Hearts In Rhythm

by Angel Wheeler

  “I don’t have one.”

  “What? Not have a favorite color? Owie, that’s not good. That’s not right.” He was shaking his head adamantly. “You need a favorite color. I will find you one.”

  Gerald walked off, still shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath. The intercom beeped overhead and Thomas the shift manager’s voice came out in a near whisper. Allie you have a phone call on line 3, Allie line 3.

  The bill collectors were getting bold calling her at work, she thought. She had been rude with them once before and she thought that would stop the calls, but obviously not. It was time to pull out the lawyer card, tell them that her attorney would be in touch with them soon. She laughed to herself. As if she could afford a lawyer when she couldn’t even pay her credit card bill.

  Allie picked up the phone, ready to give the guy on the opposite end a piece of her mind, but instead she almost didn’t recognize the voice belonging to her mother. Her mom almost never panicked. Allie couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother upset. She’d always thought of her mother as strong as a rock, but now that she was getting older, Allie was learning that her mother was more hardened than strong. Life has a way of doing that. But this time, her mom was clearly upset.

  “Allie” her voice came out with a hard breath. “Samuel. He’s hurt. He’s hurt bad. We’re in the ambulance. They’re taking him to the hospital. Oh God, Allie. Get there, Get there quick!”

  Chapter Three

  The Children’s Wing in the hospital was quiet. The only noises were an occasional cough coming from a room across the hall and the rhythmic beeps from the various machines that were foreign to Allie. She walked the long hallway, her tennis shoes squeaking on the recently waxed floor. Someone was being paged overhead, a dry cough sounded painful as she passed an occupied room.

  She pushed open the door numbered 303. Her mother was there. She was leaning over Samuel’s bed, caressing his forehead.

  Allie set her purse on the rolling table and quickly walked to him.

  “Oh my baby, my baby,” she said kissing his forehead and lingering there a moment to breathe him in. His eyes were closed, his mouth open just a bit. He looked just like he always did when she came in late and went to his room to check on him sleeping.

  “I don’t think he’s in any pain now.” Gail said.

  The hospital staff had acted quickly. The ambulance had called ahead and informed them they were bringing in a toddler who had been hit by a car. After triaging the situation, they took Samuel back for surgery before Allie even arrived at the hospital. He had a broken leg, a broken arm, and two cracked ribs. They were keeping him overnight for observation as a concussion was suspected and they wanted to make sure there weren’t any internal injuries.

  Sitting in the waiting room with her mother was the longest hour and a half Allie had ever experienced. When the doctor walked into the room, removing the blue mask from his face, Allie had practically run to him.

  “He’s very lucky.” Dr. Windsor said. “I’m confident he will recover.”

  “Oh thank God,” Allie said. She sank to her knees, letting out a big exhale. She realized she had been holding her breath since the doctor walked in.

  Dr. Windsor looked at her gravely. “Yes, God is to be thanked.” He kneeled before her and placed both arms on her shoulders. “Listen to me. God was there with your son. I’ve been in this business a very long time, and I can tell you, most children would not have survived what Samuel went through.”

  After Samuel awoke from surgery, he was wheeled to Room 303. This would be his home for the next couple of days. Allie stood beside the bed, took Samuel’s hand in both of hers, brought it to her lips and held it there.

  “I don’t know what I’ve done wrong, Mom.”

  She reached up with one hand and wiped her tears away. “Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, you know, by keeping him. Maybe he’d have a better life if I’d given him up, he shouldn’t have to go through this. He’s just a baby.”

  Gail walked to Allie and put her arms around her in an embrace.

  “Oh honey, you can’t talk like that. There’s no room for guilt. If anyone should shoulder the guilt, it’s me. What’s done is done. We’ll get through. We’ll get through.”

  * * * *

  After a few hours, Allie was feeling restless. Gail was with Samuel while he rested so she took the opportunity to get some fresh air.

