MERVIN’S MUSIC
By
J. M. Williams

“Mervin McDervish, where is your oboe music?” asked Mrs. Noteworthy as she peered at him over her conductor stand.
“I don’t know,” said Mervin.
“Didn’t you bring it?” questioned Mrs. Noteworthy.
“I guess not,” said Mervin.
She sighed heavily, “Why didn’t you?” 
“I couldn’t find it,” said Mervin.
“Well,” replied Mrs. Noteworthy, “I suggest you find it and bring it here next week… on time!” she added.

	When Mervin returned home from band practice, the last thing he wanted to do was search for his music. What he really wanted to do was to finish the book he was reading. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t his day because he couldn’t find the book. In fact, he couldn’t remember when he had last seen either his book or his music.
	“Mom,” he asked, “have you seen Gulliver’s Travels?” 
 “The library book with the red cover?” she replied.
Mervin nodded.
“It was due, so I took it back,” she said. “You could go down to the library and sign it out again. If you go, can you pick up a few bookmarks for me?” 
The mention of bookmarks triggered a thought in Mervin’s mind.
“Oh no,” he said to himself, “I used my music to mark my place in Gulliver’s Travels. I’d better get to the library before someone signs it out.” 

Mervin walked anxiously through the automatic sliding doors of the library. He approached the section where he had originally found the book and scanned the shelf. Gulliver’s Travels was not there.
Hurrying over to the information desk, he told the librarian how he couldn’t find the book he was looking for. 
	“Our older edition of that book, the one with the red cover,” she explained, “is probably at our book sale across the hall.”
	Mervin rushed over, hoping that the book hadn’t been sold. He approached a table where books were standing up neatly. Among them he spotted a red binding. He yanked the book out and watched helplessly as all the other books on the table toppled over like dominoes. 
	“Oops,” said Mervin.
He backed up and looked at the book he was holding. The title was A Sequence of Unlucky Incidents. Though this would have been an appropriate title for this story, it was not the book he was looking for. Mervin returned the book to its former position and hurried to the next book display. 
 Just as he was about to give up his search altogether, a flash of red caught his eye. There, at the cash register, was a woman buying the very book he had been looking for. With his eyes fixed on the book Mervin ran up to the woman just before she reached the doors.
“Er…Excuse me but—” he began.
The lady turned around. It was Mrs. Noteworthy.
“Hello, Mervin,” she said.
“Uh…hi,” he said. “That…um…looks like an interesting book you’ve got there.”	
“This book?” asked Mrs. Noteworthy as she held it up. Mervin took a good look at it. There was no doubt that it was the right book.
“Could I have a…um…ah…look at it?” he stammered. 
“Sure…” said Mrs. Noteworthy with a puzzled expression as she handed him the book.
Mervin took it and turned away. There, marking the page where Gulliver meets the Yahoos, was the music. Lowering the book, he discretely removed the sheet and folded it into his pocket.
“Thank you,” he said, handing the book back to his conductor who was still looking at him strangely.
“Well,” she said, “I must be going. See you in band on Friday. Speaking of which, did you find your music?”
“Um…yes, I did,” said Mervin. “Quite recently.” 

For the rest of that week Mervin made sure that he knew where his music was. He was so organized that he not only arrived at band practice with his oboe music, he also came on time. It looked like everything was going to be fine for Mervin McDervish after all. Then he noticed Mrs. Noteworthy peering at him over her music stand. 
“Mervin,” she said, “where is your oboe?”