The Summer I Learned Ukulele

Chapter One. First Day of Summer

Two weeks. Two weeks until spring break. Two weeks until I can catch a break from math. Two weeks and it will be my birthday, and I'll finally get the ukulele of my dreams. Two weeks and I'll get to play her favorite song outside her window after her parents go to sleep. Just two weeks.

Two weeks to stop the spread. Two months in quarantine. Two shots in my arm. Two more songs memorized on my ukulele.

We were told we couldn't go back to school. That it was dangerous. I just learned what the word pandemic means, and I'm going to be real, it sounds kind of scary. But mom and dad tell me that means that summer starts early this year. I just turned thirteen and I get a long summer? What could possibly be better? Maybe Claire who lives across the street has a crush on me too. That would make all of this better. That would make all of this less scary.

Months pass by so slowly. It's the worst kind of band aide. Painful, slow, you can almost hear the rip. I never got to see Claire or sing her favorite song to her. That was the most painful of all. Maybe she forgot about me.

I wake up to the sun in my eyes and my little brother lying next to me. Stinkface. I grab his arm through the blankets and start shaking him awake.

"What are you doing here, Stinkface? Go back to your room."

He yawns, "Who ya calling Stinkface, Barfbutt?" There's a long rumble under the blanket.

"Gross, man!" He laughs, "You come in here just to do that?" I interrogate.

"Oh yeah... that hit the spot." He laughs again, and I shove him out of my bed, not daring to lift the covers. He lets out an Ow! as he lands with a thud.

"Shut up! Dad will hear." A knock at the door. Speak of the devil and he will appear.

"Breakfast is ready! We've got bacon!" Dad walks back down the stairs. It's been a while since we had bacon because of the shortage. I can smell it wafting up the stairs. Maybe we have toast too.

"COMING!" we both shout at the same time. Barreling out of bed I shove him again to get to the door. I open it and he runs past me and does a base ball slide out the door. He's getting better at it.

"Hey!" I shout. He just giggles and runs down the stairs, the little twerp. I walk down the stairs behind him.

Down down up, up down up, Down down up, up down up...

I think I developed a quirk. I don't even realize I do it until I catch myself. Imaginary strum patterns with an invisible pick on invisible strings. A habit from practice. Too bad I strum with my right hand, the hand I do everything with.

You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you...

Claire's favorite song. I hope she hasn't really forgotten me. Her pretty coiled black hair. Her pretty brown eyes. The way her nose scrunches when she laughs. I remember how confident, how happy she was to play her own ukulele in the talent show at school last year. That's when she sang her favorite song, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You by Frankie Valli. I could never forget her. Ever.

I sit down at the table and dad pours me a glass of orange juice.

G7 Down down up, up down up, C7 Down down up, up down up, Cm7 Down down up, up down up, C Down down up, up down up...

The grass crunches under my feet as I sneak past her front yard to her window. I have a pocket full of pebbles to toss at her window. I toss the first one. I toss the second one. I see her beautiful fluffy hair. She opens the window. The moon makes her smile glow.

I sing: You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you...

Sam?

Sam, are you ok?

Sam!

"Huh? What?" I ask. My dad is looking at me.

"Are you hungry? You've barely touched your breakfast?" He asks me.

"He's thinking about Claire!" Tommy the Twerp shouts, adding kissy noises at the end.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes you were! You were humming that silly song from the talent show!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"Alright, alright," Dad interrupts, "It's ok to have a crush, Sammy, and Tommy," Dad gives him a rock hard look, "Won't make fun of you for it. Deal?"

"Alright..." Tommy shoves a bite full of eggs in his mouth as he grumbles.

I finally start eating that glorious bacon, and the rest of breakfast is silent except for the clatter of forks on glass plates.

As Dad is cleaning up, mom comes down the stairs. She has her usual morning outfit on, dress shirt and blazer with hair and make up did up, and pajama pants with fuzzy slippers. Mom walks over to dad and gives him a kiss. Gross.

"How'd the meeting go?" He asks

"Let's just say, I can't wait to go back to the office."

"Dressed like that?" I joke with her.

"Precisely like this." She does a twirl and a curtsy, and me and Tommy laugh.

She helps Dad shrug on his blue Amazon vest, and swoops in for another kiss. Really, Mom? Yuck.

"Go make a difference today." She tells him with a smile.

"You too." He smiles back. He turns to us. "You be good for Mom, ok? Get all your school work done today, and I might come back with a treat."

Everyone cheers at the idea and Dad laughs, "Ok, ok, I'll bring back a teat for everyone, but you gotta promise to behave." Tommy gets up from the table to grab Dad in a bear hug and Dad reaches over to pat my shoulder.

"Promise!" Tommy shouts.

We say good bye to dad, and he goes off to work.