38 The Competition

Upon arriving at the Orphanage I was greeted by Jude, Barbara, Dick, the kids, and ... Bruce Wayne. I had not expected Bruce to show up here, it was my first time seeing him as Bruce Wayne instead of Batman. After talking to the kids and sending them off to go get ready to start singing, I walked towards Bruce to introduce myself, but he beat me to it. "Aeric, Ive heard a lot about you from Barbara and Jude, I've got to say, I'm thankful that the orphanage has volunteers like you."

I put my hand out to shake his "Mr. Wayne, it's a pleasure to meet you, are you here to attend the singing competition as a Judge or a spectator?"

Bruce Smiled "I'm here as a fan and a spectator actually, I really enjoy your song 'Gotham City'. If I'm not mistaken the song is about the city we wish it to be, not what it is. I hope that one day the lyrics to your song ring true for Gotham. Many of Gotham's residents have dreamed for Gotham to be a city of love and Justice and that's why the song has become such a hit here I believe."

I knew Bruce was being honest. The man wanted nothing more than to see Gotham become a safe place that families can walk down the streets of and not feel scared or be harmed.

Jude who had been to the side with Barbara as we talked finally spoke up "Aeric, why don't you help me get some seats for Mr. Wayne and everyone so that we won't have to stand the whole competition"?

I nodded my head and gave the trio a wave before leaving with Jude. "I'll be right back".

When we returned, the kids were all in a line, a kid at the front of the line was in front of the mic waiting to sing. These kids have been practicing very often ever since I had said I wanted to use one of them in my song sometime before the alien invasion. I could tell everyone were both nervous and excited. Bruce even seemed to be in a decent mood, I couldn't tell if it was a mask or not. Maybe he should try his hand at acting or poker.

Winter was here in Gotham, it was December 1st and so I had used a very small amount of my spotify and youtube money to buy gifts for the kids. No matter who won this competition, all of the kids would get an early Christmas present and of course I would get them all something on Christmas as well.

Over 30 kids live here, so it wasn't cheap, but I knew how it was to have nobody and have Christmas come and go without gifts. I was sure Bruce probably bought them something each year, but Bruce was Bruce, and I am me.

I gave the kid at the front of the line the lyrics for the short song I wanted him to sing and then told him when he was done to pass it onto the next singer so that they could sing it. I tried to contain my smile as I backed away and went to sit with Barbara, Dick, Bruce, and Jude.

The first kid started to sing out loud into the mic.

🎶♪🎵Jingle bells, Batman smells

Robin laid an egg

The Batmobile lost a wheel

And the Joker got away, hey!🎶♪🎵

Barbara beat me to it and laughed out loud, followed by the kids as they erupted in laughter. All of the kids thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Bruce was holding back his smile, while dick clearly did not like the song at all.

I turned to the kid who had just sang. "Your voice was great James. Judges, please write down your score and thoughts on the performance, we can all go through them after the competition. Let's move onto the next singer please".

Singers came and went, singing the small song that only had a few lines of lyrics. You could tell that most of the kids had been practicing and have decent voices, but I only needed one kid and couldn't pick them all for the solo bit. A couple of kids stood out from the rest, but it was clear to me that Noah had the best voice of everyone present. If the judges had the same thoughts as myself, he would probably get the part.

Noah was a 6 year old kid that loved music and would often come up to me and ask me questions related to singing. Many of the kids at the orphanage are here because their parents were dead, doing crime, or abandoned them as a baby and left them on the doorstep of the orphanage or fire station. Noah on the other hand was just given up at the age of four, because his dad was dead and his mother didn't want him. The kid has lived a tough life and had chosen to use that hurt as fuel for his music.

After all the kids were done singing and the judges had decided on who was the best, I announced the winner.

"The winner of the singing competition is..."

I did a drumroll on my knees as I built anticipation amongst the crowd of kids.

"Noah"!

Noah was all smiles and the kids around him congratulated him, but I could tell they were all sad they had not been picked. I went outside and grabbed the presents I had brought and sat them down. "Although Noah won the competition and is going to have a solo in the song I plan to do, you all will not only be able to do a choir chorus in one of my future songs, but everyone gets to open one early Christmas present from myself today".

The kids instantly started to smile and perk up again.

I followed up on my previous words upon seeing this change. "Once everyone opens their present, I want to start working on the song tonight, so if it's okay with you Barbara, Id like for you to stay here for the next few hours with me to sing your part of the song and get it recorded".

Barbara smiled "Yes, of course".