writers note : this is a fiction story i wrote a few years ago. take time reading it and enjoy! A Slim Chance G.E. Katchry Golbin a rainy morning made me bounce off the walls. it was the first Monday of June. grade school days were over and my school was no longer a few steps away from home. i was already miles and miles away from my adored hometown. my parents had decided that i must spend my high school days in the city, where the quality of education is a lot better. being away from them didnt matter at all but a there are just so many things, particularly questions, which continually distracted me. is studying in the city really meant for me? will my subjects be tough? will i be welcomed just as i was in my country elementary school? will i still have some time for music?, these questions and a lot more kept on bothering me. but upon completely fixing myself, i decided to leave all thoughts and questions behind, for i knew that in a matter of minutes, a jeepney would take me to Iloilo City National High School. oops! i was not going to travel alone. i am a totally blind person, and so it is impossible (talking about the philippine streets) for people of my situation to go elsewhere by ourselves. Jean, my 23-year old personal assistant (now shes 31 and still my PA) had to be with me in almost every travel i make. it took us 30 minutes to reach school. the first hours of my first day in high school were spent in getting acquainted with new teachers, classmates and friends. after attending a class in mathematics (which happened to be my last period in the afternoon), jean and i agreed to roam around the campus. we had been strolling along for 5 minutes when jean suddenly asked me to pause for a while. are you getting tired?, i asked in all astonishment, knowing we had never even walked that much. no georgie. its just that something interesting is written on the bulletin board. without wasting a single minute, jean read it aloud: ang iloilo city national high school youth choir nagakinahanglan sang mga estudiyante nga may kinalain nga talento sa pagkanta kag may mapag-un nga ispirito sa entablado. kun isa ka sa ginatumod, palihog makigkita kay Ms. Ofelia Buyco sa biyernes, alas kwatro sang hapon sa kwarto nga pangmusika. (Iloilo City National High School Youth Choir is in need of students who have an exceptional singing talent and a firm spirit onstage. if you are one, please see Ms. Ofelia Buyco on friday, 4:00PM at the music room). what i just heard made me think for a moment. jean noticed my silence. hey! what say you? i think the announcement doesnt thrill you to bits. no jean, ofcourse it does! its just that im still half a mind. half a mind? come on! you sing very well, and i can find no reason for you not to join the choir. i was then out of my mind as i said: i think we have to go home now. this has been a tiresome day for us and we need a lot of rest. i attempted to puzzle jeans thoughts but i failed. she only agreed to go back home, yet she never stopped convincing me to join the choir. eventually, she won my nod. four days swiftly went by. that most awaited friday afternoon came and so jean and i went to the music room where the auditions would be held. there were 45 of us who came to try our luck. everyone had to perform in turns so we did the draw lots. i had picked out number ten. we were allowed to sing any song as long as its classical, opera, or broadway. tension arouse as Ms. Buyco got started. witnessing the first nine performances was such a hope-crushing experience. the performers never had the chance to finish a song. they were simply given embarrassing remarks. and the worst thing was that none of them passed! it made my toes curl! then came my turn to face the terror choir director. i took a deep breath before jean assisted me in front. like any other auditionee, i made a brief introduction about myself. the introduction should have been succeeded by my performance, but Ms. Buyco interrupted me. Ms. Altamerano, have you any achievement in singing?, she ask. id say i do, maam, i replied, i have won some amateur singing contests in my hometown. oh! amateur country-standard singing contests? thats hopeless! but have you been trained in classical singing? i have not taken formal voice lessons since no one in my home town is capable enough to teach. i only learn songs by myself. what a pity! well, i admire your courage Ms. Altamerano. but you know what? Iloilo City National High School Y Youth Choir doesnt need a green horn! for your information, this group has been winning the CFM (chorale fiesta musica) for five consecutive years, and what we need are squared away singers to maintain the name. i dont think you will be able to compete equally with others. your situation can be a set back and i refuse to take risks just to be generous or considerate. i remained silent, waiting for some last shot from her. well anyway, since you are courageous enough, i am giving you the chance to sing your song. whether or not i will be pleased by your performance is another matter. somehow, that gave me a little hope and possibility, so i never hesitated to sing. after i did, Ms. Buyco had a moment of deliberation. then she said, for someone who has never been trained in classical singing, such a performance is satisfactory. i must admit i am surprised. well, you are now ....part of the group. i just hope you will never be a burden to anyone. i went back to my sit feeling like a million. when the audition was over, somebody came to shake my hand. congratulations Georgiana! she exclaimed, welcome to the group! by the way, im Claudia Francisco. so pleased to have met you claudia. i know you are not a new kid on the block as i never heard you in the auditions earlier. well, yes, im already in the fourth year. for an hour of chit-chat, i was able to know a lot of similarities between us. to name a few, we both love to listen to opera and broadway music, write our own songs, and talk too much on the phone. moreover, i found out that Claudia is the choirs lead soprano. claudia and i became good friends as days went by. it was on the last Friday of June when i joined the choir in a performance for the first time. our formation onstage was rather simple. we were divided into two groups: the sopranos and the tenors are in the front row (thats where i was) while the altos and bases are at the back. i was assisted by the person next to me. i never had problems in coming up the stage, but as we were leaving it, a messy step caused me to stumble. and yes, the audience had definitly witnessed it! i was out of sorts. jean and claudia cheered me up until we got to the music room. as soon as everyone in the music room was finally settled, Ms. Buyco outrageously expressed how dismayed she had been. what happened was such a severe embarrassment, and i will never ever let it happen again! im sorry Ms. Altamerano, but i have already made up my mind. you are not joining the CFM, yet you still remain a member of the choir. but maam..., claudia