Loving and Learning

Rhythm of Memories

Dante was finishing up his last chore for the day, cleaning the bathtub. Puppy fur was all over the tub and it was also clogging the drain. Dante had to use his paws to reach down and grab the slimy clumps of fur and it was far from pleasant, even with gloves.

"Gross." He said.

He grabbed the last of it and threw it in the trash then quickly gave his paws a good scrubbing, now he could kinda understand how Dylan felt. 

"Finally done, time for a rest." He said.

He jumped of the stool to the sink and walked out the door. Turning to the left, he saw that DJ was sitting right by the door.

"Ah!" Dante yelled, moving back a bit.

DJ put his paws in the air

"Sorry didn't mean to sneak up on you." DJ apologized.

Dante calmed down. Was it gonna be a thing for his siblings to startle him, before then that had been his thing. 

"It's fine." Dante said.

He looked at DJ and can tell something was on his mind. DJ was usually pretty chilled and normally seemed happy, rarely ever having issues; however he looked sad and also like he wanted to ask something.

"Are you ok?" Dante asked.

He could see DJ mulling and debating, clearly unsure if he should say anything. Dante figured it might be best to get Dolly or Dylan, DJ looked like he had a problem and Dante didn't know if he could fix it.

"Well I wanted to ask." DJ spoke up.

"Yes?" Dante said.

DJ looked around, as if making sure nobody was around.

"I wanted to ask if I could see mom's old guitar again?" DJ said.

"O-oh." Dante said, a little surprised.

DJ hung his head, staring at the ground.

"It's just......it's been a while." He said.

He looked back up at Dante with sad pleading eyes. Seeing DJ like this felt surreal to Dante given how often his brother was usually so chill and often in a good mood. For him to be sad like this was, Dante didn't feel he could deny his brother's request. Even though the guitar had technically been passed down to Dante, he in truth considered it a family possession to those related to Darryleen. 

And it has been a while.

"Sure bro, let's go up the attic." Dante said.

DJ gave a little smile and followed his brother. The rest of the family with the exception of Déjà Vu we're outside, but the two brothers still quietly took the ladder and opened the attic door and went inside. Dante went over to the his black chest in the corner and unlocked it. The last time he was up here was during getting rid of his stuff.

Opening the box and seeing it empty was still a heartbreak.

Nether the less he proceeded to take out the dividers and pull out the hidden steel box inside. He did the combination and pulled out the red guitar and took it over to DJ.

DJ stared at the guitar and took his paw to touch it. Very gently he moved his paw around the strings and strummed them a bit to hear the guitar's beautiful tune. DJ could tell that Dante was keeping the guitar in well condition, everything was in tact, no strings broken and the guitar itself was kept polished.

He smiled a little, happy to see his mother's memory was being cared for.

Dante normally was nervous with anyone handling the guitar, but he knew that DJ, his music loving brother would be more careful with it then anyone else. He even allowed DJ to take the guitar out of his paws to hold it. He watched as DJ held up the guitar to look closer at it, and as he watched him he saw something form in the corner of the musical pup's eye.