The Talent Show

by Krystle Howard

  “Neither did I,” Cooper said.

  Rhino took a bite of his sandwich. He’d been happy with the way his practicing had gone the night before, but he had a long way to go before he could play a song. If you keep at it, you’ll be able to play, his thinker told him. But he wasn’t sure if he believed it. Maybe he was too confident.

  “So Carlos is a singer, huh?” Bella said. “I never would have guessed that. He’s so quiet. I haven’t heard him say ten words all season.”

  Other kids at the table started talking about the talent show, too. Kerry said she would be playing a violin solo. Ariana was on the dance team with Bella. A boy with round glasses and spiky red hair said, “Wait until you see my magic act.”

  Within a few minutes, Rhino realized there would be no dinosaur discussion today. He finished his BBQ chips and the last swallow of milk, then nudged Cooper. “Let’s get Carlos and sign up.”

  Carlos didn’t say a word as they filled out the sign-up sheet at the principal’s office. Rhino wrote Mustang Rock and band for the name and type of act, and he listed their three names.

  “What should I write for ‘length of act’?” he asked.

  “Three minutes,” Cooper said. “That’s how long most of those songs are.”

  “That’s our next job,” Rhino said. “Choosing a song.”

  “We’ll work on a few on Saturday afternoon,” Cooper said.

  Carlos waved his hand and headed toward his classroom. “See you at tomorrow’s game,” he said.

  Rhino watched Carlos go, then turned toward his own classroom. “Should we be worried about him?” Rhino asked. “I’m not so sure he can face the pressure. Hope he doesn’t back out on us.”

  Cooper shrugged. “It isn’t him I’m concerned about,” he said. “Carlos has talent. I know what he can do.”

  Rhino scowled. What was Cooper saying? Rhino had practiced a lot last night! And he planned to continue every night until the talent show. “I’ll be ready,” he said softly.

  “We’ll see tomorrow,” Cooper replied.

  Rhino gulped. Saturday’s band practice might be tougher than any baseball game he’d ever played!

  Two outs!” Rhino called, holding up his index finger. He made eye contact with each of the other infielders. As the first baseman, Rhino felt responsible for keeping his teammates alert.

  The Mustangs were clinging to a one-run lead over the Wolves, who were on their last at bat. One more out would seal the win for Rhino’s team, but the Wolves had a runner on first base.

  Rhino bounced on his toes. “Strike him out, Dylan,” he called to the pitcher.

  Or let him hit it here, he thought. I’ll catch anything that comes my way.

  The batter was a lefty, like Rhino, and he’d hit the ball hard in both of his at bats today.

  “Strike one!” called the umpire as the batter took a powerful swing.

  Rhino glanced at Carlos, who was playing second base. Carlos took a half step back, closer to the outfield.

  The batter lined the next pitch deep over Rhino’s head, but it was definitely foul.

  “No batter!” yelled the infielders. “Finish this off, Dylan.”

  The batter made good contact on the next pitch, driving a sizzling ground ball to the left of second base. Carlos stabbed at it and stopped the roll, but the ball bounced away and he had to chase it. The batter easily made it to first base and the other runner slid into second.

  Carlos tossed the ball to Dylan and kicked at the dirt.

  “Tough play,” Rhino called. “Good hustle, Carlos!”

  Carlos shook his head. “Bad error,” he said.

  “Get the next one,” Rhino said. “Two outs!”

  The next batter hit the ball in the same direction, but closer to Rhino. Rhino hesitated for a split second. Would Carlos get to it? But Rhino had the better shot. He sprinted and lunged, nabbing the ball as it reached the edge of the outfield grass. Dylan was running to cover first base, but the play would be close.

  Rhino was off balance. His throw rocketed over Dylan’s head and bounced off the dugout fence. The catcher raced to pick it up, but that left no one to cover home. The runner from second scored easily, and the game was tied.

  “Settle down out there, guys!” called Coach Ray.

  Dylan glared at Rhino. “Nice throw,” he said. “If I was ten feet tall!”

  Rhino ignored him. Dylan was always blaming others when things didn’t go right.

