Maxwell's Guitar

            by David Adams

 

            In a town called Berkeley their was a long street. On this long street there were many stores with wonderful bright things to buy. It just so happened that on this street there was a boy walking with his mother. The boy’s name was Maxwell and it was his birthday. His mother was taking him out to get a present.  His eyes lit up as they passed the sport store with all the bright new balls in the window. His tummy grumbled as they passed the ice cream store with the old man behind the counter who always gave a little extra scoop to a kid whose birthday it was. They went past the toy store with the shiny toys, and past the book store with all the crisp new books but there was something wrong. When Maxwell’s mommy asked him what he wanted at each store he couldn’t think of anything. Although everything was bright and wonderful he couldn’t decide on any one present.

       

            After a long time Maxwell still hadn’t found his present was and we getting very tired, so he and his mommy decided to walk home. They walked past all the bright shops as they were closing. They walked down Maxwell’s street and watched all the bright leaves falling from the trees. Maxwell was watching a big red leaf fall to ground when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw the oldest, most beat up guitar he had ever seen. Most of the strings were broken, and it was real dirty and ragged. Maxwell’s mom took his hand and said that they should keep walking home and that dinner  would be getting cold. But Maxwell didn’t want to go. He had finally figured out what he wanted for his birthday present.

            When he told his mom that he wanted the guitar she just laughed.

            “Why would you want that old guitar?”  But Maxwell knew what he wanted and he told his mom just that. It was his birthday so his mom let him have it and took it home. When he got home he got to work fixing up his old guitar. Every day when Maxwell got home from school he would go and work on his guitar. And every time he worked on it, it would get just a little bit less dirty, and a little less ragged. One day when he got home he ran to his room to work on his guitar, and he realized that there was nothing left to do. It had all 1,2,3,4,5,6 strings. It was polished all over, and looked like a real guitar.

            Now that Maxwell was done with his guitar he set it in his lap, put his hands on it and realized that he didn’t know how to play it. For a second he didn’t quite know what to do. He was almost sad that he didn’t know how to play it. Then he realized that this was his guitar and if any one was gonna play it, it was gonna be him. So he just started strumming and the most wonderful sounds starting coming from the guitar. He had never heard anything sound so good in his life. It was like magic.

            Maxwell went to show his mom how well he could play. She was very impressed and told him to go show his Dad and sister. He went to show his dad and sister. They were very impressed too, and said that he should go show the neighbors next door. He went to show the neighbors, and they liked it so much that they called their friends from around the block, and Maxwell played his guitar for them. They loved his playing so much that they called their friends who called their friends, too. In no time at all Maxwell’s whole block was taken up by all the people who wanted to hear him play the guitar, and more people kept coming every minute. Maxwell didn’t really pay that much attention to them. He just kept on playing like he was before. As more people kept coming they didn’t know if they would be able to hear his playing when they were all they way in the back in the crowd, but the sound of his guitar made its way through to every one, and every one was real happy.

            Now way way way way in the back of the crowd was a name named Urmple Darthathgooderson. Urmple Darthathgooderson was a man who loved money and loved to make money even more. When he herd Maxwell’s playing he decided that he had to have it on a cd so he could make a lot of money off of it. He walked up to Maxwell and asked him if he would like a lot of money to play his guitar in a special studio. Maxwell didn’t answer. He was too busy playing the guitar. Since he was busy his mom answered for him

            “Maxwell would love to play music and make money.”

            So Maxwell went in a big car to a big studio, and sat down all alone in a room. He started   to feel scared. He had never been this far away from home before and all the people around him were strange, and mean looking.  So when he sat down to play, something very strange happened. He started plucking away and instead of the beautiful music that he heard before, nothing came out. Not a sound. He was suprrised. Now all the mean looking men were starting to look even meaner so he told his mom he just wanted to go home. He said sorry to Urmple Darthathgooderson and walked away from the studio with his mom.       

            When Maxwell got home he picked up his guitar, and started to play just like he had in the beginning. His mom was confused.

            “How can you play now, but not for Mr. Darthathgooderson?”

            Maxwell knew, but he didn’t say anything. The reason was that he didn’t want to play for anyone but himself, and if he tried to play for someone else it wouldn’t work. He didn’t say any thing he just kept on playing and never stopped. He is still playing today. If you walk past his house you can always hear to bountiful sounds of Maxwell’s playing.