Читать книгу The Last Musician - Jason Peterson - Страница 3

In the land of Greenwood, in a time before this, a very peculiar thing happened on an otherwise very ordinary day. The music stopped.

At Greenwood community church, the music stopped during Edie Westerboum’s solo performance of “Thy Hymn Remains the Same.” The rest of the congregation thought Edie finally, thankfully, blew out her off-key voice until they realized they also couldn’t hear Bessie Mae Miller’s spot-on accordion accompaniment.

At Joe’s Barbershop in downtown Greenwood, the music stopped right as Joe’s Actual Barbershop Quartet started a rousing rendition of “Sweet Greenwood Eyes.” Joe, who was cutting Carl Anderson’s hair while he sang, was so surprised by the sudden silence that he lopped off the chunk of locks Carl used to comb over the rest of his bald head.

At Greenwood’s infamous Overlook Point, the music stopped just before Herb Gillespi was about to debut the love song he’d written for Maria Keys. Maria, certain Herb had gotten too nervous to actually play the song, kissed him anyway. Herb suddenly did not care about the strangeness of strumming a soundless guitar.

At Greenwood’s Biograph Theatre, the music stopped during a performance of Puppet Time with Pigwilly Pete. Pete flailed away at his one-man-band gear to no effect while the audience, thinking this was a part of the show, roared with approval until it became clear this was no mere act. A wary hush settled over the crowd.

On that fateful afternoon, all throughout Greenwood, people slowly began to realize something was amiss. Once the realization spread, it quickly turned to concern, and the concern to panic.

Greenwoodians gathered in front of each other’s homes, trying in vain to sing or play their instruments. They stopped each other on the street, asking if they could hear any music. One by one, family by family, they began filing towards Greenwood’s town hall. No one knew where else to go, and it seemed as though something must be said about the matter.

All of Greenwood gathered together that day. All except for one boy. The boy’s name was Kristoffer Snider, and, although he did not know it yet, he was about to have the greatest adventure of his short life.