Flying in a Cage

By Melody J. Bremen

A song tugs inside me,
like a string pulling on my heart.
It wants to fly free.

Ivory Strade lives in a world of song.

As she goes to school, as she eats breakfast, as she walks down the road, she creates melodies in her mind. Every sound she hears – a distant birdsong, the wind in the trees – becomes a symphony.

No one knows about her music because Ivory is not like other ten-year-olds. When people speak to her, it's difficult for her to untangle the words in her mind and she retreats into her own private world.

Without the words to explain what she hears, the music stays trapped inside her until, one day, an amazing music teacher shows her how to set her music free.

Fans of Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind and Ellie Terry's Forget Me Not will enjoy this novel-in-verse that follows a young girl who finds her place despite her differences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melody J. Bremen
• Release date: Jun 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386570226

Book preview

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Copyright

© 2018 Melody J. Bremen

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America.

www.melodyjbremen.com

To Music

School

Clock on the wall.

Tick tick tick.

Teacher up front.

Talk talk talk.

A sneeze.

A sigh.

A squeaky sneaker.

School bell rings.

Chairs scrape back.

Kids talk and laugh.

The door opens

and slams shut.

Kids run in the hall.

Lockers clang

clang

clang.

Jumbled sounds of school.

De da da.

A new sound.

A bouncy song.

Feel it in my chest.

I stop.

I listen.

De da da.

A voice yells,

The busses are leaving!

And I run

run

run

to make it.

I hop onto the bus.

Engine rumbles

grm grm grm.

The music plays

in my head.

De da da.

I tap tap tap my fingers.

Music in my fingers.

Music in me.

Music

is in

me.

Home

The boards on the front porch groan.

The screen door squeaks.

Sqreeee… bang!

Don’t slam the door! Mom yells.

Creak goes the stairs.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

Up. Up. Up.

My briefcase brushes

against the narrow walls.

I run a finger

on the wood panels.

Smooth, bump, smooth, bump.

Quick, light footsteps thump from above.

Thump, thump, thump.

Brian comes around the corner.

Guess what? he says.

My tooth came out!

He slips past me,

down the rest of the stairs.

Thump, thump, thump.

I go to my room.

Turn on the fan. Click. Wrr.

I drop the briefcase – thunk –

and collapse on my bed.

The bedsprings squeak.

I listen to the fan.

Whit, whit, whit, whit…

Music is playing

from Aiden’s room.

Noisy

nasty

raspy

music.

Ouch.

I hold my head.

Turn down the music,

Mom yells.

The music

stops.

Quiet.

Whit, whit, whit.

That’s all.

And my heartbeat.

Tha-thump, tha-thump.

Family

Brian.

High notes skipping.

Little and quick.

Plays with toys.

Smells like outdoors.

Aiden.

Tangled sounds.

Tall and hungry.

Plays video games.

Smells like deodorant.

Dad.

Low, quiet hum.

Work work work.

Smells like coffee.

Calls me peanut.

I’m not a peanut.

I’m a ten-year-old girl.

Mom.

Strong, vibrating sounds.

Always rushing.

Smells like fruit.

Rubs her forehead.

A lot.

Ivory.

Me.

In the middle.

I don’t know what I smell like.

I don’t know what I sound like.

Supper

De da da.

My fingers tap

on the kitchen table

to music playing in my head.

Whap!

Aiden’s hand whaps down

on top of mine.

Cut it out, he says.

You’re driving me crazy.

Mom turns from the counter.

"Aidan, can’t you eat supper

without creating a ruckus?"

He grumble-mumbles quietly.

"Ivory, stop drumming your fingers

on the table," Mom says,

"and, Aiden,

put your phone away."

I tap my fingers on my knee

under the table

where no one can see or hear

but me.

Dad comes home,

sits at the table,

Everyone starts talking

at once.

Brian about school,

about his teacher.

Aiden about a trip

with all his friends.

Mom about work

and annoying coworkers.

Talking talking talking.

All at the same time.

Dad smiles and eats his supper.

Aiden asks to go away with friends.

Everyone is going.

Mom says, No way, José.

Aiden scrapes his chair back,

stomps away.

He scrapes his chair back a lot.

He asks for something,

Mom says no,

Aiden stomps away.

We eat supper

quietly.

The Old Aiden

Old Aiden

played games with me

Sorry

and Uno

and Monopoly

Old Aiden

watched movies with me

Frozen

and Up

and Toy Story 3.

New Aiden

doesn’t play games,

doesn’t watch movies

with me

anymore.

Laundry

Mom asks me to fold the laundry.

Don’t get distracted, she says.

Fold the whole basket.

I pick up a shirt.

Fold it,