Breakfast was strangely subdued. Michelle and Alice finished up so they could get out to check the whole fence line before it got too hot outside. Freddie went and got the ‘other car’ out of the garage. It turned out that these women’s back-up vehicle was a full decked-out luxury SUV produced by Mercury.
“Why don’t you drive this thing more often?” said Laurie.
Heather wrapped her arms around the girl’s waist from behind and kissed her on the neck. “If you had a car that cost forty thousand dollars, would you drive it around on dirt roads hauling farm supplies?”
Laurie blushed, but whether from her mistake or from Heather’s warm embrace, she wasn’t sure. Freddie drove with Jane in the front passenger seat. Laurie sat behind her so she could massage her neck and shoulders while they drove to town. Heather actually felt fairly useless.
Jane glanced over her shoulder. “Heather dear, would you mind choosing some music?” She handed the young woman a portable CD case from inside the glove compartment. “It might make the miles go a bit faster.”
Heather glanced through the collection. She almost smiled as she tried to identify which of the three women who lived on the ranch probably chose each one. County music was instantly associated with Michelle, rock’n’roll and 60’s artists went to Freddie while soundtracks for musicals as well as easy listening were associated with Jane. Finally she found one that almost everyone she had ever met liked, and if they didn’t like it then she didn’t want to know t hem. She handed it to Jane, who looked at the selection and smiled.
“An excellent decision.” She put it into the CD player and almost instantly, they could heard the words “A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile . . .” as Don McLean’s anthem, ‘American Pie,’ started drifting out of the speakers. Both Laurie and Freddie grinned. Laurie started singing along, and soon even Jane joined in. Laurie was the only one with an actual singing voice, but none of them cared. It was fun to sing that song. But Heather just eased back into her seat and closed her eyes, savoring the melody.
The music actually did seem to energize the group a bit. After that first song was over, Jane managed to get Laurie talking about her nanny Amelia again. Heather realized that it was for her benefit, as she learned more and more about the generous spirit possessed by the girl next to her; about her life and her relationship with her parents. Freddie, much to Jane’s chagrin, told a story of the one and only time she had ever seen the older woman drunk. It had apparently turned into a by-memory and verbatim recitation of a number of Shakespearean stories while Jane wandered around their little ghost town naked as the day she was born in a torrential downpour.
Although embarrassed, Jane was laughing along. “I got so sick after that incident that I never got drunk again.”
The last song on the CD finally came up. It was a somber, melodic number called ‘Babylon.’ Heather, who had pretty much been in a trance for a while, started singing along all by herself. “By the waters, the waters of Babylon . . .” She didn’t notice that all the other conversation in the vehicle had stopped.
All of the other three women were taken aback by Heather’s singing. None of them had every heard such a clear, powerful and beautiful singing voice in all their lives. The richness of that voice and the range Heather displayed boggled their minds. It was almost as soothing to Jane as Laurie’s hands. The song went on for several minutes before gently fading out. Heather still seemed to be in a world of her own. Finally she was awoken by Jane’s voice.
“Good gracious young woman! Where did that come from?”
Heather blushed, looking deeply embarrassed. “Sorry. I don’t normally . . . I don’t normally sing in front of other people.”
“Why not?” asked Laurie, who was just as stunned as the others were. “Your voice is so . . .”
“Please . . . don’t,” said Heather quietly. She sighed and looked out the window. “When I was younger, I took voice lessons from this nice old man down the street from my house. I couldn’t afford lessons, so he let me work it off by doing odd jobs around his house. Washing windows, mowing the lawn . . . that sort of thing. His name was Mr. Price. He always told me I had a great voice.” The tone of her voice implied that Heather didn’t necessarily agree with her mentor’s assessment.
“What happened?” asked Laurie, who had taken her friend’s hand.
“I entered my high school’s annual talent show when I was just a freshman. I couldn’t afford a costume or anything, so Mr. Price actually sewed me a dress. It was a simple blue thing, but it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. But you know how school kids are.”
Laurie was almost afraid to ask. “What happened?”
“C’mon. The poor girl up on stage in a homemade dress; what do you think happened?”
Freddie looked angry, Jane looked sympathetic and Laurie looked like her heart was breaking. Heather wasn’t sure why she was talking about all that. She hadn’t told anyone about it before.
