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Max
or
the Tongue Drum's Fabulous Story
This is Max. He is a little boy who lives in a house by the sea. Max is absolutely passionate about space. He loves the stories of planets he reads at daytime, and when the night falls, he loves lying on the beach in front of his house. There, he stargazes at the billions of stars whose names he all knows by heart, even the smallest details about each one of them...
But one day, Max had an incredible experience. So incredible that his parents, his teacher and even his friends didn't believe him when Max told them the whole story.
Whereas he had stayed out very late to stare at the sky, he thought, "Well, I wonder what life looks like be up there? Certainly, there must be houses, parents, schools, beaches as this one... I really wish I met children from space ! At least once ! They must be nice and I'm pretty sure they look like children from Earth... That would be so nice! ».
"Okay, now I have to go back home or Mom will be mat at me. "Max stood up. He crossed the beach, went up the stairs leading to his house when all of a sudden... a huge dog came out of the shadows to block his way! Max was surprised, fell backwards, got up immediately and started running as fast as he could to escape the dog chasing him. He was so panicked that he didn't hear the whistle of the master calling his dog back and continued running. He took a path along the coast, ran, ran and ran until his fear took him to the dunes of a small cove. He fell on the sand, then looked around. The dog was no longer chasing him. Max get his breath back as he contemplated waves of the rising tide. Soon, he recognized this place: this small cove, always deserted, was far from residential eras. His parents had formally forbidden him to go there, or else he will be punished. They had already pointed to the cove and told him: "It's nicknamed the Cursed Cove. It's a dangerous place, nobody goes there, the current is too strong to swim, the waves are high and odd things usually happen out there... »
Max stood up. "Well, this time, I'm going to get scolded for sure, it's getting very late. I'd better leave before my parents catch me here on Cursed Cove. It's a scary place, indeed." He walked towards the path. SPLASH! What was that? It sounded like a diver! Max turned around and saw something gesticulating in the dark foam. Gathering his courage, he came nearer to the water, saw a human shape, didn't hesitate a single moment to dive to rescue the drowning body. As a good swimmer, he brought the body back to the shore in a few seconds, put it on the sand, moved back to observe it. Huh? But... it seemed like... it was a little girl!
She looked the same age as Max. Her skin was very dark, with bluish reflections, her small pale pink lips, her huge yellow eyes had a thin pupil like those of a cat... "It's impossible, I must be dreaming... She looks like... an alien!" Max couldn't believe what he was seeing. "My godness! She's beautiful... Oh! She's regaining consciousness!" They exchanged looks. "Thank you for saving me. My name is Luminia, what's yours? "I'm Max. Where are you from?" "I'm from Neptune. In which planet are we now?" "You're on planet Earth. Luminia, why were you in the water? Can't you swim?" Luminia's yellow eyes suddently saddened: "I fell off my spaceship. I had climbed on the wing and was making faces to make my little brother laugh, when Daddy accelerated to avoid an asteroid. I lost my balance and fell. On my planet, there is no stretch of water like this, so I can't swim." Max tried to reassure her: "Then wait a few minutes here, maybe they'll come and get you." Luminia sighed: "That's impossible, our ship is going so fast that in one acceleration my family was already too far away to see me fall towards your planet. It will be too late when they'll find out. I just have to find a way to communicate with them and tell them where I am." Max smiled at her: "Don't worry, until then you can stay in my house. Since my parents probably won't agree, I'll hide you in my bedroom closet. »
They took the path, lit by the glow of the full moon. Max tought Luminia was getting more and more beautiful. He couldn't believe it: he had indeed met an alien! He took her hand. Luminia seemed happy to walk with him. Max decided to break the silence: "I noticed something strange. Why don't your lips move when you speak, tough I can hear your voice in my head?" Luminia answered : "It's because people on my planet communicate using only telepathy. We don't need to use our mouths to talk. By the way, you neither: to say something to me, all you have to do is think, and I will understand. Now it's my turn to ask you a question: what are these semi-circles on either side of your head?" Surprised, Max said: "They are ears! They're needed for hearing the sounds around you and listening to music. Don't you have ears?" Luminia lifted up her hair. Indeed, her smooth skull was devoid of ears. Max thought it was perfectly logical: since the Neptunians' communication did not produce any external sounds, having ears was useless to them. Luminia, disturbed, asked him: "What does it feel like when you listen to music?" Max thought: "Hey, that's the first time I've ever been asked such question." Encouraged by Luminia's bright eyes, he finally answered: "It feels like a journey to another universe, but without moving from where you are". He carried on: "It's terrible that you don't know what it's like to hear a sound... Wait, maybe I could try to get you to listen to a musical instrument or a voice. »