  A coffee shop was down the street. She’d never been there before; her coffee drinking consisted of putting a teaspoon of instant coffee in a cup at home and adding hot water. Allie was a grown up now. Drinking black coffee was an official sign. There was probably a rulebook somewhere confirming it. She hated to admit it. At nineteen, she was still officially a teenager, but she had grown up way too fast. Especially the past twenty-four hours. She felt like she had aged a hundred years.

  The barista handed Allie her coffee. She took a sip and turned to the door. That’s when she noticed the bulletin board. It hung near the door on the way out of the coffee house. A picture of a lost dog caught her eye. It looked to be a shepherd/husky mix with one blue eye. A reward for $100 for the return of Sable. One hundred dollars didn’t seem like much, but it would surely help Allie out especially now that she would have mounting hospital bills to pay. She didn’t even want to think about how she was going to accomplish paying those. She knew the most important thing was to get Samuel well, but she couldn’t help the math that kept going through her head. If only she’d started some college courses right after high school she would be in a better situation financially, but it was just too hard. She had promised herself that someday she would enroll and finish with a nursing degree.

  She took another sip of her coffee, much better than her instant generic brand at home. Her eyes scanned the rest of the board. Next to the lost dog picture was an advertisement for housecleaning, she could always do that on the side for a few extra dollars. A sign advertising firewood for sale hung next to a lime colored paper. She wondered how she’d missed it. Written in black marker it read:

  Drummer Wanted

  4 person rock band needing

  Talented drummer to play local events

  ASAP!

  Paying gig

  Call Brandon

  665-4192

  A drummer. Allie played the drums in the band. That was something she could actually give credit to her dad for. Before he died, he’d taught her the basics. She practiced on his drum set every day. Practicing really paid off and she had a real talent. After her dad died, her mom sold the drums to pay the mortgage. Allie was sad thinking about it. Playing drums was always something she loved.

  She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the lime green paper. That sounded a lot more fun than cleaning houses. Maybe it would pay more too.

  * * * *

  Brandon left his phone turned off all weekend. He spent a few hours at his mom’s house when he first got there. She had been in the bottle already and it was hard to know what she was talking about most of the time.

  He saw his dad for a few minutes on Saturday, just long enough to meet his bleached blonde girlfriend of about 24 years of age and have a Coke.

  He and Destiny spent the rest of the time together. He took her to all her favorite shops, spent time in a bookstore perusing the shelves for the next great vampire story, and then they had ice cream and later caught a movie.

  On Sunday morning, he said good-bye to Destiny, not knowing when he’d see her again, but hoping it would be before Christmas.

  When he turned on his cell phone, he had nineteen messages from a very irate Simone and one message from a girl named Allie who wanted to audition for drummer in the band Father Millennium, where he was the lead singer. He had called her back and told her to stop by Matt’s house at seven o’clock that evening. He then called the other band members, Matt and Cody and arranged it with them. As much as he wanted to have an awesome drummer, he wasn’t getting his hopes up. Especi
ally not with a girl.

  Chapter Four

  “Man, I hope this one rocks it,” Cody said. He was playing a riff on his guitar killing time waiting for the drummer to arrive for the audition.

  “Yeah, we’re wasting some valuable time not having somebody,” said Brandon.

  “T minus 3 weeks until our gig. If we don’t have someone in place soon, we’re gonna have to cancel,“ Matt reminded the group.

  He was pacing the floor. His nerves always got the best of him. Brandon didn’t know how he managed to do his job as a mental health counselor. He decided that is why his nerves are always shot.

  “Thanks for the update, Matt. It’s not like we’re not all aware of that.”

  Matt’s living room was filled more with musical instruments than with furniture. It was here the guys had been practicing for the past two years. They met up on Craigslist, when Brandon put out an ad looking for musicians. Both Cody and Matt were very talented.

