Episode 52 - Guitar Lessons

"Li gēge!" The child came screaming through the studio door, leaping onto Amari's lap. If he hadn't had his back to the wall, he would have been knocked to the ground.

"Someone's excited."

"Xiao Li!" shouted Yinyi, followed by an "A Li!" from Yangyang.

"Okay. Everyone's excited." He poked Taitai in the sides, tickling him and smiling as he giggled. "Did you have a good trip here? Did you take the bus?"

"Uh huh," said the child between giggles. Amari stopped tickling and pulled him further onto his lap, legs stretching out in front of him. "There were lotsa people, and e'rybody was mad 'cause we had big in-staments."

Amari huffed at the mispronunciation. "How rude of them, letting their instruments take up so much space on the bus."

"Oh, and there was a real stinky man." Taitai stood and tapped at Amari's shoulder, making sure he was paying attention to his story. "He sat next to me. He had a big coat-" Feeling a small rush of air, some light blocked to each side, he imagined the child's arms were mimicking the size. "-and I couldn't see his face. But he was real stinky."

"Oh?" Amari put his hands around the child's waist. "You know, I've been the stinky guy on the bus before."

"Really?" The pitch went a bit higher, Taitai sounding fascinated by the idea. "Why?"

"I didn't have a house like you. Sometimes, I couldn't take a bath or shower, and I'd get super stinky. So you should be nice to the stinky people too."

"'Kay," said Taitai sweetly. "But you're not stinky now. You smell good!"

Amari giggled lightly. "I do?" He felt the child shift and wondered if he was nodding. "Thanks. I'm glad I'm not stinky."

Crouching down next to the two, Yangyang rubbed his low mohawk. "I think we're all glad you're not stinky." The hand moved to rummage through the bag next to him. "What did you bring?"

"Treats. Mini chocolate-raspberry cupcakes, mini brownies, homemade granola bars, and blueberry muffins. Most of it's for you to take home. The last two aren't too sweet." Amari took Taitai's hands in his. "Do you wanna cupcake? I think your ba'll let you have one now, but only one."

"Why just one?"

He smiled warmly, the child's tone almost the same as Yangyang when he pouted. "You sound just like your ba..."

There was a light punch to his shoulder and his smile widened.

"You can only have one, because if you eat too much sugar, your nǎinai'll get mad. You don't want your nǎinai to be mad at me, do you?"

There was a pause and Yangyang chuckled. "Taitai, remember? You have to answer with words. Li gēge can't see you shake your head."

"Oh, yeah. I don't want nǎinai to be mad at gēge."

Putting his hand on the child's head, Amari said, "You can also move my hand like this, if you don't wanna say anything." Taitai nodded and he removed his hand, shifting the child over his lap. "Cupcake or brownie?"

"Cupcake!"

He reached into the bag, finding the correct box by shape, then opened it, carefully pulling out a small cupcake and handing it over. It was immediately stuffed into the little mouth and Yangyang pulled out a napkin from the bag, giving it to his son.

"Ah, this reminds me of someone else when they eat..." Amari frowned at the man and he just chuckled. "Taitai, ba is going to rehearse now, yeah? It'll be boring, so hang out with Li gēge for a little while."

"'Kay ba."

Yangyang gave Amari's head another rub before joining his bandmates, and Amari stood, lifting Taitai with him.

"Have you ever played a guitar before?"

"No," the child said quietly, sounding a little nervous. "Nǎinai doesn't like when ba plays guitar."

"Why not?"

He felt Taitai shrug in his arms. "I dunno. She gets mad at ba, 'cause of music. She was mad today, too."

With a sigh, Amari carried the child over to another corner of the studio. "That's too bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But my ba plays the guitar so good."

Amari nodded. "Yeah, he does. He's amazing." He set the child down and moved his hand around the blurs until he found his guitar, taking it off the stand. Sitting on the floor, he crossed his legs, then held the guitar to his side.

"Here, Taitai, come sit on my lap. How about I teach you to play? That way, your nǎinai can scold me, instead of your ba."

"Really?" The child scurried over, plopping down on Amari's lap, and he brought the instrument out in front of them.

