Suzie’s House 405 : Clear Blue Sky III

On impulse, Emma looked straight up at a clear blue sky, but her mask slipped a little so it was hard to see. She reached up and shifted it, and the buildings of State Street came into view, but feathers obscured the sky.

To think somewhere out there her father was doing his best to come home. They would finally be a family again. She couldn’t wait to see him.

“Don’t lounger there.” Tracy shifted her bass in a soft case from one shoulder to the other while staring at Emma.

“You mean linger?” Bruce darted Tracy a glance. He had a black leather mask dangling from his wrist, but showed no inclination to put it on.

“Lounger, linger, you know what I mean.” Tracy shrugged.

“Come on, guys.” Kate carried an empty plastic ice cream bucket with her drum sticks sticking out the top. “Are we doing this or not?”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re coming.” Bruce carried his smallest sound synthesizer and a little battery-run mini-amp. He started walking again, and the rest fell in with him.

“Are… are you sure we shouldn’t do it sometime when Gene and Justin can play too?” Emma glanced from one to the next. Her mask slipped again, and she jabbed at the bottom, trying to push it into place so it would stick.

“Here, let me take that for you…” Bruce reached toward her face, walking sideways to do it.

Emma shied away. “No, no. It’s fine. It’s fine.”

“You should have waited until we got to Peace Park before you put the mask on.”

“But… then people would s-s-see.” She took a calming breath. “There’s, there’s no point if everyone knows who I am anyway.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I think wearing a mask is just fun.” Bruce grinned.

“So, about Gene and Justin….”

“It’ll be fine. We’re just going to sing ‘Hauntingly Familiar’ anyway, right?” Tracy marched along with a sense of satisfaction. “Bruce can cover Gene’s part and Kate can cover Justin’s.”

“But…”

“Here we are. Let’s set up over there.” Tracy pointed at a sunny spot with a bench.

“All right.” Bruce sat down and plugged the amp into the synthesizer with a long cord.

“Yeah, this is fine.” Kate sat down next to him and set the ice cream bucket upside down between her knees.

“I’ll stand here.” Tracy unzipped her bass case. “You stand in front. Do you need to do any warm ups or anything?”

Emma felt mulish for a minute, but couldn’t hold out for long. She had agreed to this a week before, after all. “No. I’m fine.” She gave her mask one last jab, then got into position and waited for the others to start the song.

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