1)I raise my head and blink at the boy kneeling on the band room floor.
2) The room is filled with noise. It's loud, off-key, and weirdly out of place. I chew him out for being obnoxious and creating additional stress on concert night.
3) The concert starts in a matter of minutes, probably less than ten judging by the speed at which everyone moves.
4)I get down on my knees. When the sand and grit on the floor cut into my legs, I notice that I'm wearing some kind of slacks, not jeans. I have on my tuxedo.
5) He wears a strange, red-and-gold, version of the DSA Beginning Band uniform.
6) I notice that he looks like he's about to cry
7)He pushes Decatur High's silver concert tuba towards me.
8) This is his first concert, and his instrument is a wreck.
9) The people around us are moving faster. Whatever is wrong with his tuba, I know I don't have much time.
10) Somewhere, a dog howls, or perhaps a wolf. Others join in.
11) I pull the instrument over towards me as quietly as I can so as not to add to the general cacophony. I sigh.
12) There are jeans and a t-shirt on the floor.
13) I work on his mangled valves.
14) A ball of newspaper flies across the room from nowhere in particular.
15) I feel vaguely annoyed at the insanity and chaos of the situation, but I performed one of those perfectly routine, concert night miracles. I saved a kid's first show for him. I kept the section at full strength and able to do its part on one trippy concert night. Wherever this particular circus is taking place, whoever is the ringmaster, I did my job, and I did it well. I leave the room and walk to the stage.