Prairie Fire by E. K. Johnston

Author:E. K. Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group

THE BANJO

If I had a party trick, telling the Manitoulin story would be it. Whether I set it to music or chanted it like the Viking bards of old, it came out of me as easily as water flowing downhill. Even before I had registered surprise at the request, I could feel my diaphragm getting ready for it; I heard the music in my head. The request was repeated from around the room, and I decided that if this was to be my way in, I would take it. Maybe, as Annie had said, they were just bored. Maybe they didn’t respect me or the Oil Watch, but they just wanted a show. I could do that. I was a bard, and the Oil Watch was supposed to be flexible when it came to civilian relations. I wouldn’t always concede, I decided, but if they opened the door first, I was sure as hell going to let them hold it for me while I went through.

“Could I get a glass of water?” I asked, every inch the small town country girl. I didn’t have to worry about rank in this room. I had to worry about experience. “I walked here kind of quickly, and I don’t think you want to hear me sing like that.”

There was some laughter, and an older woman passed me a cup. I still couldn’t see the banjo, and I stopped scanning the crowd for him so I could focus on the song. I drained the cup and tried to think of fire. As usual, it wasn’t very far away. The smells, the way they clung to my hair even after I’d gotten out of the hospital. I hadn’t been able put that in the music, how it felt to burn, but I’d never forgotten it anyway.

Like always, they were leaning in before I was through the first few bars, and by the time I got to the part where the dragons flew over the car, they were mine entirely. They all joined in on the last chorus, the one about waking up in the hospital to find out that the skies were safe again. That was new. I’d written this song as a solo, like I did with anything that wasn’t orchestral. Yet here were harmonies and counter-melodies I hadn’t written, merely laid the path for. I thought about the cold October sun on Kaori’s newly shorn head. Maybe this was what being part of the story was all about.

They applauded when we finished, and I clapped too. I wondered if they knew that this was the first time I’d actually sung this song with other people. When the clapping faded, they asked me questions for a while, mostly directions and who to talk to about certain requirements, and I promised them better maps than the ones they’d been given so they’d be able to find their way around. I moved from table to table, both professional and approachable, and trying desperately to remember everyone’s names.

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