DJ Izzy Bee Finds Her New Groove

By Simone Stephens

On a sunny Saturday in September, from the second window on the third floor of an apartment building in a peachy Georgia town, came a very, VERY unique beat. It wasn’t quite this and it wasn’t quite that, but it was certainly hard to miss.

In that room bobbed the perfectly Afro-puffed head of a perfectly brown little girl with her tongue sticking out in concentration, and her eyes burning bright with determination.

“Beeeellaaaaaaa, turn that noise down!”

Isabella jumped when her auntie poked her head inside the door.

“Sorry, Kay Kay! I have to find the PERFECT song to play at the big dance!”

You see, Isabella was no ordinary 6-year-old. No, siree and bob. She was DJ Izzy Bee: Turntable Instrumentalist Extraordinaire. Soon? She was going to be DJ to the STARS.

Kay Kay smiled knowingly and kissed the top of Isabella’s head. “How could I ever forget the big dance! Headphones, please?”

Isabella squeezed her favourite auntie tightly. “Headphones,” she agreed.

“Don’t worry, Isabella. You’ll find your song. Remember: just grooooooove yourself.”

“Just groove yourself,” Isabella whispered to herself. Isabella thought for a minute and then jumped straight into the air. “LETS GROOVE,” she exclaimed! DJ Izzy Bee raced into action and began spinning one of her favourite cuts by Earth, Wind, and Fire. As she bobbed around, spinning and twirling and getting herself into the groove, Isabella flipped and whipped her headphones right out of her equipment sending another blast of music out onto the sunny street.

“BELLLLAAAAAAAAAA, ITS TOO LOUD!” Her mother stood in the doorway laughing and shaking her head.

Isabella laughed and twirled herself right into her mother, pulling on her hands to join in the dance. Her mother laughed and shook her hips, the floral scarf wrapped around her head streaming around them like the tail of a kite. They collapsed in a pile of laughter as the song faded. Isabella’s mother kissed both cheeks and then her forehead and her nose.

“DJ Izzy Bee, have you finally found your song?” Ella asked, kneeling down to look Isabella eye-to-eye. Bella placed her hands on her mother’s shoulders and shook her head.

“Not yet mommy! This was almost right but not quite.”

Bella’s mother nodded and kissed her on the nose. “Just remember, YOU are the most important ingredient of all.” She did a two-step and sashayed out of the room, plugging Bella’s headphones in as she left.

Isabella took a deep breath and sat on the floor with her legs in the shape of a pretzel. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds drifting in an out of her window. There were car horns, birds chirping, squirrels squeaking, sprinklers hissing, children laughing, adults talking, and radios playing everything from Nina Simone to Beyoncé. Bella concentrated on the steady rhythm pulsing through them all. She began to hum and tap her fingers on the floor on either side of herself. She bobbed her head as the melodies of a few of her favourite jams wound their way through her head and around her shoulders, causing her to sway.

In her mind’s eye, Isabella donned her magical bejewelled DJ headphones and grabbed her star-studded microphone. She leapt into action before a crowd of her family and friends. Everyone was there! Her favourite cousins, Jordan and Simone and Jé! She heard Simone shout from the crowd: “Snap them together, Isabella!” In that instant, she knew what she had to do. Slipping back into reality, DJ Izzy Bee set to work at her turntables and began composing her masterpiece.

A week later, on Saturday the 21st Isabella’s family and friends gathered together at the local community centre for their back-to-school celebration. She was nervous but excited! Her cousin Jé has gifted her with special sparkly sneakers, her aunt Kate had made her a quadruple fluff tutu and added patches to her favourite jean jacket, and her mother had given her a bouncy-pouncy twist out and a rockstar bow to pin it out of her eyes. Her cousins Chloe and Harmony took their positions out in front of her equipment, ready to dance their hearts out. Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob gave her a thumbs up and she smiled and nodded her head. It was her time to shine and she knew just what to do.

As the mayor thanked everyone for coming, DJ Izzy Bee took her position behind her turntables and plugged in her super sparkly headphones. She took three deep rocket ship breaths and looked out into the crowd. Her mother blew her a kiss and Isabella smiled and relaxed her shoulders. “1-2-3,” she whispered. And then? She dropped the beat.

Trumpets and trombones blared through the speakers as Isabella began to play “September” in honour of their last warm fall evening. She scratched track and remixed it with some modern-day hip-hop beats. Chloe and Harmony spun and jumped and popped and locked catching every break. The crowd cheered and danced, singing along. Isabella bopped as she flipped the track encouraging the crowd to move along with “Let’s Groove” giving her Kay Kay a huge smile and blowing her a kiss. Chloe and Harmony joined her on stage, their little brother Aramis taking their place in the centre of the dance floor and captivating the crowd with his move kicks.

As the music came to an end the crowd erupted in a joyful chant of Isabella’s name. She high-fived her cousins and waved at her friends and family, beaming with pride. She had done it. She’d found her perfect song and gotten the entire crowd onto the dance floor. She let out a satisfied sigh and spun bop after bop long after the stars had all come out to shine and the moon hung highest in the sky.

- Total nr. of readings: 1,595 Copyright © The author [2020] All Rights Reserved. This story may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author except for personal use.