National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 3

Today was the day of the third meeting. The last two practices were a disaster. Everyone was mumbling and muttering. They all sounded as if they all regretted joining. Imagine us singing like that at the games! Today, I’ll have to endure another session of moaning. The classes all passed by real quick, as I dreaded the end of school.

“Hey! We got practice remember?” I called to Noor, as she was about to leave.

“Oh yeah … sigh … that,” she groaned.

“Yeah that, now lets get over it,” I said.

As we were trudging in the sea of people to the library everyone’s eyes sparkled strangely with a new king of power. Their chests were puffed up and eyes set with raw concentration. I nudged Noor to see if she noticed the change and she nodded her head, still regarding the kids with interest. They were all marching and their feet made a rhythm kind of like:

“We can do it, we can do it!”

Seeing that we stepped into the library as one and determined, our music teacher’s face turned from boredom to shock and surprise. When everybody calmed down she eyed us with suspicion. All the children’s eyes were glued on Ms. Tai and our ears pointed, waiting for her next order. I was half expecting the room to start madly talking, whispering, laughing and giggling. The uproar never came. I glanced at Noor but she just shrugged. Mrs. Tai cleared her throat.

“Well, lets begin with the Canadian anthem.”

She blew into her pitch pipe to give us the starting note. The second she motioned us to start, the first word came ringing out, loudly and clearly. Mrs. Tai took a step back as the sound came blasting in her face. Her mute face turned happier as the straight line from her lips slowly turned upwards into the smallest smile. The smile grew bigger and bigger and she began to nod her head. Everyone else began to smile too, not because she liked it, but because we were truly powerful and we knew it. Noor’s mouth was opened as she was singing. Alexa’s chest heaved as she made the words alive. Erin’s cheeks were rosy and puffed; her eyes shining. Our principle walked by the door with her clipboard, and she dropped it as she heard the music. Not one person was distracted by the clatter. As the song ended, our eyes darted over to a few unnoticed teachers as the clapped.

“Wow! That. Was. Amazing!” the principle said.

“Yeah! That was exactly what I wanted!” Mrs. Tai exclaimed. “It was as if a god just came down and crawled inside you!” she continued.

A few of the girls in the back giggled.

“If you sing like that,” a teacher motioned with her hands, “the Blue Jays would invite you next year definitely!”

Mrs. Tai clapped her hands together to regain the attention.

“Great! Now let’s see if you can ace the American anthem too,” she winked.

As she motioned for us to sing again, we said the “oh” with no hesitation. As the song neared the end, our words were bouncing off walls and filling the room with music. We all noticed how the teachers didn’t leave.

“And the home, of the brave!”

As we ended in triumph, the teachers clapped and cheered. Mrs. Tai beamed and clapped as she said:

“I personally think that you are ready. Let’s go rock that crowd tomorrow night!

Everyone cheered. When we were exiting, Noor came over and gave me a high five.

“OMG!!! I can’t wait for tomorrow night!” she squealed.

“Yeah, me too,” another of my friends, Kaitlyn, said. “But you gotta get rid of that squeal!” she teased, rubbing her ears.

We may have understood today, but will it be this good on the field?

National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 1
National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 2 
National Anthem at the Blue Jays Game 4