You can call this a second string Friday Fictioneers piece, not because it’s worse but because there was no way it was fitting into 100 words.
“How much for the tuba?” I asked.
The clerk told me.
I smiled and let nostalgia glaze my face like a Kristy Kreme donut. “You know, my mom used to play the tuba. She had lungs on her like a pair of steel bagpipes. Growing up ,I thought she could put her lips to an elephant’s trunk and blow him up like a balloon, just like in the cartoons. Once, I put a ball bearing into the bell of her tuba before a performance, just as a prank. She played that whole concert, keeping it hovering in there. It wasn’t until the final note that she launched it up and out. Knocked out the conductor cold.” I chuckled, in a subdued way. “She passed away last year.”
The clerk looked amused and sympathetic at the same time. “Sounds like quite the lady. You know, I don’t normally do this, but I think I can give you a 20% discount on it. For your mom’s sake.”
“Wow, thanks!” I said. “That means a lot to me. I’ll think of her when I play it.”
I paid and arranged for the delivery. Then I strolled outside and down to the next music store. One down, three to go for my brass quartet.
“How much for the trumpet?” I asked when I was inside.
The shopkeeper told me.
I nodded and looked far away. “You know, my old grandpappy used to play the trumpet . . .”
The Green-Walled Tower 
March 26th, 2015 at 11:37 am
Very funny story. Wouldn’t you be surprised to receive your tuba shipment and find a little ball bearing in it! Maybe the clerk has a sense of humor as well.😁
March 31st, 2015 at 9:26 pm
That would be quite shocking, although actually that is how they get dents out of brass instruments. They have balls off different sizes they roll down the tubes to knock out the dents from the inside. It would be bad if one was left in it though.
March 26th, 2015 at 11:55 am
Ha Ha. You are quite the maestro. 🙂
March 31st, 2015 at 9:24 pm
Thanks, Joyce. 🙂
March 26th, 2015 at 11:56 am
Haha! I’ll have to tell my husband to read this to his class. This is the way you buy musical instruments! He’s a high school band director. ~Elle
March 31st, 2015 at 9:24 pm
Thanks. Hey, those band instruments are expensive. Every little discount helps. 🙂
March 31st, 2015 at 9:26 pm
My husband laughed at that. He made me print it so he could read it to his kids! Lol!
March 31st, 2015 at 10:00 pm
🙂 That’s great.
March 26th, 2015 at 6:34 pm
This is great David. Love the ball bearing part. How fondly she’s remembered. You don’t realize this till you say, she past away last year. Really great. Tubas have always made me laugh…even the word’s funny.
March 31st, 2015 at 8:24 pm
Thank you, Susannah. It is a weird word, isn’t it? It sounds almost like an onomatopoeia for playing it.
March 27th, 2015 at 1:04 am
shrewd mammoth!
March 31st, 2015 at 8:23 pm
🙂
March 28th, 2015 at 4:30 pm
The wicked crook!! 😀
March 31st, 2015 at 8:17 pm
I know, right? What a scammer. It’s a bit like the guy in the Music Man, a smooth talking con.
April 1st, 2015 at 5:52 am
When are you returning?
April 1st, 2015 at 9:10 am
I’m back now but still busy. I’ll start posting again that this evening.