Taking Texas By Storm
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2010 by the Author)
 

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 AUTHOR’S NOTE:  This chapter brings to a close of this story.  The characters haven’t died.   They will be moving beyond the confines of Texas when they return.

Chapter 51 

The Final Act

The Saturday night performance of the opera was sold out, so Allie and I had to watch the performance from the wings.  That was an eye-opening experience watching everyone scurrying around like mice, getting ready for the next scene.  Allie giggled, “It’s a good thing this isn’t a Muslim country or everyone would be beheaded.”

At the conclusion of the opera, the audience made it known that they indeed enjoyed the performance.  A young man standing next to Allie and me commented, “I would guess that they are going to add at least one and perhaps two extra weekends.  I’ve heard a rumor that the Houston symphony and the Choral Society are to be doing a holiday special featuring Brahim and his younger brother.  If his brother is even half as good as Brahim, it should be some show.”

Allie sniffed, “Sir, I have to tell you that his brother is even better than Brahim.  How come I don’t know that I’m going to be doing the show.  I need to talk to my agent and find out how much I’m going to get paid.”

The young man had the funniest look on his face, “You’re kidding about being Brahim's brother, aren’t you?”

“Nope, I’m the only brother he has.”  Allie put out his hand. “Allie Safi is the handle.  This is my Dad, Ed Waller.  What do they call you?”

“My name was Cliff Golden, the last time I checked.  Mr. Waller, are you the President of Shell Oil, here in Houston?”

“I was when we left home tonight.  Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if perhaps you might have a job that I would be suitable for.”

“We don’t have too many people with a musical background on our staff, at Shell.”

“I don’t have a musical bone in my body.  I work here at the playhouse as a 'do this', boy.  I’m graduating from college and sure don’t want to be a do this boy the rest of my life.”

“Tell you what, Mr. Golden.  Here’s my card.  Call my office and either J. R. or Tammy can set you up with an interview.”

Brahim came by where we were standing, “Hi, guys, I’ll be with you as soon as get this beastly costume off.  Cliff, come help me, please.”

We followed Brahim and Mr. Golden into the dressing room.  Allie laughed, “Now I know why the actors walk around as if they are in a box.  They have so many clothes on, it’s a wonder they can move at all.”

There was a knock on the door.  Allie opened the door, not thinking of Brahim’s state of dress.  Ms Sanders, Mrs. Carr and Dieter were standing there with Mr. Devine.  Brahim grabbed a robe, “To what do I owe this visit.  It must be important to break into the star’s dressing room, to see him almost naked.”

Ms Sanderson laughed, “We wouldn’t have to break in, to see you.  We pay a tidy fee to have our own reserved peep-holes that look into the dressing rooms.  The reason we’re here is to tell you that we are adding two additional weekends for Rigoletto to play.  The only problem is that you and Allie will need to spend your free time practicing for when you sing with the Houston Symphony and the Houston Coral Society until the week before Christmas.”

Allie shook his head, no. “No one has asked me to be involved in any production.”

Ms. Sanderson spoke, “The board just decided tonight to make these changes.  Allie, it is important that you be a participant so that young people will realize that there are many changes for them in the world of music.”

I asked, “How much practice will be involved for the second concert?  Both guys still have school work they need to keep up with.”

Mr. Devine answered, “I’m estimating that there will be only one full rehearsal each week that Brahim and Allie would need to attend initially.  There may be several extra rehearsals closer to the actual show to go over the blocking and costume changes.”

Allie got a funny look on his face. “Ms Sanderson, you’re taking care of Brahim’s and my financial interests, aren’t you?  We’re not going to donate our time.”

Ms Sanderson laughed. “Mr. Alexander Safi, I’ll make sure that you are adequately recompensed for your time and effort.”

“Gees, Brahim, you’ll be getting two cents for each show, instead of one.  How soon will we be getting the words to the songs we we’ll be singing.  Don’t tell me you’ll be giving them to us the night before the performance?”

Mr. Devine realized that Allie was giving Ms. Sanderson and the others a difficult time, “Mr. Safi, I’ll probably have to spend extra time with you if you’re as bad as I’ve heard.  Why don’t we go into the practice room next door, so I can hear what you sound like, so I can come up with an initial program.

On Sunday morning, we went to late church service.  Fortunately no one recognized us, so the guys got by without having to sing.  It was so relaxing to just have a day where we had nothing scheduled.  For not having anything scheduled, a lot of people showed up just to visit.  The most surprising visitor was Dr. Devine.

He didn’t waste any time, “Brahim, we have received an invitation to put on our production of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, the first two weeks of February.  Whether we accept the offer is up to you.  The invitation specifically said that you had to be available if we were to accept the offer.”

“Dr. Devine, I can’t possibly commit myself this far ahead, since I don’t know what my classes are going to be, next semester.”

Maestro Devine frowned, “Brahim, we’ll take care of that in the morning.  Meet me in Dr. Daniels’ office tomorrow morning at eleven.”

“Allie, the Symphony and Choral Society shows will mostly be on weekends.  We ordinarily do a couple of shows in local schools throughout the city, but that will depend on Brahim’s and your schedules.”

The meeting in Doctor Daniels’ office took place, and Brahim’s schedule for the spring semester was such that he could do the two week stint in New York for the performances at the Met. 

The meeting with Cliff Golden turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  He was graduating in December, but it was with a Master’s in Business with a major in Human Relations.  It wasn’t very long before I got Grant and Cliff together and Cliff was going to be working for Grant, because he was already overworked.

When I arrived at home, Allie was practically bouncing off the ceiling, “Dad, Dr. Daniels and Maestro were at my school today to make sure that I wouldn’t be missing anything important if I was gone from classes for several days?”

