by Nathan Roden
“Have they canceled the tour?” I asked.
“It’s suspended. Indefinitely,” Q said.
“Have you told Holly yet? You probably didn’t have to. I’m sure we’re all over the news now.”
“All over the news?” Jessie said. “That’s a bit of an understatement. Patty called me from London. She said it’s all anyone is talking about over there.”
I laid back and closed my eye.
“I know what happened. But I can never tell anyone. I have no idea what Skyler is going to say. Or what she’s going to do.”
“What happened….exactly?” Q asked. “I’m guessing it involves a…a you-know-what?”
I nodded.
“Don’t say another word,” Q said. “We’ll see if we can get you out of this room before we talk. I’m not saying that anyone is listening, but let’s not take the chance.”
“Is there a pen and paper around here somewhere?”
“Right here,” Jessie said.
I took them from her, wrote something, and folded the paper and handed it to Q. Jessie looked over his shoulder. Q opened the note.
Alexander KwyK
Q folded the note quickly and put it in his pocket.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered.
Jessie held a hand over her mouth.
“I have some research to do, Wylie,” Q said. “I’m going down to the cafeteria.”
“I’ll come with you,” Jessie said. “Wylie should rest some more.”
“I won’t be getting a lot of rest with this headache.”
I pointed at my bandage.
“This side of my head is still there, right?”
“Of, course, Dear,” Jessie said. She bent down and kissed my forehead.
“Do you see my phone anywhere? I should call Holly—just in case they don’t know that there won’t be a show tomorrow night.”
Quentin and Jessie shared another awkward glance.
“Holly left the country, Wylie,” Q said. “Her aunt and uncle showed up at the castle. One of Holly’s cousins ran away. She’s in some big trouble.”
“I didn’t even know that Holly had any cousins. They couldn’t have been all that close. Do they think that Holly knows where the girl is?”
“This is one more thing that we should not be discussing right now,” Q said.
I sighed.
“I want to try to call her anyway. Do you see my phone—?”
“There’s something else you should know,” Q said.
“What’s that?”
“After the press conference, you told Holly that you were sick—just like they reported on the news.”
I nodded.
“She didn’t believe you, Wylie.”
I don’t know how long I stared at the ceiling. Several seconds, I would guess.
“Would you mind telling the nurse that I’m ready for more medicine? And ask her to make it a double.”
The next morning, Quentin talked the nurses into letting me go out to the private courtyard for a little while. I’m not talking about the main courtyard. There was still a huge police presence at the hospital. There was also a lot of security personnel to keep the public away.
There was another small courtyard where doctors and nurses come to smoke.
Crap. Did I say that out loud? What I meant to say was the courtyard where doctors and nurses come to do aerobics and exchange tofu and kale recipes. It seems that my medication has affected my communication skills.
The nurses let us saddle up a wheelchair. Q pushed me, and Jessie walked beside me. I was curious about why Jessie was here.
Q had invited her? Had he planned to fly my parents down, too?
Or had Quentin Lynchburg called Jessie to ask her out—like out on a date?
Under normal circumstances, that would have been a fascinating question.
But, since “normal circumstances” no longer follow me around, that question would have to wait.
“Well,” Q said. “I know a lot more about Alexander KwyK. Had you seen him before? You never mentioned him.”
“ A few times. He’s the only ghost I ever saw at the KwyK ranch.”
“Like I said. You never mentioned him.”
“I didn’t see the need. He runs away from me, anyway. Maybe he’s just gonna hang around there forever—looking sad. You know, I get the feeling that there are far more sad stories than there are happy ones—among the ghosts. What good would it do to bring up Skyler’s dad to anyone? The tour has already started, and unless I go back to the ranch to use the studio, I thought I would never see him again. You know what? Most of the time, this ghost-sight thing kinda…blows.”
“But then, there’s Duncan,” Jessie said.
“Yep. But then, there’s Duncan.”
“And because of you—and Duncan—we have Johnny back. The real Johnny,” Jessie said.
“For the most part, Dad is back because Tina threw him out.”
“The Johnny that showed up on Patty’s doorstep was not the real Johnny. He was a wreck, Wylie. You saw him. He never left the house. He just stared out of the window every day, waiting to die. And now? He’s taken Patty’s business and thrown it on his back. He’s having her house renovated. He’s even working on my house. He’s alive again, Wylie! That was not going to happen without you!”
“Okay. I didn’t say that there was no ‘upside’.”
“And I’ll tell you one more thing that you can’t repeat,” Jessie smirked. “Because I will deny ever having said it.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, when we come to Branson to visit again, we’ll only need two rooms.”
“Oh.”
Quentin laughed hysterically. He laughed until he started coughing. That might have been from the smoke.
Crap! I did it again.
