Suzie’s House 463 : Wallflowers

So Gene still had a problem with Suzie adopting him. Drew thought that whole thing was settled weeks ago.

What was there for the kid to complain about? He had come to Suzie’s house as an unruly kid from a violent, broken home. The way Gene had been forced to live would make anyone shudder.

In comparison Suzie must look like a saint. She had patience to burn, knew right from wrong, and cared about everyone in her life with a depth of devotion that took Drew’s breath away. There could be no comparison to a woman who ditched Gene when he was five.

Clearly something more was going on. Drew needed to find time to talk to him privately. Not now, while the kids were in the recording studio tuning up their instruments, and Miranda was buzzing around in the sound room. At least Walter hadn’t gotten in the way at all. He and Drew leaned against the back wall of the sound room.

The thought that Walter might have one of his episodes while they were supposed to stay totally silent made Drew queasy.

“So, which is it? Are we recording for a commercial or cutting tracks for an album?” The technician spun around in his chair. He was blind, so he didn’t bother to look at Miranda, but he kept his ears in more or less her direction.

“Oh for Pete’s sake!”

“Hah-hah, Very funny. For my sake.” He put on a wry smile. He kept one hand on the control board.

“Shut up, Pete.”

“You’re the one who said it.” He grinned as he spun the chair around, and patted the controls. “So? Which is it?”

“It’s a commercial.”

“It’s an album!” Walter piped up.

Drew slapped his face and sighed. This wasn’t the kind of problem he had been expecting, but maybe he should have been.

“They invited me to watch them cut an album.” Walter said it to Drew as if Drew hadn’t been there at the time.

“Can’t we do both at the same time,” Miranda snapped.

“Depends on how good you want the album to be. It you want it really good, then we might need to record each musician separately.” He pushed a few levers and pressed a button.

Miranda stood with her lips compressed angrily. The kids finished messing with their instruments and all moved closer to their microphones.

“The agreement is for them to get use of the facilities while they record their album. They think this is their big chance to make it big.”

“You mean you’re footing the bill for their album? That’s so sweet.” By his sappy smile it was obvious Pete approved whole heartedly.

“I get to use five of the tracks for my advertisements. So make it the best advertisement-quality recording you can.”

“Oh.” All the light went out of Pete’s face.

Drew couldn’t say he blamed him.

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