The Fingerboard
A novel by Alyssa Lyon
Chapter 1
The Little Cello Boy
Wow I’m actually doing this. I can finally… um… type? Is that what you call it? Well whatever this is, it’s my first experience of anything like it. It’s actually pretty cool. Way better than writing on paper. Wow….This. Is. AMAZING! Who invented the idea of typing anyway? He’s probably a millionaire by now. I wonder who he is. Hmm , probably dead by now.
Sorry I get side tracked sometimes. I’m Julian Crane. Me, my dad, and that “wonderful” Angela moved to Helena, Montana two weeks ago. We bought this crummy little house. There are a few holes in the wall, the carpet is stained with what I believe to be feces, all of the appliances are broken, and there is no lock on any of the doors, not even the front. It’s a complete waste of money. I don’t know what Dad and Angela liked about this place. I bet Angela loved it because it was so mediocre, just like her personality.
School starts tomorrow. I’m not excited like everyone else is to finally see their friends and actually have something to do during the day , I’m rather nervous. I don’t have any friends and I doubt I will meet anybody who would accept me. No one ever does. I wonder what it’s like to have friends, no not just a few friends, a best friend. Someone I can trust, who will stand by my side, go anywhere with me, who will listen to my pleas, and most of all, believe in me. But I guess the only ever true “friend” I will have is my cello.
Sorry I’m always getting side tracked…Well I guess I should start from the very beginning. I’m Julian Crane… wait I already said that didn’t I? Oops. Well anyway I was born in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, my mother, Lillian, past away after my birth. My father couldn’t handle her death so we moved far away from our house, my mother’s family, even where she was born. I think Dad wanted to start fresh, even though he did a good job clearing her out of his life except for some reason he decided to keep me with him, he could’ve put me up for adoption or just leave me somewhere on the road. To me, he’s a true dad for not betraying me.
We moved into an apartment in Massachusetts and my dad got a job at a car dealership and somehow by the time I was 5 he was the owner of the place. I started Kindergarten soon after Dad hit his huge breakthrough in his career also known as Crane Automotives. I was separated from all the other children and was put in a special class with a few other kids. Dad always told me it was because we were more fortunate than the other kids in the school. Now as a 14 year old, I realize that is really selfish. Anyway, it wasn’t all that bad, we played many games and learned everything that all the other Kindergarteners learned and when the school year was over, we went through a wonderful graduation ceremony, all of the kids were in one big room and were all dressed in the same silky gowns, I can’t believe they made us boys wear dresses, ewe. We all got little slips of paper with our names on them that said “ Congratulations you are a Kindergarten scholar!” So childish.
First grade was all the same, as for every other school year, separated class. Except first grade was the year I began learning to play the instrument that would change my life forever.