The circular pack of doctors and nurses on the other side of the courtyard glared at Quentin. Q raised one hand.
“Sorry!” Q called out. “I think I swallowed a pumpkin seed.”
“Skyler hugged you, and saw her dead father,” Jessie said.
“Yeah. I had no idea he was there.”
The doctors and nurses finished their—they finished their break and went back inside. Only one male nurse remained in the courtyard. Quentin walked over and talked to him for a minute.
“According to that nurse, Skyler suffered a concussion and a severely sprained ankle,” Q told us. “There should be no permanent damage, but she’ll be out of commission for a few weeks, minimum.”
“I should talk to her,” I said.
“I think you should stay away from her until this whole thing is over with,” Q said. “You don’t want to imply that you had anything to do with it.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but Skyler is probably lying in her bed wondering if she’s lost her mind. She has no reason to think that she saw her father because of me. She’s the poor, little rich girl, Q—and who is she going to talk to about it?”
Q shook his head.
“What a crazy, crazy world. You might think that tonight was an unmitigated disaster, but it appears to have given you some extra publicity.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Skyler and you now hold six out of the top ten slots on the pop charts.”
“Man. It would be great to be able to enjoy that.”
Q pushed me back inside. We passed through an empty waiting room. Q stopped. The television was tuned to a network morning show, and they showed a still photo of Skyler hugging me. Q turned up the volume on the set.
Two or three different voices made commentaries as photos and videos played back from different angles.
There has still been no report of what actually happened last night on the opening night of Skyler KwyK’s new tour. There is speculation that Wylie Westerhouse, the supporting act on Skyler’s current tour, may have said something into Skyler’s ear that caused this unfortunate turn of events.
But we’ve see
n these images countless times, already, Janet. In none of them does it appear that Westerhouse spoke to Skyler at all.
We cannot rule out the possibility that Wylie Westerhouse is a ventriloquist.
At the top of the hour, we will hear from two professional ventriloquists—to get their thoughts and opinions.
Also, a retired former lip-reading instructor will join us at the bottom of the hour. Please stay tuned…
“Oh, no…” Jessie said. “How can they…they can’t actually believe that you would say something to that girl. They make it sound as if you tried to hurt her!”
“This was to be expected, Jess,” Q said. “Until an official statement comes out, the piranha press is going to blow everything out of proportion. You heard that woman. ‘There is speculation’. And ‘it does not appear’. They’re going to be very careful to sprinkle all of their insinuations with disclaimers. This is the hottest topic in town right now, and they’re going to fan the flames until they’re forced to stop.”
“It’s not right,” Jessie said.
“It’s not fair,” I said.
“You have on dirty underwear,” Jessie said.
Quentin was confused.
“Inside joke,” Jessie said.
I shook my finger at Jessie.
“Stay out of my medicine.”
When we got back to my room, the nurse was waiting for me.
“I have good news and bad news,” she said.
“Good news first,” I said.
“We’re going to change your bandage and uncover your other eye.”
“And…”
She held out a pill cup and a cup of water.
“Doctor says no more happy-time meds.”
I looked down at the over-the-counter pain relievers in the cup and sighed.
There was a knock on the door. Veronica KwyK peeked in.
Q waved her in.
Veronica nodded at Q. She held out her hand to Jessie.
“Veronica KwyK.”
“My pleasure. Jessica Lawson.”
“How are you feeling, Wylie?” Veronica asked. “The nurse told me that they expect a full recovery. Thank God.”
She leaned over me and looked at my bandage.
“That could have gone badly.”
“Well, the drums kit took the worst of it,” I said. “I guess that’ll be coming out of Apollo’s check.”
“Apollo has more important matters to concern himself with,” Veronica said. “He’s in jail.”
“What?” They arrested him?”
“Of course, they did. Several hundred people saw him assault you, and here you are in the hospital. That’s the way the law works.”
I closed my eyes.
One disaster after another.
“Skyler wants to see you,” Veronica said. She had assumed her defensive stance, with her arms around herself.
“She says she needs to see you. She says that she has to see you.”
I looked at Q and Jessie—into their nervous faces. I looked at Veronica and nodded.
“We’ll be alone, right?” I asked.
I saw Veronica swallow.
“If that’s what you want.”
I pushed out of the wheelchair. Q and Jessie each grabbed an arm.
“Just give me a second. If I can deal with this throbbing head with just aspirin, then I can walk.”
Veronica insisted on holding onto my arm on the way to the elevator. I heard the whispers from the nurses’ station.
Don’t mind me, ladies, I thought. I’ve had people whispering about me for years.
Veronica and the two security guards led me to a door with two uniformed officers flanking it. Veronica whispered to one of them, and then pushed the door open.
