Double Fugue

by Aiden Vaughan

  About ninety minutes later, Daniel reached the first of the three turnouts he knew were on the roadway. After scoping it out, he realized that this one met all of the requirements he wanted as far as visibility and views. Daniel decided to make his camp there. The turnout was located just before a sharp turn in the roadway, so traffic would be coming by slowly. Part of the turnout overlooked some farms below and there was a low guardrail attached to thick wooden posts. The posts were the perfect height to sit on and play the guitar so Daniel settled on one that had a particularly good view of the road. Right above that was a signpost for a road sign, and he attached his “Way to Go, Ethan. Let’s Jam!” sign to the sign pole so it could easily be seen. Soon he had set up shop and was playing through songs he knew on his guitar. It was a very pleasant way for him to pass the time while he waited for the motorcade.

  Twenty-five minutes later, Daniel noticed a large dark vehicle approaching. As the vehicle reached the turnout place, it slowed down quite a bit to make the sharp turn in the road. “I wonder if this is it?” Daniel thought to himself. Just to make sure, he waved and pointed to the sign. As it turned out, Daniel had guessed correctly.

  Inside the limousine, Ethan Savage had been daydreaming a little, watching the view go by, and thinking about performing his last concert the night before. When the limousine got to the turnoff point, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Somehow a fan was here to cheer him on, even on this out of the way road. This made him feel real good inside, and on impulse he yelled at the driver, “Stop the car and pull over! I want to say thank you to this fan!”

  As there was no traffic on the road at the time, the driver was able to stop, backtrack a little, and then pull off into the turnout. Ethan rolled down the window and yelled, “Hey kid, thanks for coming out to see me off. Would you like an autograph?”

  On hearing that, Daniel came quickly over to the limousine. “Thanks a lot for offering, Mr. Savage, but what I really want is a chance to jam the song ‘Party Girl’ with you. I am just learning it and there is one part that I just can’t seem to get right.”

  “Well that is refreshing,” Ethan replied. “Someone who actually wants to learn about the music! What’s your name, kid?”

  “My name is Daniel, Mr. Savage, Daniel Holmes.”

  “Well, Daniel Holmes, call me Ethan. Everyone else does! Come and sit down and tell me what your problem is with the song. I can’t say that I am in a hurry to go anywhere today!”

  Daniel quickly got seated inside the back seat of the limousine. He started strumming the chords of the song. “Everything seems okay during the first part of the song. But when I get to the last couple of choruses, for some reason I can’t match the sound I hear on your recordings. I’m pretty sure that I am playing the right chords, according to the sheet music, but they just don’t sound right!”

  “You have a pretty good ear, Daniel. But the difference is not the chords. The difference is the way that they are played.”

  “What do you mean?” Daniel asked.

  “We guitar players have a few tricks of the trade that not too many people know about!” Ethan said with a smile and a wink.

  “When I listen to your recordings, I hear things like harmonics playing but I still hear the chords. They just sound different.”

  “Well since I am retiring from performing, I guess it won’t hurt to pass along one of my secrets to the next generation. I’ll have to get my guitar to show you.” Ethan then knocked on the window to the driver. “Driver, open the trunk. I need to get something.”

  Ethan got out of the limousine, went back to the trunk, and took out a guitar case. He brought it back into the car. He opened the case and got out his guitar. “It’s not how you play it, but what you play it with. See?” He took out of the accessory compartment in his guitar case an all metal round cylinder. “This is a guitar slide made of metal. It is normally used to play slide guitar, but I use it on my left index finger when I play the final two choruses. It changes the quality of the sound by adding ringing quality to the sound. It becomes especially pronounced with amplified electric guitar.”

  “Wow, that was really creative of you. How did you come up with the idea to do that?” Daniel asked.

  “Oh, I was just fooling around with my guitar one day and decided to try something different. It didn’t work very well strumming the strings, but as part of the left hand fingering, the sound was different and intriguing. It just became part of the performance over the years. Here try it with me.”

