Suzie’s House 461 : An Open Invitation

“Hey, check it out! It’s the old guys.” Bruce pointed at a table on the sidewalk on State Street.

“”Drew’s not that old,” Gene muttered. He didn’t think anyone heard him, though. Seemed like lately most people didn’t pay any attention unless he raised his voice.

“Hey, we should talk to them. Right?” Tracy nearly bounced with anticipation.

“Um…. I…. I don’t know.” Emma swallowed half her words, but she still got Tracy’s full attention.

“Why not? They were a lot of fun that time the two of them ended up at your house.” When Tracy looked that clueless that generally meant something weird went down.

Gene wondered what happened at Emma’s house. He didn’t want to be too quick to jump to conclusions, but lately he’d been feeling kind of left out. Or maybe more like raw. Almost like he used to feel when he lived with his dad – like he’d get hit if he got sassy. Or maybe like someone important could walk in or out of his life at any minute. So even if he had no idea what Emma and Tracy were talking about there was no way he could ask about it.

“Oh, you mean that time the old guy went crazy and thought he was in a battle field?” Grinning, Bruce turned toward Gene and said, “He was crawling across the living room floor like a commando in a movie. It was a riot.”

“You should have been there.” Tracy grinned up at him. Her eyes sparkled. “Waldo’s a blast.”

“Y.. you mean Walter.” Emma actually had enough nerve to correct Tracy.

“Right. Walter. Hey Walter!” Tracy shouted and waved. “How’s it going?”

She and Bruce ran ahead. Emma lagged behind Gene.

“Something wrong?”

“N.. no. I mean, um, maybe. Walter is a little weird.”

“Yeah.” Gene didn’t add any of his thoughts to the word, just left it out there.

Anyone who went crawling around a living room floor thinking he was in a war zone had to have something wrong with him. Not that being weird was always a bad thing. Look at Drew. He was always a nice guy, but since he’d come back all messed up he wasn’t so stiff. Gene found him a lot easier to relate to now. And he certainly had his weirder moments.

Drew seemed totally normal now as he sat next to this Walter guy and sipped coffee. Walter seemed old, but not all that weird. Didn’t he have Alzheimer’s or something? It seemed to Gene that the grown ups in the house had been talking about it a while back. It wasn’t his problem so he didn’t pay much attention.

“Hey, Walter, we’re all going to meet up with this advertising executive to cut our own album. The studio it this supposed to be right up there. Want to come?” When Tracy made the offer, everyone else sucked in their breaths.

Even Bruce looked pissed off at her.

“I can listen to you play again?” A huge grim spread through all the wrinkles on Walter’s face. He looked as happy as a kid with a birthday cake all to himself. Then he gestured at Drew. “Him, too, right?”

“Yeah. If you’re coming, then he better,” Bruce muttered.

“You wanna?” Tracy grinned at Drew. Apparently she still hadn’t noticed that she was being a total idiot.

“Sure. I’ll come.” Drew acted like it was no big deal while he sipped his coffee, but his eyes kept darting over toward Walter like he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Tracy asked Gene as if he was the only one left they needed to get permission from.

“Sure.” Gene shrugged. He glanced over at Emma and raised an eyebrow.

“I… I guess.” She bit her lip, but didn’t argue as the lot of them continued down State Street toward the studio.

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