It was a cold, very cold, winter morning when Khahlela stepped out of the Taxi with her agent. Her brown boots sounded sharp on pavement as they hit the side walk, jeans whispering between her thighs as she stepped out of the way. She tugged her brown coat around her firmer and pulled down on her pink hat. Gods above, she hated the cold. But, the concert was in the middle of the city, on a platform built just for today.
However, her agent led her towards a small cafe. When she felt the rush of warm air from inside, she hesitated no longer. Lela pushed passed him and huddled next to an empty table, giving a squeak. "It's to cold!"
Her agent, Doug, nodded a little. "But, that's Christmas for you."
Rolling her eyes at that, she followed Doug as he bought them a cup of coffee. After she got hers, she fixed it and breathed in that wonderful aroma. Ah, she got addicted to coffee.
"Listen, Lela. Today's performance can NOT be messed up. This is your last chance to become famous. Want to stay an unknown the rest of your life?"
Uh, oh. Doug's in his mood again... Lela sighed and shook her head. "I am sorry about the other one, Doug. Really. I know I can get good publicity from this, and that I need it. I know almost more than you. At least I'm not doing this for greed." She gave a pointed look to the bald male and snorted.
"Ok, ok. I was just making sure you knew. Look, you'll be singing three different songs. Everyone here is. But the others are already famous. Do you know what kind of strings I had to pull? Never mind that. Just..." a pause to sigh on his half, "just don't blow it. Who knows, maybe you'll make a friend."
Half an hour later, and it was Lela's turn on stage. As she climbed the metal steps, the sound of clicking was drown out by the screams of children and a few catcalls from male construction workers nearby. Ignoring all of that, Lela took her place in front of the mic. "Hello everyone and Happy Holidays! Lela here, and I'll be singing for you today. Only for the children! So please, everyone, take a look at the children in the first rows. Help them get Christmas, help them stay innocent and happy."
When she smiled at the children, the music began to fill the air for her first song.
Only recently did she learn these three songs; she didn't have Christmas in Pemba, which was hard for her agent to understand. But, this song was beautiful.
"The First Noel, the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!"
Her heart swelled as the children joined in the song. And then she heard the adults standing around, and the teenagers. "Everyone!" The song continued, Lela leading, the children singing with her.
She jumped down off the stage and walked towards the railing for the first row, holding her mic out to the audience. It was a beautiful thing.
The first song gave way to her next, Silver Bells. Here, she'd sing first, the audience would sing second. Oh, how she loved interacting with children. Gathering a few of them, she brought them back to the stage and sat on the edge, an arm around one, but all of them huddled together to sing the third and last song.
"... Walki~ng In A Winter Wonderland!"
As the song ended, her and her group of children stood up and took a bow, dusting snow off their shoulders and hats, laughing softly. "Thank you, guys. You did a really good job! Beautiful voices." She hugged a couple and let them wander to their seats as she went back to that cafe with the biggest smile on her flushed face.
Now she knew why she liked Christmas. It brought people together for good causes like this. "If only everyday could be like Christmas."
As she sat down with Doug, she began to hum "It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas".