  Daniel and Ethan began playing through the chords of the song and singing the lyrics. Just before they got to the ending choruses, Ethan slipped the slide on his left fingers. The song finished with that special ringing quality that had eluded Daniel up until now.

  “That is so cool!” Daniel exclaimed.

  “Here, let me show you a couple of other tricks.” Ethan then proceeded to show Daniel a couple of chord positions higher up on the fret board that made it easier to play the chord changes for the song. “If you use these, you don’t have to shift your left hand so much, and it is easier to get around to all the chords from here.”

  They then tried the song again, and Daniel was able to concentrate more on his singing, because the chord changes were easier to play with the new chord positions he was shown. When they had finished, Ethan told Daniel, “You have quite a good voice, kid. Be sure to get yourself some proper training so that you don’t burn it out. It took me ten years to figure that out. Those lessons saved my career, because I learned how to take care of my vocal chords and to pace the use of my voice on tour.”

  “This has been great, Ethan, not only to meet you but to jam with you and get an actual music lesson. This is something I will remember for the rest of my life! Thank you very much!”

  “It’s my pleasure, Daniel. You know over my career I have met all kinds of fans and groupies, some real nice and polite like you and others so rude and demanding that you would just want to strangle them! I am so happy that the last fan I met before retirement was one of the first kind!”

  “You have been an inspiration to many young musicians like myself. I know you will be missed!”

  As Daniel was getting out of the limousine, Ethan leaned over and said, “Hey, kid, take this slide and keep it for when you play my song. I won’t be needing it any more!” He handed the slide to Daniel.

  “Thank you, Ethan! I hope you enjoy your retirement, but if you get bored with it, I know that I and a zillion other people would like to hear you perform again!”

  “Take care, Daniel, and good luck with your music!” Ethan then rolled up the window and signaled the limousine to drive on.

  THE BIZARRE KIDNAPPING

  (Later Friday Morning)

  After Ethan’s car left, Daniel was beside himself with joy. If there wasn’t gravity on the planet, Daniel would have just floated away like a cloud. I can’t believe I just met Ethan Savage and he gave me a guitar lesson and showed me one of his secret performing techniques! he kept thinking over and over in his mind. What a great day this is turning out to be!

  He decided to ride his bicycle in the same direction as Ethan’s car for a few more miles, just because he was feeling so great, and on the off hand chance that he would get another glimpse of Ethan Savage. About a mile down the road, Daniel spotted the limousine pulled over to the side of the road. Wondering why they had stopped again, he pedaled off the road, dismounted from his bicycle, and watched them from behind some trees. He was shocked by what he saw happen next. A limp and unconscious Ethan was carried from the limo and taken to nearby van. Then amazingly, an exact duplicate of Ethan appeared from the van, walked over to the limousine and got in like nothing had just happened. Then the limousine drove away.

  Daniel didn’t know what to do. He figured he needed to contact the authorities, but who would he contact and how would he explain what had happened? Daniel got back on his bike and was about to ride away, when seemingly out of nowhere a large sheriff’s d
epartment vehicle with two deputies inside pulled up right behind him.

  “What’s going on, kid?” one of the deputies asked.

  “Officers, you may not believe this, but I think I just witnessed a man being kidnapped!”

  “What do you mean?” the deputy replied.

  “I just saw rock star Ethan Savage being carried unconscious out of the limousine he was riding in, and then an exact double got out of that van over there, walked over to the limousine, got in and drove off.”

  “How do you know it was Ethan Savage?”

  “I was camped out on the road side because I knew that his limousine was going to come down this road. I had my guitar and a sign saying ‘Way to go, Ethan!’ I was really surprised when he actually stopped and spent some time with me. So I know exactly what he looks like and the clothes that he was wearing. He was definitely the man I saw being carried from the limousine to another waiting van. You’ve got to help him!”

  “Yes, that is a very serious charge, kid, I think you had better come with us.” One of the two men got out of their vehicle, which was a huge Tahoe SUV, and helped gather up Daniel’s guitar, helmet, mini pack, and bicycle and put them in the back. “Is this all of your belongings?”

