SING:

Love ain´t no Crime!

Chapter 51: What we can create together!

Rosita´s Pov:

One thing I could say with every right was the fact that I was damn exhausted after I finally came back from school with my Children.

Caring for 60 children making them listening to their favorite music to inspire them and show them how many different styles of music existed and that the genres and difficulties in them varied to a hundred maybe even a thousand.

Some of the kids like the newer music, like Pop and Hip-hop some even liked the rap.

Others had taken a liking in rock and in jazz, classic and Gospel.

About 5 or 6 of the students even admitted to listen to metal and Hardrock.

Yes the music the kids listened varied much but one thing was for sure, music was listened in every of their household.

As we came to the question of what they had learned by now, they came with the same answer I had given when I was their age.

Fozart, Bedhaven and other musicians which have died since over centuries.

To be honest I do not understand it, sure their music might still be masterpieces and they are much listened today, but other than that, the centuries after them had born just as famous musicians, BABA, James Blue, Princess, Tina Burner.

You got Three-Bag and Leminlem for the Rap lovers, Michael Paxton as the king of Pop.

Malvis Parsley as the king of Rock and Roll, Eel C./Dicey as one of the most famous Hard Rock Band, next to Hiss.

Hell you even had Daywish and Mystica as the most famous Symphonic Metal band there is, real pioneers.

It was really a shame that you don´t hear anything about them in school-music-lessons, after all even Folzart, Bedhaven, Lake and Fopin and god knows who else, had only been animals, not gods.

It didn´t mattered who it was in the end, as long as you found someone good, it could become your favorite artist for decades, so why keep going with people who are dead since over 2 centuries, when our times from the 20´s on have brought some remarkable Songwriters and artist themselves, take Franky Sonata..., or, Mère.

I didn´t understood it back in my youth and I still don´t understand it today.

Sure their music was good, but do we really want to transform our children in Opera-goers, the teacher in school act just as if Classic was the only `real´ music out there.

I asked the kids why they never suggested Mrs. Hepburn to teach them about other genres.

She apparently shall have said just that, that other genres could just rot in a corner and that classic was the only true music out there.

She shall have said that nowadays anything which happened in the music-world was just louder, faster and without consistence..., seriously, what a narrowminded point of view, at least in my opinion.

I had to admit, in a way I did agreed with her, nowadays you see more blank butts in music videos than in the 60´s or the 80´s and every 5th word consist out of words, which shall only slip out of your mouth during sexual intercourse or when you are totally frustrated.

But that did not mean that other genres had no messages to give to you either.

My favorite song was Fireworks from Kitty Purry and it gave the message that no matter who you are, you just have to love yourself and make others see your good qualities too, it didn´t mattered if you were short or tall, slim or plumb, smart or average, rich or poor.

If you always only wear a mask infront of other people no one will ever love you the way you really are.

"But how in the world shall I make the kids see that many songs hold such messages, they only listen to music because it sounds good of because they find the artist cute, be it male or female, the least of them listen to music due to the messages of the song itself.

And until the end of this week, we had to make them love music enough, to get the drive to learn those 6 songs they had to sing in the Concert?" I asked myself this question as I made my way towards the Calatonia Elementary school with my own kids in the car.

After getting a little preview yesterday, of what great problems were to come at us, I was not so sure nor so optimistic anymore as I had been at the beginning, many of the students had long lost their passion for music and it would be hard to give it back them.

Mrs. Hepburn really made a great job in destroying that little joy which students had in school, after asking the Principal how many Students actually had chosen or even succeeded in a music lesson, he said that from about 13.000 students in all 3 grades, Elementary, Junior High and Highschool, only 200 received good notes in the last year, or even exceled in it, that claim really frightened me.

Same as Edith I hated the thought of failing, but here it was more due to my own Pride.

After all I told Mrs. Hepburn that I would triumph over her, so I could not lose my heart right now, if Gunther could make me dance freely again, then I could make these kids sing with vigor, passion and joy.

At least I was not alone in this and we did not had to do it in a suffocating classroom, where there stood big portraits of famous Classical Musicians, looking down on us with faces full of scorn due to us talking bad of them.

Thanks to the agreement of the Principal and Buster, were we able to take the lessons, which took half of the schooldays plus 3 additional hours, towards our theater.

There I wanted to show the kids what it meant to stand on a stage before many people.

After all I didn´t wanted them to freeze once they stand on the stage on Saturday.