  It wasn’t until the last two years, that they started to get some exposure by playing little gigs like birthday dances and wedding receptions. It had just been the three of them since Stephen, the former drummer’s parents divorced and he moved away with his mom. He claimed he was afraid she’d be lonely, but the other guys knew he was a big momma’s boy. He hadn’t even taken his drums with him. They still sat in the corner of the room covered with a light coating of dust.

  The gig they had coming up was the biggest so far. Not necessarily because of the crowd, it was just a Christmas dance for the senior class, but it was rumored that one of the parent chaperones that would be there was an entertainment executive for a record label.

  Brandon had a dream, and it was to get signed. He wanted the fame and the fortune. He knew he had what it takes and was willing to do whatever it took to get there.

  “Well if worse comes to worst, I guess we could play with just the three of us.”

  “Or cancel.”

  “No.” Brandon’s voice was loud and clear. “We aren’t cancelling, no matter what.” He stood up from his seat and began giving a pep talk. “Guys, we’re good. I don’t think you realize it. If we want to get to the top, we’ve got to put in the effort. There’s a big world of fame out there, and we’re not going to reach it sitting at home crying because we don’t have a drummer. This next show is the most important of our band career so far.”

  * * * *

  Sunday night, Allie stood outside the door, holding her drumsticks. She let out an audible sigh and a silent prayer for whatever that was worth and rang the bell.

  A small dark-headed guy answered the door.

  “Can I help you?” he asked blinking rapidly.

  “Hi! I’m Allie. I’m here to audition for drummer,” she said smiling and holding up her sticks as evidence.

  “Babe Alert!” She heard someone call from the back of the room.

  Before the guy at the door had an opportunity to say anything more, another male pushed him aside and stood before her. She instantly recognized him as the man from the grocery store that she had flipped off. Her heart sank.

  “It’s you? No way!” he said. “You flipped me off!”

  “You nearly broke my ankle,” Allie shouted back.

  “Wait a minute,” he continued raising his hands in a sign of surrender, “You drum?”

  “I’m good too.”

  “Brandon, you know her?” Cody asked, walking up to the door.

  “You could say we’ve met, but there is no way, I mean no way, we’re hiring her.”

  “Excuse us a second,” Matt said peeking over Brandon’s shoulder and holding up a finger to Allie. He pulled Brandon out of the doorway, gently closed the door and motioned Brandon and Cody over to the center of the room.

  “Brandon, man we’ve got three weeks. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no one else wanting to audition. You’ve had the signs up for a while now. I don’t know what this chick is to you or whatever, but our band needs somebody bad, and I say you’re going to have to deal with it. We don’t have time for your issues.”

  “Yeah dude, I say let her audition,” said Cody. “What’s it gonna hurt to at least hear her.”

  Brandon ran his hands through his hair and let out a loud exasperated sigh. “Fine, fine” he said, “Let her drum. I doubt she even has rhythm.”

  Cody peeked around the other guys and looked at Allie through the screen door standing on the porch. “Who cares?” said Cody “She’s too good-looking to let her get away. Nobody pays attention to the drums anyway, do they?” he joked.

  Brandon rolled his eyes.

  Cody did his best to be the ever-present flirt in the room.

  “She may be easy on the eyes, but you guys just wait. She’s got a sting that’s gonna make you wish you’d listened to me.”

  Matt and Cody fist bumped each other and Matt opened the door to invite Allie in. The porch was empty.

  “Dude, she’s gone.”

  “No, I’m here!” Allie said rushing back up the steps. “I was thinking about leaving, it doesn’t look like I’m exactly what you’re wanting.” She flashed a smile, “I guess I’ll have to work extra hard, but trust me, I won’t let you down,” she said brushing past Matt to get to the drums.

  * * * *

  Brandon watched Matt shut the door and stared as Allie settled herself down on the seat behind the drums. She acted like she’d been here a million times. If she had any butterflies, they certainly didn’t show. She had a confidence about her, the kind that he found attractive. Sure she was rude and brash, but she stood up for herself and knew what she wanted.

