The Past Belongs In The Past
Chapter Ten- The Wall
“Uncle Mikey! I want to be Spiderman now!” Madison complained, “Daddy, Uncle Mikey is hogging Spiderman!”
“Give it to her.” Gerard told Mikey.
“But it’s a collectable! She might break it!” Mikey grumbled.
“What are you? Two?” Gerard said making his too-commonly-used ‘There’s a reason brothers don’t work together’ face.
“She hasn’t broken things on purpose for a while now.” I reassured Mikey.
“Don’t break it.” Mikey said seriously to Madison who giggled, took the ‘action figure’ and raced over to show Gerard.
“Look what I’ve got!” Madison said holding up Spiderman.
“You’re very lucky to get that away from Mikey, it’s his favourite.” Gerard pulled her up so she was sitting on his lap.
“Which is your favourite?” Madison asked, tracing the edge of his jaw with her finger.
“I like this little doll here” he replied tickling her.
“I like superheroes. Mummy made me a Super Girl costume for kindy.” She told him matter-of-factly.
“Do you want to be a superhero when you grow up?” Gerard asked.
“No! I want to be in a show, like you and mummy!” she stood up on her ‘stage’ i.e. the couch. Gerard smiled.
“Oh really? What sort of show?”
“Hmmm…” she made a very serious ‘thinking face’ “a loud one! With costumes!”
Gerard laughed, picked her up off the couch and swung her around. She giggled and squealed.
“How about we go and check out the background stuff from my show?”
“Yes please!” she ran for the door.
I cleared my throat meaningfully. Her face fell and she slowly turned around to face me.
“Mummy? Can I please?” She asked clasping her hands together and putting on some major puppy dog eyes.
“Only if you promise not to let go of Gerard’s hand. Otherwise you’ll get lost.” I said sternly “and the security guards here aren’t as nice as David.”
Gerard looked up at me suddenly with an odd confused look on his face. I couldn’t easily read it.
“I promise.” Madison swore. She spun around to where Gerard sat across from me. “Come on daddy! I want to see the stage!” she grabbed his hand and tried to drag him out the door.
“Okay, okay I’m coming…bossy like your mother…” he mumbled audibly.
“Hey.” I said giving him the ‘you are no match for me’ look which Dave had taught me after he decided I needed to be taught how to protect myself because I was “a young pretty woman living alone”, I did point out to him that if anyone tried to attack me Madison would probably blow out their eardrums. That girl has rock star lungs.
He grinned mischievously, poked out his tongue and they left. Sigh. He’s as much a kid as she is…
I turned to the band who had gone back to what they had been doing when we arrived. Expect Mikey who was now lining up his ‘action figures’ on their shelf.
“So who’s David? The boyfriend?” Trust Frank to come straight out and ask something like that…
“Um...no he’s the bouncer at the bar I work at.”
“Oh.” Frank said brightening up for some reason. He picked up the black shiny guitar lying next to him and went back to plucking randomly. Well it seemed random but with Frank you can never tell, Ray’s secret genius-ness is rubbing off on him.
“Hey you have a new guitar! What happened to Pansy?” I asked.
The room went silent. Everyone was frozen and it seemed like they had seized up for impact.
“She broke.” Frank said whispered quietly not even looking up.
“Oh I’m so sorry.” I said sincerely. I knew Frank had loved Pansy so much, in an almost unhealthy way. It was a contagious love too. I loved her because she made him so happy. I had even helped him put the lettering on her. Well I put on the N and then I was told off for making it crooked and fired.
“It’s okay.” He said sadly.
“So…” I changed the subject. “How about you boys? New girlfriends?”
“Nah-uh I’m not telling you anything!” Ray said shaking his head. “I remember the last time I told you about the girls I was dating. You picked them to pieces! Every bad quality was magnified 1000 times. ”
“Meh. No one is good enough.” I said shrugging. “Well if you’re not going to tell me The Wall will.”
I stood up and look through all the photos. There were many of bands and fans.
“You guys really need to update this thing.” I said.
“We did recently” Bob replied.
“How recent is recent? I mean in the last two years at least. It can’t have been that recent, there are so many of me on here.”
They fell silent.
“Um…Gerard wanted to leave them up there…” Mikey replied carefully.
“Oh.” I said blankly.
