Chapter 36: Buster Goes From Rock Bottom to Back On Top

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Eddie was still asleep when he heard his ringtone, "Wake Me Up" by Wham!, making him jolt awake. He looked to see it was Buster then answered.

"Hey, Buster," he greeted.

"Hey, Eddie," Buster said.

"Man, where'd you go? Are you okay?" Eddie asked.

"Listen, could you meet me at the corner of Dinsdale and Lemington?" Buster requested.

"Now?" Eddie yawned.

"Yeah, please. And could you, uh-- Could you bring me a spare speedo?" Buster requested then hung up.

"Speedo?" Eddie questioned.

Eddie met Buster where he told him to meet him and saw a sign that said "Moon's Car Wash". He saw Miss Crawly holding a bucket.

"Hey, Miss Crawly," he greeted.

"Oh, hello, Eddie," Miss Crawly did back.

"Hey. Did you bring the speedo?" Buster asked.

"The-- oh, yeah, uh, here," Eddie answered, handing it to him.

"Great. You're a real pal, Eddie," Buster smiled weakly.

A car honked as it pulled up.

"Oh, our first customer," Miss Crawly exclaimed.

"Miss Crawly, fill the bucket," Buster instructed then called out, "Be right with you, sir."

He threw his shirt in Eddie's face as he put the speedo on.

"Wait. What are you doing?" Eddie asked.

"The only other job I know," Buster answered, the guy honked his horn, then Buster added as he put his goggles on, "Just glad my dad
isn't here to see this."

He stood straight up, accepting that this was where he needed to be.

"Miss Crawly, if you would," he requested, was splashed with water, then added, "Thanks. Well, gotta go to work. Uh...I'll see you around, Eddie."

He got on the car and started doing a backward snow angel on the car windshield to get it clean. Eddie felt bad for his friend as he got back in his car and started the engine.

"Come on! I ain't got all day!" the driver shouted.

"Yeah, yeah..." Buster answered then tried to go faster.

"Ah, forget it. Too slow, dude," the driver said then drove off, knocking Buster off.

"Whoa!" Buster exclaimed as he hit the concrete.

Another car pulled up and honked the horn. Eddie came to help out his friend.

"One moment, please, sir," he called then recalled to Buster, "Well, you know the good thing about hitting rock bottom? There's only one way left to go, and that's up. Come on. You wash, I'll dry."

Buster was happy to know his friend was there to help when he got splashed by more water.

"Thank you, Miss Crawly," he said.

They all got right to work. All three of them worked on car after car the whole day.

As Buster was getting bird poop off the windshield, he heard singing. He got off the car and ran toward it.

"Buster, where are you going?" Eddie asked.

But Buster kept going as the voice got louder and he climbed the remains of the theater. He recognized the song: "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley. And when he saw who was singing, he couldn't believe it: it was Meena!

"I told the truth, I didn't come to fool ya
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of song
With nothing on my tongue but  Hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah--"

She stopped singing and gasped to see Buster. She removed her headphones to hear what he had to say.

"I, uh-- Do you think you could sing like that in front of a real audience?" Buster asked.

"I don't know, but I want to try," Meena answered.

"Good. 'Cause I want to see it," Buster smiled.

Meena smiled that the show was back on.

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A/N Yay! Buster is back and it's time for the show to go on.

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