Stranger Things Have Happened, I Know

Ch 38

Chapter 38

When my parents learned of my accident, their first instinct was to rush up to Massachusetts to be with me. I was able to talk them out of it, saying it was silly for them to come all the way up here. I was fine, I was being taken care off and Dave was with me. I told them to wait, take some time off and come visit me in LA in a few weeks. That way, I’d be feeling a little better and we could enjoy our time together. Eventually, my mother wore me down and I agreed to let them come out to LA. They arrived a few days ago and Dave insisted that they stay with us, at his house.

It was actually really nice to see them and having them there meant that Dave was free of his babysitting duties.

“I really have to get to the studio today,” he said to me when we woke up that morning.

“Absolutely,” I said. “You do what you have to do. I feel bad you’ve been tied down here these past few weeks.”

“No way!” he said, rolling over and kissing my nose. “It’s given my an excuse to dote on you and stay home and be a bum with you! It’s been kinda nice.” I raised my broken wrist and wiggled my fingers.

“Yeah, real nice,” I said. He gently took the hand and kissed my knuckles.

“You know what I mean,” he said, smiling at me. He helped me get up and get dressed and we hobbled downstairs. My parents were already sitting at the breakfast bar, sipping their coffee. My parents did not mind Dave taking off for a few hours, and were content to hang around the house with me. They knew that this vacation was not going to be filled with lots of Hollywood sightseeing.

“Next time you come out, when I am not incapacitated, I will take you guys out and show you the sights,” I promised.

After breakfast, Dave gathered up his helmet, shades and keys and came over to the couch, where I was propped up, to kiss me good-bye.

“Enjoy your time off for good behavior,” I said, kissing him. “And seriously, take your time, do what ever you want. I will see you whenever you get back.”

“I love you,” he whispered. “I won’t be too long.” He said a good-bye to my parents, thanking them again for staying with me, then headed out to Studio 606.

Dave’s Point of View

                I hated leaving Kate, even though I knew her parents were perfectly capable of getting her a glass of water if she needed it. Christ, her mother was a nurse. I just felt like it was my duty to take care of her and in fact, I loved taking care of her. She was normally so independent, it was nice to have a reason to do things for her. But, I hadn’t been to the studio in a long time and I really needed to get my ass in there. I had some paperwork to go over and probably a lot of cleaning up to do, after my band mates.

The studio was basically empty that day. John Silva was there only to meet with me about a few things and go over some paperwork. As soon as we finished, he headed out. I wandered around and said hello to a few other people, then headed into the massive room that held our instruments. My fingers began to itch as I looked at all my guitar cases. I had my favorites at home with me, my Trini Lopez of course and a few others. But I had A LOT of guitars and it was nice every once in a while to pull them out and play. I dragged down case after case and opened them, pulling out each guitar and inspecting it, holding it, and, if it had strings, playing it. I pulled out one of my acoustics, which didn’t have strings and held it out to inspect it for warping. It looked good and I thought for a moment about digging out some strings and wiring it up to play. Out of the blue, something caught my eye. A leather bound journal sat in the bottom of the empty guitar case. I picked it up and set the guitar back down. I opened it and flipped through. Several pages of riff ideas, doodles, the name Tina with a phone number followed by several Xs and Os. I flipped further.  All at once my handwriting filled the pages. I squinted down at it.