Donnie

The conductor turned to us and nodded his head in thanks.

“I understand that you sing as well Miss Maddox,” he said towards me.

“Oh, well yes, but I am nothin compared to y’all,” I replied, noticing my blatant Southern accent.

Then, surprisingly, the crowd of students started encouraging me with “Come on’s” and “Let’s hear you sing”.

“Do y’all have a guitar?” I asked.

Donnie followed the director into a side room to try to find one.

“Why are y’all practicing on Thanksgiving anyways?” I asked the class full of students.

One student spoke up. “Every year we sing holiday songs at the Harbor on Thanksgiving.

It’s just a tradition we have. Then we all have Thanksgiving dinner together.”

“And which choir is this?” I asked and turned to the director.

“This is the Berkley School of Music Chamber Choir, Miss Maddox.” He answered.

“Wow! Y’all must be the elite choir. God, then I’m gonna sound like a loser,” I said.

They all just laughed at me, but I was being serious.

Donnie walked back in the room with a guitar.

“Of course…” I whispered to myself.

It took him 14 seconds to tune the guitar and started strumming.

I recognized the beginning of the song instantly because Donnie says it’s the song I sang when he fell in love with me.

“It was two weeks after the day she turned 18, All dressed in white, going to the church that night.

She had his box of letters in the passenger seat, Six pence and a shoe, something borrowed, something blue.

Then the church doors opened up wide, She put her veil down, tryin to hide the tears.

Oh, she just couldn’t believe it.

She heard the trumpets from the military band And the flowers fell out her hand.

Baby why’d you leave me?

Why’d you have to go?

I was countin on forever.

Now I’ll never know.

I can’t even breathe.

It’s like I’m lookin from a distance Standing in the background.

Everybody’s sayin ‘He’s not coming home now.’

This can’t be happening to me.

This is just a dream…”