Blog

James racked his brain for the other times he had gotten on elevators. His parents avoided them since he was prone to meltdowns in small spaces, but when he was younger, they had him push buttons. James looked at the buttons. Fourth floor. Fourth is four. So … push the four? After pressing the number, it lit with an orange glow and the lift started rising.

When the doors opened, he stepped out into an area with four sets of doors again, but a different carpet and an open space either side of the door area, both with glass walls and signs with arrows.

The uniform person had said “Pickin and Strummin.” James walked over to each set of signs and read all the words, then he walked back to the first side which had the recording studio name. After reading the words a second time just to be sure, he turned three steps in the direction of the arrow and walked down the hall. After seven paces, a metal post in the middle of the hall held up a paper with the studio’s name and a picture of a guitar and a fiddle. Plus another arrow pointing to a set of glass doors with the name of the company painted on them.

He made it. Even without instructions!

Looking at his screen, he read the instructions to the point where he had run into trouble. “Go through the doors.” Relief flooded him to be back on track.

There was a woman sitting behind the desk. “Hello, Mrs. Banko.” Handing the sour-faced receptionist the tablet wasn’t any easier than it had been with the uniform man, but he managed to do it the second time in a single day. He leaned forward a little, since the receptionist was sitting down and he still hadn’t taken out the earbuds. Three bell tones went off between songs, reminding him to pay attention and see if he had lost track of things. James was very pleased he didn’t need the reminder to pay attention to the world around him. He was doing it!

“Ah, Miles’ protegee. Go on back, the Duke is waiting to hear you play.” She slapped the tablet into his outstretched hand, startling James.

“Wh…where?” He looked around the room, fighting not to rock. Mr. Hammer said not to rock during the interview, except to music.

“Oh for goodness sakes.” Mrs. Banko huffed. “You better be worth it.” The woman stood, and plowed around several chairs, dodged some boxes, and went down a barely lit hallway.

Inhaling deeply, James whispered his magic words and followed.

“Jim Cohn is here,” the receptionist yelled as she opened the door to the very large black man in front of an incredibly large bank of buttons, levers, and lights. The man was not brown like James or his father or Mr. Krick or Mr. Hammer where light reflected back a warm yellow or orange. He was a black so deep James only saw blue where light from the bare bulbs hit. Turning back to the young man behind her, Mrs. Banko ordered, “Next time you come back here on your own, look over the door before coming in. If it is red, you wait. Maybe press the button. If it is green, you can go in.”

“I…I.” James froze under her hostility and unclear instructions.

“Marge, that is enough. Get.” The resounding bass filled the space and rolled over James, tightening his fears with its firmness.

“Well I never!” The woman stomped to the door and slammed it shut.

The black man, Mr. Hartgrove, waved James to come over. “Don’t mind Marge. She is always like that.”

“I…” James quivered, pulling his tablet to his chest.

“Ah.” The owner stilled and rearranged his face. When he spoke again, the voice was just as deep, but kind and slow. “We will need to work with her if we hire you. Can you come over here and sit in this chair beside me?”

“Yes.” James walked carefully around the cables, instruments, and parts of instruments to sit on the ripped vinyl top of the stool.

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

4/1/2019 – A is for Adapt
4/2/2019 – B is for Bus
4/3/2019 – C is for Courage
4/4/2019 – D is for Duke
4/5/2019 – E is for Eclectic
4/6/2019 – F is for Finish

The song changed, reminding him to move forward. He pressed open the doors and entered the lobby. “Talk to the receptionist. Show her the screen. She will need to touch it.”

James shuddered at the last instruction. The tablet was a part of him. Touching it was like touching him.

He approached the desk in the lobby. “Hello, Mrs. Banko.” The man sitting behind the desk in a uniform looked up in surprise.

A man was where Mrs. Banko should be. Not knowing what else to do, James offered the man his tablet. The man couldn’t pull it very far, since James hadn’t taken out his earbuds, and he raised his eyebrows before looking down at the screen. Seeing the long list of instructions, each highlighted in turn, the security officer quickly read through them.

“Ah, you want Pickin and Strummin. They are on the fourth floor. The elevators are to your right.”

James froze. That hadn’t been in the instructions. “I…I…” He started rocking.

