Reborn in America

Chapter 2: What is a gold finger

Before the 1950s, the mainstream music in the United States was blues jazz. Country music at this time is still non-mainstream, not to mention rock music that has not yet entered people's field of vision.

"The Owl" is a band established by Bart and his colleague Joe. This is an obscure band with no achievements in the music field. In the words of an insider, it's the uninfluenced wild style.

They are just playing in their spare time, they are usually busy with work, and when they are interested, they will gather together to practice. Whenever there is a chance, they will tour and earn some pocket money to help make up for the family. The places where they usually go to perform are their work units, small towns, Northern Indiana nightclubs, various clubs, and the University of Chicago.

The basement of Carpenter's house is their rehearsal area, Bart is the lead guitarist, and Joe is in charge of the saxophone. They are the two main players of the band, and others may change according to the actual situation.

When they were free to practice music in their spare time, Alex was watching. Sometimes Angel would come over to listen, but more time, she would stay in the room and do housework. She doesn't support or oppose Bart's hobby, but she wants Alex to learn guitar.

Every time Angel came, she would always say to him: "Alex, you can sing with Bart too!"

Alex was a little moved when he heard it, but he didn't dare to sing, always feeling a little shy in his heart.

Once Alex was fascinated by it, he couldn't help humming following Bart's rhythm.

"Haha! Bart, your son is very talented in music!"

Old Joe is an outspoken black uncle. His full name is Joe Jackson. It may be because of too much hard work, so he looks quite old. Others call him Old Joe. He has many children and is a big family. Old Joe was very strict with his children, but he was talking and laughing at Alex. He always felt that Alex was no ordinary child, at least not so noisy.

"What kind of talent, it's not just hum!" Bart disagrees, he has long been accustomed to Alex's abnormal performance.

After listening, Old Qiao stopped. He touched his chin and said, "Is he humming? I think he is humming better than we sing!"

There is no mockery in this statement. Old Joe likes music and may not be good at playing, but he has a high appreciation for music. Although Alex's hum was small, it was very accurate.

"Leave him alone, let's continue practicing. We will perform in the pub in a few days!"

Bart didn't care. He knew that his son was smarter and early-minded than other children, but he never thought about training his son to become a big man. He is completely different from Angel in this point.

"It's good for children to grow up healthy and happy, don't burden him too much."

This is Bart’s mind, he also said to Angel, but still can't change his wife's thoughts of becoming a dragon.

"Take a break!" It was another player who was talking, Dier, in his twenties, and a drummer!

There are five or six members in the "Owl" band. Among them, Old Joe and Bart are the main players, and the others are made up by improvisation. There were only three present today. The lead singer was absent due to circumstances, only Bart, Old Joe and Dill.

Bart is a guitarist, and Joe is a panacea, but he is best at saxophone. Deere is the full-time drummer of the band. He usually attends performances, but sometimes he doesn't come during rehearsals.

Alex is more than three years old this year. He has inherited the excellent genes of Bart and Angel, plus he usually pays attention to diet and exercise, and grows taller than ordinary children. It looks like four or five years old.

"Dad, let me play with your guitar too!" Alex had long been watching from the side with an irritation. He had always wanted to learn the guitar in his last life, but he never had a chance. This time there was a chance, of course he would not let it go.

Bart is worried about tomorrow's performance and is in a bad mood. He said impatiently: "Go! Don't get in the way here, what do you know. This guitar is not that simple. I will teach you when you grow up!"

Alex refused to leave. He pouted and said, "I have already understood what is so difficult about the guitar."

This is true. He has been watching it for so long, and he has already seen it at odds and ends. Why did he have a good memory, he almost never forgets.

When Bart was about to say something, Old Joe started talking: "Bart, just let him try it. It's not a big deal!"

So Bart put the guitar in Alex's hand and said: "You have to listen well, if you can't play a complete tune, I have to beat you!"

Bart likes to scare his son. He says he wants to beat someone. In fact, Alex has never seen him hit anyone. It's just talking about it, not taking it seriously.

After Alex took the guitar over, he felt a little nervous. He had never played a guitar before and didn't know what he would be like. He was recalling Bart's actions just now, imagining how he played.

"What's the matter?" Bart looked at Alex with a smile and urged: "You hurry up and play!"

Old Qiao and the others also stopped their movements and looked at Alex, wanting to see what tunes this little guy could play.

Alex played a few tones at random, he was imitating Bart's technique, and it felt pretty good. It's just that these are very simple notes, and he wants to play more beautiful tunes.

