Suzie’s House 389 : Relating to the Song

The catty part of Kate noticed that Emma didn’t have any problem singing the song even without a bag over her head or mask. She even looked appropriate with her tearful eyes. It was obvious that Emma genuinely related to every word.

Kate couldn’t relate at all. “I’m going to kill him… yeah”? Seriously? That bit about getting beat every night and the other about no one home all felt so melodramatic. But the only one who seemed to feel the way she did was Justin. Everyone else was playing for all they were worth.

When they came to the end and everyone else just stood there savoring the moment, Kate couldn’t keep herself in check.

“Gene wrote this?” She looked around for confirmation.

“Just the chorus and one of the stanzas,” he said modestly.

Even that seemed like a lot. “I didn’t know you could write like that,” she muttered distractedly.

“I… I wrote the one… the part a-a-about brothers.”

“Of course.” Kate forced a smile for her. Emma needed all the support she could get.

“I did the one about hating everyone.” Bruce grinned like he was proud of himself.

“What about you,” Kate asked Tracy.

“A couple of them are about me.” She looked away with a little frown. Obviously she had no intention of saying which.

“Wait. About? This is all real?”

“Well, yeah,” Bruce said as if he thought it should be obvious to everyone without saying.

“But it’s all so extreme.”

“Not really,” Tracy said.

“No. I don’t think so,” Gene said with a worried crease in his forehead.

“I.. I… I don’t think it’s… extreme.” Emma shook her head.

“It’s not normal,” Justin said with a quick arching of his eyebrows and a shake of his head.

“Oh come one,” Bruce said. “Everyone has some kind of shit go down in his life at some point. Right? Maybe some got it worse than others.” He glanced at Emma. “But no one comes out of life alive. You know?” He grinned.

“Haven’t either of you ever had anything bad happen to you?” Tracy looked at Justin and then Kate.

Justin and Kate looked at each other. He shrugged, then shook his head.

“No. Not really.”

“Yeah, me too. I mean, my family has its quirks. My mother gossips too much and my father doesn’t like to talk to anyone before supper. But this song isn’t like that. This song is all about abuse. I don’t have anything like that in my life.”

“Yeah,” Justin said with feeling. “Thank God.”

“Yeah,” Kate said with less enthusiasm. “Thank God.”

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