“What’s going on here?” Kevin stood on the edge of the stage, hands on his hips, expression unreadable.
Carolyn set the drum sticks down carefully, stood up. “Bob asked me to set up his drums. I was giving them a dry run.” She ducked her head, tugged self-consciously on her baseball cap.
Kevin studied her for a long moment. He hadn’t been sure what to make of the scrawny kid John asked to bring on the road with him, but for five years all Carolyn had ever shown an interest in was her stack of increasingly obscure books and karate. She’d never shown even an inkling of interest in music.
“That’s something more than a dry run,” he said finally.
Carolyn shoved her hands into her pockets and shrugged. Kevin had seen Bob with the exact same mannerism. She really had been hanging around the boys too long; she wore baggy shorts and baseball hats like Clay, t-shirts with band slogans like Dan, and slouched like Bob. Her hair was shorter than Bob’s, a shock of black curls.
“Where did you learn the play like that?”
“There’s a band I listen to. X Japan. Speed metal. Their drummer’s pretty cool, and I spent a lot of time in the rig --” back in the days before the boys liked her enough to want to spend time with her on the bus -- “listening to their songs and learning. How the beats go.”
“Does Bob know you can play like this?” Kevin had seen drummers with her speed and dexterity, sense of rhythmic complexity, but they were all studio veterans.”
Carolyn shook her head. “No. I don’t mention it.”
Kevin nodded. “I think it’d be best to keep it that way.”
“Yes sir.”
“Anything else you can do like...that?”
She shook her head. “No, sir.” Then she lifted her head and met his gaze. “Bob’s a good drummer, sir. Better than pretty much every other musician his age. He’d learn different rhythms if he played, you know, different songs.”
“I know,” Kevin said. “But the boys are good at what they play.”
Carolyn stepped out from behind the drums. As an afterthought, she dropped the hi-hat. Then, idly tapping a rhythm against her thighs, she headed for the instrument rig.
(381 words)
2 comments:
I like this secret, but again, I don't like Kevin. I see him as an arrogant pain in the backside. I feel like he is always looking for a reason to pounce on her back about something.
Mostly, I think Kevin doesn't know what to do with a kid like Carolyn hanging around. And he has to protect his investment - in his sons. But here, I like to think his admiration is genuine.
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