“What did the administrators and teachers say?”

“They said I could be gone, but that I was expected to make up any work that I missed.  They volunteered to help me, should I need their help.”

Rigoletto closed the last Sunday of November, not because people weren’t still attending, but because the venues had been previously booked.  In fact, Brahim never even had to change dressing rooms just the costumes that he wore.  Maestro Devine was true to his word and kept rehearsals for the two guys to the minimum.

There was a lot less ado about the opening of the Symphony and choral show because people were more familiar with the songs.  There was one major flap before the opening.  Some anonymous person wrote a letter to the editor, asking why two people who weren’t Christians were being featured in show of Christmas songs.”

Allie was livid when he heard about the editorial and sat down and wrote a response. 

 To the person who expressed his or her disgust at a person who is not of the Christian faith starring in the Symphony and Choral program:  Most of the Christmas songs we associate with Christmas have nothing to do with Christianity.  Explain to me what Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman have to do with celebrating the birth of Jesus of Bethlehem.

I have one other point that I would like to make.  My family goes to church almost ever Sunday and many times we have been asked to provide the special music.  Oh yes, the churches we attend are Protestant.  How often do you go to church?”

Alexander Safi

The editorials were numerous for the next couple of days, with most of them favorable to what Allie had said.  The editor stopped the exchange. 

We want to thank Mr. Safi for bringing to our attention that bigotry still is running rampant in today’s society.  The time of Christmas is a time when people should be working to make the world a better place for all.  It is not a time to pit one race against another.  We will not be carrying any more editorials on this subject.

The big Symphony/Choral Society opening night to-do was scheduled for Thursday night the second of December.  The three of us didn’t stay around for the festivities, because we all had places to be, on Friday morning.  It wasn’t until I got to work that I saw the critics’ reviews.  Someone had placed the review on my desk.  “The Safi brothers wowed the audience in the opening of the Symphony Chorale Society Holiday Show.   This is a show not to be missed.  Music lovers already know the clarity of Brahim Safi’s voice.  His younger brother’s voice is just as melodic, if not more so.  It has a quality of innocence.”

It was almost noon when Tammy stuck her head into my office, “Ed, there’s a Mr. Devine on the line.”

“This is Ed Waller.”

“Ed, I just received a phone call from the White House.  They would like for us to do a special show at the Kennedy Center on the fifteenth.  Do you think the guys would be willing to do it?”

“Mr. Devine, I can’t speak for the guys.  That’s awfully close to the end of the semester.  Why don’t you stop by the house about seven thirty tonight, and I’ll have their agent Ms Sanderson there as well.  That would have them doing five shows in four days for the guys.”

I hadn’t said anything to the guys about Mr. Devine or Ms Sanderson coming to visit.  Allie answered the door and two visitors were standing there.  Allie turned, “Dad, Maestro Devine and Ms Sanderson must want something special.”

“Tell them to come in and they can explain what’s happening.”

Mr. Devine explained, “The White House has requested that we perform at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, December the fifteenth.  It is going to have to be a short trip, since we have a scheduled performance here on the sixteenth.  Do you guys have anything that would interfere with your going?”

Brahim shook his head in the negative, “My last final is on the thirteenth, so I’m free.”

Allie started to tear up, “That’s the day of our Christmas program at school.”

Ms Sanderson chuckled, “That’s easy to fix, we’ll get the principal to change the program to the twelfth.  That way Brahim can be part of it.  Maestro Devine, I think it only fair that Allie’s school be on the schedule to be a recipient of the Symphony’s program.”

Mr. Devine frowned, “You people do make a person’s life miserable, but we’ll accommodate your requirements this one time.”

My parents came for the weekend and they were overwhelmed by their son-in-law’s and their grandson‘s performances.  While they were there, the letters to the editor about Brahim and Allie surfaced again.  The person who wrote, simply said,

I hope the person who dared to say that two Muslims shouldn’t be singing songs of the Christmas season has a chance to see the Safi's with the Symphony and  Chorale.  It was an awesome show.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though there are probably finger marks to the entire the theatre.  Well done Brahim and Allie.

The shows were all sold out and the shows in the schools, where it was presented, were well received, primarily because of the presence of Allie.

I was unable to to make the trip to Washington, because of some things that I needed to do at work.  I had to settle for watching the show on ETV.  The guys did a fantastic job and the President was even seen presenting ribbons to the guys.

The last shows were scheduled for Saturday, the eighteenth.  After the matinee for special children, the guys were exhausted, but the final show was scheduled for eight o’clock that night.

That concert brings to an end Taking Texas by Storm.  As you can see, Ed’s, Brahim’s and Allie’s influence has now gone further than just Texas.  The two guys were more than overwhelmed by their first Christmas at the ranch.

Remember, they still have their show, Oliver, that is going to appear on Broadway.  There may even be a chance that Allie may get a chance to meet the guys from Fremont. 

Adios amigos.

Editor's Notes:  Thank you, E Walk for this wonderful story.  I have a feeling that The boys will indeed make quite a big mark in The Big Apple.  I will be very pleased to see the connection with the guys from Fremont. 

I do hope there will be many more chapters of whatever new adventures await the people from both areas.

After all, there are many situations that we have heard about, and we all want to find out just what is going to happen to all the people we have come to love.

One more thing, before I close this message, Please keep E Walk and his family in your thoughts and prayers. 

He has been facing some serious health issues, and is continuing to improve.  He is being treated by his doctor, and my prayers are with him for a full recovery.  

I am sure that we all want him to regain his good health and that, indecently, he will be bringing us reading pleasure for a long time to come.

E Walk, Get well, soon, and take it easy.  We can wait as long as necessary, but you need to get well.

Hugs,

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 12/31/10