Nancy preparing to give a show at her school.
19:06 (Washington Time)
Friday, December 17, 1993 ‘C’
Auditorium of the Northern Virginia International High School
Fairfax, Virginia
‘’Aah, here they are!’’ said Ingrid in a low voice to Greg and Carolyn Loomis, who were seated next to her and Leonardo in the auditorium of the Northern Virginia International High School. She had invited the old couple, who had been good neighbors for decades, to come watch with her and Leonardo the pre-holiday show given by the students of the school. There were a number of other parents of students and friends also sitting in the small auditorium. Now, the time she had been waiting for had come, with Nancy and her four band members taking place on stage while the school director took place behind one of the microphones.
‘’Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the evening portion of our school’s talent show. For the first act of our evening, we have a talented new musical band ready to play and sing an unusual repertoire that I am sure will fascinate you. Please welcome The DC Five!’’
Applauds rose as the director left the stage, allowing Nancy, dressed in an evening gown, to step up to the microphone as her four companions took place at their respective instruments.
‘’Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Nancy Dows and the members of our band are respectively, from left to right, Sarah Weissman, Lucy Dows, Carmen Estrada and Erika Lange. Our group specializes in playing historical music as well as songs which were imported from the future in 1940 by Nancy Laplante, who happens to be my grandmother by adoption. Before playing a song from the future, we will give proper tributes to the original singer or group who had been recorded playing that song in the future. We will start our show by playing one of the most popular songs of Nancy Laplante’s time, titled ‘My heart will go on’ and sung by Canadian singer Céline Dion.’’
Silence fell for a moment in the auditorium as Nancy went to sit behind a harp. Then, Carmen Estrada started the piece by playing a few notes from a flute, following which Nancy started singing softly. Carolyn Loomis covered her mouth after a few seconds of singing, utterly impressed by the quality of Nancy’s voice. She however refrained from speaking then and continued listening like the other spectators, enthralled by the song. Then, Lucy Dows joined in with her violin, while Sarah Weissman started playing from a synthesizer, with Erika Lang playing her drums as well a bit later. Nancy progressively raised the volume of her voice as the song went, with the emotions expressed in it making blood rush to Carolyn Loomis’ head.
‘’My God, what a voice she has!’’ she whispered to her husband Greg, who could only nod in agreement.
‘’Her voice is golden indeed. Her band members are also very good.’’
A few minutes later, the song ended in enthusiastic applauses from the audience, including from Ingrid, who could not be prouder than now. Getting up from her chair and grabbing an electric guitar, Nancy stepped behind the central microphone to announce her next song.
‘’Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. We will now play a song from another diva from the future, Sarah Brightman, titled ‘Once in a lifetime’.’’
Nancy then started that song by playing from her guitar before starting to sing in a melodious voice, with Carmen Estrada playing a flute and with Sarah, Lucy and Erika respectively accompanying them on the piano, the violin and the drum kit. The song ended up being as well received as the first one and drew mass applauses from the parents and guests present, who had not expected such a high quality of music from an amateur school band. Nancy again spoke in her microphone as the applauses calmed down.
‘’Thank you! Thank you! Our next piece is a song of medieval inspiration made by the German group FAUN and titled ‘Rosenrot’.’’
Nancy and Erika then surprised the audience by actually starting to sing in German. While the song started on soft, slow notes, it then quickly picked up in rhythm, with guitar, drums, violin, flute and synthesizer jumping in. While Erika Lang backed up Nancy with the singing in German, it was quickly evident who was the star singer. More than one spectator rocked on their chair during the song, fired up by the music’s rhythm. Again, warm applauses and quite a few shouted compliments greeted the end of that song. Nancy and her companions bowed to the applauses, with Nancy then speaking in her microphone.
‘’Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will now have a short ten minutes pause, time for us to change costumes before playing our fourth song of the evening.
As Nancy’s band left the stage, Ingrid got up from her chair and smiled to the Loomis.
‘’So, what do you think, my friends?’’
