Good Man

As small as a month February is, it seemed to see a lot of eventful occasions. There was Chloe's second birthday which was closer to the beginning of the month, followed by the first of many Valentine's Days Caroline would no longer be celebrating with her husband, then Billie Joe's 41st birthday on the same day as the Grammy Awards -- and what a roller coaster of emotions that turned out to be.

Lastly, there was Ash Wednesday.

Caroline hadn't been raised in a devotedly religious household and neither was she a religious person then or now. She'd never observed the Catholic-based holiday meant for giving something up for forty days until Easter. However, her life had taken a drastic change of course, thereby changing her figurative mode of operation.

This was the first of possibly many times she would observe; giving up one thing. She would forego an object, habit or even an emotion she usually gravitated toward. In a sense, it was like a temporary spiritual cleansing. And part of the reason she never cared much for Ash Wednesday was the simple fact that it seemed all too hypocritical to her. Sure, it's all well and good to give something of yourself or lifestyle up for a generally small period of time. But, for what? Only to return right back into the same old cycle, sometimes before the time period was up. Only, Caroline was determined to make a change to benefit her. She would go this forty days and, heaven permitting, she would continue on for as long as she could into the obscure expanse that was her future.

She gave up her depression, once and for all.

There wasn't a singular moment in the recent days that made her decide once and for all. It wasn't just Ash Wednesday. It wasn't that it was being depressed was depressing for her and those around her. It wasn't because she was no longer mourning Mike, 'cause she still was. Very much so. But, time soothes all pain and all that very fine and dandy bullshit.

She simply wanted to.

Plain and simple. No ifs, ands or buts.

The first day of March, two days following Ash Wednesday was her official start into this new, happier life she was aiming for. She tried to smile more, complain less, look for the good in things and not the bad. She took more joy in her children and the future she had to offer them. Caroline even laughed frequently, which had been no small feat up until now.

The first full week of March was witness to Caroline's change. She breezed through her work as she commuted from Oakland to the city, attending the photo shoots for pictures to be featured on the inside sleeves of her band's third album, as well as promotion-wise photographs for magazine articles and the like. At the end of the second week, Joey turned eighteen and couldn't be any more ecstatic about it. He didn't let anyone forget, either -- reminding them that he was legal to do anything in the country that he wanted except drink alcohol and sleep with girls younger than him.

His words exactly.

The album was also being put together for distribution that same week since the album photos and layout had already been chosen and planned by The Sinners. It was in the third week that the first single -- "Strip The Girl Fantastic" -- off the album was released to radio stations for their playlists while The Sinners flew down to LA for a quick two days to film the music video. Sam Bayer, the lifesaver that he is, stepped up to the plate for them on request of Caroline, knowing he could direct, edit and complete a music video within the week so that the following Monday, the day before the album was to be released, the video could premiere on MTV and other music channels.

Sure enough, Sam was true to his reputation.

The Sinners received their own copy of the final product before MTV got their hands on it and the promotion machine was then set into motion like a monster with an insatiable hunger. The threesome had no doubts or fears about Sam's talent, so it wasn't as if they even needed to see what the music video ended up looking like.

On Tuesday, March 26th, the third Sinners' album dropped.

One More Sunset debuted at number two and although several staunch critics called it a chaotic masterpiece of music and lyrics, a few others just thought it was chaotic. They claimed the feel of the album was all over and pointless, claiming the only reason the album and single were doing well on the charts was due to Caroline's personal tragedy. It was a low blow, considering Mike wasn't gone but seven months, but she shrugged it off, chocking it up to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

And, anyway, majority of the criticism was in their favor so what kind of flying fuck did The Sinners give anyway, right?

On April 1st, better known as April Fool's Day, Caroline even played a classic prank on Tre -- the person most likely to pull a prank than be the recipient of one.

When he came over to pick up his niece and nephew and take them to dinner with him and Aunt Giselle while their mommy went into the city for a radio interview, Caroline asked him if he'd do her a favor and go into the bathroom and get her a bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet. He agreed and the moment the bathroom door opened and he stepped inside, all Caroline could hear from where she stood in the kitchen was a resonant splash of water and Tre's surprised yelp.

Within seconds he had stormed into the kitchen, lacking an aspirin bottle but very much drenched in water.

"The bucket of water above the door?" he question rhetorically, wiping water from his face the was rolling down in droplets. "How unoriginal."

He didn't get angry at the prank or criticize her choice of prank, he simply appreciated the fact that she was happy enough in her life to be bothered with pulling it.



A week later, on Sunday the 7th, Easter morning arrived with a warm, cloudless day on the horizon. Everyone congregated at Billie Joe's house, since he had the better back yard for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza -- his words exactly.

Three and a half year old Mikey was dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a red, Adeline button down dress shirt with short sleeves and a black star on left pocket. It was a new thing for Adeline Street; toddler and infant clothes. He wore his very own a pair of black Chuck Taylors and was running around with a basket in his hand, looking for eggs. After all, he was really the only kid old enough to be amused by the task. The others were either too old to be interested anymore, or were too young to grasp it, like Chloe.