“You a musician, kid?”

A question. He is suppose to answer questions of people in uniform. “Yes.”

“What do you play?” The security guard handed back the tablet, which James grabbed and pressed into his chest.

“Guitar, and violin, and saxophone, and piano.” He could play many more instruments than that, but Mr. Hammer had told him to give that answer for the interview. James like the dulcimer a lot, but Mr. Hammer said there wasn’t much call for that as a background musician.

“Maybe we can jam sometime. They let me up there after my shift if no one has rented time. You do jazz?”

“Yes. I play everything, but jazz is nice.” James bit his lip. “I like ragtime on the piano and smooth for the sax.”

“Haven’t done much with ragtime myself, but it would be fun to try with my bone. They got an upright.” The guard moved over to the phone. “I’ll ring them and let them know you are coming up.”

“Okay.” James took a long inhale and exhale, studying the lobby, finally seeing the sign pointing to the elevators. He looked at his screen for instructions, but they weren’t there. “Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.”

The eighteen-year-old followed the arrows to a place with four sets of doors and buttons aiming up only. He pressed the button and one of the sets of doors immediately opened. James walked into the small room, turned around in three small steps until he faced the closing doors and waited. Nothing happened.

What was he suppose to do next?

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

4/1/2019 – A is for Adapt
4/2/2019 – B is for Bus
4/3/2019 – C is for Courage
4/4/2019 – D is for Duke
4/5/2019 – E is for Eclectic
4/6/2019 – F is for Finish

“What are you going to be doing at Franklin, James?” The bus driver asked as he pulled away from the stop and continued down the busy city street.

“I’m going to a job interview.” James about burst when he said those words. He hadn’t told his parents; the music teacher at the school had arranged it. “I might not get the job. Mr. Hammer told me that. Me getting the job will be all me or not me. And he said it okay for me not to get the job because only one in forty people get the job for stuff like this even with an interview, but someone has to get the job so I should try the interview. I got to play my best. If I am good enough, they will make me a session musician. I can do music and not have to play for crowds and I can maybe have a real job instead of being permanently and totally disabled and being a useless drain on society who would have been better off being left in the woods for wolves to eat.”

The bus driver gripped the steering wheel tighter, while the woman who had moved to the seat behind James’ normal seat winced. Mr. Krick cleared his throat, glancing up at the interior mirror and seeing James staring at his tablet again and nodding in time with the music running to his earbuds. “Good luck on the interview, James.”

James didn’t respond, not sure how to act. He thought he may have said too many words. Mom always told him not to talk too much, unless she was trying to get him to talk. He never was sure which he should do, talk or not talk. Listening to music and watching the screen, he rocked his body to the beat and waited for the alarm to let him know when it was time to change buses.

People got on and off. Some looked at him like he was diseased and shouldn’t be out in public while others familiar with him having been on the route for a while smiled at him. A few ignored the front seat passenger in the anonymity of the flood of humanity in the city.

***

Standing in front of 439 West Franklin Avenue, James breathed his mantra “Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.” He had made it nearly forty-five minutes through the transportation system, to arrive the required fifteen minutes early the music teacher had said was needed when going to a job interview. All on his own. He touched the message center on his tablet and sent the premade text to Mr. Hammer letting him know he had arrived at the recording studio.

“Go through the doors.” was written on the screen as the next step. Mr. Hammer and James’ in-school counselor had sweated over the instructions with James, making sure they didn’t miss anything. From the time he had woke up this morning until now, every step had been written. Showering, dressing, eating breakfast. Mr. Hammer and Miss Grace understood this was James’ real graduation ceremony. If he could do this, he may be able to convince his parents he could live in a group home instead of depending on them for the rest of his life.

Also his sisters, Barbara and Dorthy, needed to know they didn’t need to worry about him. They had their own kids to take care of. James had been a late in life surprise to his parents, with his two sisters already in high school when he came along and changed everything. They didn’t need to be his caretakers even if they were willing to help.

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)

4/1/2019 – A is for Adapt
4/2/2019 – B is for Bus
4/3/2019 – C is for Courage
4/4/2019 – D is for Duke
4/5/2019 – E is for Eclectic
4/6/2019 – F is for Finish