Busking with a Cause, Open to all!

[Cecilia Robin Lan]

Cecilia was busking. Yes, busking. By the fountain. She had an empty ice-cream carton which contained a load of coins and a couple of notes. It was a pretty good day.

Why was she busking? The cardboard sign by her feet would answer that. 75% OF ALL FUNDS GO TO THE CHRISTCHURCH APPEAL. The other quarter? Probably for herself.

She took a deep breath and adjusted her pick. She strummed her ukelele and started singing, "On Top of Shaghetti"

On top of shaghetti
All covered in cheese
I lost my poor meatball
When somebody sneezed

It rolled off the table
And onto the floor
Then my poor meatball
Rolled out of the door

[Christopher Hunt]

It was a fact that Christopher wasn't an outdoor type of person. However that didn't mean he didn't enjoy relishing a nice day out in the park, especially after a nice coffee along with a good book and hidden safely in a corner in the cafe. It was nice not to have anyone disturbing him with meaningless conversations. He found it highly annoying.

Strolling slowly out of the park and back to the Town Square, Chris was preparing to head back to the school but figured he could get some pastries for himself before so. Although he couldn't comprehend why, but the thoughts of sharing them with Charlotte actually came into his mind and it got him rather perplexed.

That really made no sense to him because-- Chris snapped out of his reverie and looked up, catching sight of a girl by the fountain whose singing had caught his attention. In a negative way. No, it wasn't that her singing was awful, but it didn't sound exactly heavenly to him either. Just what kind of song was she singing? Why would even anyone create a song about a meatball rolling off onto the floor in the first place? Ridiculous.

"Out of the million songs out there, why are you singing about meatball?" Chris queried with a stony look on his face, making his presence known to her. Depending on the girl, his statement could either be interpreted as sarcasm, or just curiosity.

[Cecilia Robin Lan]

At the interruption, Cecilia put down her ukelele and stuffed her pick in her pocket. "Because it's one of the few songs I can memorise on ukelele. Also," she said, gesturing to the sign. "If you read this you've have known why."

She glanced up. "So yeah. It's funds go to Christchurch Appeal to help repair for the earthquake. Around a quarter would be sent to this primary school called Aronui Primary School or something."

Anyway, she was busking. If that guy wasn't going to help, then he should really leave. Who just stood there and complained about the song without even giving money? No one really. Cecilia picked up her ukelele and pick again. "Do you know any good songs at ukelele?"

[Christopher Hunt]

Chris blinked, staring at the girl with an indifferent expression before speaking again. "You could have memorise better songs." He pointed out bluntly. And of course, how nice of the girl to direct his attention to the sign. He wasn't blind. In fact he had already spotted the sign long ago before she noticed he was even there. "I read that, and that's precisely why it's worth the effort to choose better songs to sing." If the girl did, she probably would have twice the amount of donation by now. Then again life was unpredictable.

His right hand reached for his wallet but hesitated afterwards. "How do I know if you're telling the truth and not pocketing the funds for yourself." He was only stating the truth, as much as it sounded rather harsh. Well, she could always ignore him. He didn't mind and could always get back to his things.

And now she was asking him if he knew any good songs for ukulele. Did he look like someone who played instruments or even knew about music? "What kind of songs?" There were so many genres to choose from. "I guess... Somewhere Over The Rainbow is a good one." He answered halfheartedly. There were meanings to the lyrics, unlike the meatball song.

[Cecilia Robin Lan]

Proof? Right. Well, Cecilia was telling the truth. She wasn't lying. Only in severe situations would she lie, and this was not a severe situation, so obviously she wasn't. "You just have to believe that I am donating to Christchurch. You can even follow me to the post shop if you want."

The guy mentioned the song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Cecilia didn't know the chords and when to play them, so she reached into her bag and googled the lyrics and chords to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It came up with a site that had ukelele chords, so she played them.

When she finished the song she logged into her old school's intranet and found the ukelele book in the Music area. She downloaded it as a PDF and opened it.

"Since I'm helping New Zealand here, shouldn't I be playing Kiwi songs?"

[Christopher Hunt]

Chris eyed the girl, uncertain for a few second before deciding to believe her words. After all if she wasn't speaking the truth she would never have offered him to follow her to the post shop. That was something. Silently, he took his wallet and grabbed a handful of coins, dumping them all into the empty ice-cream carton. He looked back at the girl when she started searching for the song he had suggested and then proceeded to play it.

And while she was playing, Chris was debating whether to leave. It was tempting to say the least because there was no reason why he should stay there. He gave some suggestions to the girl and even donated, therefore he should probably get on with his own stuff. Not that it was of any urgency. However just right at that moment the girl started speaking again. Was she talking to him? There was no one else beside him, obviously.

"Up to you. No one's stopping you anyway." Chris replied in a deadpan tone, crossing over to sit by the fountain's edge. "Why do people even throw coins in." He muttered, more like questioning himself as he glanced towards the bottom of the fountain that was full of glittering coins. Wasteful. That amount of money could be spent in a more practical way. Like what the girl was doing. Donation.

[Cecilia Robin Lan]

Cecilia nodded and googled the chords for Pokarekare Ana, a New Zealand folk song. She was a bit grateful for the donation, so all that ukelele strumming didn't lend up to nothing. She basically got the idea that the guy seemed unfriendly, so she didn't do anything while she was playing. "Pōkarekare ana, ngā wai o Waiapu, Whiti atu koe hine, marino ana e." She stumbled a bit on the pronunciation of the Maori words but she got there in the end.

She placed her ukelele and bent down to pick up her case and the ice-cream box. She placed the ukelele back in the case and calculated the money in the box mentally. Around 15 dollars, which would be around 20 NZD. That would be enough. She slipped her computer back in her case, zipped it and slung it over her shoulder. Now, she needed to go to the post shop.

Taking a glance at the fountain, where a pile of coins lay, unspent, wasted. If someone found a way to retrieve them, wouldn't that person got from broke to rich in 10 minutes? Cecilia pondered this thought for a while and made her way to the post shop.