Dear Austin...
One's Got One Dot
Tuesday at 1:14 P.M.
"Thanks for letting us join you at practice! We've sure learned a lot!" Alan thanked the instructor for percussion. He smiled and nodded, excited that he could meet Austin and Alan. Although my instructor, Ronnie, didn't know who OM&M were, he was just excited to teach Austin and Alan something about playing mallets. That's what I did, play at the mallet instrument for the Marching Band. It was my passion, and the percussionists were my family outside of my blood related family.
Through practice today, we had managed to get through some of our music while Sara fangirled pretty hard in the corner, everyone playfully teased Alan on his way of trying to keep time, and watched Austin try to show us how he kept time. As we attempted to head bang to the beat of the metronome and play, I whacked my forehead three times with a mallet, and my friends tripped and got headaches.
Eventually we had to call it quits.
Alan and Austin had tons of fun. Ronnie had been very accept of them and even included them in mallet warm ups as we stretched our wrist and tapped out beats on the floor. Austin picked up the technique pretty quickly, but Alan kept losing grip on the mallet.
Now it was the end of our rehearsal, and I made a special request to Ronnie. He had agreed to play the Dot Game to teach Alan and Austin.
The eleven of us sat in a circle, and we started with a practice round and numbered off. I figured Austin and Alan would pick up the game pretty quickly.
The patter was to pat both legs, then snap, then clap then snap. You did that over and over, starting slowly and going faster and faster. You are given a number(I was one) and repeated the phrase, '(Number here)'s got (number of dots) dot, how many dot's has (Someone else) got?" For each time you messed up, you got a dot.
I started us off.
"One's got no dots, how many dot's has five got?" I passed the phrase onto our instructor, number five. We went over and over as we slowly sped up. Eventually, numbers three, eight, four, ten, two, seven, nine, and five were left. It was down to me, Ronnie who was number six, and Alan who was eleven. We were all down to three dots and if any one of us screwed up, we would be out. Austin was number four, and Sara had managed to knock him out of the round.
"One's got three dots, how many dot's has six got?" I chanted out. We were flying, going at a really high speed.
"Six's got four dots...wait." Ronnie paused. A big breath was let out by the crowd as we all laughed. Now it was down to Alan and I.
"Six has four dots now!" Sara chuckled. Ronnie moved out of the dying circle. It was down to Alan and I. The ginger princess thew me a hesitant look, unsure of this.
"One's got three dots, how many dots has eleven got." I nearly stumbled on the words but caught myself. Back and forth it went until I pulled the old trick.
"One's got three dots, how many dots has one got. One's got three dots, how many dots has one got?" I challenged Alan. He stumbled on the words, taken aback by the fact I called on myself.
"The old repeating trick!" Ronnie cried out as I was declared champion and practice ended. It was already one thirty in the afternoon. Austin consoled Alan in his loss as I was the reigning Dot Game Champion.
"Good job Rae." Austin and Alan gave me a high five. Thanking Ronnie, we headed back to the car.
On the way home, the entire car's small population felt as high as the clouds on joy and happiness. We rolled down the windows and joined in with Austin's joyous chorus of screaming to joggers that stared at us.
"BELLA BELLA SO BO BEH BEH WHA CA CO PO BEE BATTA!!!" By the time we had turned into my driveway, our voices were sore, but we continued to laugh hysterically.
The was only one sight that dropped my mood through the earth. A familiar, rumbling truck sat in the front drive. Austin pulled into the garage as we all fell silent.
It was my father's car.
"Thanks for letting us join you at practice! We've sure learned a lot!" Alan thanked the instructor for percussion. He smiled and nodded, excited that he could meet Austin and Alan. Although my instructor, Ronnie, didn't know who OM&M were, he was just excited to teach Austin and Alan something about playing mallets. That's what I did, play at the mallet instrument for the Marching Band. It was my passion, and the percussionists were my family outside of my blood related family.
Through practice today, we had managed to get through some of our music while Sara fangirled pretty hard in the corner, everyone playfully teased Alan on his way of trying to keep time, and watched Austin try to show us how he kept time. As we attempted to head bang to the beat of the metronome and play, I whacked my forehead three times with a mallet, and my friends tripped and got headaches.
Eventually we had to call it quits.
Alan and Austin had tons of fun. Ronnie had been very accept of them and even included them in mallet warm ups as we stretched our wrist and tapped out beats on the floor. Austin picked up the technique pretty quickly, but Alan kept losing grip on the mallet.
Now it was the end of our rehearsal, and I made a special request to Ronnie. He had agreed to play the Dot Game to teach Alan and Austin.
The eleven of us sat in a circle, and we started with a practice round and numbered off. I figured Austin and Alan would pick up the game pretty quickly.
The patter was to pat both legs, then snap, then clap then snap. You did that over and over, starting slowly and going faster and faster. You are given a number(I was one) and repeated the phrase, '(Number here)'s got (number of dots) dot, how many dot's has (Someone else) got?" For each time you messed up, you got a dot.
I started us off.
"One's got no dots, how many dot's has five got?" I passed the phrase onto our instructor, number five. We went over and over as we slowly sped up. Eventually, numbers three, eight, four, ten, two, seven, nine, and five were left. It was down to me, Ronnie who was number six, and Alan who was eleven. We were all down to three dots and if any one of us screwed up, we would be out. Austin was number four, and Sara had managed to knock him out of the round.
"One's got three dots, how many dot's has six got?" I chanted out. We were flying, going at a really high speed.
"Six's got four dots...wait." Ronnie paused. A big breath was let out by the crowd as we all laughed. Now it was down to Alan and I.
"Six has four dots now!" Sara chuckled. Ronnie moved out of the dying circle. It was down to Alan and I. The ginger princess thew me a hesitant look, unsure of this.
"One's got three dots, how many dots has eleven got." I nearly stumbled on the words but caught myself. Back and forth it went until I pulled the old trick.
"One's got three dots, how many dots has one got. One's got three dots, how many dots has one got?" I challenged Alan. He stumbled on the words, taken aback by the fact I called on myself.
"The old repeating trick!" Ronnie cried out as I was declared champion and practice ended. It was already one thirty in the afternoon. Austin consoled Alan in his loss as I was the reigning Dot Game Champion.
"Good job Rae." Austin and Alan gave me a high five. Thanking Ronnie, we headed back to the car.
On the way home, the entire car's small population felt as high as the clouds on joy and happiness. We rolled down the windows and joined in with Austin's joyous chorus of screaming to joggers that stared at us.
"BELLA BELLA SO BO BEH BEH WHA CA CO PO BEE BATTA!!!" By the time we had turned into my driveway, our voices were sore, but we continued to laugh hysterically.
The was only one sight that dropped my mood through the earth. A familiar, rumbling truck sat in the front drive. Austin pulled into the garage as we all fell silent.
It was my father's car.
Notes
Hi everyone, so I decided to put a little bit of my hobbies in to this story! I'm a percussionist at heart, and do perform in my high school's marching band and indoor percussion! Although Rae IS NOT me, I decided to include my hobbies in here. I hope you don't mind :)
Also, Rae's going to get a big shock with her dad coming home early O.O
P.S. Something BIG is about to happen....keep tuned...
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This story has completely captured my full attention over the last few hours. I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I finish it. This is wonderful. I adore your writing and characters. Rae and Austin's relationship and the bond between Alan and lp are the most adorable freaking things ever. I've been laughing, wanting to cry, and majorly fangirling. This is beautiful and I love it so much. And the appearance of all of the various band members made me incredibly happy!
Okay back to reading.
10/2/15