“The catcalls and insults were flying as soon as I stepped on stage. I thought that maybe they would stop once I started singing. I never found out. As soon as the spotlight turned on, someone threw an egg at me from the middle of the auditorium. It splattered all over me. They turned all the lights back on while the teachers found the kid who did it, but I didn’t stay to see. I ran off stage while everyone was just laughing at me. Mr. Price was there, waiting backstage. My dad was in the drunk-tank at county lockup and my mom was down there trying to bail him out, so Mr. Price had driven me. All I could think to do was apologize to him that the dress he’d made had gotten messed up. He let me cry on his shoulder. It was the only time I ever saw him mad. I don’t think I even spoke to anyone in that school for the rest of the year.”
The mood in the car had gone somber again. Jane’s face developed a quizzical look. “So you never sang again?”
“Only when I visit Mr. Price. He tried getting me to sing for a demo tape, but I just couldn’t do it. Sometimes I just get caught up in listening and it comes out, but usually when I’m in my room and there’s no one to hear it.” She sighed. “That song we just listened to was the one I was going to sing that night.”
Strangely, it was Laurie who was the only one who could think of anything to say. She leaned over and kissed Heather, then she just said “Thank you.”
Heather was confused, but had enjoyed the kiss. “For what?”
“For letting us be part of your big debut. And whether you want to hear it or not, you have a beautiful voice. And you SHOULD think about making a career out of it.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and lay on the seat with her head in Heather’s lap. “I can just imagine you on a stage in front of twenty-thousand people, all screaming your name. And I can see the little shit that threw the egg and all his or her petty little friends that are stuck outside in the rain because they couldn’t get tickets to your sold-out show. And I can see all of them getting run over by your tour bus . . .” Laurie’s rant continued for several minutes, discussing miscellaneous ways that her detractors could suffer horrible deaths. By the end of it, Heather was smiling again, Freddie was laughing so hard she almost wrecked the car and even Jane was chortling whole-heartedly. Heather stroked her lover’s hair, and allowed the conversation to move on to lighter topics. Thankfully, the other girls honored that wish.
Finally they arrived at the small town. Freddie took Jane to the doctor’s office to wait, and they entrusted the car to the younger girls. Heather and Laurie went to the car lot, but there wasn’t anything in at that time that was appealing, so they agreed to try again another time. Laurie and Heather checked in with their counterparts who were still waiting, and Jane gave them her credit card to go start the grocery shopping. She would borrow the secretary’s phone and call the manager of the general store. He was an old friend, and she would convince him that the girls using the card would be all right. The SUV was equipped with a cooler that could be powered by the car battery or its own backup battery that had over two hours of individual charge. By the time they were done, Jane thought she would be ready to go.
The girls found the general store easily enough. They walked in silence for a while, but they held hands most of the time. They got a few stares, but no one bothered them. Somewhere between sandwich condiments and the steak sauce, Laurie stopped.
“So, are you done? Singing, I mean?”
“I don’t know. As I said, today was the first day I’ve sung in front of other people in a while. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. That’s why I just play guitar. I still feel the music, but I wanted to find another way of letting it out.”
Laurie mulled it over. “Whatever happened to Mr. Price?”
“He’s still living in Haddonfield. I talk to him from time to time. He keeps bugging me to give it another shot. I . . . I just don’t know.”
“It’s just . . . It’s just that . . .” Laurie was struggling trying to find a good analogy. “I feel kind of bad. Not just for you, but for him. He was like an artist creating a masterpiece that no one was going to be allowed to see.”
Heather was bemused. “When did you become a philosopher?”
Laurie blushed and said, “When I found someone who would listen to me, I guess. Listen, I really wish you’d try again. I mean, we’re taking that song-writing course next semester and I know that people work in small groups. I figure you and me and maybe Alice could . . .”
“How did you know I was taking that class?”
Laurie shied her face away. “I’ve kind of been spying on you. I watched you filling out your registration document, so I signed up too.”
Heather was amazed at how closely she had been watched without ever really noticing anything. “Tell you what. I’ll be in your group and I’ll try one more time. That’s all I can promise. But you have to be completely honest with me about something.”
Laurie straightened up her spine. “Whatever you want . . .”
“Why me? I mean, I’ve seen the guys and even some of the girls that hang around you. They’re more popular, richer and better looking than I am, and they all kiss your ass anytime you want.”