  When Daniel said “yes”, the man replied “good”. He then grabbed Jason’s wrists, twisted them behind his back and handcuffed him. “Hey, why are you handcuffing me?” Daniel protested loudly. “I didn’t do anything wrong, I was a witness to a crime, not the criminal! You need to go check out that van over there!”

  Meanwhile the other deputy was on the two-way radio. “Yes, we have a kid here who stumbled on the whole thing. We have him cuffed. All right, we’ll bring him in. Yeah, a blindfold is a good idea.”

  After signing off, the deputy spoke to his partner: “The boss says we are to take him in to headquarters. He needs to be blindfolded.” The first deputy got out a bandana and tied it over Daniel’s eyes. They put him in the secure back seat of the SUV.

  “Hey, you are not real sheriff’s deputies,” Daniel complained. “Real cops don’t handcuff and blindfold a witness to a crime! And they don’t refuse to check out a real lead when a crime is reported!”

  “Shut up, kid, and keep quiet. Otherwise we will gag you.”

  After a brief ride in the SUV, Daniel and the two men arrived at their headquarters, which was a farmhouse property off of the same highway. Daniel was taken from the car and brought inside. He overheard the two men and their superior talking.

  “This is a real screw up. Nobody was supposed to see anything. How could this happen?”

  “Apparently the limousine had stopped earlier, and Savage had spent some time with this kid. I guess he was just following behind their car on his bicycle in a state of euphoria.”

  “Who is this kid?”

  “His wallet indicates that his name is Daniel Holmes.”

  “Oh really, why is that name so familiar? Oh shit, take the kid out of here!” Daniel was then taken to a back room, seated in a chair, and told not to move.

  Out of earshot, the superior said, “I remember now. This kid was on the news because of that kidnapping in the Silicon Valley where he and his friend solved the crime. But how and why did he end up here? I don’t know why yet, but I don’t like it one bit. There is no time right now to interrogate the kid and find out what he knows. We are getting behind in our time schedule. Both of you have to be in place in full uniform to make sure everything looks normal and that there is no interference at the Monterey meeting place in less than two hours. I need to leave also and get back to my post. There is a weather report in that a huge rainstorm is about to hit this area, so you need to get on the road right away.

  “For now we need to immobilize the kid and make sure that he can’t get away and contact anyone. Plus we need to stash all of his stuff, including his bicycle and guitar. You need your handcuffs back so you are in full complete uniform and there is no physical connection to us. Unfortunately all of the sedatives and knockout drugs are with the van. We’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. Take him over to the barn, and walk him up to the loft. Tie him to one of the poles up there. There should be a bunch of rope in the barn. Dump all of his stuff in a corner of the barn. Keep him blindfolded and be sure to gag him and knock him out before you leave. I will deal with him when I get back tonight.”

  The two deputies went to the back room of the farmhouse, got Daniel, then led the still blindfolded and protesting Daniel over to the barn. One of them brought Daniel to the loft stairs while the other stashed his bike, guitar and other belongings in a corner of the barn. He then looked around for rope and rags.

  “Let me go!” Daniel continued protesting. “I didn’t do anything. Leave me alone!”

  The first deputy told Daniel, “Shut up, kid, and do what you are told! We are going to climb some stairs now. Put your feet forward carefully or you will trip and fall. Now put one foot up on the first stair.” As they were climbing the narrow stairs to the loft, the deputy accidentally put his shoe on the back of one of Daniel’s chucks, causing it to nearly come off his foot. Daniel kept walking up the stairs but the shoe was now loose on his foot, and flopped along with every step. When they got to the top, the deputy walked Daniel over to a large support pole, and sat him down in front of it.

  Soon the other deputy met them with several coils of rope and two large pieces of rag. The first deputy removed the handcuffs and then pulled Daniel’s hands behind the pole. He bound his hands with one of the rope pieces. The other deputy tied his ankles and knees with the other piece. They used the third piece to further secure his body to the pole. One of the rags was stuffed in his mouth and the second was tied in his mouth and around his head to complete the gag.

