Simon's One-Man Band

Simon Babin was quite nervous about showing off his one-man band to his family. Simon lived in Oakland, California in a predominantly African American suburb. He was nervous about showing off his skills as a musician.

Being a nerd, people would often laugh at his skills when it came to musical instruments. He had about three instruments he was going to play all at once -- a drum, a violin and a guitar. It was hard for those in his family to understand why he was doing this. Simon was prepared to be involved in a Battle of the Bands competition hosted by the Radix Corporation based in Simi Valley. He wanted to get name recognition. Simon's own mother -- Rosanna had her doubts about his musical skills.

"Son, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but why not try something else for a change? There are plenty of other sort of extracurricular activities you can do" said Rosanna, "why not take up archery? Your sister Sarah enjoys it and it's just like one of your many video games."

"I don't like archery, I have to use a bow and arrow, and I might hurt somebody" replied Simon.

"Well, I am certainly not going to let you get humiliated in front of a huge crowd, your music skills at best are how should we put it, needs improvement?" asked Rosanna.

Simon lowered his head in defeat -- he couldn't believe that he was being told not to compete in the competition. He headed towards his room feeling rather defeated. He gazed up at the ceiling doing his best trying to understand why his mother didn't want him to go through with this.

"I have to prove everyone wrong" thought Simon.

It wasn't just his mother who disagreed with taking up the Battle of the Bands -- but also his father -- Walter. Walter was the local priest at their church. He'd encourage always a chorus of singers on Sunday mornings.

"That boy has no idea what he's getting himself into" said Walter to Rosanna.

"I agree, he should look into activities that don't require him to be in front of so many people" added Rosanna.

Walter and Rosanna wanted everything to be safe for Simon. But Simon had bigger dreams. Sarah arrived home after practicing some archery -- she could see her parents were no doubt discussing her younger brother.

"Is this talk about Simon again?" asked Sarah.

Both parents glared at her with a firm yes.

"You should let Simon go out in the world" said Sarah, "I don't want him to be like me."

Sarah hated the idea of another sibling being involved in archery -- that was her thing and nobody else's. She knew Simon just needed some encouragement. She headed upstairs and knocked on Simon's door.

"Come in," said Simon.

Sarah gazed at Simon seeing how low her brother was with how harsh their parents were.

"I want to be part of the Battle of the Bands, so the world that a one-man band could accomplish anything," said Simon.

Sarah sat beside him on his bed.

"I think you can do anything if you put your mind to it" said Sarah, "I believe in you."

Simon felt a little better -- Sarah then got up. She knew she had to get her friends to gather in the backyard the following evening. Simon went to work and began to practice for the Battle of the Bands. He wanted to show everyone what he could be made out of. The trio of instruments made a racket throughout the Babin house with Walter doing his best trying to concentrate reading the Bible trying to be ready for the next sermon he was preparing.

"That boy is going too far" thought Walter.

Walter knew his wife did her best in trying to calm Simon's nerves -- but Simon kept on at it with the trio of instruments. It sounded out of tune and Walter didn't like it one bit. Walter eventually made his way towards Simon's room -- BANG, BANG, BANG.

"Boy, what are you doing your mother said not to play those instruments" said Walter.

Simon paused for a moment -- he could tell his father was enraged.

"Ah come on dad, didn't you ever want to do something in your life that your parents said no?" asked Simon.

Walter could tell Simon was doing his best trying to use reverse phycology on him.

"Look, your mother is just concerned people will go out of their way to humiliate you" said Walter, "plus your music skills really do sound not all that."

Simon was struck down with that sentiment by his father -- it was true Simon needed some practice. But having that coming out from his father's mouth wasn't right either. Disappointed again, Simon puts away his instruments. Peace and quiet at last for Walter.

"Keep it that way," said Walter.

Walter no doubt was being passive aggressive towards his son in terms of the noise level, while Rosanna would be more direct. Simon did his best trying to focus all day and even when it was dinner time. Sarah could see a change in his attitude.

"What did you do to him?" asked Sarah to Walter.

"I didn't" replied Walter.

"Yea you did, he has a down attitude" continued Sarah.

"Sarah please, you should understand your brother is hardly good at the one-man band gig" said Rosanna, "those instruments should be used for somebody else who is."

Sarah wasn't going to let her brother going to give up on his dream.

"Simon, you are going to enter that Radix Corporation competition and I am going to help you tomorrow evening I am having a get together of mine closet friends from college" said Sarah.

