Spot-Out

A Story by Molly

D, Bm, G, A. This was the third time Ely Foster had played the introduction to one of her favorite songs, Love Story by Taylor Swift, and she still couldn’t get it right. She sighed in frustration as she put her guitar on the ground beside her and leaned back, bracing herself with her elbows.
        “Long time no see, huh?” one of her parent’s regulars, Mike, asked approaching the steps. Ely shrugged as he continued, “What song you working on today?” Ely was about to respond when a slightly familiar man in his mid-thirties came up to them. “Hey John,” Mike said, shaking the man’s hand. “This is Ely, the girl I was telling you about.”
        “Hi, I’m John Holmes,” the man smiled, putting his hand forward for Ely to shake.
        “Eleanor Foster,” she accepted the handshake, “but you can call me Ely.” The three of them talked for a few more minutes before the two men retreated inside her parent's diner. Ely pulled her hair into an unruly ponytail at the nape of her neck and began going back over the chords she wished to play. D, Bm, G, A. D, Bm, G, A.
        Forty-five minutes later, she had whole song down, and had made it to the second verse when Mike and John came out of the diner. Without noticing them being there, Ely continued to with her song. She finished, and the sound of clapping behind her made her jump. Suddenly, three cameramen appeared, and John spoke up.
        “Hello Ely, I’m John Holmes from the upcoming show Spot-out, originating in the U.S., and I have spotted you out. Here in my hand is not only a one-way plane ticket to Los Angeles, but also a pass to perform in front of four celebrity judges. So, what do you say?”
Ely hesitated before saying, “I need to ask my parents first.” She ran inside, knowing her father did not want her to pursue music, especially if she had to fly to the states to do it. She had almost made it to the upstairs apartment when she ran into the one person she was trying to avoid. Her father.
“Ely, what’s wrong?” her dad called out, but she kept running, avoiding the customer’s confused glares, until she found herself in her bedroom above the diner.
Three hours later, Ely slowly made her way downstairs, hoping to convince her dad into letting her travel to the United States. That’s when she heard her father’s voice as well as two others.
“You know, Harry, she loves music,” the first one said.
“No, she doesn’t love music, she lives for music, and not only that, she can sing,” another expressed.
“Well, I’ve been hearing her sing since she was five, and I know it’s her passion to do so. I also know that her mother had always wanted her to go to the states to pursue her dream, so I’m going to let her go.” That, Ely knew, was Harrison Foster, her father. As soon as he finished, Ely ran downstairs as fast as she could, engulfing her father in a hug.
“You’ll let me go?” she asked with an excited tone. Harrison nodded, and the next thing she knew, Ely was settled in first-class in between her father and John Holmes, who turned out to be an agent for the television show she was planning on performing for.

        Ely can still remember the day that jump-started her singing career. She sang her late mother’s favorite song that day, and felt proud as she did. Now, thirty-two year old Eleanor Foster can remember the excitement on her father’s face when she won the first season of Spot-out, and as she stands beside his casket, she quietly sings the song that got her here in the first place.

I close my eyes and the flashback starts, you’re standing there...