Chapter 009 - Venice Beach Supernatural Event

Simon finally looked at Janet Johnston with a little smile and said seriously: "Actually, I wanted to ask Catherine alone, but it doesn't matter if you tag along with us."

When she heard what he said, she immediately took Kathryn as if afraid of Simon taking the woman away.

But, in a flash, she reacted again, she pointed her slender index finger at the case and said: "I mean, you can't even buy a good bottle of red wine with your money."

Simon randomly plucked the guitar strings and said: "I am a gentleman, a guy inviting two women to dinner, and also drinking alcohol, this can be misunderstood."

Janet squinted at Simon's clothes and said with some contempt: "Who will misunderstand you."

Simon also glanced at the Hermes shoulder bag on Janet's shoulder and smiled: "Yeah, so, I'm afraid you two will be misunderstood."

Janet blinked stunned for a few moments, only then did she understand what he means, give him a hard glance and say: "Nonsense!"

When she stumbled upon Simon on the street, Catherine wanted to walk away silently.

The last time she met him, Simon left a deep impression on her, so she subconsciously felt that an outstanding boy like him, may feel embarrassed to be seen at this time.

But because she was dragged there by her friend she had to meet Simon.

At first, Kathryn wanted to stop them, listening to the dialogue between Jenny and Simon, at first Kathryn wanted to stop them, but she noticed that there was no discomfort on Simon's face.

He is a very proud guy, and from many details from their first meeting, she was very sure of this.

However, his pride does not carry any kind of bigotry that originates from deep feelings of inferiority. Therefore, he did not feel embarrassed at this time. Facing Jenny's antics he behaved more like a mature and stable adult accommodating a stubborn little girl.

Most of the time, she is the one accommodating Jenny like a little girl?

Seeing that her friend didn't get getting stomped in the verbal confrontation with Simon, Kathryn couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Which side are you?" Upon hearing Kathryn's chuckle, Janet immediately glared at her with dissatisfaction. Then she turned to Simon again, her face immediately lost the anger, she slowly took out her wallet from her shoulder bag, took out a 100-dollar bill and shook it in front of Simon.

"Now, little boy, I haven't heard enough yet, sing another song. But if I am not satisfied, I want to get the money back."

Simon nodded: "All right, looks like we will have a bottle of wine this evening."

"Hello, didn't you hear me? I mean..." Janet just wanted to make a statement, but the boy in front of her had already started to pluck the strings, but this time the notes from the expensive Gibson acoustic guitar sounded very fast, she felt a bit familiar, but she did not remember where she had heard it before, and subconsciously said: "This, I know, um, yes..."

Simon repeatedly strummed the strings several times, familiarizing himself with the feel, and looked up at the two women in front of him, with a faint smile he said: " "Flight of the Bumblebee", to miss Jenny."

As the voice fell, the swift and rapid sound of music had already sounded from the guitar in his hand.

The fast composition is intended to musically evoke the seemingly chaotic and rapidly changing flying pattern of a bumblebee.

"Flight of the Bumblebee" is the most well-known piece of music of the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he wrote it for his opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". "Flight of the Bumblebee" appeared in movies like "The Green Hornet" "Shine" "Secret" and many other film and television works, and with its extremely fast melody, it has gradually become a famous song for many musicians to show their musical skills.

Compared to those guitarists who blindly seek speed but ignore the mistakes when playing "Flight of the Bumblebee" Simon pays more attention to the integrity of the song, so he did not deliberately pursue speed.

However, the standard sixteenth note tuned with Simon's hand speed of about 170 beats per minute, caused a lot of passersby to stop in their track.

Pedestrians within the scope of the guitar sound were almost all stunned for a short time, and then everyone focused their eyes on the boy with a focused expression.

The mother pushing the stroller stopped.

The couple who were taking a picture together, put down the camera.

The boy on his skateboard who wanted to quickly pass the crowd stopped.

The middle-aged man on the street bench removed the newspaper in front of him.

A madwoman who wanted to continue to provoke him squinted and closed her mouth.

At this moment, the boy in front of them seemed to be the centre of the universe.

When the melody sounded for more than ten seconds, a fashionable young girl who was standing in front of a stall next to Simon come back to herself, panicky pointed the super 8 mm camera lens at Simon.

In fact, she passed by the boy half an hour ago, she listened to him singing a song called "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell with a very unique arrangement, so she remembered her rebellious teenage years.

She remembered the time in ninth grade when she rehearsed the song by Joni Mitchell in the basement of a friend's house with her closest friends,

* That you don't know what you've got

* Til it's gone

* They paved paradise

* And put up a parking lot

* Hey, now they paved paradise

* To put up a parking lot

* Why not?

* ...

So many years have passed.

Looking back suddenly.

It's like living in another world.

She likes music, painting, and movies, she dreamed of becoming an artist like Joni Mitchell, but later, she went to study at Yale Law School according to her parents' wishes.

In the blink of an eye, she is already a junior lawyer.

Hearing the song on the street once again many memories of her teenage years suddenly come back to mind.

So, after wandering in Venice Beach for a while, she went back unconsciously to the place where Simon was, hiding next to him pretending to be passersby, wanting to hear and record the boy play "Big Yellow Taxi" again.

When many people on the street gathered together, she no longer held herself back, she mixed into the crowd, adjusted the camera lens focusing on the figure plucking the strings in front of her. At the same time, she felt a little shocked at the boy's deep guitar skills.

She studied piano when she was young, the top pianist her parents specifically invited to teach her happened to play "Flight of the Bumblebee", and explained many details to her. So she knew, It was not too difficult to play, but it was not easy to play the song well.

Moreover, compared to the piano, it is more difficult to perfectly perform this piece on a guitar with only a few strings.

But what surprised her, even more, was that after he completed the first 70 seconds of the performance, the boy didn't pause, and immediately started the second pass, but this time the rhythm is faster, but the tune didn't change at all.

This should be more than 200 beats per minute, right?

She thought to herself.

a minute later the tune accelerates again.

Then again.

On the fifth pass, she felt that even if the boy's hand speed is less than 300 beats per minute, it was probably the same.

On the sixteenth note of "Flight of the Bumblebee", with four notes per beat and nearly 300 beats per minute, he is already at the level that those top guitarists can achieve.

Is this an illusion? Or is this a Venice Beach Supernatural Event?

Although she feels a little unbelievable, she instinctively felt that the boy could be faster.

However, when the last performance ended, the guitar sound came to an abrupt end.

She looked away from the boy's face and found that his palm was carefully pressed on the strings, obviously not planning to continue.

A series of slightly regretful sighs were heard from the people around her.

Immediately afterwards, all the pedestrians on the street surrounding Simon enthusiastically applauded.

She also wants to applaud, found that she still had a camera in her hand.

So she quickly turned it off, quickly hid the camera, and looked at him with a guilty look. Although she couldn't record the "Big Yellow Taxi" she wanted, this video is enough for her to treasure.

In the applause of everyone, the boy thanked everyone politely, and some people generously put a few large bills into the boy's guitar case.

She glanced at it, and the $100 that the woman had just put in was still eye-catching. However, the $10 she paid half an hour ago was covered by other banknotes.

Inexplicably, she felt Somehow sorry, although there is still a lot of cash in her wallet, she instinctively dared not step forward.

She's afraid he well notices herself.

A girl who is so inconspicuous.

Thinking about it for a while, she found that the audience was quickly dispersing.

But there are still a few people, so she didn't leave immediately.

Then she heard the woman who was very unkind to the boy ask him in a somewhat stuttering tone: "That, little boy, last time you said... Well, Which psychiatric hospital did you come from?"