Read Online The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ben H. Winters
Tags: Suspense
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she hadn’tdiscovered the hidden truth about Ms. Finkleman, they would be singing “Greensleeves” at that very moment.
No one, however, paid any particular attention to Tenny Boyer. No one remembered, amid the general celebration, that there was among them a kid who was obsessed with rock and roll, who knew every member of every band, who could quote any lyric and play any guitar solo you could name. No one noticed that Tenny didn’t seem surprised by Ms. Finkleman’s announcement.
And no one, except for Bethesda and Ms. Finkleman herself, knew the truth: Tenny Boyer would secretly be planning the whole thing.
A show?
A rock-and-roll show?
As the class cheered Ms. Finkleman’s dramatic announcement, Pamela Preston sat perfectly still, contemplating the ever-growing imbalance of the universe.
No, no, no!
Pamela’s hands tightened around her water bottle, causing an unpleasant crunkling noise. She was a featured soloist in two of the six folk ballads planned for the Choral Corral. How exactly would her clear, bell-like soprano beappropriately featured in a rock-and-roll song?
As her classmates clamored joyfully, Pamela sat with her nose ever so slightly wrinkled, her head of golden curls titled ever so slightly to the left, her eyes ever so slightly narrowed. She surveyed her fellow students as if they were a doctor’s eye chart that wouldn’t quite come into focus. This questioning gaze finally came to rest on Ms. Finkleman—who, still standing at the front of the room and calling for attention, did not notice Pamela and her wrinkled nose and her displeased squint.
If she had noticed, Ms. Finkleman might have thought to herself:
Now
there
is a girl who smells something rotten.
At last Ms. Finkleman managed to quiet the class enough to present the full plans for the rock show, the plans she and Tenny had made at the food court the night before. The twenty-four students of Music Fundamentals were divided into three eight-piece rock bands, and each assigned an instrument based on what they could already play or might learn quickly. Thus cellists like Victor Glebe were assigned to the electric bass, pianists (like Kevin McKelvey, obviously) were designated keyboardists, and so on. Kids who didn’t play instruments wouldeither be singers or assigned “supplemental percussion,” meaning tambourines and maracas. Each of the three bands would perform one song, representing a different decade—sixties rock, eighties rock, and nineties rock. (“What about seventies rock?” Bethesda had asked at the food court last night, as Tenny sketched this all out on a Cinnabon napkin. He just shook his head and muttered, “Don’t ask.”)
The kids listened raptly as Ms. Finkleman explained all this, scribbling down their instrument assignments and trading excited looks and high-fives with their new bandmates. They managed to keep themselves relatively calm until the end, when Ms. Finkleman added one final piece of news: She herself, Ms. Ida Finkleman, aka Little Miss Mystery, would be performing right alongside them, singing along with every band, on every number, for the whole rock show.
Not only would they be putting on a rock concert, they’d be sharing the stage with a real rock star.
“Oh my god!” Chester Hu called out. “This is so awesome!”
Right,
thought Ms. Finkleman.
Awesome.
(In fact, this particular element, the idea of standing up there singing rock songs alongside her studentpopulation, was Ms. Finkleman’s least favorite part of the whole awful affair. But Principal Van Vreeland had been unyielding. “But that is the whole point, Ida dear,” she’d cooed in her sweetly poisonous tone. “You’re Mary Todd Lincoln’s prize possession, after all. Our homegrown musical sensation. We must show you off now, mustn’t we?”)
“Okay, so I think that’s everything, folks,” Ms. Finkleman concluded. “Let’s uh, let’s get star—uh, yes? Ezra?”
Ezra McClellan was a short boy with
No one, however, paid any particular attention to Tenny Boyer. No one remembered, amid the general celebration, that there was among them a kid who was obsessed with rock and roll, who knew every member of every band, who could quote any lyric and play any guitar solo you could name. No one noticed that Tenny didn’t seem surprised by Ms. Finkleman’s announcement.
And no one, except for Bethesda and Ms. Finkleman herself, knew the truth: Tenny Boyer would secretly be planning the whole thing.
A show?
A rock-and-roll show?
As the class cheered Ms. Finkleman’s dramatic announcement, Pamela Preston sat perfectly still, contemplating the ever-growing imbalance of the universe.
No, no, no!
Pamela’s hands tightened around her water bottle, causing an unpleasant crunkling noise. She was a featured soloist in two of the six folk ballads planned for the Choral Corral. How exactly would her clear, bell-like soprano beappropriately featured in a rock-and-roll song?
As her classmates clamored joyfully, Pamela sat with her nose ever so slightly wrinkled, her head of golden curls titled ever so slightly to the left, her eyes ever so slightly narrowed. She surveyed her fellow students as if they were a doctor’s eye chart that wouldn’t quite come into focus. This questioning gaze finally came to rest on Ms. Finkleman—who, still standing at the front of the room and calling for attention, did not notice Pamela and her wrinkled nose and her displeased squint.
If she had noticed, Ms. Finkleman might have thought to herself:
Now
there
is a girl who smells something rotten.
At last Ms. Finkleman managed to quiet the class enough to present the full plans for the rock show, the plans she and Tenny had made at the food court the night before. The twenty-four students of Music Fundamentals were divided into three eight-piece rock bands, and each assigned an instrument based on what they could already play or might learn quickly. Thus cellists like Victor Glebe were assigned to the electric bass, pianists (like Kevin McKelvey, obviously) were designated keyboardists, and so on. Kids who didn’t play instruments wouldeither be singers or assigned “supplemental percussion,” meaning tambourines and maracas. Each of the three bands would perform one song, representing a different decade—sixties rock, eighties rock, and nineties rock. (“What about seventies rock?” Bethesda had asked at the food court last night, as Tenny sketched this all out on a Cinnabon napkin. He just shook his head and muttered, “Don’t ask.”)
The kids listened raptly as Ms. Finkleman explained all this, scribbling down their instrument assignments and trading excited looks and high-fives with their new bandmates. They managed to keep themselves relatively calm until the end, when Ms. Finkleman added one final piece of news: She herself, Ms. Ida Finkleman, aka Little Miss Mystery, would be performing right alongside them, singing along with every band, on every number, for the whole rock show.
Not only would they be putting on a rock concert, they’d be sharing the stage with a real rock star.
“Oh my god!” Chester Hu called out. “This is so awesome!”
Right,
thought Ms. Finkleman.
Awesome.
(In fact, this particular element, the idea of standing up there singing rock songs alongside her studentpopulation, was Ms. Finkleman’s least favorite part of the whole awful affair. But Principal Van Vreeland had been unyielding. “But that is the whole point, Ida dear,” she’d cooed in her sweetly poisonous tone. “You’re Mary Todd Lincoln’s prize possession, after all. Our homegrown musical sensation. We must show you off now, mustn’t we?”)
“Okay, so I think that’s everything, folks,” Ms. Finkleman concluded. “Let’s uh, let’s get star—uh, yes? Ezra?”
Ezra McClellan was a short boy with
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