Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Hector Fear of Clarinets

Every time the clarinet section started playing, Hector cringed. It was not because he didn't like the sound the instrument made; no, in fact he loved the clarinet. In actuality, Hector now feared the clarinet, now as irrational as that sounds he felt justified in his fears.

Let us start at the beginning; Hector grew up listening to his grandfather play the clarinet. He would sit and watch him work his reed, then put the instrument together and then check the tuning. His grandfather could play any kind of music; he might start with a classical piece and then flow right into some blues and finish with something fun like 'Peter and the Wolf'. Listening to his grandfather play is what got Hector interested in music, grandfather gave him an old trumpet and he had taught him how to make noise with it. He drove his father crazy with all of his bleating until he agreed to let Hector receive music lessons.

After his grandfather died, Hector promised to become a great trumpeter to make him proud. Although not great, yet his teacher said he showed promise and he joined the band at school. It was soon after, that his fears started to show up. You see, every time he began to practice his trumpet it would sound like a clarinet. He was sure it was his grandfather's ghost changing his trumpet sounds to that of a clarinet. How could he play the trumpet part of a piece of music if clarinet sounds came from his horn? These so worried him, that he would just hold his horn to his lips and not blow. Hector was reluctant to tell anyone of his ghost problem afraid they would think him crazy. One day he realized what his ghost was trying to tell him. He went home found his grandfather's clarinet and began to play and from then on he too played in the clarinet section.

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