We had only 4 days left to train

"Will we succeed?" I asked myself, as I saw the gates of the School and saw my friends standing infront of it, winking at me, after i droppe dthe kids off to school and sat myself in a free parking lot.

"It will be fine..., after all it are only 6 songs..., right?!" I stated, oh If only I knew how much I miscalculated that, after all it were 6 songs which the Kids knew by now.

Ash´s Pov:

As Johnny and I managed to walk up to the Gates of the Elementary school-ground, Gunther and Meena stood already infront of them, which was strange since Meena was supposed to still have school, unless i missed something.

"Hey guys, how´s it hanging!" I asked them as we came closer.

"Everything alright on my side, it couldn´t be any better..., sure my Car is in reparation, after it suddenly didn´t started anymore once I brought Johanna back home and therefore I had to spent the night at her house on her couch, but overall the week so far has been perfect!" Gunther stated with the biggest grin ever.

It was more than evident that the dysfunctionality of his car came as a sign from heaven to him, as a gift from god.

"We talked until late in the night and she even slept in on my lap, it was the best night in a long time." He rambled on, overjoyed.

"And how about you Meena, how did your date go?" I asked her.

"It was perfect, after the day at the Amusement park, he took me out to dinner in an Italian restaurant, I tell you, the Spinach pizza tasted so good, better than the frozen ones you find in the super market!" Meena stated swooning.

"And Michael was so sweet, like a real Gentleman, he opened the door for me to walk in first, he even pulled the Chair for me to sit upon!" She stated blushing red and all I could feel was happiness for her.

"Well he seemed to be quite a nice guy back as I met him yesterday, glad to hear that he is not a prick!" I stated and she nodded.

"I still remember as I fell in love with him, it was in school, as he once again defended me from being pushed around by some of the older students, as I looked in his eyes I saw true concern and it just took my breath away, that he constantly asked for my wellbeing was just so sweet..., he even called me gorgeous, back then as he saw me singing on the rooftop, well i did run away in embarrassment but still...!" Meena explained.

"Sounds really like a love story!" Johnny stated.

"Speaking of School, don´t you have school today as well?!" A voice asked behind us.

"Nathan, it´s good to see you, did you have had a great time on the concert yesterday?!" I asked him.

"Indeed, Rose loved it and she was really excited as I told her about it, but back to the subject, Meena, I hope you did not just skipped school for this today?!" Nathan asked Meena with a strict tone of a father.

"Of course not..., actually, I was assigned officially by my Music teacher and the two principals, of the Highschool and the Principal of the Elementary school, to help Rosita out, if I do that I would not have to help the rest of the Class with the preparations we had to take.

It was hard choosing, but in the end my friends and even Michael told me to go for it!" Meena explained as she showed us her authorization, black and white on paper with the School emblem and a signature of two people.

"I see, glad to see that you don´t become a deliquent who begins to skip school to amuse herself." Nathan mumbled.

"No fear, I am no rule breaker, even if some people think that, I just don´t run with my special authorizations around like others might do, I do it discrete, maybe that´s the reason why I had so much problems with the upper classmen who were jealous of me.

But if I would swing around with it, pushing it in everyone's face, I bet that soon the whole school would hate me, am I right!?" Meena explained before shrugging over her own questions.

"In the end it´s my life, I am not obligated to make it right for anyone." She mumbled as she looked up to the school.

"Oh you guys are here already, that´s good, I thought we were the only ones who got time!" The unmistakable voice of Manuel stated from behind us, where he stood with his brother.

"Guys, how is it, you really rocked the stage yesterday!" I stated an Johnny nodded eagerly.

"Well I hope we did, but it was also thanks to Gunther and his men that the event was a success, if it weren't for him and Johanna, we would have to cancel the dancers, and even with good music, it´s nothing if you don´t have someone to start dancing, to pull everyone in, so thanks again man!" The two of them thanked Gunther who waved off.

"It was nothing and believe me when I say, that that I was able to dance again with Johanna, was reward enough, damn she has some real hot moves in store.

I just cannot imagine what went through Harvey´s mind as he decided to leave her, I just don´t get it!" Gunther explained.

"I can imagine, she must be a wonderful woman, after all she gave birth to her four children which each are friends of my children as well, it kind of surprised me as Rose spoke with her on Sunday after the shows, as if they were old friends!" Nathan explained and Gunther nodded.