  “Nice try, Rhino,” Carlos said. “Get the next one.”

  Rhino did. The next batter hit a soft pop fly that Rhino caught in foul territory to end the inning.

  Make up for that error, his thinker told him. He wouldn’t have to wait long. Rhino would be leading off the bottom of the inning.

  He picked up his bat and took a few quick cuts.

  “One big swing,” Bella called from the dugout. “End this game with a homer, Rhino.”

  Rhino knew he needed to wait for a good pitch and not swing at a bad one. But the first pitch was fast and waist high, right in his zone. He blasted it down the line and took off.

  As Rhino rounded first base he could see the right fielder chasing the ball, and he knew he’d get at least a double.

  Rhino reached second and heard Coach Ray yelling to go for third. He sprinted harder.

  “Slide!” Bella shouted.

  A cloud of dirt sprayed up as Rhino slid cleanly into the base.

  All the Mustangs were standing and yelling. Manny, the left fielder, stepped into the batter’s box. A fly ball into the outfield would bring Rhino home with the winning run.

  Rhino took a deep breath and clapped his hands.

  Manny lined the first pitch up the middle.

  Rhino stomped hard on home plate as he scored the game winner. His teammates swarmed him, laughing and cheering.

  It was a wonderful feeling.

  “Way to come through, Rhino,” Carlos said. “I’m glad I didn’t have to bat right after making an error.”

  “That error fired me up,” Rhino said.

  “You’re that confident even after a mistake?” Carlos said. “Wish I was like that.”

  Cooper patted Carlos on the shoulder. “Speaking of confidence, are you ready to rock?”

  Carlos looked terrified. “Here?”

  Cooper laughed. “At my house.”

  Rhino suddenly felt his sweat turn cold. Band practice. He wasn’t ready for that.

  C.J. had patiently worked with Rhino the night before, and Rhino made some progress with the chords. But he couldn’t string two notes together smoothly. He had to think about where to place his fingers after each one. It wasn’t easy.

  Rhino took a seat on the dugout bench and reached for his ankle. He winced and made a loud “Oo-uu-ch.”

  Cooper gave him a look of surprise.

  “I think I hurt my ankle sliding into third,” Rhino said. He’d missed a couple of games early in the season with a sprained ankle, so he needed to be careful. His teammates knew that.

  “It looked okay when you were running toward home plate,” Cooper said.

  “Maybe that’s when I hurt it,” Rhino said. He gently rubbed the ankle. “It’s sore! I should probably go home and ice it.”

  “Maybe we should get an ambulance,” Cooper said sarcastically.

  “I’ll walk,” Rhino mumbled. “It’ll be good for it.”

  “But no band practice, right?” Cooper said.

  “Maybe later.”

  Cooper nodded and frowned. “I thought so,” he said, turning toward Carlos. “We’re a duet today. Probably for the talent show, too.”

  “Look, I hurt my ankle, okay?” Rhino said sharply. “I couldn’t help it. We’ll still have plenty of time to practice. I’ll be ready for the show.”

  “But not today,” Cooper said. “Come on, Carlos.”

  Carlos stared at Rhino. “Great game today,” he said. “Thanks for being supportive when I made that error.”

  Rhino gave him
a tight smile. “We always bounce back,” he said. “Have a good jam session. I promise I’ll be at the next one.”

  Carlos brightened. “Yeah. Go ice that ankle. I need you in my band!”

  Rhino sat in the dugout for several minutes. Everyone else was gone. When he stood up, he tested his foot. It felt fine. He knew it would.

  I’d better spend all afternoon on the guitar, Rhino thought. All the confidence in the world won’t help if I don’t have the skills to back it up.

  Rhino felt guilty as he walked slowly toward home. It isn’t like you to lie, his thinker told him.

  He’d been brave early in the season when Dylan tried to bully him. And he’d faced up to a tough situation when Coach Ray had switched him from the outfield to first base. Those things made him proud.

  Lying about his ankle did not.

  He didn’t give Grandpa James his usual happy greeting. Just “hi.”

  “I take it that the Mustangs lost?” Grandpa asked.

  “No. We won. I hit a triple and broke a tie in the last inning.”

