Phineas leaned to the side and propped himself up on his elbows. He looked so darn cute that I felt myself becoming more and more willing to comply with anything he might ask me. I knew, of course, that he was going to ask me to do something because of a strange look he had in his eye.
Then, as he often did, he surprised me. "Gene, I think it's about time that you and I started up a band," he said, not at all insinuating that this was the most ridiculous thing he could have ever said.
It was all I could do to not shake my head and say, "What?" Instead, I politely rubbed my chin with my hand as if I was thinking this over and somehow believing that we would go through with it. I said, "Okay….."
"You will, of course, have to learn how to play guitar," he was rambling. "And we'll have to get Brinker to learn to play bass. I was thinking you, Leper, and I could be the main singers, since our voices are the most alike. Probably could get Ollie to play the keyboard or something…..oh, and I want to play the drums."
I stared blankly.
"I've already written a few songs to get us started," he mentioned, magically pulling sheets of paper out from in between his pillows. He handed them to me and I thumbed through them. Some of them seemed to have potential of actually becoming real songs. "I want you to help me edit them to make more sense, of course," he added.
"How long have you been working on this?" I wondered.
"What? That song?" he asked about the paper I had on top. Somehow, I had shaken him out of his band world.
"No, I mean the whole idea. The band in general. How long have you been working on this notion?" I asked, in awe at the unrestricted effort he had put forth without my help or even my knowledge.
"Ever since I broke my leg," he whispered.
Now, it was my turn to be shaken out of band world. This was the first definite acknowledgement Finny had given his leg, to say that it was broken. He had complained of it hurting numerous, painful times before, but never had he even alluded that it was damaged. The most disturbing reference, to me, however, was that he said, "I broke my leg." It was like he was saying that he had personally sat down with the whim to intentionally break it, like a toy that he despised and wanted to be rid of.
Not knowing any easier way to get past the subject, I suddenly blurted, "So, how often do you want to practice?"
His brief moment of gloom passed, and he said, "Every Tuesday, since we can't go to the rink anymore, and possibly weekends."
Thankfully, I wouldn't be losing too much study time on that deal. "Sounds good," I agreed.
"Good," Finny remarked, fully knowing that even if I didn't agree, he would still convince me to. "Now," he said, sitting up and reaching for his crutches, "let's go pick out a guitar for you, shall we?"