“Yea… He never really got over you…”
“Hmmm” was all I said audibly. “Me neither.” I whispered to his photo.
“Give it to her.” Gerard told Mikey.
“But it’s a collectable! She might break it!” Mikey grumbled.
“What are you? Two?” Gerard said making his too-commonly-used ‘There’s a reason brothers don’t work together’ face.
“She hasn’t broken things on purpose for a while now.” I reassured Mikey.
“Don’t break it.” Mikey said seriously to Madison who giggled, took the ‘action figure’ and raced over to show Gerard.
“Look what I’ve got!” Madison said holding up Spiderman.
“You’re very lucky to get that away from Mikey, it’s his favourite.” Gerard pulled her up so she was sitting on his lap.
“Which is your favourite?” Madison asked, tracing the edge of his jaw with her finger.
“I like this little doll here” he replied tickling her.
“I like superheroes. Mummy made me a Super Girl costume for kindy.” She told him matter-of-factly.
“Do you want to be a superhero when you grow up?” Gerard asked.
“No! I want to be in a show, like you and mummy!” she stood up on her ‘stage’ i.e. the couch. Gerard smiled.
“Oh really? What sort of show?”
“Hmmm…” she made a very serious ‘thinking face’ “a loud one! With costumes!”
Gerard laughed, picked her up off the couch and swung her around. She giggled and squealed.
“How about we go and check out the background stuff from my show?”
“Yes please!” she ran for the door.
I cleared my throat meaningfully. Her face fell and she slowly turned around to face me.
“Mummy? Can I please?” She asked clasping her hands together and putting on some major puppy dog eyes.
“Only if you promise not to let go of Gerard’s hand. Otherwise you’ll get lost.” I said sternly “and the security guards here aren’t as nice as David.”
Gerard looked up at me suddenly with an odd confused look on his face. I couldn’t easily read it.
“I promise.” Madison swore. She spun around to where Gerard sat across from me. “Come on daddy! I want to see the stage!” she grabbed his hand and tried to drag him out the door.
“Okay, okay I’m coming…bossy like your mother…” he mumbled audibly.
“Hey.” I said giving him the ‘you are no match for me’ look which Dave had taught me after he decided I needed to be taught how to protect myself because I was “a young pretty woman living alone”, I did point out to him that if anyone tried to attack me Madison would probably blow out their eardrums. That girl has rock star lungs.
He grinned mischievously, poked out his tongue and they left. Sigh. He’s as much a kid as she is…
I turned to the band who had gone back to what they had been doing when we arrived. Expect Mikey who was now lining up his ‘action figures’ on their shelf.
“So who’s David? The boyfriend?” Trust Frank to come straight out and ask something like that…
“Um...no he’s the bouncer at the bar I work at.”
“Oh.” Frank said brightening up for some reason. He picked up the black shiny guitar lying next to him and went back to plucking randomly. Well it seemed random but with Frank you can never tell, Ray’s secret genius-ness is rubbing off on him.
“Hey you have a new guitar! What happened to Pansy?” I asked.
The room went silent. Everyone was frozen and it seemed like they had seized up for impact.
“She broke.” Frank said whispered quietly not even looking up.
“Oh I’m so sorry.” I said sincerely. I knew Frank had loved Pansy so much, in an almost unhealthy way. It was a contagious love too. I loved her because she made him so happy. I had even helped him put the lettering on her. Well I put on the N and then I was told off for making it crooked and fired.
“It’s okay.” He said sadly.
“So…” I changed the subject. “How about you boys? New girlfriends?”
“Nah-uh I’m not telling you anything!” Ray said shaking his head. “I remember the last time I told you about the girls I was dating. You picked them to pieces! Every bad quality was magnified 1000 times. ”
“Meh. No one is good enough.” I said shrugging. “Well if you’re not going to tell me The Wall will.”
I stood up and look through all the photos. There were many of bands and fans.
“You guys really need to update this thing.” I said.
“We did recently” Bob replied.
“How recent is recent? I mean in the last two years at least. It can’t have been that recent, there are so many of me on here.”
They fell silent.
“Um…Gerard wanted to leave them up there…” Mikey replied carefully.
“Oh.” I said blankly.
“Yea… He never really got over you…”
“Hmmm” was all I said audibly. “Me neither.” I whispered to his photo.