"She is indeed, a real Angel!" Gunther replied.

"So anyways, has anyone of you seen Rosita, already, I mean she was the one to have called us, maybe we are too early?" I asked the others.

"Not sure where she might be, but the lesson starts at 12 to 19 with an hour of break between, making it two 1 hour-breaks for the Children.

Means that we have to plan 6 hours full of lessons to get these kids to sing like a choir on Saturday, which means we only have 4 days to teach them.

Seriously, from what I read in Rosita's message, it´s quite clear that the old Teacher, Mrs. Hepburn, totally messed up in teaching those kids the joy of performing.

From apparently 60 children, only 20 are able to modestly sing the songs, the other 40 have close to no clue nor even the drive to actually sing at all.

Even Violet stated that the class in overall has much problems because so many different kinds of musical interests are coming together and no one wants to just sing in one single style all the time, all the 16 songs which are apparently required from their old Teacher.

By now the children have only learned about 6 of them, and well as I said, only 20 students out of 60 can sing them at all!" Gunther explained and we sighed in frustration.

With that layout it was bound to get hard to make these kids sing so many songs in less than 4 days.

"Say who required these songs..., the Principal, the school, who was it?!" Maurice asked.

"Well as much as I heard was it the schools which had decided to have 3 classes of 3 different grades with each 20 students, each class is supposed to sing 5 songs and in the end, one final song shall be sung together, makes a total of 16 songs.

I am to act as lead singer of the Highschool class which is supposed to participate, after one of us had to go to the hospital due to food poisoning.

Also due to most of the school knowing now, that I am a Songstress, it was bound to happen I would say!" Meena explained to us.

"Originally it was thought that the entire choir should only be made out of Elementary students, but then, since the Festival is already made by the three Grades together, Elementary, Junior High and Highschool, it was decided that they shall participate in the concert together.

But I think the major problem does not only lie by the music, the songs required as well as the will to sing, its more the mentality of the students, the Elementary students fear to be inferior to the Highschool students, and the Highschool students have no drive to sing and practice together with the elementary students, the Junior high on the other hand would love to just do their own thing.

At least that´s what my Principal told me as he asked of me to do it that way.

Yesterday, apparently, Rosita shall have tried to get an overlook of the Elementary students.

And in the end, in the middle of the week, she shall weed out 20 students, who excel in the music-lesson, to perform in the concert, if they succeed they get good grades, it's like a last exam to them..., the rest of them shall apparently be graded in their doing from the entire year so far, means that if they did good they suceeed, if they did bad, they fail

I´m thought not sure that Rosita actually is aware of all the requirements, especially the weeding-out of the students, I mean the details have been discussed in last second, after Mrs. Hepburn left the school to take her vacation, rather forcefully as I have heard.

Unfortunately was she the only real teacher of Music in all the three grades, which had the needed experience for it, which means that the others are more replacement teachers from other lessons, like math-teachers and language teachers and so on..., as long as they could sing or play an instrument they were used for that, logically thanks to an increase in their income.

But calling them professionals would go way too far.

ther eis only one new music teacher at the school and she is barely a year at work.

In short that means that the overall musical-skill of all of these participating students is quite low, in all the grades, they just never had a proper and interesting music-lesson, in all their years!" She continued to explain and we were quite buff to hear that.

"So you say that we have to train these few classes and then weed out 60 students from all three grades, which shall then perform, while the rest of them is just going to be evaluated by their former evaluations, how unfair is that, I think each of them should have had the same chance!" I stated and Meena nodded.

"Each grade throws 3 classes with 20 students in the competition and as I said, by Wednesday, the 20 students of each grade have to be chosen!" Meena went further on.

"Means that, if I assume right and can trust in Rosita´s words, the elementary students who know how to sing the songs have already been chosen more or less, after all she wrote that basically only 20 children can sing 6 songs of the required 16, out of the 60 students she had in her class yesterday.

Means that Mrs. Hepburn had already weeded them out and abandoned the rest, so why giving the rest of them still the illusion of passing their grade in this lesson, if they excel in a concert in which they might not even participate at all?" Gunther asked.

"Fricking psychology-games, if you make them think that they still have a chance, they will do their most possible to succeed, in the end, when the 20 are chosen, the teacher will look at whose of the rest who still gave an effort to try, despite not being chosen beforehand without them knowing, these few will succeed..., while the rest who had already given up before the competition really started, will fail completely!" Nathan explained and we all looked at him in awe.