Except for Bart, the other two people felt a little surprised. They really didn't expect Alex to play the guitar. Bart has become accustomed to Alex's ability to learn at once, not to mention the few notes just now are nothing.

Alex did not intend to give up, he wanted to play a real guitar tune. So I concentrated and tried hard to recall the guitar songs I had heard before, and wanted to find one to play.

When I was about to play some tune, a strange feeling came up. The feeling was as if all the hairs on the body were standing up, and it was as if all the blood in the body was flowing into the head. The light in the space is brighter, and an incredible visual illusion emerges in large numbers.

He knew he was still in the garage, but he felt like he was somewhere else. These visual illusions appeared and faded quickly, and were then replaced by countless new images. He saw a large number of circles, vortices, sparks, spraying water, crosses and spirals emerging. The things in front of me are constantly and rapidly changing.

These images mainly gush out from the center or lower left corner of the field of view. When they reach the center, other parts of the line of sight are also full of similar visions. It's like a kaleidoscope, but each one is different from the other, with subtle changes.

At the beginning, only the image was seen, and soon he heard the sound, which changed from small to loud.

The sound is the picture. All the pictures are colored. At first they are light, bunches of light, raindrops, rings, vortexes, particle jets, colorful clouds, etc. Later images began to become complicated, with arches, rows of arches, a sea of roofs, scenes of deserts, terraces, flashing flames, and an incredibly magnificent starry sky.

In the end, the world he perceives has changed, and countless screen fragments flew past his eyes, as fast as watching a video of thousands of movies. Music tunes ringed in my ears, changing very quickly, as if someone was constantly switching channels while listening to the radio.

Alex felt a little flustered, he recognized that these pictures and sounds were memories from his previous life. The time in the illusion seems to have passed for a long time, but in reality it is only a few seconds.

Bart and the others cast their sights on Alex and saw that his eyes were a little blank, and drops of sweat came out of his forehead. Just as Bart was about to interrupt aloud, Alex finally broke free from the nightmare.

He almost thought he was going to faint, but in the end he did not faint. Alex desperately grabbed a fragment of the memory segment, and slapped it in a random manner according to a certain guitar segment he had heard in his memory.

That feeling passed quickly, lasting less than a minute or so. When he recovered, he realized that what he was playing was the prelude to the world famous song "Carmen".

Bart was stunned. He played the guitar for more than ten years, but found that he couldn't play as well as Alex.

Old Joe and Dill also had incredible expressions. They thought that even if a three- or four-year-old child could play the guitar, it would not be possible to play so beautifully. This level of guitar performance has far exceeded that of anyone in their band.

Bart widened his eyes and said, "You, where did you learn the tunes you play?"

Alex pretended to be embarrassed and scratched his head and said, "I heard it on the radio. It seems to be called "Carmen"! It's just a part of it. That song is very long. I haven't finished it yet!"

"What a genius!" everyone shouted in their hearts.

Old Qiao sighed from the side: "Bart, you have a great genius in your family. You can learn to play the guitar just by listening to the radio program! Great, great!"

As for Dill, he was already shocked by Alex's performance. He is the youngest in the band. He has practiced drumming since he was a child, and his level is much higher than Bart and Old Joe. Because of this, he looked down on Bart and them. He always regarded himself as a genius. He didn't expect that when he met a real genius, his heart would be beaten to pieces.

Bart coughed, and said to Alex, "You play that tune again!"

"Oh, oh!" Alex hurriedly straightened the guitar, trying to regain the strange feeling just now. But after a while, he couldn't reproduce the previous state.

Everyone was looking at Alex with wide-eyed eyes, as if they had a perspective function that could see through people.

"I, I forgot how to play!" Alex almost started to cry in a hurry, he didn't expect this to happen.

Old Qiao asked strangely: "Did you not play well just now?"

Alex said with some embarrassment: "I felt like playing just now, so I can play well. I don't feel anymore, so I can't play."

"So it is!"

Inexplicably, Bart and the others breathed a sigh of relief. That's right. If you can play such a beautiful piece of music proficiently and freely if you only listen to one side, how can it be so embarrassing for them to play music!

Alex was also secretly surprised that after he was reborn, he spent time looking for his "golden finger"! In the end, nothing appeared, no portable system, abilities, portable grandpa or maid, etc., nothing.

Apart from being healthier and better educated than ordinary people, it is just that the memory is stronger, and there is nothing surprising.

Just when he gave up, he unexpectedly revealed to him that he was still a little special!

"Could it be that this is the welfare of our traversers?" Alex couldn't help but began to obscene, he couldn't wait to use his abilities.