interrupted, what had happened was not her fault at all! why should you put the blame on her? Ms. Francisco, i never asked for your opinion! and as for you Ms. Altamerano, you dont need to be back in this room starting next week. i shall see you here again by the time CFM is over. to the rest, you will be busy rehearsing for the weeks to come. Iloilo will be hosting the CFM, and so we are expected to perform well. remember, we have to strain every nerve in order for us to keep the crown! we are supposed to make headway as we go along. anyway, thats all for today. we shall see each other next week. i departed from the music room with a long face. i found myself so helpless. i was completely down, yet i never thought of giving up. i chose to the belief that if i was meant to join CFM then there would surely be a way for it to happen, and if doing nothing already satisfied me, then i would probably have regrets in the end. being so, i chose to be open to possibilities, even without any idea on whether or not there would be any. another week had come and it was expected to be tough for the choir. ofcourse, i must keep myself updated on everything that took place in the music room. to do so, i stayed near the music room where the choir rehearsals were audible enough (fortunately not a room in the campus was sound-proof). a few days later, i found myself doing it regularly. not a single soul in the choir knew about it except Claudia. what a great fortune that all my sacrifices paid off. at least i was able to memorize all their pieces including Claudias solo parts. somehow, i was happy about it, yet i knew that everything i did proved to be of no use after all. i had realized that having learned all of the pieces was an achievement itself, and that would keep me happy enough without joining the CFM. the remaining couple of days had been so restless for Claudia, who rehearsed more than anyone in the choir. her voice was overused and she badly lossed it. she tried every remedy but her voice only got worse and worse until the day of competition came. the competition was to be held in the evening, so the choir still had time to meet at the music room in the morning for their final rehearsal. i got to see to it that i never missed the final rehearsal, accepting that i was not meant for the competition. in silence, i sit at my hidden corner near the music room, wondering why the choir was not yet rehearsing. i could hardly hear what everyone inside the room was talking about since the microphone was used only when they rehearsed. suddenly, Claudia came where i was sitting, and without explanation, she hurried me to the music room. as expected, Ms. Buyco welcomed me in astonishment. Ms. Altamerano! you know when to come back here, do you? look, we are in the middle of a crucial situation at the minute. tell me, what are you here for? Ms. Francisco, what is this all about? i was like, yes! what the hell am i really doing here?! but before i could say a word, Claudia turned to Ms. Buyco and said, maam, georgiana is the person we have been looking for! i didnt understand what Claudia was talking about, yet i still managed to keep calm. what do you mean miss Francisco?, Ms Buyco asked. Maam, Claudia replied, you know exactly what i mean. yes, Georgiana have mastered and can sing my parts! i was extremely surprised. i didnt know what to say or do. Ms. Buyco and the rest in the room were equally surprised. Ms. Francisco, this is not a perfect time for cock and bull story telling! you know very well that Ms. Altamerano is out on the left field. how could you ever tell me that she knows your parts? how on earth could it be possible? without you knowing it, maam, georgiana has been with us ever since we started rehearsing for the CFM. she followed everything by regularly staying near the music room where we could be heard. she did it in hopes that you might just change your mind and allow her to join CFM. maam, if you can not gamble on her, then please, at least put your trust on me, who have been working with you for almost four years. just as i never failed you before, so will i never fail you this time. everything now is just a... ..matter of joining the competition or not. for once, we should take risks. everyone here, including yourself, knows how devoted i am to the choir. i want nothing but the best for it. im not handing on a task to Georgiana simply because she is a good friend of mine. remember that i am now in my senior year--my last year to do something for the choir and for the school it represents. if i chose to be merely subjective and my decision turned out to be a mess, then everything i did in the past would turn into nothing. you know that i wouldnt want it to happen. i am giving Georgiana the challenge, because i know, with all objectivity, that she is capable enough to do it. Ms. Buyco found sincerity in Claudias words, and she felt she had no choice but to consider them. as for me, i doubted whether or not i can surpass the challenge, but only one thing was on my mind: that i was not supposed to fail a person who believed in me. the hours seemed to run so fast that i never had noticed i was already in the auditorium where the chorale competition was held. i still couldnt believe i was there. ten groups from different region of the Philippines came to compete for the top spot. everyone, especially the choir that represents the host city, was expected to be at their best. we were all nervous as the competition began. it was truly a nail-breaker. after five groups had finished performing, our turn to be onstage came. i encouraged myself a little before we could start singing the first line of our first piece. as i was singing the solo parts, i only thought of Claudia, who was there, not as a participant, but as a member of the audience--a member of the audience who trusted me, supported me, believed in me; who gave me the slim chance which i used to think as impossible. my thoughts on claudia were more than enough for me to give my best. our performances were followed with a collective round of applause. everyone, including Ms. Buyco, congratulated me with an exclamation of surprise. the following chorale performances could no longer do anything with my senses. i was preoccupied with thoughts, questions, and mixed emotions. then i think to myself: if Jean never convinced me to join the choir, if i never had Claudia as a friend, if i was not optimistic enough to do crazy things like following rehearsals for nothing, if claudia never believed in me, then this moment, which i shall remember for the rest of my life, would have never happened. i was so meditative that i nearly failed to notice the most awaited moment of the competition: the announcement of winners. i was seemingly hearing the most beautiful music when it was finally announced that Iloilo City National High School Youth Choir made it to the top once again.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:17:39 +0000
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