I had my own room in the basement. There were three rooms in all downstairs. It was always cool in the summers, and during the winter, snow covered the windows, and the sun made interesting patterns on my walls. The basement was full of old trunks and junk, and Grandma did her washing down there. She had a funny-looking round washing machine with two electric rollers on top. After the clothes were washed, I helped Grandma run the clothes through the rollers and into a deep sink filled with cold water and a blue liquid called Mrs. White's Bluing Agent. Somehow or another the blue made the white clothes whiter, I could never figure it out. There was also a pantry lined with rows and rows of mason jars. Grandma made all kinds of jellys and jams and marmalades, and she pickled onions, watermelon rinds, cucumbers, and beets. She sealed off the jars with parafin wax, and labeled them by date. They were all proudly displayed on the shelves. One room was called the paint room, and that's where Grandpa kept all his tools and things. I loved to go in there and dig through the boxes of old junk. One time I found a bullet. I knew it had belonged to my father. He was in the Marines. Grandma even showed me his Bronze Star. My room was the biggest, and it had its own bathroom. The room was stuffed with antique dressers, cedar chests, bookcases, and closets. The walls were covered in hundreds of black and white photographs of places my Grandpa and Grandma had visited, celebrities, and funny things like my grandfather next to a cow, or by a giant donut, or on a submarine. I would stare at these pictures for hours on end, inventing stories, and becoming part of them. For me, they were my history. A history I had yet to discover here in the United States.
It was time to practice, so I sat on the edge of my bed and put Cleo together. Then I got out the saxophone diagram and spread it out in front of me. If I pressed one key, that was called a "b." Two keys, and it was an "a." Three keys and it was a "g." I picked up Cleo and tried to see what would happen.
I pressed a key. "BBBBBBBBBB," I played. Then I pressed two keys. "AAAAAAAAAA." It wasn't so hard. Then I pressed all three and out came a "GGGGGGGGGG." I could play! This was amazing. So I played my three notes back and forth over and over again. I spelled out simple words, "B-A-G," and "G-A-B." It was exciting. I slowly worked through all the fingerings on the diagram until I could move my fingers without looking at them. I now had a whole handful of notes to play, ABCDEFG. I looked around the room, eager to play something with my notes. I was sitting on my bed, so I played "B-E-D." I looked at my school bag and played "B-A-G." I tried to play four letter words, and came up with "FACE," "AGED," and "CAGE." Five letter words were harder. I could only think of a couple, "BADGE," and "CAGED." I found a six letter word, "BEADED," and finally had to quit when I got to seven. The only word I could think of was "CABBAGE." I was quite impressed with my new skill of making musical words. Playing music was just like reading a book.
"Junior, what are you doing down there?" It was Grandma calling. "Is that supposed to be music? Can't you play any softer, I'm talking on the phone!" Apparently Grandma wasn't as impressed with my new skill.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I hollered back. Playing music was not going to be easy. I needed to find a quieter place to practice, so I took Cleo into the bathroom and locked the door. At least there, I could sit and play without bothering anybody. I toodled around with my saxophone, trying to find new words to play, but after a while, I ran out of ideas, and started looked around the bathroom for more inspiration. KLEENEX, COLGATE, TOILET, SHAMPOO. All these words presented a difficulty. How do you play a "K" or an "X?" Then I noticed some writing on the pipes along the wall, "A. A. Grundman Corporation, Bakersfield, CA." So I picked out the first letters and played A-A-G-C-B-C-A. Suddenly the walls to the bathroom started rattling and shaking, and the pipes began to groan and moan. The overhead light flickered, sending sparks flying all over the place. We were having an earthquake! I sat on the toilet watching everything fly out of the cupboards, too terrified to move. Cleo glowed hot like a burning coal. I didn't know what to do. I felt like the entire bathroom was spinning around and flying through space. Suddenly I heard a voice come out of the shower.
"I thought you would never figure it out!" said the voice. Then a woman in a long white robe with flowers in her hair stepped out of the bathtub. She looked around at the mess on the floor, and looked at me. "Why are you sitting on the toilet?" she asked.
