My Little Drummer Girl

	"Mommy! I am bored... Can you help me find something to do?"
	"I can’t come now Sharon; I have another 19 minutes to go…" (in the elliptical machine)
	“I am really bored! What can I do? Just because it is a weekday I can’t watch TV, I can’t play my game, and I have nothing to do…”
“Why can’t you play with Rachel and Joshua?”
“Rachel is reading a book and Joshua is sick and so sleeping…”
“How about your homework? Did you finish it all?”
“I did that in the school itself, in the after care.”
“Did you practice music? May be you can now…”
(Thinks for an excuse, when she can’t find any she says) “Oh! Well” (and walks over to the drum, tapping at the seat asks: ) "Do you know this is called a throne?"
"Is it?"
(Excitedly) "Yes! And this is the snare drum, this one is the base; see (hits it with her stick) that's the base, and this one is the ride cymbal, this one is the crash cymbal, you know why it is called a crash cymbal? See... (lifts the muting pad and hits it with her stick) CLING!! ... Doesn’t it sound like a crash? That's why it is called the crash cymbal. This one here is the tom tom and this one is the floor tom tom, and this is Hi-hat!"
(I just grab the moment when she pauses and say: ) "That's great! You know a lot Sharon. You are an expert! Now can we start with the practice?"
"Mhhhm mhmmm no..."
"Why not?"
"Because 30 minutes is too long"
"Who says you should practice for 30 minutes?"
"Daddy!"
"I thought it is for 15 minutes daily..."
"Yeah, but if you miss one day then Daddy says we have to do 30 minutes the next day"
"I see... it's okay just do 15 minutes I will talk to Daddy. See I have 15 more minutes to walk on the elliptical, if you start now we both can complete it at the same time!!"
"Mhhmmm mhmmm... hey wait let me show you something... (Sits squarely in a chair nearby with a blanket all wrapped up) and opens her music book, (pointing at the start of the book) "...This is where we started! Mommy, do you know to read this?"
"No! I don't know to read music; do you?"
"Yes, I know it! See this means you have to do it slow and here you have to do it loud and here you should do it really loud... and this is where the piano will go... piano will be very soft and so no drum then... but here you start the drum and louder, more loud and slow again and slower..." (Goes on and on and on…)
"That's interesting Sharon-ma! You must be really good at it. Can you show me by doing it?" (By now only 9 minutes are left for me to finish my exercise...)
"Mhmmm mhmmm..."
"See only 9 more minutes are left for me to finish my walking... you too start"
"Only 9 minutes? Does it mean I will be done just with 9 minutes?"
"Yes!"
"Ye! That is 6 minutes less! But Daddy won't accept it"
(thinking “good, she knows the basic math…”) "I will talk to Daddy! You start"
"Okay" (happily jumps on her throne, flips thru' few pages, decides on one page, puts it on the stand and starts hitting" Dum dum... tick tack dum tick crash , "oh no! I messed up! Okay here we go..." Dum dum tick tack tick tack crash, tick... "I am sorry I messed up again! I am not going to do this one.(closes the book, puts it aside) I will show you the song for my recital"
"Sure, go ahead" (all the while controlling my laughter and wondering why I am not getting angry...)
Flips the book, finds a sheet lying around, clips it on the stand, moves around the cymbals from left to right and then to far right. Sits on her throne, starts hitting. Stops. Gets down from her throne, adjusts the height of one of the cymbals. Sighs. Pushes, pulls, sighs again. "Mhmm... I can't adjust this height" Tries again, this time it works. Sets it up, climbs on her throne again. Starts to hit and then pauses for a while, starts hitting again. Stops. "That's it! I am done!!"
"What?! That's all? You were not even hitting all the time. How come you are done?!"
"That's because that's what the notes say. I have to be stopping when the piano part comes... (brings the notes to me to read) look, that is for the piano."
"Sharon-ma in that case I missed the whole part. Can you please do once more so that I will pay attention this time?"
"Okay! Here we go... Mommy! Are you looking?"
"Yes, I am looking go ahead"
(Just when I moved my eyes to look at the clock… she caught me...) "You weren't looking... you always do that. When Joshua does you will be looking continuously, when I do you don't pay attention..."
"That's not true I always look when you do too"
"Yes it is true!”Somehow she suddenly feels pity for me and as if she thought it is not worth pursuing the fight, smiles and says, “I love you Mommy! What time it is?"
"Mmm... 59 seconds left" (looking at the preset elliptical…)
"Okay! Now I am really done!" storms out of the room in full spirits.
(I follow her upstairs as I am done too.)
She goes straight to Joshua and claims, "I finished my music practice! Did you do it Joshua?"
(Shakes his head from left to right to say he did not - fearing Daddy might hear him if he speaks)
"I know Rachel didn't do too. I am the only one who did!!"
“No! You did not?!”
“Yes, I did! Ask Mommy. Mommy! Didn’t I practice my music?”
(Thinking “Do you call this practice?” and rolling my eyes imaginarily..., but out loud it came) "Yes, you did!"
P.S: Readers! If you can figure out how long she practiced for, that will be great as I lost track of the minutes in the conversation...