tanya said. “I just never sang much. There was nothing to sing about.” She went up and down her G scale.

“Good, Tanya,” Mrs. Chambers said. “Now try it three more times. And don't tense up. That strains your voice, and you'll screech like a barn owl. Take it easy,” Mrs. Chambers said lightly. “Enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be fun.”

“Okay,” Tanya said, repeating the scale. “That's cool,” she said when she was finished.

“Tanya, I'd like to hear you sing something simple out of my book. I suppose since you've never gone to church much, you don't know any hymns or praise tunes, do you?” Mrs. Chambers asked.

“Not really,” Tanya said. “But I really liked that one the group did during their practice. One thing I am good at is remembering how something sounds. Can we try that one?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Skye interjected. “Let her try ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine.' I know you have the words there.”

“We can help by singing along—that is, if Tanya needs a backup group,” Morgan said, giggling.

Mrs. Chambers turned sharply toward Skye “You are supposed to be reading, young lady.” Then she looked at Morgan and smiled. “You too!”

“Oops, sorry,” Morgan said and then lightly slapped her hand across her mouth.

“Sorry,” Skye added.

Mrs. Chambers turned to the piano, then back toward the girls. “Aw, that's all right, girls. If Tanya doesn't mind, you two can join in. With her beautiful soprano voice, maybe we can work up some kind of trio for the missions conference as well. What do you say, Tanya?”

“Cool,” Tanya said, “even though it will be in church.”

Skye flopped her book on the sofa and stood behind Tanya. While Mrs. Chambers flipped through her chorus book, Morgan parked to the right of the bench.

“Let's see, ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine.' Here it is, girls, and it's written in three-part harmony,” Mrs. Chambers said.
“With the range of your voices, this should work out very nicely. Now, Tanya, you just sing the melody.”

“Okay,” Tanya said. “This is so cool.”

Skye nudged Morgan in the shoulder, giving her another thumbs-up sign and a big, wide smile.