  Matt and Cody had picked up their guitars and were readying themselves by picking little tunes. Allie had her sticks in her hand and was testing the tune of the drums by tapping on each of them. It was a cacophony of noise with the guitars tuning up and the drums beating. This is how it always was before they got ready to play.

  Then without warning, Matt began to play the beginning of a familiar song. Cody recognized it and began to play the bass guitar right along. It didn’t take Allie any time at all to begin playing. There was no apprehension or timidity in her playing. She played loud and hard and could feel the music, even when she wasn’t familiar with the song. Lastly, Brandon added the vocals.

  After four songs, Brandon had heard enough.

  “All right,” he said addressing Allie, “I think that’s enough.”

  Allie stood beside the drums and smoothed her hands down her jeans.

  “Ok. So did I get the job?”

  Cody was bent over placing his guitar in the stand, and made a nervous cough.

  Matt and Brandon exchanged glances. She was good, that was a given, but talent wasn’t all they needed. They had to have harmony between all the band members. Anyone who knew music knew that bands break up all the time as the result of dissension. The fact that she was a chick bothered Brandon. He couldn’t quite put a finger on why. Perhaps it was because she was a hot chick. She could be a distraction. Women have been distracting men for hundreds of years, and he needed his guys to focus. Honestly, he needed himself focused.

  “You know what?” he said addressing Allie, “we’ll let you know.”

  “Ok. You have my number right?” She looked at Matt, “May I use your bathroom before I leave?” she asked.

  Matt pointed down the hall and Allie turned in the direction he was pointing. She had to cross the room to get to the hallway. She walked toward it and became very conscious of her rear end, imagining three sets of eyes watching her walk off. She was wearing a pair of jeans that some might consider too tight and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. Not that she had planned on using her body to get anywhere; she knew she was talented enough that it wouldn’t be necessary. It was simply what she was wearing when she left the hospital. But if it helped get the job, she wouldn’t complain. She decided to add a little extra swing in her step.

  She walked into the bathroom and there standing against the wall under the window, next to th
e commode was a glass cage. Allie walked over and peered into the glass looking for a turtle or a lizard but instead she saw something she wasn’t expecting. She covered her mouth with her hand to keep the shriek from escaping. There curled against the glass, lying amidst rocks and sticks was the biggest python she’d ever seen. It was yellow and white and bigger around than her arm. She couldn’t tell how long it was as its body was wound into a tight coil. A shiver ran down her spine.

  A snake. Only serial killer’s kept pet snakes right?

  She quickly used the toilet but skipped washing her hands and hurried out. She walked back into the living area where she found the three guys sitting around discussing music from the 1970’s.

  “You could have warned me that there is a huge yellow snake in your bathroom!” she shouted.

  “Oh, it’s just Bell.” Cody answered.

  “Bell?”

  “Yeah, short for Beelzebub. She’s sweet as she can be.”

  “I hope you made it to the toilet in time and didn’t pee down your leg,” said Brandon with a laugh.

  “Do you need me to hold you?” Cody asked putting his arm around Allie.

  Laughter erupted.

  She quickly brushed him off.

  She was truly irritated with these guys. Why did they think it necessary to make light of such a scary situation for her? The idea of playing music with them might prove to be more challenging than she expected. But she needed the money, and in order to help Samuel, she would put up with a lot more than these guys could dish.

  She said good-bye and walked to her car feeling good about the audition. She knew every song they did and had nailed them all. Even though Brandon didn’t want to hire her, it was obvious the other two guys were pulling for her. If only she hadn’t flipped him off. That was probably the deal breaker. What luck. How was she to know the guy she was extremely offensive to, would be the same guy she’d be practically begging for a job three days later?

  She’d left with the promise from the band that they’d be calling her in the next couple of days. She checked her phone for the time. It read 9:20. She needed to get back to the hospital to relieve her mom. She’d already been gone longer than she said she would.