After entering Max's house through the back door without being noticed, Luminia quickly moved into the large closet in Max's bedroom. Max made her a bed out of sweaters and old fluffy toys and took her upstairs some food and drinks. He said "goodnight" to his parents, who, focused in a television documentary, hadn't paid attention to the late hour. From his bed, he chatted lengthily with Luminia, comparing their two planets, telling each other their secrets. Before falling asleep, Max thought: "There is not a greater thing than telepathy! We can talk without being heard and without disturbing anyone! Yes, but... On the other hand, Luminia doesn't know the pleasure of listening to music, she doesn't know what's fells like to hear the noises of everyday life... I'm sure you can understand music even if you're deaf. No, it's settled: I'm resolved to succeed in making Luminia feel even one sound, one vibration, one tiny note of music."
Faithful to his promise, during the following days, Max tried everything. Absolutely everything. The rehearsals of the conservatory orchestra, the songs of his cousin's rock band, the television, the radio, the computer, the Internet, his videogames, his mother's cell phone, his grandmother's piano (very out of tune), the purr of the neighbor's cat, the roar of the engines, the wind in the sails of the boats, the foghorn of the port, the crash of the waves, the singing of the birds... Nothing. Luminia perceived nothing. No noise, no sound, no notes. To Max's great despair, all she could perceive were movements, wiggling hands, moving lips... Every night, they would go out by the back door, walk hand in hand to the little cove, the sinister wreck of Luminia, which had become for Max the most sublime of heavenly beaches. There, at the top of the dunes, they waited for endless hours, huddled together, constantly hoping that Luminia's family would arrive to take her home. Unfortunately, in one week, there were no more traces of a spaceship than there were sounds that Luminia could hear.
At school, on the bus, at dinner, everywhere Max went, Luminia was in all his thoughts. He imagined her, alone, in his room, hidden in his closet, waiting impatiently for his return. All day long, he had only one desire: to go home and chat silently with her. During their tireless chats, in just a few days Max had learned more about the Universe than in his entire life as a space enthusiast. Luminia was also delighted, she found Max much smarter and kinder than all the boys she had met on Neptune and the other planets she had visited. But she missed her family very much.
Fortunately, they soon found a solution. One evening, Luminia, over the moon with joy, announced to Max the miracle that had happened earlier this day: "That's it! I know! I managed to hear a sound today! This afternoon, while you were at school, your mother dropped a drawer full of what you call "spoons" and it vibrated loudly in my skull! I quietly went down to the kitchen and took two with me. I've been waiting for you ever since, beating them against each other and I can hear the sound they make!" Max was getting excited: "That's great! Come with me, I have an idea!" They slipped quietly into the garage. Max bent down, picked up an old empty gas tank. "That's it! Try beating it with the spoons." For Max, all that came out was a metallic cacophony. For Luminia, nothing at all. "Why doesn't it work anymore?" Disappointed, Max kicked the tank, it rolled over and the underside cracked against the workbench. With the vibration, a nail fell, hit the crack and... this time Luminia heard it!" Max screamed: "I got it! The metal has to be cracked and resonate if I want to hear a sound! We have to make extra splits in that tank." They made several circular slits by pressing on the end of the barrel with the tip of a large soup spoon. They had made a total of eight tongues, as this number reminded Luminia of the windows of her family' spaceship. To make the resemblance to this vehicle even more accurate, they cut out the middle of the gas cylinder and reattached the two ends with a large piece of tape. Max noticed: "It looks like a big pebble!" Indeed, their do-it-yourself craft had resulted in a curious oval-shaped object. Max tried to play this new instrument with his fingertips... when Luminia took it in her lap and played with the edge of her two thumbs against the different slits. A melody that seemed to come straight down from the heavens was unleashed here on Earth, in this dark garage, thanks to Luminia's bluish hands. For Max, these heavenly sounds sounded like a thankful gift, if not a declaration of love from Luminia. She was smiling, in full jubilation. Her expression of infinite happiness made her even prettier, even out-of-this-world. The rapture of this unexpected and unheard of music ended with Luminia's voice: "This time it's for sure: it's the right one! I'm sure my family will be able to feel the vibration of this material you call "metal", which does not exist here on Neptune. It will come to pick me up. I have to make the most beautiful sounds if I want them to hear me." No sooner said than done.
