Time flew by and it was finally the day of the concert. I was really excited because now that I finally had my license, I got to drive a classic 1950 pickup we had in the family. I was running late to pick her up and as I was running out the door I heard my dad yell “Échale gas!”
“I’m going a few blocks, can’t be that bad” I figured.
I swung by Monica’s house and her parents were outside as I drove up “well look at you, where did get this from??” said her dad.
“Oh it’s been in the family for quite some time, just rarely get a chance to take it out for a drive”
“You’re going to have to let me borrow it sometime” he teased.
“Of course! Would Monica happen to be ready?”
He looked back to the door “well there she is now”
She walked out in an elegant jungle green colored dress. Its sleeves along with the top of her neckline were of fancy lace while the rest trailed down to her feet in a velvet material, glimmering in the sun as it began it’s decent.
“Whoa!! He let you drive it?” she said as she walked out.
“Just for today” I said as I looked at her coming down.
We posed next to it as they took our picture, overly excited. “Alright you kids be safe!, and we’ll see you in a little while” said her mom.
“We will mom! See you soon!” And we drove off. It was only a few blocks to school, so we got there right away, making sure everything was set up.
I was surprised, not expecting too much décor, but there was actually a decently sized Christmas tree right next to the baby grand, and garland & Christmas lights adorned the rest of the gym.
There wasn’t very many people just yet, but from what we had heard, we were expecting upwards of 1,500 people this time around. Thankfully I was getting used to the crowds, so I didn’t feel nearly as nervous as the first few times. I went around and checked in with everyone making sure they were ready, and before we knew it the people started to flood the gym.
And so it began. Each of the groups went with the individual performances, and the crowd was incredibly excited as they all heard our enactments. Throughout the course of the concert, I got a chance to look around, catching sight of her parents, my folks, and a few other friends among the crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen, really, how fantastic are all these groups of kids!!” said Mr. Cole keeping the audience engaged “it has been truly a magical night, and we thank you all for being here, but we have one more piece before you go.”
He looked over in my direction “I have to give credit where it is due, and truly, please help me thank Mr. Jim Rodriguez, because this last piece was all him. He got me and all the professors here present involved, and coordinated all the wonderful musicians we have here tonight for this last piece so without further ado, take it away Jim!”
I stood and bowed as the crowd cheered us on. I started the introduction of the popurri with ‘Feliz Navidad’. Almost immediately came in the Jazz band. Following them was the choir as they did their piece, and Monica & Danny came in joining me as well from the pianos at the opposite end of the gym.
We followed suit with ‘The Christmas Song’ where the orchestra chimed in, then ‘White Christmas’ with the band and guitar class as well. We concluded with ‘Silent Night’ and then the crowd roared in excitement.
One more performance for the books.
The crowds slowly began to dissipate, on occasion some of them coming down to personally congratulate all of us. We were pretty much done putting away everything we could and cleaning up, so I ran to get the truck and pulled to the front of the entrance. People walked by and gave me a thumbs up, or yelled “Nice truck!” and as I saw Monica come out, the inevitable happened.
The truck stalled.
I immediately remembered my dad’s words as I was running out of the house and just thought to myself “Really???” I sat there just saying to myself “please don’t be out of gas! Please don’t be out of gas! Please don’t be out of gas!”
The truck was out of gas.