Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Jerri's Undiscovered Talent
"Sure." Dan pulled a folded piece of paper from his wallet and handed it to her. "They're pretty bad. I don't think the rhythm works yet, but it's a start."
Jerri read through the lyrics. She studied them for a full minute. Dan sensed her mood changing. He hoped she wasn't upset.
"Wow," she said at last. "Can you sing them for me?"
"Well, I don't have my guitar…"
"We can fix that, young man," said Brother Smith. He heaved himself out of the recliner. Dan looked at Jerri; she was embarrassed. In a moment, Brother Smith hustled back with an old guitar. He fiddled with it for a minute, tuning it up using a small electronic tuner, handed it to Dan, and settled gratefully back into the recliner.
"Uh, do you have a capo?" asked Dan
"Well of course I do. Be back in a minute." More heaving. More hustling.
Dan strummed a few chords while waiting, humming to himself. He tried his picking pattern. Soon Brother Smith returned with the capo and Dan put it on the guitar. He pulled forward so he was just on the edge of the couch. His brace clunked against the spindly coffee table. He began to sing. He was worried what Jerri would think, given her relationship with her mother, so he was horrified when she stopped him halfway through the second verse.
"Wait" she said gently. "I'll be right back."
Dan felt sick. Oh, no, he thought. She's offended and I’m dead! But she returned with the last thing he expected.
A violin.
She held it casually as though she handled violins every day. She dangled it between two fingers as she tightened her bow.
"What key are you in?"
"Uh, let's see. G capoed up to A."
"Give me an E."
Dan plunked the E string obediently. Jerri played.
"Ugh! That's horrible. Dad, did you tune that guitar right?"
"Oh, wait..."
"yeah, the..."
"capo..."
Dan took the capo off and tried the E string again. This time the violin's E string was much closer to the guitar. Jerri tweaked the tuning some more. He played a G chord while Jerri arpeggiated. She was finally satisfied.
"Ok, Dan, now sing your song again. Start with a little introduction."
Dan did so, but as soon as he started, Jerri played a beautiful line, a soulful and muted improvisation on his melody. Dan started to sing when he thought it might be about the right time. Jerri putt in an occasional accent, but when Dan started the chorus, Jerri jumped in with a perfect obbligato. And as soon as Dan finished the chorus, Jerri jumped in with four measures of transition. He looked up at Jerri, not exactly sure what she was doing. She watched him while she played and nodded to him when it was time to sing again. Once again, she only accented between lines, just a stroke here and a couple notes there, and did a more muted obbligato during the chorus. When he finished, she soared on for an entire verse, transforming his melody to heights he never thought possible. Again, she nodded when it was time for him to begin again. Her obbligato was muted this time. Dan thought he was finished, but Jerri was off again. This time, as she started to nod she said "chorus," so he sang the chorus again. Her final obbligato was stunning, to the point where Dan was getting choked up, something he'd never done while practicing at home. After he'd finished, she did a little flourish and sat down beside him, her violin on her lap.
"Dan, that's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "You have the loveliest melody. I think you really loved your mother."
Dan's smiled, a mixture of nostalgia and irony. "Yes, I did, looking back on it. It didn't feel like it at the time, though. Anyway, I'm going to dedicate this song to her. I didn't know you play the violin."
"I've played all my life. I love it. I hide myself in it."
"That's cool! I can see why."
"Thank you for letting me play. I enjoy improvising. Your song has a folk feel to it, sort of Appalachian. I tried to add some of that flavor."
Dan didn’t know what that meant but didn’t say so.
"Well you did nicely," he said. "Don't forget tryouts. We have to be there on time."