The Past Recedes

Chapter 11

Nika followed her grandparents to their rental car outside. "It's been so long since we thought we were going to be grandparents, John had so many problems. It's great to see that he's doing so well with the band, we were so worried", said Gail as John Sr. opened the door.

"What happened to Dad?", she asked.

"Oh, I want John to tell you. But I will say that John had a lot of problems from where he was to where he is now, it's like night and day", said Gail.

Nika was thoughtful as they got in the car. She wondered what exactly her father had done since he seemed like a kind gentleman. She knew she would ask John when he came back from touring, as she did not want other people to overhear on the phone. "Your father will tell you later, but he was in very bad shape. He's lucky to be alive", said John Sr.

Nika mused on this new information and wondered if he had cancer or was injured in some way. She had to smile when John Sr. put on an oldies station and the Beach Boys sang I Get Around, the music appropriate to the warm sunny day. Soon they were on 1-10 heading east into Orange County as John Sr. followed the signs towards Anaheim. "This part of LA reminds us of New Jersey or Long Island, with all the suburbs and malls", said Gail.

"I know, but with palm trees. If we ever did move out here, this is where we'd go", said John Sr.

They parked in the enormous lot of the shopping mall that Nika didn't recognize. She smiled shyly at her grandparents as they held her hands and led her inside. The malls was fuller than normal with kids out during summer vacation and accompanied by parents and teenagers by themselves. The PA played the latest pop music as the saccharine pop echoed off the walls, much to her dismay. The clothing stores were the same as the ones at the other mall as she found the directory and looked at the stores. "I want to see the bookstore", she declared.

"John said you love to read, he loves reading and was always either reading or playing guitar", said Gail.

Nika led them towards a music store. She dismissed the pop and rock CD's as s he made a beeline for the classical section, scanning the racks before finding Mozart. "Magic Flute is so lovely, I've seen it on PBS", she said, holding up a CD of the opera.

"Oh, Mozart. Okay then, is there anything else you want?", asked Gail.

"I also like 60's pop and jazz. I heard some of Dad's band's music, I went to their rehearsal. It's very loud, but the slow songs are nice", said Nika.

"Do you know the name of John's band?", asked John Sr.

"No, but they seem nice", she replied.

Gail and John Sr. exchanged a look. They took her over to the front of the store and pointed out the big cardboard cutout of the Californication album cover.

"That is Dad's band?", she whispered.

"Yes, that's their latest album. It's already gone triple platinum", said Gail.

It finally hit her how big a band her father played in. Now Nika felt guilty for not liking his music, wondering if she was disloyal. "Wow, I had no idea. I don't listen to pop music", she whispered.

"Most kids your age don't listen to rock music, that's all right. Their music is all over the radio and MTV, and John wrote much of their music", said Gail.

"You must be proud of him", she commented.

"We are, especially now that he's better and successful", said John Sr.

Nika insisted that they get all the band's CD's as they went to pay for them. "I want to hear all their music", she explained.

"He only did three albums with them, they had other guitarists. We were so proud of John when he had his first success with the band, but he didn't handle it well. Now he's much better", said Gail.

Nika was more intrigued and wanted to know exactly what her grandfather meant. She wondered what it meant that he couldn't handle success, if that meant h e was doing silly things or hated being famous, spending money too much. They had lunch at the food court and then went to the mall's movie theater as they got in line to get tickets. After getting the tickets, her grandfather bought a large tub of popcorn and three sodas before going to the theater. "You can't go to the movies without popcorn", he joked.

The mound of yellow glistening popcorn looked so tempting as Nika gingerly took a small handful and ate a little more as her grandparents smiled indulgently. "Just don't spoil your appetite", teased Gail.

After a few commercials and upcoming previews, the film started. The dirt and grunginess of the Roman encampment and the gladiator barracks was in stark contrast to the lush decadence of Commodus' palace, in contrast to his noble father Marcus Aurelius' humble tent. The horror of Maximus' family being slaughtered and of him being forced into fighting as a gladiator to his ultimate triumph on killing Commodus before he himself was killed made her thoughtful.

"Marcus Aurelius didn't want to turn Rome into a Republic, the Senate would not have allowed that after Julius Caesar. And there was no real Maximus, plus there's a lot of inaccuracies, it didn't even use real Latin", said Nika once the movie was over.

"Really, I didn't know. Do you speak Latin?", teased John Sr.

"Ita, ego sare Latine, avus. I can read it too", said Nika.

"Wow, that's amazing! All I know is English", said the older man in shock.

"Latin is fairly easy if you know a Romance language. I know how to speak French and Spanish", said Nika.

"John has to find an appropriate school, since your academics are far more advanced than other kids. Who taught you?", asked Gail.

"Mom and Pepere, my other grandpa. She was a professor of Classics and Pepere is a professor of Byzantine history, he's written a lot of books", she replied.

"I'm afraid we only graduated high school, I do sing in my church choir but I'm not sure exactly where John got his musical talent", said Gail.