Tall Tales- Squeeze Box Revenge

Tact wasn't her strong suit, but it didn't much matter these days. She did what she wanted and no one stood in her way. If they tried to stop her she threw "it" in their faces. "It" was used a lot lately, and why not? It was high time "it" gave her something rather than always taking something away.

Mindy's talent for the accordian was as much of a curse as it was a blessing. Her grandfather had played in an Oompapa band and when she was visiting as a toddler she toddled onto his accordian with great delight. Her mother resisted, but she needed her parents to babysit while she covered the night shift nursing at the hospital.

"There's things out in that world a lot more dangerous than polka," he grandfather defended. "The girl could do a lot worse."

By the time she was five Mindy's grandfather gave her own accordian and taught her to play The Beer Barrel Polka -- only he told her it was called the Rootbeer Barrel Polka. Who was gonna correct him?

"Everyone's going to think she's a nerd," Mindy's mother said.

"Are you calling me a nerd?" Mindy's grandfather asked.

"Your my Dad," she told him. "Of course your a nerd, but I love you."

"I'm not forcing anything on the girl," he said. "She can walk away whenever she wants. We're all nerds, some of us are just brave enough to admit it. You have a brave daughter, Caroline."

"Great," she said.

Mindy did love the accordian, but she kept it in the back of her closet under a blanket where her friends couldn't see. She convinced her mother to buy her a small keyboard that would be less embarrassing to leave out. Her friends marveled on how well she could play with one hand.

Sometimes Mindy felt as if she were living a double life, telling lies to get out of slumber parties so she could play at the Polka Palace with her grandfather. Mindy got very good. By the time she was ten she could play her accordian with her feet. Two years later she could play two accordians at once. Her grandfather was so proud. He told Mindy that he believed that she had "IT" -- just the right mix of talent and Gumption to revolutionize Polka until it took over Rock Music and Rap. "You could be the biggest Polka star ever!" he told Mindy.

"Bigger than Weird Al?" she gasped.

"Weird Al?" he scoffed. "Weird Al sold out when he got "Fat." -- before then. It was a Polka joke and everyone at their table at the Polka Palace laughed. "You could be bigger than Stan and Lois Popolopski."

It was that night that Mindy came home so exhausted that she flung her accordian on the couch and went upstairs to take a shower and went to bed. She overslept, and didn't wake up until her friend Kitty came in to walk to school with her. And there it was still on the couch.

"I heard rumors," Mindy's friend said, "But I never thought....." She couldn't look at the squeezebox. She had to turn away. "How good are you?"

"Not good," Mindy lied. "I just play a little for my Grampa."

"Pick it up." Mindy obeyed. She couldn't resist. She tried to be bad, but she couldn't do it. She squeezed out the Rootbeer Barrel Polka like nobody's business. By the time she was done her friend was running toward the school laughing.

From then on Mindy was ostricized for her unpopular accordian playing talent, but it only made her want to play more. She spent every night playing at the Polka Palace and was offered a recording contract. Soon she had International fame everywhere but her school, and of course she was filthy rich. The news crew came to her school and on what she thought was live television she told them the school was intolerant of anyone a little different and she wanted to make sure they didn't take any credit, of course it was pretaped, and the station never aired it, but that was beside the point. Mindy was still doing better than everyone else -- she was even bigger than Stan & Lois Popolopski.