THE COMPOSITION

By Julia S. Kazmer

For Laura on her 12th Birthday

The Five Girls

Regina was the composer in chief of her quintet, which was called the Five Girls. She was also the 1st violin closest to the front. 12 years old, she usually spent her free time writing music. When she found a piece she really liked, she would type it out and print it for the quintet. On Saturday afternoons at 2:00 pm, she would go to the gazebo in her backyard garden surrounded by a hedge with her violin, and wait for her friends to show up for their practice. On this particular afternoon, she was especially excited. She had a new piece she had recently finished composing, which not only called for a string quintet, but also needed a pianist. Today, though, they werent going to add the piano. It would be impractical, since this was their first time. . . . When everyone had arrived, they immediately took out the new composition, since everyone was so eager to work on it. They begun well, but as the piece progressed, the notes and rhythms had become very sloppy. Just to make sure that nothing was wrong with the music, she went around the gazebo to check. She started with the cellist, Marias, music. She continued to check everyones music. It was fine until she got to the other 1st violin, Cathys, music, which did not match hers. Cathy, said Regina, Thats not the right music. I have no idea where it came from. . . Regina was thinking, This is strange. I only printed these parts out this morning, and Im sure they were correct. I put them in a folder and left it on the gazebo because I was thirsty and needed a drink of water. Then when I came back, the part was switched. I wonder how it happened. . . & Regina wondered how the part could have been switched. This chapter provides some clues. Go back and read it again so you have an idea before moving on. When you have a guess, turn the page for the next chapter.

The Note
After the practice, Regina went back inside for a snack. She was pouring herself a glass of grape juice when her 15-year-old brother, Ryan, came into the house with a glum look on his face. He was carrying a shoebox. He said, These are the new gardening boots Mom made me buy. They have stars on their soles. Only little kids shoes have stars on their soles. After her snack, she went to her room to work on her next composition. She could not get very far because her extremely annoying 7-year-old sister Eliza kept putting her hands over the page. In a much worse mood, she went downstairs with Eliza following right behind her. No sooner had she came down then her mother asked, Regina, could you please go get the mail? It would be a big help to me. Yes, Mom, she replied, but not because she wanted to. She walked down to the end of the driveway and got the mail. When she came back inside, she went through the mail. It was pretty normal, including lots of ads, a clothes catalog, and an invitation to a birthday party for Eliza. She came to a letter for her in an envelope, but no return address was shown. When she opened it, it read: Regina, You will never get back the genuine 1st violin part for your composition, for I have traded it with my own writing and labeled it as yours. Ha ha ha! & Regina wondered the meaning of the mysterious, unsigned note. This chapter provides some clues. Go back and read it again so you have an idea before moving on. When you have a guess, turn the page for the next chapter.

The Passage in the Hedge

A few days after she received the note, Regina went out to the garden. After 10 minutes of being driven crazy by Eliza, the garden and the porch swing felt like heaven. She looked toward the hedge that surrounded the garden. The only opening was a little passage that supposedly only her family knew about. She felt uneasy. That note had made her feel like her family was not the only group of people who knew about the passage. . . Then she found something that made her nearly certain. Footprints! she exclaimed aloud. She took out the notebook and pencil she normally used for composing, and began to sketch. The footprint she was drawing had horizontal lines until the arch of the foot, and at the heel there was a star. She sat down on the porch swing and tried to compose, but she couldnt concentrate. She began to pace in front of the gazebo. Perhaps it was one of the quintet members. She thought, It cant be Maria the cellist, because she doesnt like to get her pants dirty crawling through tunnels. It isnt Andrea the violist, because she always enters the garden by the front gate and never explores the back wall of the hedge with the passage. It might be Cindy the 2nd violinist, she likes to poke her nose into other peoples business, but I trust her. And it just cant be Cathy, because shes my best friend. Okay, so it wasnt a quintet member. How about neighbors? She began to go through them in her head, Its not Jimmy, the boy next door. Hes just five years old. And it cant possibly be Lucia, because she hates me and always steers clear of me. It could be Nathan, the boy across the street, the one who works for Super Sodas. . . & Regina wondered who went through the secret passage in the hedge. This chapter provides some clues. Go back and read it again so you have an idea before moving on. When you have a guess, turn the page for the next chapter.

The Pianist
The next week on Saturday at 3:00 pm, Regina waited in the gazebo for her quintet members to arrive. But this time she had companythe pianist had arrived. Once everyone was there, they began work on the composition. Everything went smoothly until after practice. The pianist had apparently decided to stay. She relaxed in the gazebo while Regina went inside to put away her violin. When she came back, the pianist was looking through the composition folder. She is so nosy, though Regina. When she went to bed, Regina was about to fall asleep when she heard the snap of somebody stepping on a twig. She switched on her flashlight and shined on the figure below through the open window. It was the extremely nosy pianist. She yelled, What are you doing here this late? The answer was, I dropped my, ummmm, prized ballpoint pen in the bed of petunias, so I came to look for it. Regina closed the window and muttered, Prized ballpoint pen. Yeah, right. She soon fell asleep and dreamed of pianists peeking through the shower curtain while she was in the shower. In the next few weeks, the pianist made many more suspicious creeping-in-the-garden-late-at-night sessions. And Regina continued to dream about pianists peeking in on her shower. & Regina wondered if the pianist was the thief of in a league with him/her. This chapter provides some clues. Go back and read it again so you have an idea before moving on. When you have a guess, turn the page for the next chapter.

The Television Advertisement

Can we see it daddy? begged Eliza. Please may we see the movie? Dad continued to read the newspaper. Mom reminded Eliza that begging and nagging usually didnt help in these situations. Regina sighed. Eliza had been asking for weeks and finally, today was the day it was broadcasted. The movie was called: Fairy Tales: a Treasury in Film. Regina thought it was a lot of worthless junk, but Eliza really wanted to see it. As the day progressed, Eliza grew more and more antsy, and Regina became more and more annoyed. When Eliza painted pictures, one was a picture of a princess about to get eaten by a dragon; the other was a picture of a family sitting on a sofa watching TV. After dinner, but before movie time, Eliza was reading a book called My Cat aloud. She was reading, My cat sits on a pouch and licks her paw. Couch, corrected Regina automatically. Not pouch. She thought, Why does Eliza have to be such a bad reader? Anyway, she said, Its time to watch the movie. They sat down on the couch. The first part of the movie was mush. It showed in annoying computer animation that makes everything look like clay a princess preening in front of the mirror. This is junk, muttered Regina. She was about to leave when the ads came on. The first one was for Super Sodas. A fat man droned on and on while a familiar tune played in the background. Strange, muttered Regina. & Regina wondered what was so familiar about the ad. This chapter provides some clues. Go back and read it again so you have an idea before moving on. When you have a guess, turn the page for the next chapter.