Chapter 6

Monday morning, I drove back up to Willie’s house. He’d had to go to Nashville for some kind of treatment on Thursday, and he didn’t get back until Sunday night, so I wanted a chance to spend some real time with him. Normally, I waited until the afternoon to visit, in case he was sleeping in; but I had band practice later, and I still needed to pack for the drive to Indianapolis. So, I’d texted ahead to Keenan to make sure he was up.

I was surprised when Keenan, who looked tired most of the time I visited, opened the door smiling, almost bouncing.

“Hey, Charlie,” he said, stepping back, letting me in.

“You’re in a good mood,” I noted. “Did things go well in Nashville?”

“They really did. His doctor sent him for some kind of experimental treatment, and it really seems to be working. That first day I thought it was going to be terrible with how sick the medicine made him, but the next morning he was so much better. He ate a full meal yesterday, which hasn’t happened in forever. We still have a ways to go with it, but it’s such a good sign.”

“Really? Man, that’s great.”

I may not have been thinking about it consciously, but I think deep down I’d already started preparing myself for Willie’s death. He looked so weak each time I visited, and recovery hadn’t even seemed in the realm of possibility. I didn’t know much about cancer, but stage four sounded serious ... like, the point of no return.

“So, he’s going to beat it?” I asked.

“It’s too early to say that. We need to go down to Asheville in a few weeks to get new labs and X-rays done, and then we’ll know more. But, it’s a good first step.”

“Wow. That’s really exciting.”

“I know. Anyway, he’s still supposed to be resting, so I’ve convinced him to stay in bed, even though he says he’s good enough to come sit out here. Go on back and see if you can convince him not to overdo it.”

“I’ll try,” I said. “But we both know how stubborn he can be.”

“Too true,” he said, with a laugh, giving my shoulder a friendly pat as I made my way by him.

Besides Willie feeling better, it was nice seeing Keenan in a good mood for once. I know I was really feeling upset about Willie’s condition, but considering Keenan had known Willie his whole life and treated him almost as some kind of grandfather, rather than just a great uncle, it had to be a lot harder on him.

Willie was in bed, like usual, but he was sitting up, propped against the headboard, instead of lying down, smiling when I walked in. I could instantly see what Keenan meant when he said Willie was feeling better. His face looked more relaxed, less pained than it had on my previous trips, and his skin had lost some of the grayish tone it had had.

“You’re looking good,” I said.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I thought that medicine they gave me was going to kill me, but after a few days, it really pepped me up. Now, tell me how Saturday went.”

“It went really well. The crowds were as good as always. I haven’t played there since last fall, so I think we were new to most of the people. I swear I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad show there.”

“Good, good. Did Eugene set you up with any more shows in the future?”

“No, and I’m not sure he will. He basically disappeared the minute we got there, leaving his manager to run everything. It’s the first time I’ve ever played there that he hasn’t been around, trying to do everything. It was weird.”

“I see,” Willie said, looking serious.

I was pretty sure he’d just had the same thought I’d had on Saturday, that Eugene knew exactly why my shows were getting canceled, and had only allowed me to play as a favor to Willie. While it was nice to have some validation, I didn’t actually want to bother Willie with my problems.

“I really appreciate you setting it up. The guys were starting to really get worried, and I think finally getting to play somewhere other than the Blue Ridge is going to ease their anxiety a little bit.”

“Good. Good, I’m glad. I’ve actually got two more shows set up for you when you get back from your trip.”

“Really? I appreciate it, but you need your rest, Willie.”

“Nonsense. You just said how I was lookin’ all healthy, so clearly, it didn’t do me no harm, did it? One’s going to be a little bit of a drive, but you played there with me that one time, so you should do all right.”

“Thanks, Willie.”

“I’m more than happy to do it. I’m so proud of all the work you’ve done; it would be a shame if others didn’t get to see everything you’ve been working on. So tell me about this week. You leave tomorrow?”

“Yes. Hanna got in last night, and the three of us leave in the morning. Kat’s bouncing between being excited and completely terrified, but I think she’ll be okay once she gets in the pool. It’s the one place her anxiety has never bothered her.”

“Make sure you tell her I’m proud of her too. Ever since you started bringing her around, it was clear to me what a joy that girl is. Her gettin’ the chance to do something like this, well ... it’s a big opportunity. You kids are doin’ all right and that gives me some hope for the future.”

I just kind of shrugged, not sure how to respond to that. Willie, probably taking pity on my discomfort changed the subject, saying, “Now, last time you were here, we talked about the new song you’re working on. I’d like to hear some of it, see where you are.”

