the coffeehaus

today was maybe the most exciting day of polly's life, but she didn't know it when she woke up. polly had to go to school & almost forgot that her band was playing at the coffehaus tonite until she remembered daljit. school was a blur as polly spent the day worrying she would forget the lyrics or maybe everyboy had been lying to her & she really wasn't a good singer. by the time school was over she wanted to call the whole thing off even though polly knew it was too late. she felt like she was on a runaway train that wasn't going to stop until it crashed in the station.

at the coffehaus papa & marie-claire had set up a stage in the window & there were already people waiting to hear them play. polly recognized some kids from school & some of mama's students from the ashram. marie-claire let the girls hide in the tiny office until they had finished the sound check. she came & got them when they were ready.

marie-claire looked at the girls & said take a good look at each other because you'll be different people after this is over & you step off that stage. polly didn't think it was possible to be even more scared, but then marie-claire proved her wrong.

the coffeehaus was filled with pepole, some polly knew, some she didn't. she saw mama & papa in the back smiling at her. everybody was looking at her.

she watched daljit plug in her guitar, then looked at darshana, who nodded, then back at maddie behind the drums, who smiled. then polly looked back at daljit & nodded at her & daljit started playing the opening chords to blitzkrieg bop. and somewhere between those notes & maddie playing the drums something happened to polly that she didn't understand. it was like the music filled her up & made her feel like she was 10 feet tall. she started singing & suddenly she didn't care about the people, all she wanted to do was sing...