Suzie’s House 407 : Hide and Seek With Walter

The old man looked gleeful as he muttered something about hiding. Tracy kind of liked him, even if he did act weird. He looked from left to right like some guy in a stupid movie who wanted to hide, then went down State Street in a fast shuffle.

“Wait! Did you say Drew?” Tracy started to follow him. “You know Drew?”

“Just leave him alone,” Kate grabbed Tracy’s sleeve. “We need to get back to the studio. I’ve got a date with Justin later.”

“Here. Take this back for me, will you? I want to follow this guy.” Tracy handed her bass in a soft case to her band mate. “Bruce?”

“I’m good.” Bruce pointed to the backpack slung over one shoulder. He’d put his mini-synthesizer in it when they finished their gig in the park. “I’ll go with. It looks fun.” He grinned at the shuffling old man in a way that reminded Tracy he was once a street thug.

“Emma?”

“I… I’ll go with you!” She nodded vigorously, making the feathers on the top edge of her fancy mask dance.

“So we’ll catch you later.” Tracy waved Kate off, then trotted the way the old man had gone.

Bruce and Emma caught of fast. “He went in there.” Bruce pointed at a clothing boutique.

“Are you serious? An old man in a place like that?” Tracy may have sounded doubtful, but she opened the door for the others.

She looked around the little shop, but saw no sign of the old man. However, both of the attendants stood between a wall of intimate apparel and a circular rack of summer dresses. They whispered to each other with distressed expressions and stared at the circular rack.

“I know where he is.” Tracy marched across the store to the rack. She shoved the dresses as far apart at the hangers would allow. There, in the middle, squatted the old man. He looked up at her with the eyes and wide and innocent as a baby.

“Tsk! Whose side are you on?”

“Drew’s.” Tracy spoke without hesitation. “Do you really think you could hide from him here?”

“If he doesn’t know which store to check, why not?” The old guy stood up and stepped out of the middle of the rack. “Don’t spoil my fun.”

“We aren’t spoiling anything.” Bruce came up on her side. Emma came up on the other and nodded agreement. “Why are you hiding from him?”

“I just want to see what he’s made of.” The old man glanced at the attendants, then started moving toward the door. “If he can find me when I’m like this, then I know I can rely on him.”

Tracy and the other two followed along, much to the apparent relief of the attendants.

“I don’t get it,” Bruce said.

“You are all too young to understand, but life can sometimes do a real number on you. Drew and me, we both got some broke parts in our personalities. There are jagged edges. But I think we both thirst for something more. Excitement, maybe. But not too much. Isn’t this about right? It’s just a game. Just a game.”

His eyes got unfocused as they stopped on the sidewalk outside the boutique. There was something about it that reminded Tracy a bit of Drew and the reason they wrote a song about him.

“Walter!” Drew came up fast. He had a smart phone in his hand. He waved it as he said, “Good thing you had that phone I gave you with you. In a place like this I don’t know how long it would take to find you. Hey. Tracy, Emma, and.. um.. Bruce, right? What are you doing here?”

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