“It’s not really ready for anyone to hear,” I said. “I’ve only got the hook and the first couple of verses. I haven’t even worked out the full melody yet. I’m still just playing around with it.”

“Well then, all the better. For an old stagehand like me, it kills me not being able to work on music. I may not have it in my fingers to play no more, but I can at least listen to what you’re doin’ and see if I can’t give you some thoughts.”

Normally, I’d demur again and eventually try to find a way to change the subject since I didn’t like playing a new song I was working on until I at least had the basic frame of it done. But I couldn’t say no to Willie. He may have looked a lot better, but I knew he wasn’t exactly better. I couldn’t imagine how it must have been, having the desire to play and not being able to, so it really was the least I could do for him. Besides, I owed him more than I could ever really repay.

I picked up Willie’s guitar and pulled a chair over next to Willie’s bed, like always.

“It’s still really rough,” I cautioned as I got settled. “I’m still figuring out how I want it to sound.”

Willie waved his hand, “That don’t matter. Play me what you got so far.”

I took a deep breath and started playing the intro. It actually worked well on an acoustic guitar, since it had been designed to be soft, playing alone before any other instruments came in. I played through the first two verses, which I felt pretty good about, and stopped. I’d written some more lyrics, but I hadn’t quite figured out the music cue for the next part.

When I finished, he leaned back against his pillow. “I can hear what you’re going for. There’s a real sad quality to it. I can feel the blues in it.”

“Yeah, that was part of my inspiration.”

“Mm-hmm, I can hear that. You’ve got some real good lines in there. I also like how it starts off real sparse and then fleshes out some. Keeps it interesting.”

“I’ve got what I think are good lyrics for the next part, but I don’t want to keep the melody steady from verse two into the chorus and verse three. The problem is, I already made a change from the intro into verse one and building into verse two. I don’t want to have the music all over the place either.”

“It won’t be all over the place. You can play off what you did from the intro into verse two with a bigger chorus, something with some punch to it,” he said, and then paused to think. “Maybe a key change, going into C major and open it up with a harder beat and some bigger chords. You don’t normally build into a verse, you build to the chorus, so keep going. If you’re worrying you’re getting ahead of yourself, you can always pull back after the chorus and start building again so the next time you hit the chorus, it’s consistent.”

I found myself nodding along to what he was saying, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Willie smiled, “You got the hard part down; the words are really good. Now you just gotta build up the music to really sell ‘em.”

We talked more about some possibilities for the chorus and how to transition into a third verse. Willie suggested I try modulating back down to the original key to keep it cohesive. It was the kind of stuff I thought Rowan might have suggested if he was still helping me work on music. It must have come from experience because none of it occurred to me, and I’d been thinking about it for weeks. By the time we stopped, we had the chorus and the third verse worked out, and I was just about ready to get into the bridge. It was a solid day’s work in just about an hour, thanks to Willie.

He was, however, starting to look tired. Happy, but tired.

“I think we should stop here. You need to get some rest.”

“Fine,” he said grudgingly. “But I want to hear more of that when you finish it, okay?”

“I promise.”

He was already starting to drift off as I left his room. It was great to see him looking so much better, having enough energy to sit down and work on music again. It almost felt like old times.

The drive to Indianapolis took forever, but having Hanna in the car really helped. She’d stayed in Chapel Hill for an internship, so I hadn’t seen her since the end of my trial a month ago. I was happy she was thriving in college, but I’d really missed having her around the last year. Worse, she’d been even less present in my life since all my legal troubles ended than she had during the school year, when we’d talked a couple of times a week on the phone. I didn’t begrudge it, since I knew she had a lot going on with her internship, which was a great opportunity, but I’d definitely missed her.

So it might have taken eight hours to get there, but it wasn’t a lost eight hours. We were all pretty tired and talked out when we finally got into town, but we’d gotten a very early start so we had time to register and then get Kat to bed early.

The trials were being held on the campus of the Indiana University at their swimming facilities. The building itself was nice, but fairly nondescript. It was surrounded by trees and other sports fields that made up what I guessed was their athletic department. Parking was a nightmare. After the normal difficulty of finding a visitor space on a college campus, we were also competing with hundreds of other swimmers trying to get into the building to register.

I’d suggested we just drop Kat off so she could go register while we found a spot, but Kat was definitely against that idea. Instead, we ended up parking almost six blocks away and walking back to the complex.

Inside the building, it was even crazier. Although they had a huge pool in the center of the building, the place itself was kind of a maze, including one that had a hybrid volleyball court and basketball court that was being used for registrations, according to the signs that directed us that way.

The place was an absolute madhouse. There were stands on either side, but they were more or less unused, with the hundreds of swimmers packed on the floor itself, mostly surrounding the handful of folding tables.