Lisa Simpson's New Friend

Chapter 18

Monday morning came by and while Lisa and I were having lunch together in the cafeteria, she asked if I could go with her and Bart to a Jazz club called "Jazzy Goodtimes". "I'll have to ask my Papa, but I'm sure it'll be fine so long as I get my homework finished before then," I told her. "Great I'll let my mom and dad know you'll be coming with us too." She said smiling.

The next day after school we got to the club, it looked like something out of a Huckleberry Finn novel except there was a sign outside that read "The Joint is...Jumpin', Disappointing, Closed for Inventory". Inside there were a lot of kids playing all kinds of instruments.

For about 2 years I've been playing my guitar and singing a little bit. Unfortunately, I was shy about showing this talent of mine in front of so many people so I had Louie hide my guitar in a safe place and I would call him on my phone to let him know to bring it over to me. Lisa, Bart, and I sat at a table that was behind a few other tables that were filled with parents watching their kids perform on stage. A waiter wearing a trumpet-type hat on his head came up to our table, "What it is, hepcats? You want me to scat-sing the menu?" he asked us. "Absolutely not," Bart said. "Oh, God bless you, sir." the waiter replied, breaking character a little bit. "Hey, Bart, you want to jam with me?" Lisa asked. "Okay. If you give me your omelet." Bart told his sister. Lisa shoved her omelet over to him, which lead Bart to cheer: "Whoo-hoo! I'm a professional musician!" as he received his food.

"Michelle you are more than welcome to sing along with us if you want," Lisa added, making sure I didn't feel left out. "Thanks, but I would prefer to go on my own, I want to just get my performance over with so that my nerves can go away fast," I told her. "That's ok, I can't wait to see what you'll be singing," Lisa said.

I took out my phone from my back pocket to call Louie and I told him to come in and bring my guitar from the hiding place. Once he brought it over to me, I went outside so I could tune it properly. After tuning my guitar to perfection, I went back inside and watched Lisa, Bart, Martin, Ralph, and two other kids from school perform a very good jazz number. Lisa was telling Bart something while they were on stage together, but I couldn't really make it out. Once they finished the waiter from before came up to the stage, "That's a wrap, kids. Now go have some Jazzy Bread." He said.