Suzie’s House 544 : At Emma’s Place 1

Ethan had planned on doing overtime this weekend. It wasn’t that he was scheduled, just an optional job he thought he might pick up to increase their income a little bit. That and get to know one of the guys down at the meat packing plant that might eventually turn into a desk job.

He’d finally decided that a desk job was the best he could, at his age, hope for. Something with full medical coverage including dental and vacation pay, like what was currently being offered at the plant. That was the ticket.

Maybe even part of winning his wife back. Once he showed her that he could also come home tired and still treat her with love and respect she might finally believe that he’d managed to make the changes necessary for the two of them to go on together. He’d tried every other way to prove to her that he loved her.

But he hadn’t made it out the door. Sophie had wanted him near. These days that wasn’t something he was willing to overlook. He could not charge out the door for their greater good anymore. He had to weigh his options with what Gabe would call a greater sense of compassion. One day of overtime didn’t mean he’d get the job. One day with Sophie did mean she would feel better. And feelings were far more important than he had believed for most of his life.

She was in the tub when the kids showed up. At first, when he opened the door, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. In the past he would have sent them away with the suggestion they do their homework. Instead, he called out.

“Emma? Were you expecting some friends?”

“What?” Emma drifted in from her room. “Oh! Hi guys!”

Though Ethan had tried to memorize the names of Emma’s friends and band mates, he still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it. There was the girl who always put weird temporary colors in her hair and her too-quiet, imposing boyfriend. Ethan was just glad the young man wasn’t interested in Emma. Then there was that girl who lived with the colorful girl. And Ben. Ethan wasn’t sure why he remembered Ben’s name when he didn’t come over to the house nearly as often as the others except he kind of thought the kid might be a good son in law, eventually. There was the one who made him uncomfortable who carried an electronic keyboard all the time and came over too often. Ethan reminded himself not to be judgmental. Apparently keyboard boy had run into the others outside the house.

Once they passed him, no one paid any more attention. They all filtered into the area around the TV and sat down, talking all the while.

“It’s like this,” the guy with the keyboard said. “The song is titled Sell Out.” He played a few notes. When he sang with a surprisingly good voice, the song was about the pressures of trying to become career musicians with so many things working against you and how their songs had been taken away by an evil advertiser. “And the video would be cuts taken from all the ads Miranda made using our songs. I figure turn about is fair play.”

Ethan moved to the kitchen to see if he could come up with drinks and snacks appropriate for teenagers.

“Would she even let us do that? I mean, we sold her the rights to the music in the first place. Will she sell us the advertisement clips?”

This launched a heated argument about copyrights and methods that Ethan could hardly follow. Right in the middle of it, the doorbell rang. This time he was relieved to answer, as it gave him something constructive and distracting to do.

Relieved until he opened the door, that is. On the stoop stood Gabe and Pete, each holding a duffel bag.

If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.

Are you also posting a serial? Leave a link in the comments. I will come visit the first chance I get.