Simon gasped -- an audience! He had never had an audience before in his entire life.

"Uh, thank you sis" replied Simon.

"Don't mention it" replied Sarah.

This gave Simon another chance to practice -- and practice he did. He tried with all of his might with the trio of instruments in the evening and even in the early morning hours. It was a racket that neither Walter nor Rosanna enjoyed.

"We can't tell him to not follow his dreams" whispered Rosanna.

Rosanna was doing her best trying to be respectful to her own son. Walter on the other hand wasn't, he couldn't believe he couldn't read one passage of the Bible even while in bed.

"I need to do a sermon this Sunday and he's disrupting me" said Walter.

"Ask him politely" replied Rosanna.

Walter sighed as he got up, he then headed towards Simon's door. Simon immediately stopped playing the moment he saw his father's feet.

"Yes father?" asked Simon.

"Son, we've been through this before, how about you keep it down?" asked Walter.

"Tell you what father, if everyone laughs at me tomorrow and you are right, I will not participate in the competition in Simi Valley," said Simon.

Walter was somewhat relieved when he heard that from his own son.

"Okay, I will let you be if you're humiliated you should just donate those instruments to my church, maybe there'd be a musician who is actually good" said Walter.

That was the compromise that Simon was able to have with his father. Simon continued to play much to Walter's disgust, but at least this time Walter knew he had something in the bag if he was laughed at. Walter continued to play until the morning hours, when breakfast came Walter was exhausted still hearing the tone of his son's three instruments.

"Don't worry, all of this will be all over sooner than we think" said Walter to Rosanna.

"You're hoping that Sarah's friends all laugh at him?" asked Rosanna.

"Hey, he said it himself not me" replied Walter.

Simon then arrived ready for breakfast. Rosanna then served Simon the usual eggs and bacon. Sarah came down also ready for breakfast.

"I hope everyone is ready for tonight, I have a few friends coming over and we're going to use the backyard as a makeshift podium" said Sarah.

"You better not make too much noise, I don't want the police to give us a ticket for noise pollution," said Walter.

"Don't worry pop, we'll keep things real" replied Simon.

The rest of the day Simon continued to practice -- even while reading the Bible in the backyard, Walter could still hear his son's terrible music.

"Please Lord, please be over" thought Walter.

Walter was hopeful that Sarah's friends would humiliate Simon on the spot. As the evening hours finally arrived -- Sarah had invited about a dozen or so people over. Her boyfriend, Kelly Kongo, a local jock on the football team; Marc Hanks the football team's mascot; Dani Gray her best friend and a few other members of the team.

"The gang's all here, we're going to order pizza for dinner" said Sarah.

"That's nice, I'll be upstairs" said Walter.

Walter headed upstairs to avoid the crowd while Rosanna decided to join in. Simon was no doubt nervous as he stood on the podium, Sarah's friends were all respectful towards him. Kelly was skeptical over the one-man band. Doing his best to be kind to Simon since he was dating Sarah after all.

"This is our entertainment?" asked Marc.

"Watch it, if we lose again, I'm going to make sure everyone will pick on the mascot" replied Kelly.

Marc along with the other members of the team shut themselves up. Simon as nervous as ever cleared his throat.

"You can do this" thought Simon.

"Good evening, folks" said Simon, "tonight I would like to give you all a little preview to what I am prepared to do at the Simi Valley's Radix Corporation's Battle of the Band!"

There was a hush among the small crowd as Simon got his trio of instruments ready. Simon then began to head to work and began to bang on the drum. Then he played a guitar doing his best and even added a flute to the mix. At first things were out of rhyme, nothing made sense. But then Kelly began to tap to the strange beat he was hearing.

"Hey, this isn't so bad," said Kelly.

Simon continued to play much to his father's disgust upstairs. Walter could hear the noise pollution even with the windows closed. Much to his surprise, there was nobody laughing at Simon but instead the small crowd were instead starting to clap to the music. It was what Simon needed -- encouragement for him to do well in the Battle of the Bands. Even some neighbors watching the show from their homes began to join in on the clapping. The clapping was what Simon needed, he knew it was the right sort of missing instrument. Once his song was over Sarah got up and clapped for real.

"Yea, go Simon!" laughed Sarah.

Simon smiled at the small crowd before him. He couldn't believe this was the encouragement he needed. Simon took a bow, and now that he knew what to do all he had to do was travel to Simi Valley by train. It would be a few months for that to happen, but in the meantime, Simon had the ability to win the hearts and minds of mostly everyone around him. The end for now.