All night long, on the beach in front of Max's house, Luminia worked tirelessly on the instrument, making improvements, trying to get the best possible sound from it, pushing or lifting the blades as little as possible. Each one ends up singing her metallic lament in a pleasant way, Luminia improved the sound volume. Playing with the hands wasn't so bad, but didn't produce enough volume, Luminia considered, to be able to communicate with her flying saucer. So she played with chopsticks made from pencils and erasers borrowed from Max. Then she explored different melodies, each one more beautiful than the other. "I'm ready." The two children stood up quietly. They walked. Only the stars and the waves were their witnesses. They arrived in front of the dunes of the Cursed Cove at the hour when the morning merges with the night.
The long-awaited moment of truth began. Would the instrument placed on the wet sand be able to open the heavens? Or, could it thicken them instead? Luminia stopped the birds' conversation with the sea with her first notes. Clear, detached, crystal-clear, magnificent. The sounds danced in Max and Luminia's ears for a minute or two. Time itself seemed stunned by this magnificent call. A blue, surreal light gradually lit up the whole sky. Max knew they had succeeded. The clouds opened as a huge shape came down. It was breath-taking. "A flying saucer! A real one!" A large, elongated, circular craft gently landed on the cove by the water's edge. It was surrounded by a sphere of pink light. Luminia's eyes filled with tears of joy. "It's them! They are taking me home!" She ran towards the motionless machine, pushed by a wind of happiness. Two large dark figures came out of the ship, followed by a smaller one. Max was impressed. "How about that! Her parents are huge! And her brother got the same eye color as her!" Luminia jumped into their arms and pointed at Max. He approached, delighted. Finally, he was going to be able to go up in a flying saucer, to explore other planets... Luminia's parents thanked him for taking care of their daughter, showed him their vehicle, but categorically refused to take Max with them. Luminia comforted him. "They are right. It would be too painful for your parents, your friends, your family if you disappeared forever. Continue to live here on Earth. I will never forget you and I will come back to see you as often as I can." Max started to worry. "But how do I contact you to tell you where I am?" All you have to do is play our instrument on the creek. Here, I entrust it to you. By the way, it needs a name." Max smiled at Luminia: "That's a good idea." She was thinking: "Hold on... Oh, I know: tongue drum. My ship's artificial intelligence is called Tong, and your cousin's drums had "drum" written on them. We're going to leave. Bye. See you soon, Max." And they kissed. Max watched the ship taking off quietly and flying away until it was out of sight. As he walked back home, carrying the tongue drum under his arm, Luminia's sweet voice were saying those last words over and over in his thoughts.
Yes, Luminia does keep her promise. Every night, Max comes out of his house, as discreet as a shadow, his tongue drum under his arm and runs to the Cursed Cove with a smile on his face. Once there, he sits down and plays a melody, each time different from the night before, with the only rule that it must be spontaneous, improvised. From her individual ship, Luminia hears Max's call and races through the Night to join him. Max goes up the small ship, always complimenting Luminia. "You are even more beautiful than last night." They leave, explore together a planet, a constellation, a small unexplored corner of our infinite Universe. As the hands of Max's watch don't move in Space, Time contemplates the two lovers who talk, tell each other secrets, make jokes, discover the fauna and flora of a planet... When they get tired of their intergalactic games, Luminia drops Max back on Earth, at the cove. After a last kiss, each one goes back to his daily life on his respective planet, looking forward to seeing the other again at nightfall.
When they will grow up, they will get married, give their many children tongue drums and tell them the story of this instrument: the story of their meeting.
