Jack Of Arts

The family just arrived near Blackbird café. Wearing thick clothes due to the cold, they were walking very close to each other.

"Chala. Take them inside. I'll enter through the kitchen." Tayaw said to Chala as he separated himself with the group and walked ahead, with his guitar, and kick drum on hand. Looking at the sharply dressed Tayaw, Liboo and Kilat could not help but appreciate the look. A cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a three piece suit that is well fitted for Tayaw would indeed attract one's eyes.

"Hey. I didn't think he would be that handsome wearing that." Kilat said to Liboo. "True. Well, I don't mean to be mean, but is there anyone as handsome in your family? My family isn't that handsome." Liboo asked. Kilat punched Liboo on the shoulders at that. "Just be thankful that he's the best-looking in the family. He got your eyes and your frame; he has my facial features." Kilat said.

"MOM! LOOK!" Agew exclaimed as he saw Tayaw's picture and stage name 'Isaac Yawat' in the poster on the front door of the bar. "Ooh. He has a poster too?" Kilat raised his brows. "Believe it or not, Tayaw has gained some following ever since he started playing here last month." Chala explained. "Hm? He's been playing since when?" Kilat asked. "The last Saturday of November I think. Since then, he's been playing during Fridays and Saturday nights." Chala started telling Tayaw's family Tayaw's musical journey in Nashville as they entered the bar.

"Oh. Thank goodness, kept their word." Chala said as he saw that the table Tayaw asked Henry to reserve for the family is unoccupied, despite the fully crowded bar. Chala then saw Henry walk over. "Hey Chala. This must be Isaac's family?" Henry said and smiled at Kilat and Liboo. "Hello, I'm Henry. It's nice to meet Isaac's parents. You both look great." Henry introduced himself.

"Isaac?" Kilat asked, confused as she did not read Tayaw's name in the poster earlier. "Tayaw's stage name. They can't pronounce his name properly so Tayaw came up with the name." Chala explained. "Well, thank you Henry for letting our kid play here." Liboo replied, his English sharpened after only a few days in Nashville. "Nah. I should be thanking him instead. He brought in more customers." Henry said, his words corroborating with Chala's claim earlier about Tayaw gaining following.

As they chatted, they were interrupted by the enthusiastic applause of the crowd. The group looked to the stage to see Tayaw step up to the stage. This made Kilat and Liboo very excited. They are seeing Tayaw perform for a crowd for the first time. Not only is he being received well, the crowd looks like they genuinely like Tayaw.

"Good evening everyone. I'm Isaac, and I'll be the last performer tonight." Even though many of the patrons tonight know of him, Tayaw introduced himself, nonetheless. "I first want to thank Strawberry Front, for handing me the headline spot tonight. They're still hanging out in the waiting room, let them hear y'all." The crowd clapped at that.

Meanwhile, at the waiting room. "This kid. Haha. He doesn't know that we can't keep up anymore so we conceded him the spot." Rez said to the other musicians who also decided to stay in the waiting room to listen in to Tayaw's set. The other musicians chuckled at what Rez said.

Over the past weeks, some of the performers who share a line-up with Tayaw would also stay after their set either to entertain themselves, or to get free lessons from Tayaw. The musicians who benefitted from Tayaw's supposed pay distributed by Henry, also stayed as a sign of gratitude and courtesy.

Tayaw then started a simple bluegrass intro as he spoke further. "Thank y'all, I've had a great time during my stay here in Nashville. Thinking about it, I think this is my home in America." Tayaw said, kissing the crowd's ass. While he said it to patronize the crowd, it does not mean that he does meant what he said. Nashville indeed, is like a second home to Tayaw. He never spent anywhere outside Ouigab for this long in one place and loved every second of it.

"Even though my album isn't country, I've also seen that the sales of my songs online increase, undoubtedly thanks to y'all." Tayaw said. Since his stay in Nashville, his album sales in iTunes reached 10,000. While the sales did not come from the people of Nashville, they obviously helped in spreading Tayaw's name.

"I'm glad that I get to headline in such a historic venue. Thanks to y'all, my family over there gets to see me receive love from y'all." Tayaw said as he nodded at his parents. The crowd also looked at the only group of Pacific Islanders in the crowd, and they sent Tayaw's family approving looks. Such attention, while flattering, made Tayaw's family embarrassed, but they still returned nods smiles.

