Drums are cooler
“I want to play the drums!” Fatin yelled at her mother.
“Drums are not ladylike Fatin; I played the violin when I was your age, your grandmother played the viola, and her mother played the bass, so you will play the cello.”
“I don’t want to!”
This argument has been going on for hours now ever since Rana told her daughter she wanted her to take up an instrument. The argument would continue until Samid stepped in.
“Hey, come on now you two, that’s enough. Alright, ya binti,” Samid started as he knelt in front of Fatin, “how about we make a deal huh? You learn the Cello now like your mom wants and when you’re a bit older, when your tall enough to reach the pedal on a drum set, you can learn to play then, sound good?”
Fatin thought for a minute and then signed “Ok, daddy.”
“Good then your first lesson with Mr. Lee will take place tomorrow and I don’t want to hear anything else about drums until you are much older.” Rana said before she walked away. Samid winked at Fatin before sending her a smile as he stood up to go back to watching tv.
\The following day didn’t go as Rana planned. Mr. Lee showed up promptly at nine a.m. and Fatin is anything but a morning person. When Mr. Lee arrived, Fatin was barely able to keep her eyes open and was very moody. The minute they sat down with their instruments Fatin started to complain.
“It’s to heavy!” Fatin complained, “It gets easier with time.” Mr. Lee responded.
“The bow hurts my hand!”
“You will build calluses over time and that will help.”
“Why are there so many notes?!”
“The different sounds work in different ways though out music.”
After a grueling three hours the section was over, and Mr. Lee had left. Samid walked over to Fatin to ask, “So ya binti, how was your first lesson?”
“I hate it! It’s not fun!”
“Well best not say that to your mother but I’m sure you will learn to love it down the line.”
“No, I won’t! I don’t want to play the cello!”
“Ok, ok, honey, how about we give it three weeks and if you still don’t like it then I will convince your mother to let you stop alright?”
“Ok, daddy.” Fatin said reluctantly. When Rana entered the living room, she informed them that Mr. Lee had told her that he believed Fatin had a lot of potential and could become a great cellist with some practice. Fatin smiled and looked at her father as he told her mother, “Of course she has potential and is going to be great, she’s our kid.”
Over the course of the next three weeks Fatin’s tolerance for the cello had increased and she had started to enjoy playing it.
“Very good Fatin you’re picking this up faster than we were expecting, I’m very proud of you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lee.” Fatin replied as Mr. Lee packed up for the day.
“Wait Mr. Lee! Look!” Fatin ran up to him to show him her hand. “Daddy said it’s a callus, just like you said I would get!”
“That’s right Fatin and do you know what that means? It means you’ve been working really hard and you’re doing an amazing job. Keep it up and you will be getting more. I will see you next week.”
After months of practice, Rana pushed young Fatin to sign up for her school talent show. After being added to the roster, Rana took Fatin dress shopping.
“How about this one?” Rana said has she held up a yellow dress that immediately made Fatin upset, “I want a blue dress!”
“Fatin honey blue is not your color, if you don’t want the yellow dress then we will have to go with the green one.” Rana said.
“I want blue!” Fatin yelled as she pushed away the green dress her mother was trying to hand her.
“That’s enough Fatin, we will be getting the green dress now so stop crying.” Rana said as she grabbed the green dress with her right hand and Fatin’s hand with the other. She pulled Fatin over to the counter to pay for the dress as Fatin continued to throw a fit. Getting Fatin in the car after is even more of a feat than it was to get her out of the store. After wrestling her into her booster seat and driving home she called Samid so he could get his unruly daughter out of the car.
When Samid went to get Fatin, he could tell she wasn’t happy. “What happened ya binti? Why are you upset.” Samid asked as he got his daughter out of the car. “Mommy wouldn’t let me get the dress I wanted; green is an ugly color!” Fatin said to her father.
“Oh, is that what happened? Well did you know green is daddy’s favorite color? I bet you will look beautiful in it. Even if green is ugly, I bet you can make it look so pretty, love.”
“You think so?” Fatin asked looking for some type of reassurance.
“I’m positive love now let’s go inside; I made your favorite for dinner.”
The night of the talent show finally arrived and Fatin could not be any more excited. She loves being the center of attention and for a short time tonight everyone would be paying attention to her. When it was time for Fatin to take the stage, she sat in her chair with her cello and looked at the crowd. A sea of strangers until she locked eyes with the one person she wanted to see, her dad. Of course, her mom was sitting with him, but it honestly would not have bothered her if her mom wasn’t there. The stern look on her mother’s face with her crossed arms never gave her a warm feeling of comfort like the look in her dad’s eyes did. He always had a warm disposition to him that made Fatin feel safe.
Seeing her dad was enough for Fatin to relax and play her piece. The same piece that Mr. Lee was teaching her to play for this very moment and play she did. She performed her part as much as a young child could until she missed her first note. Fatin flinched as she looked at her mom who just kept scolding, but she relaxed again when her father smiled at her. She managed to finish the song, only missing three more note, and leave the stage.
After waiting backstage for the talent show to end, Fatin went to find her parents and ran into her father’s arms. Her mother immediately started to talk about how she could improve for next time, but Samid stopped her. “It was her first performance love; she did amazing and will do amazing next time, she’ll performs just as well. Why don’t we just go home and celebrate our little girl’s first concert?” Rana signed and agreed with her husband as they headed to their car. That night was filled with laughter as Samid had planed for them to watch Fatin’s favorite movie, he made her favorite dinner once again, and he set out her favorite game to be played before she was sent to bed.
Once her bedtime had rolled around, Samid went with Fatin to tuck her in and told her “You did amazing tonight ya binti, and I’m so proud of you. You had a long night though, so you need to get to sleep. I love you baby.”
“Alright daddy…I love you.”