"What?" I said in complete shock. I closed my mouth and rubbed my eyes. She was still standing there. She had long curly brown hair, and bright blue eyes. She looked like an angel.
"Why are you sitting on the toilet?" she asked again. "Is that where you normally practice your instrument?"
"No." What was going on here? I felt dizzy. I couldn't breathe. "I must be dreaming," I said, managing a few words. "This isn't real."
"What isn't real?" she asked.
"You," I pointed, wondering how a woman in Greek clothes got into my bathroom.
"No, I'm very real," she said, picking up my Colgate toothpaste. "What's this?"
"Toothpaste," I said, "For your teeth. Now how did you get in here?"
"I waited forever," she replied, opening the toothpaste and tasting it with her finger. "Forever and ever and ever and ever. I thought you would never figure it out."
"Figure what out?"
"The magic code, silly. You finally played it."
"I did?" I asked startled. I didn't remember playing any magic code.
"Yes, you did, and that's why I'm here. You finally played the magic song. Now I don't have to be stuck flying around the sky all the time. Don't you get it?"
"No."
"A. A. Grundman Corporation, Bakersfield, CA. How much clearer can it be?" she huffed. "I've been trying to throw clues your way since the first day we met. First there was the music store. Do you remember the melody I played for you? Then you had the dream about the bird. That wasn't France, silly, that was Bakersfield, CA. If you would have flown around some more you would have figured it out. Well at least you saved that nice little girl. That was a very sweet thing to do."
"But how?" I mumbled. "How did I know that girl was there?"
"Because you cared about her," she replied. "My magic only works when there is true feeling in your heart."
"So you're magic," I said in awe.
"No, I'm Zephyr," she said holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Junior."
"It's nice to meet you too," I said hesitantly, shaking her hand. Then something occured to me,"Oh, I get it. I played AAGCBCA, and there you were!"
"Sshhhhh!" she said holding her finger to her lips. "You musn't ever speak out the name of the notes. It's a secret only you and I know. Do you promise?"
"Yes, I promise," I whispered.
"Well then, we have an agreement. From now on, if you want to talk to me, or need my help, just remember "A. A. Grundman Corporation, Bakersfield, CA." She giggled. "It's quite funny, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"That you were sitting on the toilet when you figured it out," she laughed. She had the sweetest, kindest laugh in the world. It sounded like a thousand little flowers swaying in the wind.
"Oh," I said embarassed. "I came in here to play because my grandparents complained that I was too noisy. I haven't really learned how to play yet."
"I know," she said. "I could hear you all the way up in the clouds."
"So you live in the clouds?" I asked.
"That's right. My name, Zephyr, means a soft and gentle breeze. I fly around in the sky all day, playing music for the birds."
"Wow, that must be neat," I said. Then I looked down at Cleo, still glowing on my lap. "So this saxophone is magic too?"
"Well, sort of. You see, that used to be my instrument, and some of my magic is still in there." She took the saxophone from me, and pointed to the engraving on the bell. "Look, that was me a long time ago. My father gave this to me."
"You mean, Cleo was yours before?"
"That's right, she sure was."
"But what could you do with a saxophone up in the sky?"
"Play music for the birds, you silly boy," she said.
"I don't get it," I stuttered. "You play music for the birds?"
"Of course. Birds and trees have to listen to music too. Why do you think the birds are always singing? They're singing along to my melodies. And why are the trees always swaying? They're dancing."
"Wow, I never thought of that," I said.
"Well, unfortunately most people never do," she said frowning. "People are so wrapped up in their own lives, they forget to look around at the rest of the world."
I was always trying to understand the world. I thought about it all the time. I thought about my world in Japan, and how I used to speak Japanese. I thought about my father's world, whatever that was. I had never met him, so I didn't know. I thought about my grandfather's world. It was hung up in pictures all around me. Still, I was never able to talk about my family like the rest of the kids at school. They all thought I was a weirdo who lived with old people. I didn't know what to say. That was just the way my world turned out. It seemed like I really didn't know anything until I could put all these worlds together. Whenever I asked Grandma, she would tell me, "You're too young for all that. Go out and play." What a strange world it was.
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