Chapter 4
Strings
Two days later-Guitar World
Drake thought it was strange at the time, but didn't say anything to Josh. Mindy 'no
matter how crazy she was' Crenshaw would never send an unsigned letter to Josh. It
would have been completely out of character for her to do such a thing. And then to go
through all the trouble of making sure a faux label (a torn blank white index card with
clear tape over it) was typewritten as well as the note. Those were not the Creature's
tactics. Drake didn't like seeing Josh get all optimistic waiting for "communication
number two". Drake even tried calling the Crenshaw residence last night as this was
getting way too ridiculous and all he got was an answering machine so he hung up. Let
Mindy's parents see the caller ID show 'Nichols, Audrey' he didn't care. Maybe, Josh
had a secret admirer at school that was shy and nervous in these situations like his
brother was? It made better sense than an unsigned letter from Mindy. She was never
one to shy away from her feelings.
Drake was bored as hell sorting invoice orders out in a back over air conditioned office.
Who would have thought that a job at a place called Guitar World would suck so much?
He might as well have had a McJob. He was motivated to keep on going when his mind
flashed to what he was saving his money for, oh yeah, and the car too.
He had knowledge to some of the more important accounts. Some celebrities used
fake names but everything gets leaked on the internet. Drake had his cell phone clipped
to his jeans and set on vibrate because the first time his boss heard his phone go off
when it wasn't a scheduled break was the last time he wanted to hear the phone ring.
Caller ID: Nichols, Josh"Hi, Josh."
"What are you doing?"
"Working. And shouldn't you be doing the same?" Drake couldn't believe that those
responsible words came out of his mouth.
"I heard from Mindy again, Drake."
"Listen, Josh, I—"
"I didn't get a note this time. I got a cross pendant. I know that's a strange gift
considering Mindy's not really a religious person, but it's the thought that counts."
"Was the label typewritten?"
"Yeah. So?"
"Was there a note enclosed?"
"No."
"Listen we'll talk later in person."
"Do you have something to say?"
"Yeah I do. While I don't know who is sending you these things, I don't think they are from
Mindy. And that's not because I dislike her. It's just what I think."
"You can't stand to see me have hope can you?"
"That's not true, Josh. All I said was I don't think it is Mindy that is behind this."
Now there was another reason to despise Mindy Crenshaw. She would enable Josh's
insecurities like no one else on this planet could. It wasn't about Josh being goofy and a
candidate for Beauty & The Geek, it was birds of a feather flocking together. Which was
fine if his bird could sing. He just deserved better.
Josh bit his lip. He didn't want to fight with Drake. "Okay. Promise me when you come
home we'll talk about this?"
"We will. I promise."
"Okay, I gotta go. Helen's coming and I'm not on my break. See ya, brother."
"Bye, Josh."
Now it was back to the wonderful world of invoice sorting. He couldn't wait to see Torey
after work. She scheduled her hours around his. He didn't ask her to, it was just
something that she wanted to do on her own. It was one of the million things she did that
made her great. Next month he'd tell Audrey and Walter that he was ready to go car
shopping and then he could really start concentrating on a man's most important
purchase.
Josh laid out on his bed stroking the solid 14-karat gold cross pendant in his hands as
he waited for Drake to come home. He knew he was walking Torey home from work
and that probably meant they were making out once they got there since her mother was
hardly home. But he still should be home by now.
"Finally!" Josh stood up when Drake came through the door.
"I didn't realize I was late." He gave a pretend look at his watch.
"Don't deny making out with Torey."
"I won't." Drake opened up a can of soda and sat on the sofa.
"Well?"
"Josh, relax. Can't I have a drink first? Let me see this cross."
Wow. It was a pretty substantial piece of jewelry. Real gold and had a weight to it. This
could not have come from Mindy.
"What do you think?"
"I am definitely positive that this did not come from Mindy. I know you want it to, but I just
don't think so. Maybe someone at school or at work likes you?" Drake handed Josh the
cross back.
"I doubt that."
"Man, she really did a number on your self-worth. Your confidence was really improving
before you hooked up with Mindy."
Drake was not about to bring up the climax to the number over Josh's low self-esteem.
They both knew what happened that night so there was no need to regurgitate it.
"But I love her Drake. I know the old you wouldn't have understood that concept in a
million years, but now that you found someone that I know you love—surely you
understand my deep feelings for Mindy."
Torey was pure light, while Mindy was pure blackness. Josh wasn't serious about
comparing them was he? Another comment that Drake let float off into the air.
"Love only works when two people are in it."
Oh, that was a good line! Drake ran to his bed to get his tablet to write that down for a
future song.
"I don't want notes or jewelry or anything else if the woman that is sending those things
is not Mindy."
Great. Now he was going to pine for her. Drake closed his tablet and thought of another
approach.
"Let's see if anything else comes in the mail for you in the coming weeks before you
make any decisions. Okay?"
"I suppose." He sighed heavily.
"Hey, Josh, look at this."
Drake tore the page out of the San Diego Reader and handed it to his brother.
MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT WANTEDTO HELP OUT AT CHILDREN'S PARTIES
CALL LUCKY THE MAGIC CLOWN (aka Ben Vaughn) at
619-555-2355
"This sounds cool. But I already have a job, Drake."
"Yeah and so do I. But I'm not staying at Guitar World forever. Call the guy. A man who
goes by the name Lucky The Magic Clown can't be all that bad."
Dorky, perhaps, but not a bad person.
"I guess I could call. Maybe the hours won't interfere with my Premiere hours. Or I could
do work for this guy on my days off?"
"There you go."
"You don't need to use the bathroom do you?"
"No." Drake took out his acoustic guitar. He already had an idea based on his sentence,
"Love only works when two people are in it" to Josh not ten minutes ago and he wanted
to get it all written down before he forgot his train of thought.
"Good, because I'm going to take a long hot bath."
All Drake heard was 'I won't be interrupted for a half hour.'
If Josh got this job maybe he could meet some new girls and 'forget' about Mindy. After
all some of those little birthday party kids had to have big sisters or aunt's who were
Josh's age. It would also take the importance off this mysterious gift giver so that his
brother could stop obsessing over it.
After Drake wrote the lyrics he wanted to get a vocal down on his small tape recorder
but the machine wouldn't come on. It looked like there was something jammed inside it.
A piece of paper:
From the desk of Megan
Play me.
Drake rolled his eyes as he pressed play.
This wasn't a new tape. He could tell by his mother's voice on it. He quickly pressed
stop. The note from Megan was new but the tape in the recorder was old. She must
have gone snooping again. Drake came to terms with the loss of Spidey Parker, but he
didn't want to hear that birthday party tape again. It was his fifth birthday and one of his
best childhood parties that he could remember. Now his mindset was all shifted he
couldn't even put his vocals down for his new song tonight. He put the tape in an extra
clear cassette case he had lying around and placed it in his bottom dresser drawer with
the rest of Spidey's things that he possessed. He'd listen to it later. Whether or not later
meant tomorrow or ten years from now he wasn't quite certain.
"Hey, Drake, you can have the bathroom now!" Josh entered in his robe.
"What? Oh yeah. I hope you didn't use up all of the hot water." Drake grabbed his
sleeping clothes off his bed.
Spidey sang on that tape. That's what it was. Maybe Megan had the best intentions, she
never joked around where their dad was concerned, but he still didn't want to hear his
father sing and especially play the guitar. For some reason that was too painful to even
think about especially the latter of the two things. Even after all the shared emotions with
his family on the subject he just couldn't do this. Not now.
Fathers should be seen and not heard.