Stupid Fast

Chapter 8: I HAVE NO TALENT FOR DRUMMING—ANDREW DOES (I CARRIED AROUND A BAG OF ROCKS)




Andrew started playing piano when he was seven because Jerri’s drumming teacher, Tito, said he had musical talent.

It was August, and I’d just turned nine. Jerri had invited all these musty, woodchip-smelling people out to our house to drum in this big circle around our fire pit. At one point, the sun going down, the sky orange, Tito put a drum in front of me and said I should drum along, “Let it all out, little man,” but I’d had heart attacks at school all spring, and all those people drumming around the circle caused a vibration in my chest that scared the holy crap out of me, so I wouldn’t touch the drum. So Tito moved the drum in front of Andrew, and Andrew just started bobbing his little mop head and pounding along and all the woodchip-smelling people oooohed and ahhhhed, and Jerri clapped her hands over her mouth, she was so happy. The next week, he was in piano lessons.

That night, Tito gave me a leather pouch full of polished rocks and crystals. He told me the rocks had special powers and I should hold them in my hands if I got scared, so I carried the leather pouch around and took the rocks out a couple of times at school that fall, but everybody made crap out of me for carrying around a “jewelry collection,” so the rocks didn’t work right.

It wasn’t very long before Andrew’s piano teacher said that Andrew was his best student ever.

Even though I couldn’t pull the rocks out at school, I carried them around in my pocket. I actually carried them with me almost every day through the last school year. After my Regionals disqualification, I held a crystal in my left hand for two days.

Believing rocks have power is a lot like thinking your dad’s ghost is watching out for you.

I carried them for years!

Not anymore. They’re gone.

Andrew got piano, and I got a bag of rocks? That didn’t work out.

I don’t know. What do I know? Maybe Dad is watching?

Yikes. That actually just scared me.

***

Holy crap. It’s 1:51 a.m.

Go!