  Grandpa put his hand on Rhino’s shoulder. “You don’t look very happy.”

  Rhino stared at his shoes. “We were supposed to practice for the band this afternoon.”

  “Somebody cancelled?” Grandpa asked.

  “I did.” Rhino looked up and met Grandpa’s gaze. “I’m just not ready yet.”

  “Then you need to practice,” Grandpa replied.

  “I know. But I’m really not ready. I will be, but I didn’t want Cooper and Carlos to see what a beginner I am.”

  * * *

  Rhino practiced playing the guitar for nearly an hour after lunch. But he was restless. He knew that running or jumping or playing any sport usually calmed him down, so he went out to the backyard to hit some baseballs.

  Grandpa had built a batting cage in the yard for Rhino and C.J. The black netting kept the hit balls from leaving the yard.

  Rhino set a ball on a tee and swung hard. The ball took off with a satisfying smack and sailed into the net.

  Rhino hit the ball fifty times, but he still had a lot of energy. He picked up his mitt and left the cage, tossing a ball high into the air. He ran under it and made the catch.

  This time he threw it even higher. The ball drifted toward the hedges, and Rhino ran toward it. He leaned against the hedge and stretched his arm, imagining that he was saving a home run with a leaping grab.

  “Looks like you’ve recovered,” came a voice from the driveway. Cooper was standing with his hands on his hips. His shaggy hair stuck out from under his Mustangs cap.

  Rhino just stared back.

  “Look,” Cooper said. “You’re either ready to be part of Mustang Rock or you’re not. Carlos and I can manage without you if you want to back out.”

  “I don’t want out,” Rhino said.

  “Show me what you can do,” Cooper said. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but I need to see for myself.”

  Rhino led Cooper up to C.J.’s room. C.J. had said Rhino could use the guitar anytime. In fact, C.J. had expected Rhino to take it to Cooper’s house today for practice.

  “Here’s C,” Rhino said, setting his fingers and strumming a basic chord.

  Cooper nodded, “Okay.”

  “And G,” Rhino said, shifting his fingers. He stopped to think for a second, then strummed again. “Now A.”

  “All right, so you know some of the basics,” Cooper said. “But one chord at a time is not a song.”

  “I know.”

  “Can you play a song?” Cooper asked.

  Rhino carefully held on to the guitar. “Not yet.”

  “Well, Carlos and I sounded good without you,” Cooper said. “So if you can keep up with a few chords, you probably won’t hurt us. But you need to practice with us. Monday after school. No excuses.”

  “I have to do my homework first.”

  “Then right after homework.”

  Rhino played the three chords again. He tried to switch from chord to chord as quickly as he could, but it wasn’t easy.

  “Did you decide on a song for the talent show?” Rhino asked.

  “I think so.” Cooper sat on the edge of the bed. “We tried a few slow ones to warm up, and then we got rolling. Carlos finally relaxed, and he rocked. But that was without an audience, of course. That’s why we need you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Carlos feels more positive when you’re around,” Cooper said. “He knows you won’t make fun of him, or let anyone else do it.”

  “That’s true.” Rhino stuck up for all his friends and teammates. He knew that he was the team leader and always wanted to act like it.

  “Play those three chords again,” Cooper said. “Like this: G … A … C … G. A. C.” He stretched his fingers and slowly tapped a beat on the edge of C.J.’s desk. Bop … bop … BOP … Bop. Bop. BOP.

  Rhino struggled to keep up at first, but it got easier after a few minutes.

  “Good!” Cooper said. He kept tapping, a little faster now. Bop-bop-BOP. Bop-bop-BOP.

  Rhino kept repeating the chords. G-A-C. G-A-C. He grinned. It was still pretty slow, but it sounded a little like a song.

  “You’re rocking!” Cooper said. “You might be all right yet, Rhino. With those three chords, plus a few D’s and E’s, you could play a song like ‘Upside Down, Inside Out.’ ”

  “That new song?” Rhino asked.

  “Yeah. Carlos was belting that out this afternoon. Cool, huh?”

  Rhino knew the song well. C.J. listened to it all the time. “But it’s a lot faster than what we were just playing, isn’t it?”

