The Musician

The Musician By Marble

Once upon a time, there was a small, small town named Smithville. Smithville was quiet, and not a person in sight. There were only 100 people who lived in Smithville making it the world’s smallest town.

One day in Smithville, an extraordinary thing happened. The sun was raised high in the sky. The birds were singing. The town’s people out working, helping each other. Some ran farms; others made clothes, and the rest played games. But, on this particular day, as I said, an extraordinary thing happened.

Charlie, a young boy who lived among the village, was working on his father’s farm. He grew crops while his parents washed the pigs and horses. He was tired of the work he had done. The sun was going to go down anytime soon. He looked at the horizon. As he stared, he saw something different. A figure, shadow of a man. The man was walking toward the town. Everyone gasped. No one had ever visited Smithville before. Everyone watched as the man walked to the front of the town. Soon enough, he was where Charlie was standing.

He walked calmly with an unusual big case. It was round shaped with a neck like a Giraffe on the top. The man was tall, thin, and had sunglasses shading his eyes. He walked, stopped and sat down on a bench. Everyone had followed him. He sat there for a while. Then, he put his case on the bench and flipped a metal switch that made a POP sound. The case had 5 switches and finally, it opened on the side. Inside his case, laid something the people of Smithville never saw before. It had strings. The neck was covered with lines and dots. Charlie understood that on every three blocks on the neck, there would be a dot.

The man took it out of the case and made a nice, sweet sound. With his fingers, he stroked the string downward. That triggered the sound. Everyone was amazed at what he had done. He started playing more. And then he made a tune. A rhythm. Everyone started clapping and started dancing until the sun went down. It was Charlie’s best night of his life. Charlie went up to the man. “What is that?” Charlie asked “It’s called a guitar. I’m a musician. I came here to play for the town.” He replied “I love that sound.” Charlie says. The man strums the guitar. “Yes that!” Charlie exclaims. “I can teach you how to play it.” The man says “Please. I would like to learn.” The man shows Charlie the basic way of playing. Charlie loves playing. He’s not that bad at it. He continues to play until he got tired and went to sleep.

The next day, Charlie woke up. He was excited to play the instrument. He gets out of bed, changes his clothes and rushes out. He looks for the man. But unfortunately, Charlie couldn’t find him. Where could he have gone? Charlie wondered. He knocks on his door of his cabin. The door is open so Charlie enters. He walks around. No sign of him anywhere. Charlie finds a note. It was written by him! Charlie reads:

Dear Charlie,

I am sorry I had to leave. My apologies. I have left a gift for you. I hope you like it. I will return.

Sincerely, The Musician

Charlie folds the note and puts it in his pocket. He tears. Charlie wipes them off. He turns back to the door. But as he looks at the door, he sees a case. It was the man’s, the musician’s case. He pops the switches and opens it. Charlie is astonished at what he is seeing! It was the musician’s guitar! Charlie picked it up. He strummed the guitar. He started playing.

Months passed, and soon years. The Musician returned to Smithville with a case to see an old friend. He walked to where he had stopped before. He sat down on the same bench he sat on before. He took out his guitar and started playing. Behind the musician, stood a man who was walking toward him. He sat on the same bench. He also had a case. He opens his case and plays his guitar. Both play together until the sun went down. They finished playing and stared at each other. “You play very well. What’s your name?” The musician asked “Charlie” He said. They both shook hands. “I’m Charlie as well.” They both started playing again and soon the sun rose high up in the sky.

THE END