Trigger Warning: This tale includes rowdy mischief, spirited tussles, swift kickass via rawhide boots, incisive wit, and harmonious redemption under Chateaugay Lake’s summer sun. Sensitive readers may perceive mental projections, mild musical humiliation and comical comeuppance among lakeside troublemakers.
Reader discretion strongly advised
The Surprise Mentor
It was a fine July morning when the famed opera star Geraldine Farrar arrived at her family’s summer camp on the Narrows of Chateaugay Lake. Word spread faster than a gale across the water. By lunchtime, even the smallest boys down at the sawmill pond at the Forge were imitating arias (though they sounded more like a pack of geese in distress). Geraldine was said to have the voice of an angel and the beauty of one, too, which was enough to send every young man on the lake polishing his boots in hopes of a glimpse.
But Geraldine wasn’t there for idle leisure, as it turned out. On her second day in town, she strode right into Darius Merrill’s Chateaugay Lake singing school, startling the lot of them so much that Nate Thurber dropped his music sheet in the spittoon! She didn’t seem to mind. “I hear you have a fine little singin’ school here,” she said, her voice as clear as a church bell. “I’ll be stayin’ the summer, and I’d like to help you—if you’ll have me.”
You could’ve knocked Darius over with a feather. “Miss Farrar, ma’am,” he stammered, “we’d be honored beyond words!”
Geraldine smiled, but her friendly expression soon turned serious. “There’s one condition,” she said. “I’ve already read all about those rowdy troublemakers. If this school can’t keep its discipline, there’s no point in my wastin’ my time—or yours. Keep your Bellmont potato field-hand schoolboy rowdies in check, and I’ll mentor you.”
Now, everyone knew she was talking about young Elijah Heading and his rough Bellmont crew, including that no-good Mike and a couple of halfwit followers who had nothing better to do than disrupt every rehearsal.
Darius gulped but nodded. “We’ll manage it,” he said.
The next rehearsal started off promising enough. Geraldine sat at the piano, demonstrating a warm-up exercise, while the students eagerly followed her lead. Even Nate, who usually sang like a rooster caught in a fence, sounded passable under her guidance. But just as the school was hitting its stride, the door banged open, and in strolled Elijah and Mike.
“Well, if it ain’t the opera star,” Elijah sneered, tipping his hat mockingly. “You come to teach these frogs how to croak prettier?” His lackeys laughed, and Mike leaned against the doorframe, chewing a blade of grass with exaggerated insolence.
Darius stood up, his face redder than a Chateaugay Lake sunset at Morrison’s. “You’re not welcome here, Lige. Get out before we call the constable!”
“Oh, I’m quaking,” Elijah said, swaggering closer. “Go on, Darius. Let’s see you make us leave.”
Before Darius could muster a reply, big Miles Miller stepped forward. At over six feet tall and with hands like shovels, Miles didn’t need to say much to make his point. He grabbed ‘Big Lige’ by the scruff of his considerable neck, and hauled him toward the door as if he weighed no more than a sack of Carter’s No. 5 potatoes. Mike tried to step in, but Nate, quick as a flash, tripped him with a perfectly timed kick. Mike landed on the floor with a thud, and Geraldine, still seated at the piano, raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop playing.
“I’d advise you gentlemen to leave now,” she said calmly, her fingers never missing a note. “You’ll find the next tune far less pleasant.”
Elijah muttered something under his breath but stumbled out, dragging Mike with him. Once the door slammed shut, Geraldine turned to the students and smiled. “Well done, boys,” she said. “Now, where were we?”
For the rest of the summer, Geraldine kept her word. She taught the singing school with patience and brilliance, transforming the ragtag group into something resembling a proper choir. When the summer exhibition finally arrived, even the skeptical old-timers from Bellmont clapped and cheered. As for Elijah and Mike, they stayed well away from the rehearsals after their “lesson” from Miles and Nate, though it was said Elijah’s nose was still out of joint about it come Christmas.
And so, the summer of Geraldine Farrar’s mentorship went down in Chateaugay Lake lore as a golden season—proof that even the most unlikely students will shine under the right guidance and that troublemakers, no matter how bold, couldn’t outshine talent and grit.
What mysteries of Chateaugay Lake haunt you?