"This one's still too big for you, but it's smaller than other guitars. It's called a Little Martin."

"Li'l Martin?"

"Yeah. Cute name, right?"

Taitai gave him a soft "Ēn" and he replied with a warm smile. Reaching into the pocket of his guitar case, he took out a small tuner, clipping it to the headstock. He wasn't sure why he carried it around, but he was grateful that lazy part of him never bothered to toss it.

"Do you wanna help me tune it?"

"'Kay!"

Amari tapped on the tuner. "This's an electronic tuner. Each of the strings should play a certain note, and the line'll turn green when you hit that note."

He tapped on the strings along the neck. "You're gonna pluck each string for me-" He tapped on the pegs. "-and I'm gonna turn these until we get the right note. Can you do that?"

Taitai gave him another "Ēn" and Amari pulled at the first string.

"Pluck just like that, over and over. We want the letter E. When the tuner says E, and turns green, then it's good."

"'Kay... But, gēge... How do you know if you can't see?"

Amari huffed a laugh at the smart child. "I've played a long time, so I can tune just by listening." He reached up to the first peg. "Let's play a game. You watch the tuner, but don't tell me when it turns green. I'll try to guess when we hit the note. Ready?"

"Ēn."

Taitai started roughly tugging at the string and Amari turned the peg slowly, listening to the change in pitch. It was more difficult to hear, competing with the band playing so close by, but he could still faintly tell the sound.

"Okay, there." He stopped turning the peg. "Am I right?"

"Ēn!" Amari put a finger to his lips and pointed to the band. "Oh, yeah..." said Taitai in a quiet voice.

He pat the child on the shoulder. "Let's do the next one. This one should say A."

They went through each note, carefully tuning, until they finished the final, thin E.

"I got them all right," said Amari, pretending to be proud. Taitai clapped and he giggled. "Are you gonna give me a prize for winning the game?"

"Prize?" Taitai made his father's same, clear humming noise as he thought, and Amari snorted out a loud laugh. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, unable to stop a wide smile. "You're just a lot like your ba."

"Really?" The child sounded thrilled to hear that.

Amari scratched at his head a moment, then flashed a playful grin. "I know what you can do for me, as a prize." He leaned over a little to speak in Taitai's ear. "Convince your ba to bring you to watch us play on stage. You wanna see him do that too, right?"

There was a small gasp and the child vibrated. Putting a hand on Taitai's head, he felt him nodding vigorously. "Good. Work really hard so he says yes, okay?"

"Ēn."

Amari turned his attention back to the guitar. "Do you wanna play some now?"

He started making chords, letting the child strum and play with a pick, or he showed him where to press his fingers and plucked a song with just those few notes. They switched between listening to the band and playing with the guitar, and after a little over an hour, the music had stopped. Yangyang walked over to sit beside them and chugged down some water, handing the bottle to Amari.

"Water?" The boy shook his head, so he finished it off himself. "Ah, my fingers need a break. What have you guys been doing over here?"

"Ba! Li gēge is teachin' me to play guitar!" Taitai exclaimed, shifting closer to his father so he could hear his story. "This up here is a tuna, and we played a game, and Li gēge can't see, but he knew it was green, so gēge always won. He said you hafta take me to your show. It's his prize. You can't say no."

"Yeah? He said I can't say no?"

"No... He said I hafta work hard, and ask you 'til you say yes." Amari snorted and then cleared his throat, feigning innocence. "'Cause I wanna see too. Ba, on the stage."

There was a deep sigh at the last comment and Amari smirked.

"Oh? Yang ge, are you giving in already?"

Yangyang groaned and put his hand on Amari's head, covering much of it with his large palm. "Well, it's not fair if you cheat."

"I didn't cheat." He felt his head pushed down and smiled wide. "Taitai said he wants to see you play on stage. That's not cheating."

With another sigh, Yangyang removed his hand, then shifted so he was leaning against Amari's arm. "I'll think about it."

"'Kay ba! I'll ask some more so you say yes."

Amari giggled, but Yangyang only nudged him gently with his elbow, not saying anything else.