  “Much faster,” Cooper said. “And more complicated.”

  Rhino wasn’t sure he could do that.

  Grandpa James looked into the room. “You two are cooking,” he said. “Cooper, you ought to be a teacher. Little Rhino sounded like a pro!”

  Rhino laughed. “Not quite. But that was a good lesson. Can’t wait for Monday’s band practice.”

  “Speaking of practice, would it be all right if I hit a few baseballs in the batting cage?” Cooper asked. “I struck out twice today. My timing is good for drumming, but it was way off for hitting.”

  “Let’s go!” Rhino said. As they hurried down the stairs, Rhino’s thinker told him to add something else.

  “Thanks for being a good friend, Cooper,” he said. “You keep me on my toes. I can’t fool you about anything.”

  Rhino felt so much happier that Cooper knew the truth. He should have been honest from the start.

  Rhino was surprised to see Bella and Ariana when he arrived at Cooper’s house after school on Monday. The girls looked like they were in their dance-team outfits. They must have just been practicing their routine.

  “Cooper said we could watch you guys practice,” Bella said. “He said Carlos is amazing. I hope we don’t make him nervous.”

  You’re making me nervous, Rhino thought. He didn’t want anyone watching his first session with the band. But I’ll be in front of an audience soon, his thinker said. I might as well get used to it.

  They were right about Carlos. He blushed when he saw the girls and mumbled that his throat might be too dry for singing today.

  “Let’s start with an easy one,” Cooper said. “We’ll play ‘Overtime Run.’ Nice and slow, right, Rhino?”

  Cooper handed Rhino a sheet with the lyrics and the chords. Rhino set his fingers for the first chord. The song was mostly E’s and A’s. It looked easy.

  “Okay?” Cooper asked him.

  Rhino nodded.

  They plodded through the song, and Rhino made only a few mistakes. Carlos sang so softly that his keyboard drowned out his voice.

  “Nice,” Bella said when the song ended.

  Rhino knew better. A performance like that would be an embarrassment at the talent show. They’d never win.

  “You have a great voice, Carlos,” Bella said. “But we need to hear it more. It sounds better than any instr
ument, so speak up!”

  Carlos looked down at the keyboard, but he was holding back a smile. He seemed less afraid when he looked up.

  “Let’s try it again,” Cooper said. “A little quicker.”

  They ran through the song three more times. Rhino winced with every mistake he made, but the others said he sounded pretty good.

  “Carlos’s voice and keyboard should be what we hear the most,” Ariana said. “The guitar is more in the background.”

  Bella laughed. “Better keep it that way.” She nudged Ariana and stood. “Time to go,” she said. “Thanks for letting us watch. You’ll be great.” She winked at Rhino and headed for the door.

  “Not bad for a warm-up,” Cooper said. He banged the drums a few times. “But ‘Upside Down, Inside Out’ is a lot faster and more complex. We need to play a lively song like that to win the talent show.”

  Rhino turned to the sheet music for that song. It was mostly G’s and C’s and A’s, but the pattern changed back and forth several times.

  Rhino hit more sour notes than good ones.

  “That was a total flop,” Cooper said after the first time through.

  Rhino knew that was his fault. He could play all the chords, but the rapid pace made it very hard for him to keep up.

  “Listen to me and Carlos one time,” Cooper said. “Imagine that you’re playing the chords with us, but don’t try to play along yet.”

  I don’t see how that will help, Rhino thought. But then he remembered that thinking about hitting a baseball did help when the time came to do it in a game. Maybe Cooper’s idea was the same. Rhino could think about changing from G to A to C much more quickly than he could actually move his fingers into position.

  He joined in the next time Carlos and Cooper started the song. They played it five more times. Carlos sounded great.

  Rhino didn’t.

  “Keep at it,” Cooper said as Rhino put the guitar in its case. “Practice tonight at home. We can have another session on Wednesday, and after the game on Saturday.”

  Rhino and Carlos left together. Carlos was still singing “Upside Down, Inside Out” very softly as they walked along the sidewalk.

  “Feeling confident?” Rhino asked.