"I've spent quite a while here in Nashville, and after Christmas, I think it's finally time for me to leave." Tayaw said to the crowd. The crowd gave a collective sigh of disappointment. Tayaw also spotted Walter in the crowd, his face unreadable. Tayaw did not tell anyone that he will be leaving aside from Henry.

Watching the crowd's reaction, Kilat and Liboo were conflicted. "Hey honey, should we stay in Nashville for longer? For Tayaw?" Kilat asked Liboo. "No. Tayaw said that he will do something in New York after the New Year. Didn't he say that he will also come home with us?" Liboo disagreed.

In the waiting room; "Man, he's leaving? He didn't tell us?" Bobby was dumbfounded at Tayaw's revelation. "It's disappointing, but I know he's going to leave eventually." Rez replied. The other performers in the bar also looked at him. "He's a businessman." The crowd was shocked at this. "He's been here in Nashville for a month now, so don't you think he has to go back to work?" Rez said.

"So, tonight, I will be singing all of my original songs in my album. Don't worry. I especially arranged them for y'alls taste." Tayaw said as he finally started his set.

December 26, 2011 – Monday 10 am – Jericho, Long Island New York

After spending the entire Christmas day having a picnic by the banks of C.u.mberland River, Chala, Tayaw and his family took a plane to New York.

"So, this is my house here." Tayaw announced to his family as they arrived in front of his newly bought house. "Wow. It's bigger than our house…" Payew uttered as he looked at the two-story mini-mansion. "It's beautiful." Kilat said appreciating the house's 1900s Mediterranian-inspired look. "Italian… Italian…" Agew mumbled to himself.

"Son, tell me. You don't have a secret child, do you?" Liboo, while appreciating the house's front view, cannot help but ask what's on his mind. "No, dad. Why?" Tayaw asked in confusion. "I mean. Look. A big house, A COURTYARD. It looks like a house perfect for a child to run around." Liboo said. Kilat and Chala chuckled at the absurd inference.

"Dad, I don't have a child. About it being a perfect house for a child to run around, you're right. Agew can. Come. Let's go inside." Tayaw said and he parked the rented car in the garage. A few moments later, they finally entered the house.

"Four bedrooms dad. Mom, Dad, you can use the Master's bedroom. The remaining bedrooms for us three." Tayaw started giving the family a tour of the house. "Ooh. I wish the kitchen back home is this big." Kilat could not help but appreciate the spacious dining room and kitchen.

"By the way, son. Why buy such a big house? You don't plan on moving here, are you?" Liboo asked. "Well. Do you guys want to move here?" Tayaw, aside from buying the house because he can, he realized he had no good excuse to buy the house, so dodged the question. "No. While it's a beautiful house, it's not Nabla." Liboo said firmly. "True. We have friends and family back home. I also don't see the need to move." Kilat agreed.

"Well, it's now our vacation home. Don't you love to see the snow every December?" Tayaw said proudly. "Thank you, son.*Sigh* But we would have been fine with a smaller house." Kilat said. "True. In fact, we would not even need a house if we do come here again. Staying in hotels would do." Liboo said.

"Alright. I'm kidding. This will be where I will be staying when I write the sequel of 'The Halfling'. I need to do a lot of research, and New York, being a melting pot of the world's culture; it will be easier for me to be inspired." Tayaw said. He does not need any inspiration from writing a book; he just wants to dig himself out of the questioning.

Speaking of Tayaw's book, the couple was of course clueless about Tayaw's writing process, but they found Tayaw's excuse strangely appropriate. "Hmm. I mean, you basically created a world in your book. I guess it does need a lot of research to keep writing it." Liboo, who read a lot of book reviews on 'The Halfling', understood the difficulty of writing such book.

"I read that your book is a masterpiece that required a lot of imagination. If you need to be here, if you need a big house to concentrate, then I understand." Liboo concluded. Liboo's words made Tayaw guilty. Very guilty that he almost wanted to come clean about the source of his books. "Your dad's right. Do whatever that will help you write." Kilat shot another guilt arrow straight to Tayaw's heart.

"You alright, son?" Liboo asked as he saw Tayaw's face and ears turn red. "You have not eaten strawberry, have you?" Kilat also asked, worried about Tayaw's allergy to strawberries. "No. I'm fine. It's probably the uhh. Hormones." Tayaw quickly found an excuse for his flushed face due to embarrassment.

"HEY MOM! TAYAW HAS AN OLIVE TREE!" Payew, who just came from the courtyard, announced excitedly, not noticing that his winter coat is powdered with snow. "DAD! Tayaw has a swimming pool!" Agew ran inside shortly.