‘’We’re blown away!’’ replied Greg Loomis. ‘’Your daughter Nancy has an incredible voice, while her band plays very well. Those songs from the future are also beautiful. I am impatient to hear what they will play next. Do you know which song it will be, Ingrid?’’
‘’Nope! Nancy studiously refused to answer my questions about tonight’s show. She said that she wanted to surprise me.’’
‘’Well, it is certainly a nice surprise up to now. Uh, you will have to excuse me for a minute, time to go take my precautions at the washrooms. I am afraid that my old bladder is not as controlled as when I was young.’’
‘’I think that I will go too.’’ added Carolyn, who then walked out of the auditorium with her husband. Wanting to walk a bit herself, Ingrid got out of her row of seats and walked slowly up and down the steps of the auditorium’s aisle. That was when a man in his mid-forties wearing a good quality suit approached her, a smile on his lips.
‘’Hello, miss! You are the mother of Nancy Dows, right?’’
‘’I am! Ingrid Dows, at your service! What may I do for you, sir?’’
The man answered at the same time that he extracted a calling card from a pocket of his vest and offered it to Ingrid.
‘’My name is Joseph Polisi, Doctor of Musical Arts and the present president of the Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Two of your daughter’s music teachers contacted me recently to encourage me into coming to watch your daughter’s performance and that of her band tonight and I must say that I am very impressed up to date.’’
Ingrid shook hands with Polisi while smiling back to him and taking his calling card, understanding that this could be important for Nancy.
‘’Thank you, Mister Polisi. I have to say that I am very proud of my daughter and of her band tonight.’’
‘’And you have plenty of reasons to be proud, Misses Dows. Or should I call you ‘General Dows’?’’
‘’Misses Dows will do, Mister Polisi. And what can I do for you tonight?’’
‘’Well, I know that your daughter and her band members are still studying in tenth grade this year and will have another two years of high school after that, but such a talented group would certainly deserve to get a degree in music once they have their high school diploma. The Juilliard School is without bragging one of the best music conservatories in the country and its admission selection criteria are quite demanding, with an acceptance rate of only eight percent. What I have seen up to now tonight however convinced me that your daughter and her band members all would deserve to be admitted to the Juilliard School to get a degree in music there, once they complete high school.’’
Ingrid nodded slowly her head at that: this was indeed an important moment.
‘’I am honored and happy to hear that, Mister Polisi. However, while I am Nancy’s mother and she is still a minor, thus would need my approval and support to join a college, I think that it would be best if the two of us would meet with Nancy and her band member at the end of this show, so that you could discuss this matter directly with them. My Nancy may still be young, but she is very mature for her age, thanks to her ability to remember her past incarnations.’’
‘’I read a few articles about your daughter’s fantastic abilities and I believe you on this. Meeting with her and her band members after the show sounds like a very good idea, Misses Dows.’’
‘’Then give me a second to warn Nancy to tell her band members to stay on after the show.’’
Polisi, who then expected to see Ingrid walk away towards the stage and its back area, was surprised to see Ingrid simply close her eyes and apparently concentrate for a few seconds. Ingrid smiled again to him once she opened her eyes again.
‘’I just communicated telepathically with Nancy and passed your offer of meeting with her and her band. She agreed to it and will make her friends stay after the show.’’
Polisi, who had been struck by her impossible youth but knew about her powers, shook his head in amusement.
‘’Well, if your daughter ever joins my conservatory, she will certainly be the first person with supernatural powers to do so. However, be assured that she will be treated exactly the same way as all the other students of my school.’’
‘’And that’s the way I want it, Mister Polisi.’’ replied Ingrid, pleased. ‘’Well, the show should resume in a minute or so. Why don’t you change seats and come sit next to me for the rest of the show?’’
‘’I would be delighted by that, Misses Dows.’’
Ingrid then led Polisi back into her row of seats and offered him the seat to her left before sitting herself. The Loomis then came back from their washroom break, at which time Ingrid quickly presented them to Polisi. They just had time to complete their presentations before Nancy and her band returned on the stage. Ingrid grinned on seeing the new attire worn by Nancy, which was limited to a very tight pair of low waist jean trousers and a bikini top that let most of her torso and belly exposed.