At only two years and two months old, Chloe Pritchard was the cutest little girl on the face of the earth that Caroline had ever seen. Where once she believed her daughter would be a towhead like her brother, she now saw that she was wrong. The older Chloe was getting, the more her looks were starting to change. She was beginning to favor her mother's features and even her eye color. Chloe's hair was getting darker and longer and it was hard to believe that just a year earlier, she was fair-haired.

Dressed in a pink bikini because she had put up too much of a fuss for Caroline to get her into anything else, the youngest child of the late Mike Dirnt scampered around the backyard with her brother, holding her own basket, picking up an Easter egg she'd happened upon -- not because she was looking for it since she was in her own little world -- and threw it at her brother.

Mikey cried a little, not out of pain but from surprise more than anything else. It stunned him and shedding tears just seemed like the thing to do. Caroline soothed him in a calming voice while scolding her daughter as best as she could.

When Joey joked that Chloe was a dangerous little bitch, the back of his head saw the swift backside of his father's hand.

"Fuck, I was just joking," Joey groaned.

"I don't give a damn. You watch yourself around those kids."

"They didn't hear me," the oldest Armstrong boy protested.

Billie Joe pointed to his stern face. "Does it look like I care whether or not they heard you?" The question was rhetorical and Joey knew that any answer was fuel for another backhanded gesture from his father. "There are times and places for shit like that, Joseph. This is neither of them. Pay attention to where you are."

"You're not with your friends, so don't talk to us like you are," Adrienne chimed in, her expression just as stern as her husband's.

Caroline looked at Adrienne and smirked unseeingly to Joey. The older woman didn't dare return the smirk, physically, for the sake of her son, but mentally she did. She shared a knowing look, instead.

As the day wore on, Caroline eventually wandered inside to use the bathroom and as she was returning toward the cookout in the yard, she almost ran into Giselle who was almost seven months pregnant and as big as a whale already.

"Whoa there, Shamu."

"Oh, shut it," Giselle replied as she waddled to grab an ice pack from the freezer. "Ugh, it's like a hundred degrees out there," she complained, placing the ice pack on her forehead and then around to her lower back, cooing at its coolness.

"No, it's not. You're just really pregnant and your hormones are outta whack." Caroline laughed at a thought. "You're sweating like a stuffed pig."

"I swear, as God as my witness, I will strike you down with the bag of ice in that freezer."

Caroline furrowed her brow. "Are Billie and Adrienne aware that they don't have to spend money on ice by filling water into a tray and sticking it in the freezer for an hour or so?"

"Apparently not," the pregnant sister replied.

"Californians," Caroline quipped.

"We're Californians."

"By choice."

"Same difference."

The sisters fell silent as they stood there in the kitchen, unmoving.

"---I can't believe how much Chloe looks like you now."

"---Do you have any names picked out yet?"

The two of them laughed at how they spoke at the same time.

Giselle gestured to Caroline. "You go first. Age before beauty," she teased.

"Slut," Caroline smirked. After a moment, she leaned against the counter and looked over at the wall opposite her where the wall phone was mounted beside a cork board littered with post-its and other notes with phone numbers written on them. "I was just wondering if you and Tre picked out any names for the baby yet. I know you said you wanted to be surprised, so as to whether or not it's a boy or girl..."

Giselle nodded. "Yeah, we do. I mean, after the previous failed attempts at having a baby, we'll be happy with whatever sex it is so long as it's healthy."

"Well, I believe everyone wants a healthy kid, Zelle. No one wants a sickly, disfigured baby. Not saying it wouldn't be loved any differently, that is. Just, you know..."

"Yeah."

"You can't deny you want a little girl, though, right?" Caroline prodded, smiling as she bit down on her bottom lip.

"Actually, I'd prefer a boy."

"Serious? I don't picture you with a boy."

"Tre says he favors wanting a girl. It's been a longer amount of time since he's had a baby daughter. Eighteen years. Only twelve years ago for Frankito. He says he can barely remember what it's like having a little girl in the house. I guess I'm not the type who thinks about all the frilly dresses to put my daughter in. I just see myself dodging arched streams of baby piss while changing a baby boy."

Caroline laughed, making a face afterward. "Euch," she muttered. "Once, Mike was changing Mikey's diaper and as soon as that boy was a la fresca, out came that very arched stream of piss you mention, and it landed on Mike's chin. I remember hearing him cry out and complaining to me, 'MJ pissed on me, MJ pissed on me!'"

The pair of sisters laughed at Caroline's memory, and Giselle gave her sister a contemplative look.

"You're feeling better about him not being around, aren't you?"

Caroline nodded, shrugging lightly. "I'm getting used to it, slowly but surely. Next month will be hard, since it's our anniversary and his birthday month; he would've been forty-one. And then August will be harder, since it'll have been a year since..." she trailed off.

"Well, you'll have me here to help you through it. When you need a shoulder to cry on when you find you're having a rough day, just call me and I'll come over, lugging my new baby and diaper bag."

Smiling, Caroline stepped forward and reached out for her sister, throwing her arms around her. They hugged.

"I love ya, Zelle."

"Love ya, too, Care."