Suzie’s House 450 : Ben’s Poetry and an Invite

Emma hated the halting side of herself. When she and Lisa reached Ben’s bedroom, Lisa walked right in like it was her own home. Emma hovered in the doorway, wondering if it was really ok to go into Ben’s bedroom when he was downstairs, even if he did say for them to go first.

Lisa walked right up to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a notebook.

“Well?” She looked over her shoulder. “Don’t you want to see his poetry?”

That was when she really understood that Lisa and Ben were going out together. She knew it already, of course. But for a minute there, back in the den, when Ben looked at her like he really cared…. Maybe there was just a little flicker of hope.

She was glad Lisa came in and set the record straight before Emma did something stupid.

Emma lifted her chin and walked right into Ben’s bedroom like it was nothing. Lisa already had the notebook open on the desk, her finger pointing at a poem.

“I like this one the best, but I don’t know how well it’ll go to music.”

Emma leaned over the chair’s stiff back to read the pencil scratches on college ruled paper.

“Elated?” She read the title out loud.

“It was his word of the day.” Lisa shrugged.

Emma mumbled the words quickly to herself. When she was done, she straightened up. “Wow. He really loves you.”

“Yeah.” Lisa got a funny kind of smile, not looking at Emma at all, but seeing something inside that she wasn’t going to share.

“I-i-it’s beautiful, but it’s not really lyrics. I mean it’s just…” She wasn’t sure how to explain it. There was no chorus, and the emphasis was on line breaks, not on rhythm. Maybe Gene could set it to music, but Emma couldn’t. As to fitting in with the song they wanted words for… “Besides, Gene’s song isn’t like this at all. It’s not so… happy.”

“Not happy.” Lisa stared at her for a minute, then started flipping pages. “And more sing-song? I think I know just the one.” She pointed to a particular entry. “How about this one.”

Emma moved to get a closer look, but stopped when she heard voices at the doorway.

“So I think we’ll be ready to play our next gig in a week or two,” Tracy said to Ben.

Gene nodded.

“Well, I want to go, but I don’t want to try to go to any bars.” Ben talked to Gene as all three came through the door way.

“We could do one of those gorilla warfare gigs in Peace Park like we did earlier this summer. Right, Emma?”

“Um. Sure. Yeah.” She nodded, then made herself stop when she realized she was nodding too much.

“Gene, come look at this.” Lisa pointed at the poem. “We think it might make good lyrics for a song you wrote.”

Gene shoved past Emma without really noticing her. She didn’t mind. Not really. It was his song. She carefully made more room so everyone else could get in and see it.

“Yeah. This might work. Except the rhythm here…” Gene pointed at the page. “I could maybe change the music…” He sounded doubtful.

“Or, I can change the words,” Ben said eagerly. “I’ve got no problem with reivision.”

The bunch of them drifted away from the desk while they talked about getting together to collaborate. While she had the chance, Emma slipped in and read the poem.

“Wow. Th-that is sooo good! I wish I could write like that.”

Ben and Lisa shared a look, all surprised and kind of excited.

“Then come with us to Mrs. Audrey’s place,” Lisa said.

“That’s where I learned to write like that,” Ben said.

The hair on the back of Emma’s neck lifted a little, like the two of them had suddenly filled the room with electricity. “Alright.” She said it without even realizing what she’d said. But once she had, she couldn’t take it back. “Um… if… if I can.” She visualized trying to fit writing lessons in with band practices and the weirdness of her parents.

“Sure. We’ll ask her.”

As if that was the only reason she might not be able to go.

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One of Ben’s poems will appear this Friday in my Friday Fictioneers post.