"When you work as a janitor in the school for years you hear much things, most of them aren't even aware of you anymore, when you mop the floor in the same room, they just ignore you, not believing that you actually listen to any single word they say.

It´s the same with Taxi drivers, a friend of me from Junior high drives one, he says that he often hears the biggest scandals in his taxi, just because the guests think they are in private and unheard, they forget you completely.

It´s the skill to fade into the background, but in reality be more conscious to certain happenings, than others think!" Nathan stated.

"But one thing I tell you, I will not let my Children fail just because Mrs. Hepburn never gave them a real chance.

From what Richard told me, has she already begun to focus on those 20 children long before the competition started, just as if she knew about it since the beginning of the year, if that is true, than she never really cared of helping her other students at all!" Nathan explained and in his eyes I could see iron determination and a fire which burned within, like in a locomotive.

"If that´s true she truly is a witch, luckily I never had her in my lesson.

I got always the rreplacement teachers and for this year Miss Jessica Colbart as a Music-teacher, the new one i told you about, and she is really supportive of her students, she was it who asked the Principal for permission, to give me access to the rooftop of the Highschool building, to practice singing during the Noon-breaks and when I was in the mood, she evluated me up there, that´s why i might still be able to pass this lesson with success.

She did that since I always got so nervous and sheer panicked, so much that I didn´t get one single word out, when I was supposed to sing before other people..., I was at the brink of total desparation about it, but she easily saw that I loved singing so much so she gave me that opportunity.

I guess that's where the School-legend of the Noon-break-Concert originated from.

Until the Show half a year ago, only my closest friends, Mandy, Kino and Catherine as well as Michael, who once sneaked up and saw me in the act, knew about it, but now ever since that night, of course the whole School knows it!" Meena stated with a happy face.

"Apparently Miss Colbart shall accompany us today, so that at least one professional Music-teacher is present, for assurance sake, since we are unpaid supply teachers!" She continued.

"I think I heard my name?!" A voice stated behind us and I saw Meena´s eyes lighting up.

"Miss Colbart!" She shouted in pure joy, as she rushed past us towards her teacher, a tall and busty brown Heifer with large horns, from the looks she seemed half Danish half American.

"Well hello there Miss Kumara, it´s nice to see you being up to the task, I think the other students should come shortly now too, they are supposed to wait in the Gymhall.

As much as I know, we shall already discuss how to do things for the rest of the week, with Mrs. Ford..., by the way where is she?!" Miss Colbart explained before she looked around for Rosita.

"I´m sorry, here I am, I was just dropping off my children and parking the car in the Parking lot!" A voice behind us stated, as Rosita appeared from within the School-grounds, running at us.

"Good grief where you running all the way here?!" Gunther asked as he gave her a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat on her forehead.

"Well yeah, didn´t wanted to come too late on my second day.

Still I really appreciate that all of you came today, I admit as average as I am as mother, would it still be hard for me to care for 60 children!" Rosita stated and so also confirmed Meena´s fears.

"Surely you must jest!" Miss Colbart stated unsure if Rosita was joking or not.

"Sorry..., but do I know you...,and what do you mean by that?" Rosita asked confused.

"Oh I´m sorry, I am Jessica Colbart, Music-Teacher for the Highschool Grades, since this year in service.

About what I mean, with 60 children surely you mean the Elementary students you had supervised yesterday, but did you honestly think that would have been all the students which are to be evaluated.

My Dear Mrs. Ford, I think you believe in quite the big Mistake here!" Miss Colbart stated.

"I´m sorry but I still don´t understand what you mean?!" Rosita asked but i sa wher sweating more and more and her hands trembling as the gears in her brain put the puzzle together, piece for piece.

"Wait..., Rosita..., has really no one told you about it?!" Meena asked confused and equally shocked.

"Told me what..., c´mon guys tell me what´s going on, what´s the big deal?" Rosita asked still confused, looking at us.

"Rosita, I beg you not to panic nor pass out..., but we are about to encounter 180 children from 3 grades, 60 students of Elementary school, Junior Highschool and Highschool each!" Meena explained and Rosita gulped and stared in confusion, put evidently paled much.

"But the Principal said that I only have to make 60 students sing in the Concert..., why are there suddenly 120 students more?" She asked unsure, her voice higher than usal.