‘’I think that I know which song she will play next. You may find it quite a hot one, Mister Polisi.’’
‘’If you say so, Misses Dows.’’ replied Polisi, who was eyeing with delight Nancy’s well-curved and sexy body. Carmen Estrada, Erika Lang and Lucy were dressed in equally sexy attires, while Sarah Weissman, a much more conservative girl, had switched to a conventional pleated skirt with short-sleeved blouse. Not picking up any of her musical instruments, Nancy went to the central microphone and took it off its support and into her hands as her band members took their positions in the background.
‘’Welcome back to our show, ladies and gentlemen. Our next song will be a bit spicier and is titled ‘Whenever, wherever’, originally sung by a Colombian singer named Shakira. On top of being a great singer and dancer, Shakira was also well known for her belly dancing. Music, please!’’
With Carmen Estrada and Erika Lang starting to play the guitar and drum kit, Nancy started dancing and singing, moving slowly at first. However, the rhythm of her dance and her hip swinging accelerated quite quickly as Carmen switched to the Andean flute and Sarah and Lucy started playing their respective synthesizers, tuned to different octaves. Many in the audience, including Polisi and the Loomis, started bobbing their heads, fired up by the singing, dancing and music playing. Thunderous applauses and a standing ovation greeted the end of that song, with Nancy and her band members bowing deeply to the spectators. Nancy then replaced her microphone on its fixed stand and spoke up, happiness showing on her face.
‘’Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much! For our last song tonight, we will play a song titled ‘Dancing queen’, made by one of the most popular pop bands of Nancy Laplante’s era: ABBA.’’
‘’My God!’’ said softly Joseph Polisi to Ingrid. ‘’I would love to have a chance to listen to this repertoire of songs from the future. Up to now, it is proving to be truly fantastic music.’’
‘’That could be arranged, Mister Polisi.’’ replied Ingrid while smiling to herself. The band then started playing, cutting her off.
The end of that last song also brought applauses and cheers from the audience, with Nancy’s band bowing to the spectators before leaving the stage. That was when Ingrid led both Polisi and the Loomis towards the backstage lodges, where they found the five girls of the band in the process of packing up their instruments. Not surprisingly, the parents of Carmen Estrada, Erika Lang and Sarah Weissman also showed up backstage, intent on congratulating their daughters. Ingrid happily hugged Nancy and Lucy and then let time for the other girls to hug their parents before she asked for their attention.
‘’Could I have your attention, all of you? To my left is Mister Joseph Polisi, Doctor of Musical Arts and President of the Juilliard School conservatory in New York. He came to me to tell me how much he liked your performance tonight and would consider all of you to be well qualified to be admitted to his conservatory at the end of your high school years. I will however let him speak to you now. Mister Polisi?’’
‘’Thank you, Misses Dows. Girls, you were truly fantastic tonight and not only because of your choice of music but because of your obvious talent and mastery of your instruments and singing. The Juilliard School is a private conservatory dedicated to teaching the various performing arts, with diplomas at the bachelor, master’s and doctor’s degree awarded by my school. The admission to my school is very selective, with only eight percent of applicants accepted to it, but what I saw and heard tonight was truly worthy of my school’s standards. While you still have to complete your high school studies, know that all of you will be most welcome to enroll at Juilliard then. I will now distribute calling cards, so that you can contact me at the end of your high school studies. I will then be most happy to register you as students of my conservatory.’’
Both the girls and their parents eagerly took the cards distributed by Polisi, with the latter hugging in turn all five girls, with Nancy being the last. He then stared into her eyes while holding both of her hands and whispering to her.
‘’Miss, you have the potential to become a World-class artist, truly, both as a singer, musician and dancer. I can’t wait to have you and your friends as students of my conservatory.’’
‘’I am certainly going to consider very seriously your offer, Mister Polisi. My band members and I will most probably meet again with you in two in a half year.’’
‘’And I can hardly wait for that moment, miss.’’