What a fine day to slip the leash! Walter couldn’t have been more pleased with himself. He’d been feeling a little tattered for the last few days. It seemed the more he stayed around the house, the more his mind wandered back to the past. That wasn’t a place he wanted to be.
Instead of reliving shrapnel cutting through thick, green jungle, he got invited to watch his new favorite band recording in the studio!
As he followed the kids down the street to the studio, he overheard bits of their conversation.
“Hey, what is with you, anyway?” The girl who played bass bumped shoulders with the guy who played guitar. “You’ve been moody all day.”
“I think maybe I signed my life away.”
“Didn’t we all? That was a lot of paperwork Miranda made us sign. I didn’t even read it all. I just hope everything works out with this recording business.”
Walter flinched. He’d signed a bad contract here and there. He would hate to see these kids get messed up the same way. But it sounded like it was already too late anyway. Besides, he was just some old geezer now.
“No, not that.” They boy shook his head, making his shaggy hair swish back and forth. “I signed the legal papers. Mrs. H. adopted me.”
“Really?!” The girl jumped and clapped. She grabbed the boy. Even from the side her grin looked enormous. “But that’s great!”
The boy’s shoulders stayed taut. Was there something taboo about being adopted?
”Hey.” Walter bumped Drew with his shoulder. “What’s with the kid?”
“Gene? What about him?”
“He doesn’t seem too happy about getting adopted. Is there something wrong with his new parents?”
“There is nothing wrong with Suzie.” Drew’s voice dripped effrontery.
“I wish Mrs. H. would adopt me!” The girl bounced along happily.
“You already have a perfectly good mother.” Gene’s voice carried a boatload of resentment.
“Who I haven’t seen in nearly a year! Plus Mrs. H. is the bomb!”
“Would you say that if you had to give up your real mom?”
“Hey, we’re here.” She held the door open for the lot of them as they filtered into a staircase to the underground floor of one of the brick buildings along the street.
Why would Gene have to give up his real mother? If he had one, he wouldn’t need to be adopted, would he? There was a lot about this band that Walter didn’t know.
Come to think of it, this might be the first time he’d actually known the members of a band. He wouldn’t say he could count the kids as friends, really. But they certainly weren’t strangers the way the members of The Rolling Stones or The Beatles would be.
He could actually have some influence. Maybe.
Or maybe he could stand around and grin, like an idiot, because, really, it was none of his business. He was lucky to get invited at all.
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