"Have you actually listened to what the Principal said?" Miss Colbart asked with strictness but also worry and concern.

"As I said, to me he only said that I would have to make 60 students sing nothing more nothing less..., although, I was kind of in a state of shock, I mean after all I was suddenly assigned to care for so many students...!" Rosita stated and so we took it upon us to explain things to her, the poor woman almost fainted as she heard what really was going on.

"..., So you are saying that there are actually 180 students, 9 classes with 20 students each and that we have to choose 20 from each grade coming to a total of 60 students which shall perform in the concert?!" Rosita asked after she sat down.

"Indeed!" Meena responded to her question.

"So that means that we have 2 classes out of each grade which will not make the cut, we have to tell 120 students that they failed the last exam and that their overall grade in Music lesson depends solely on how they were rated over the entire year, the last three trimesters?" Rosita asked further and I really could undesrstand her pain.

20 children, which were 5 less than her own children, even so, was it highly impossible for her to let only those twenty children be of her family.

It was more likely that 5 of her children would succeed while the other 15 children were consisting out of each of the three elementary classes.

But that would mean that she has to tell 20 of her own children that they might have failed that lesson and some of them really needed these points to not fail and have to repeat the year.

For a mother like Rosita, who loves her children over anything, was it most likely the greatest horror to have to tell the own children that they failed.

If it were as she believed only 60 Elementary students which were to perform she would have done her best to bring all of these 60 students to succeed, no matter what.

But now her hopes had been crushed in the most brutal way.

And unfortunately for her had none of us any kind of way to comfort her, as she said so herself..., she was the one who brought this mess upon herself.

"So 180 children, out of them we have to select 60 children , 20 of each grade and each of these grades will have to sing 5 songs making it a total of 15 songs while a last one will be sung by all of them, am I correct?" She asked after a while of thinking about her own misery.

"Indeed!" Miss Colbart confirmed.

"Alright then I know what to do.., I don´t know for you guys, but I will select these 60 children for the concert, that´s for sure..., but different as expected from me, will I not make any of the rest fail.

If all of them give a real effort in trying to be one of those performing in the end, then I will not let them fail, true effort has to be rewarded, not punished!" Rosita stated.

"Yeah to be honest I was also not fond of that Idea, but since 3 Principals had already made their plans together it was hard for one single teacher to do much, especially since I am only here since about a year!" Miss Colbart explained in embarrassment.

"So how does this concert even looks like, where is the venue, how are we supposed to select these 60 students and what about the music, will there be a simple sound system or an Orchestra playing?!" I asked and Johnny next to me nodded.

"Yeah that would be nice to know beforehand I guess!" He stated having gotten the idea of what I was planning.

"Well actually there was the School orchestra-club being planned to perform, unfortunately they do not have enough members to build up a full-fledged big Orchestra this year, they have only 30 students, 10 out of each grade with different levels of skills, if nothing happens it might not be there anymore in the next year!

In the end the Principals simply decided to rent a Sound-system, much to the anger of Mr. Bovino, who had prepared his Students the whole year for this day only to be excluded a week ago!" Miss Colbart replied.

"Who is that Mr. Bovino?" Rosita asked.

"Felipe Bovino, the Orchestra Clubs Advisor, a real strong and dreamy Bull!" Miss Colbart explained blushing deep red, it was plain to see that she was totally attracted to that guy and with her looks she must have high chances to get him.

"So what if we going to let him join, after all the Principal gave me permission to do anything legal and in my power, to make this Concert a success and let´s be honest, a charity concert without a real orchestra is just nothing.

But since it might be hard for one makeshift Orchestra to memorize 16 songs, it would be easier to divide it in 3 Orchestra´s playing 5 songs each and the last song will be played by all of them.

If we go along with the Principals Idea of 60 students out of 3 grades performing the songs in the Concert, we still have 120 Students which would fail, unless we do something different with them, after all, music-lesson do not just have to be consistent of singing alone!" Rosita explained and Meena and Miss Colbart´s eyes shone in anticipation.

"You mean we take the Orchestra club into the boat and let these 120 students make 3 Orchestra with around 40 students, to play 5 songs each?!" Meena asked.

"Exactly, if they are not allowed to sing, then they can at least participate in that way, in the end we have to evaluate them on their musical skills, so that means not just on singing!" Rosita explained and I had to say that her Idea was similar to what I had imagined if not to say exactly the same, that's a mother for you, always having a solution to a problem concerning children.