Skyler rolled her head toward me and smiled.
It took me a second to recognize her. Her hair was underneath a cap, and she didn’t have on any makeup.
She was still extremely beautiful, of course. She just looked less like a goddess, and more like a mortal girl. She also looked slightly vulnerable. It occurred to me that I was one of a very few people in the world to have ever seen her like this. I’ll probably have to sign a form swearing never to tell anyone.
Movement in the dark corner caught my eye.
I should have known.
Alexander KwyK stood at the end of the window, beside the drapes. I could tell by his shifting eyes that he was getting ready to disappear. I made eye contact with him and shook my head slightly. He moved into the corner.
“How are you, Sky?” I asked as I pulled up a chair.
“They say that I’ll heal okay,” she said.
She squinted at my bandage.
“Mother said they were worried about your eye.”
I touched a finger to the corner of my new bandage. I was starting to itch. They say that’s a good sign. That doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. My headache was laughing at the aspirin, and I started to sweat.
“I got lucky,” I said. “Who would have thought that a cymbal could be such an effective weapon?”
Skyler turned her head away.
“They took Apollo to jail.”
“Yeah. I just found out.”
“I’ve created a complete disaster!” Skyler said. She was starting to cry.
“Hey,” I said. “This is just a bump in the road. We’ve tried to do too much, too fast, that’s all. You need some down time.”
“That’s what everybody says!” How many times is that same excuse going to work? We were off for six weeks, Wylie!”
“Maybe you need more—”
“Wylie,” Skyler whispered. Her eyes were pure pain.
She held her hand out to me.
I cut my eyes to the corner. Alexander stood there. Completely still.
“Skyler,” I said. “I—,”
“Wylie, do you think I’m going crazy?”
“No! No. Why would you even think that?”
“I thought I saw….” She couldn’t finish. She was choking back sobs.
“You have to help her.”
The voice shocked me.
I whipped around. Alexander KwyK had taken a couple of steps toward me.
I shook my head at him. Hard.
I looked back at Skyler.
“You’re not going crazy, Skyler. You’ve just pushed yourself too hard.”
“I’m seeing things, Wylie!” she screamed. “People who aren’t there!”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Do NOT open that door!” Skyler yelled.
“You have to help her! You’re the only one who can!”
I turned around and shook my head angrily at Alexander KwyK again.
“Look, Skyler,” I said. “This is all my fault. It was just a bad idea. My entire music career, I’ve been a poison. I should have put a stop to this before now.”
“So, you’re going to quit?”
She was mad now.
“You and I have shredded the charts, Wylie! And we just finished a concert that will be talked about for a hundred years!”
My head was throbbing now. I was seeing flashes of light that pulsed with my heartbeat.
I felt his presence beside me.
“You have to help her, Wylie. She will be lost. Listen to me—”
I shoved Alexander KwyK away from me.
“Shut up! I don’t owe you anything!” I screamed.
I heard the mad scramble at the door lock.
Skyler was horrified. She looked at me, and at the corner of the room where I was staring.
“Wylie,” she whimpered. “Can you see…what are you not telling me?”
The door burst open and six uniformed officers rushed in. They didn’t seem to know what to do next.
I could feel tears stinging my eyes. I hated to leave her like this, but I didn’t know what else to do.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I have to get out of here.”
I grabbed one of the security guards by his sleeve
.
“Take me back to my room.”
I pushed open the door to my room. Jessie jumped up and grabbed my arms.
“Oh, my God!” What happened, Baby?”
“I have to…I have to get out of here. Now.”
“I don’t know if you can just walk out of here. The police are waiting to question you,” Q asked.
“They’ll have to arrest me,” I said, as I put my things in my pockets. “I am quite capable of taking aspirin all by myself.”
Two policemen walked in the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” one of them said.
“Home.”
“Well, we need to discuss the matter of the young man who assaulted you—”
“Don’t you mean, ‘allegedly assaulted’?” I said.
“Well, yeah—although there were plenty of eye-witnesses—”
“Let him go,” I said.
“Huh?” Both policemen said.
“I said, let him go. I’m not pressing charges. Look, he’s in love with Skyler, and he thought that I did something to make her hurt herself. Which I didn’t. So, unless I’m being charged with something, I’m going home.”
They had nothing more to say, so they left.
“Are you sure about this, Wylie?” Q asked.
“I’m not sure about anything, Q.”
I leaned close to him and whispered.
“Her Dad is in her room, begging me to help her. I can’t…..I don’t…how could I have been so stupid? I have to get out of here. If you won’t take me, I’ll walk. I swear it.”
“Calm down, Wylie,” Q put a hand on my shoulder. “I guess we need to swing by the ranch.”
“Yeah. Oh, crap. I forgot. You won’t have room in your car.”