  “I don’t think you will be going anywhere soon, kid,” the first deputy said surveying his handiwork. “Don’t struggle and you won’t hurt yourself.”

  Daniel’s mind was going through a very surreal thought process. Earlier today he had experienced one of the most wonderful times of his life when he got to meet and jam with Ethan Savage. Now he was kidnapped, tied to a pole, gagged, and blindfolded by two so-called sheriff’s deputies who he thought would help him. He was so troubled by this drastic change in his circumstances that he hardly even noticed the blow on his head from the heavy wooden club that knocked him into unconsciousness.

  THE PERFECT STORM

  (Friday Morning and Afternoon)

  At the exact moment that Daniel was knocked out, there was a huge cymbal crash then a loud gong sound from the huge tam-tam at the honor orchestra rehearsal back in the Silicon Valley. Pounding double timpani notes and ominous brass fanfares, punctuated by the woodwind and string sections followed. This led up to a magnificent solo for horn played by Jason’s friend, Robert Fischer. At the end of the solo, the conductor, David Molinari, stopped the orchestra. “Thank you, that was great, Robert. Bravo, brass and percussion. You folks are doing a fine job with this very difficult fourth movement. It is just about time for our break, but before we do that I would like to go back to rehearsal number 110 again. We have to hear the three elements clearly, the soaring melody in upper woodwinds and strings, the three trumpets with your intricate triplets, and the chords in horns, trombones, tuba and bass instruments. Trumpets, even though you are accompaniment, this is one of your great moments in the orchestration. Really bring this passage out when we play it.” Maestro Molinari raised his baton and the orchestra continued to play the powerful music of Dmitri Shostakovich.

  David Molinari really had the look and presence of a symphony conductor. He was six feet tall, with a jet black shock of hair, and very Italian facial features, including a Roman nose, and piercing dark brown eyes that could stare anyone down through his rimless eyeglasses. David could be genial and friendly with his students but when he was involved with music he was all business. The students loved and respected him because he was a genuine teacher and leader. As he result he always had fine ensembles at Merriam High Sch
ool and in the community.

  At the break in the rehearsal, Molinari’s wife, Marie, and eleven year old son, David, Jr., came up to talk with him. “Everything sounds great, David,” Marie said. “You sure are doing a good job with the kids this year.” Marie was about five feet six inches, with light brown hair and light complexion.

  “Yes, I’m very pleased so far.”

  “Hey Dad,” young Davey (as he was called) said, “don’t forget that after rehearsal is our special bike ride.” Davey was already to go, dressed in his bicycling outfit of shorts and singlet. His hair and facial features came from his mother, and he also had a sprinkling of freckles on his face.

  “Well, I don’t know, Son. I heard on the weather forecast that a rainstorm is supposed to come in later today.”

  “Come on, Dad. You promised to go! I’ve been waiting all week for today!” Davy was real enthusiastic about bicycling, but was still at a young enough age where he needed to go on longer rides with someone else.

  “You did promise, David,” Marie said. “Tell you what, I’ll drop you two off at the top of the old Valley Road, and then you can just bike back home. Besides this is California in the summer! How much rain could there possibly be in August, when we normally don’t get even one drop?”

  About forty-five minutes later, the orchestra rehearsal was over. After the Molinari family arrived at their home, David quickly changed into his bike riding gear, loaded their bicycles into the back of their van, and soon after that they were driving out of town to the old east hills highway, Valley Road, where David and Davey would be dropped off for their ride. The old highway used to be one of the main routes to the Silicon Valley area, but had long been replaced by freeways with more lanes and a more direct way into town. It was a pleasant alternative way to travel if you weren’t in a hurry. It started in the east side of Santa Clara County and gradually sloped down into the valley. It was a very scenic road, passing by small farms and orchards, a little of what was left of the old life when Santa Clara County was a well known agricultural area.