Gunther´s Pov:

To be honest I was absolutely astounded by all the plans which had been forged already, here infront of the Gate of the School, shortly before the Students were supposed to come.

And one thing was for sure, I would hate to see either Rosita´s Children or Johanna´s children to fail their grades just because of music, I didn´t wanted them to end up hating music, music could give you so much.

"Miss Colbart, are there enough Instruments in the Orchestra Room?!" Rosita asked.

"I´m not sure, according to Felipe has the last decrease in capital slayed much on the Clubs budget, not for the least since they have so less members compared to the year before, most of the members back then had been in their last year of Highschool, it were few from each grade to begin with, but now it´s even less than ever before!" Miss Colbart explained and in her eyes I could see true sorrow.

"That woman must be madly in love with this Bovino guy." I thought to myself as I looked at her.

"Alright I think the first thing we should then do is to ask Mr. Bovino if he is willing to assist us!" Rosita stated.

"Yeah I would love that but the Sound system is already booked!" Miss Colbart explained.

"Oh don´t you worry about that, we got some guys here who know much about sound-systems and who might be able to immobilize such for a few hours, long enough that the Principals will have no other choice but to call upon the orchestra, am I right guys?!" Rosita asked as she looked at the twins.

"You can count on us, we got that!" Maurice stated and his Brother nodded eagerly.

"We gonna make this Concert a Success, am I right?" Rosita asked as we all stood in a circle.

"Yes!" We all shouted in unison, before we made our way towards the Orchestra Club.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mike´s Pov:

To be honest it was quite a while since I last have been in San Francisco, at least about 10 years.

"The Town sure has changed." I mumbled as I drove through the streets, passing unknown markets and buildings, following the navigation system towards our destination.

"Indeed it has, just one year away and you barely recognize it anymore." Nancy explained as she looked out of the window with a tired glance.

The long ride in the car must have greatly exhausted her, luckily we weren´t so far from the Beach Bar away.

"We are soon at the Bar, Honey, then you can sleep in a real bed, we won´t have our performances until the great opening next week, so we can lay low until then!" I explained.

With a break of 2 hours at an 24/7 Inn we just had a ride of about 8 hours behind us.

"I know thanks for your concern!" Nancy stated as she leaned on me.

"What do you think..., what kind of people might be to found at that Bar?" Nancy asked me.

"Well I would say that it is similar to the Bar in Santa Barbara, but since it is a beach bar which has also open in the day, I doubt that we meet any kind of shady people in there, after all a Beach Bar also attracts children and their parents!" I explained and she nodded.

"Most likely!" she replied.

"Look I can see the Ocean!" I stated after a while, as we drove over the streets of an Hill.

"Wow, this looks amazing from up here!" Nancy replied as her eyes shone with a certain glimmer.

"Good thing I bought a new swimsuit in Santa Barbara, the day before we departed from there, of course in a female only boutique, I doubt anyone of the Russians have seen me, still it is kind of frightening, we have been in so many towns over this past half year and they still managed to always almost find us.

Makes me wonder if they got spies everywhere?" Nancy stated unsure and to be honest I asked myself that question as well since some time.

However at that moment something totally different occupied my mind.

"Michael, you are drooling!" Nancy stated in an amused tone.

"I´m sorry honey, but the prospect of seeing you in a swimsuit just made my mind go blank for a second!" I replied.

"I would prefer if you do that while we are not on the street in a car!" She stated in a note sharper and I knew I was in the wrong.

"I´m sorry dear!" I stated reprimanding on myself as we drove down the hill.

"Only about 5 miles anymore, if we drive along the Ocean View street now:" I explained to her and she nodded.

"We are finally here, I hope that for once we can have more concerts, I kind of took a liking in performing with you on a stage." She explained and I sighed.

"I hope so too, believe me, back then as I participated in the Contest, I would have loved to sing with you on that big stage.

Makes me wonder why you did not came along as I asked you?" I asked her.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I was a little angry at you, I thought that money was really all you loved and that I was but only a prize for you, but in the end I could not simply let you die, without getting a clear answer from you, so I went to rescue you, as the Russian´s tried to get you!" Nancy stated blushing a little.

"Well I guess I would have deserved it if Igor would have gnawed a little on me, but I guess it just shows that for once I did something right, as I fell in love with you, I guess every other girl would have simply looked away!" I stated blushing as well.

