Through the Milky Way

Chapter 1

Large Concert Hall—A New Beginning

"Strength"

Life is almost never what any of us expect. Maybe we should consider ourselves very lucky if it is. Happiness in life can mean one thing to some, something altogether different to so many more. But maybe you don't need anyone telling you that.

One young boy is on the verge of reaching a level of happiness most could never imagine. However, the end of his life may arrive before he can experience any true contentment. Johnny is on a journey of a lifetime, a race against time—a race many, sadly, lose. Most see episodes like these as part of their life's destiny. Yet, does any of it really matter? After all, in the end does it really matter what level of happiness any of us are able to experience? Does it really matter what any of us are able to accomplish before our life ends?

***

The pure and comforting pace from a chorus of bass and cello strings immediately captivates and draws everyone in attendance into a total musical commitment. This collective, beautiful passage activates the beginning of this majestic piece as each bow, meticulously woven with horse mane, slides deliberately across the appropriate strings of each and every instrument. Music quickly, completely, and abundantly fills this large concert hall. Completely original, this is a composition few attending tonight's performance have ever had the pleasure of hearing before, and with most levels of anticipation and expectations low, there are many caught off guard by this introductory, initial offering. From the middle seat in first row-orchestra, flowing upward toward the last seat in the balcony high above all others inside what was once considered an acoustical marvel of a music hall, each note journeys from the stage, traveling harmoniously in a symphonic voyage across an expansive area through, around, and above the crowd, filling every corner. Very quickly, the beat of the timpani drum echoes dramatically into the forefront as a modernistic infusion blends willfully and successfully with old-world musicality.

Stationed in the audience, the group of performers' families, friends, even strangers...all are smiling as they settle in for the performance no one could possibly begin to anticipate or imagine. Nestled comfortably inside their own personal enjoyment, mouths and eyes convert to vulnerable positions, many frozen open as though completely in awe. Basking in the joy of experiencing something none of them honestly thought would or could ever happen, many in the audience are simply parents witnessing their teens performing onstage for the first time ever in a venue like this. Most could never imagine their children appearing so accomplished before them. And as such, most have no other response, nothing more appropriately summoned from deep inside for what is taking place currently than each individual's unbridled, unreserved, and complete astonishment.

A fully and appropriately dressed choir of young men suddenly appears from behind the curtain backdrop. Effortlessly, rhythmically, they move to the open stage from behind those curtains to stand behind this orchestra of nonprofessionals, where they will gracefully and concisely spread across the stage from one side to the other. This group of teens from one of the local high schools, matching robes in their school colors, begins to sing in praise and support of the conductor leading them through the very first selection of the evening—a piece he composed solely on his own prior to reaching the age of eighteen, and simplistically entitled "Strength."

One of the worst academically performing, consistently underachieving schools in the city, district, and state for a very long time; absolutely no one would ever have thought what was happening tonight even a remote possibility. Most cannot believe this is real, this is happening. Yet maybe it is not happening. Maybe it is not real. Again...maybe it is. Really, how could it not be?