"Maybe but I thought I had made it clear already, that I am far from the average girl, you might call me plain stupid for getting involved into all of this mess, but in the end Love never followed anyone´s rules!" Nancy explained.

"She sure doesn't!" I replied nodding.

We drove a while in silence as my Navigation system indicated that we soon had reached our destination.

"There it seems to be..., pheeew..., fancy, fancy!" I stated as I looked at it.

From the Telephone call I made with the Owner, Larry, I knew that the whole thing was about to be renovated, but I would not have though that it would have become that kind of fancy establishment.

From what I could say it had an Indoor and an outdoor terrain for the guests.

The Stage was a bit away, a simple patio with a roof and three walls behind it, large Music Boxes were standing at each side, next to a Microphone.

The entire space between was connected by a small wooden fence which indicated that this was a private terrain and for guests only.

The public parking infront of the Beach promenade made it an easy access for the people.

As much as I could see had the Bar two entrances, one at the front towards the Promenade, and one in the back, at the beach area, over the space between the stage and the Patio.

"If we can stay here for a while we definitely can have much fun!" Nancy stated and I nodded.

"Indeed we will!" I replied as I parked my car in the Staff parking lot right next to it, only 2 cars stood there, an old Land-Rover and a simple one, similar to ours.

I parked next to the Land-Rover which put some shade upon our car, making it later on not so hot inside.

"Well then, time to get down to business!" I stated as we stepped out of the car and took our luggage.

Together we made our way to the inside.

"Alright guys as soon as that part is done we will paint the floor we had just finished, we need some tropical motives, Selma, Lucita, can the two of you take care of that?

Really..., thanks a lot..., Reggie, the both of us will put up the tables and chair for the outside Patio, Buster can you and Boris look over the Menu-card, we need at least two more menus for the big opening.

Millie I need you to drive towards Ursula´s flower and Greenspace-shop, we will need some more of these tiny palm trees, how were they called again..., I think they were called ponytail palm or something like that, you know the one with the big end in the soil and the long slender leaves, also we will need some bamboo and maybe some bonsais for the Bar and the entrance area.

And if you already there tell her a big thanks for the last bouquet she made me, you know the grave flower arrangement for my father's grave, it has been so beautiful I know he would have loved it, and tell her nice greetings from me okay!" A loud voice was to hear while another voice replied something before a door was closed.

"C´mon guys we have to hurry, today we have the unofficial opening for our sponsor Mrs. Noodleman, we have to make sure that at least most parts of the bar will be ready by then, we still got until Sunday, but we should not dare to slack if we want to get things done by then!" The Voice stated coming closer.

"Oh good morning, I´m sorry but we don´t have yet opened but if I can get you a drink, feel free to take place at the bar, unfortunately we aren´t still ready with the food so you might have to wait a bit until it comes!" The owner, Larry the Polar-bear, exclaimed as he saw us standing in the entrance.

"You do not have to make any circumstances, my name is Mike and this is my girlfriend Nancy, we´re here for the job as musical artist, we had a phone-call together!" I explained.

"Oh so that is you, well it´s nice to meet you, it´s good that you came..., what do I say it is perfect..., listen..., I know coming here form Santa Barbara must have mighty exhausted you, but do you think you guys can be ready in about..., six hours..., our Sponsor, Mrs. Noodleman will come around that time for a little Checkup of the momentary renovation work we have done by now and I would like to have her entertained a little, pretty please!" Larry asked and i was buff but honestly, I had a certain suspicion as I heard the name, but now I was certain, especially as the same appeared before us with another man.

"Buster Moon?!" I exclaimed loudly and of course the koala just had to turn around.

"Mike?!" He asked equally dumbfounded like me.

In the brief second in which our eyes met, the entire events from 6 months ago flashed before my eyes and they left quite the bitter aftertaste if I may say so.

"What in the world are you doing here...?" We asked in unison as time around us seemed to stand still.

To be continued in Book 2, Sing, A tale of Fame, Friendship and Family.

A/N: And with this the 51st chapter has been written and so also the last Chapter of Book 1, I hope you all have liked the story so far and are willing to read once I start with Book 2, which might last awhile, as I said in the previous chapter will I focus now to finish my Sola to Romansu: Return of the Legendary Heroes Book 1 story and rewrite my Naruto story as well.

Once I have done that I will return with Book Two, until then keep on reading my other stories.

Yours truly, the Storyteller and his books.