Good Man

And you can tell everybody,
This is your song



Early the next morning, there was a lot more going on at Caroline’s house than just looking for Mike’s song. Mikey had been running around with Chloe in the kitchen, not watching what he was doing and ran face first into the kitchen island, giving himself a nosebleed and slight bruising. He cried and cried and not even his mother seemed to be able to console him. It just put him into a funk and became moody the rest of the morning. Then Estelle arrived in the midst of all the crazy, with several boxes of her belongings she had kept in her room at her mother’s home in San Anselmo, with plans on taking those particular things with her to college by the end of August when her first semester began. Because of her mother couldn't get that time off from work, Caroline was going to travel with the teen to New York City to help her get settled into her dorm when the time came. But, for now, she had all the extra belongings she was going to keep in her bedroom at Caroline’s house and would be living with her stepmother and half-siblings for the remainder of her summer break until she left.

With Estelle’s arrival, it alleviated the burden somewhat from Caroline and Tre’s shoulders. Mikey and Chloe were more or less self-sustaining at nearly six years old and four years old, respectively. Avarielle, who had turned two years old two days before, and had yet to get her birthday party, was a runner. She liked to run everywhere, but she was getting to the mentality that she didn't need someone following her around to make sure she got into everything. Plus, she had Chloe to chum with and keep her occupied. Mostly, Estelle was one hundred percent in charge of the twins while Tre and Caroline cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast and tried to grab showers and get dressed. It was after they were done with all that and came back downstairs that they noticed there was another teenage girl sitting in the living room floor, rolling a ball back and forth with Rhiannon.

Tre stopped in his tracks, not knowing who the girl was or where she came from. Caroline seemed either oblivious or didn't care as she continued on toward the kitchen.

“Uh…” he began, standing in the archway to the living room, staring down at the girl. “Who are you?”

The teen looked up at Tre and smiled meekly, but also in slight awe in being in the presence of Tre Cool. “I’m Naomi, Estelle’s friend. She asked if I wanted to come over.”

“Tre!” Caroline called from the kitchen. “Stop giving Nay the third degree.”

Tre looked toward Caroline’s direction and then back to Estelle’s friend. “As you were,” he commented with a nod of his head, and then joined Caroline where she was pulling drawers out the built-in desk parallel from the kitchen island. Estelle had Lakota on her hip, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge.

“When did your friend come over?” Tre asked Estelle.

“When you two were upstairs. I texted her when I got here.” The eighteen-year-old smirked at her pseudo-uncle. “She’s not a bad egg, if you’re wondering.”

“I think I would be disappointed on your dad’s behalf if your friend wasn't.”

Estelle shook her head and chuckled as she turned her attention to Caroline. “While you guys are busy doing your thing, when do you want the kids down for their naps?”

“Uh, I think the twins and Avrie should be good for one by eleven, eleven-thirty. Play it by ear with Chloe; she’s getting away from naps lately and Mikey won’t take them at all anymore, even though he could really use one today, the way his mood is going.”

“Okay. I figured Nay and I could take Mikey and Chloe into the pool with us then, during the nap time.”

“Sure. Thanks, honey.”

Caroline hadn't bothered looking from the drawers as she shuffled through the papers and random pens and whatever else were inside them. Once Estelle had retreated back to the living room with Lakota, her friend and the other kids, Caroline stood up straight to look at the clock. It was going on ten, which meant Billie Joe was either en route to or already at his dentist appointment and they wouldn't be able to expect him until eleven at the earliest.

“Want to check the office with me?” she asked her boyfriend-once-again.

“Sure.”



It was probably sometime after eleven, possibly closer to noon, and Caroline and Tre were both sitting Indian style on the floor of the office with papers everywhere. There were folders and boxes that were mostly important things, like past tax forms, insurance information, and receipts to be added to the following year’s tax returns. There was also random shit like old birthday cards that were too funny to throw out or some of Estelle’s old homework that had gained her really great marks. Sorting through all of it and trying to figure out how they would put it all back together was how Billie Joe found the pair when he finally showed up, his car keys dangling from his right, index finger.

“Wow, did a bomb blow up in here or something?”

Caroline, who had her back to the door where Billie Joe was standing, tilted her head backward and smiled. “I don’t think the song is in here. I haven’t seen one yellow sheet of paper anywhere.”

“Not unless you count the papers that were once pure white and have become discolored from age,” Tre quipped. He held up a sheet for the guitarist to see. “This is a contract Mike signed with some landscaper back in 2003.”

Billie Joe simply smirked. “Where else do you think we can look?”

“Well, the office was the obvious first choice,” Caroline spoke. “My other guess would be my bedroom. Either really tucked away somewhere or buried in the closet. Beyond that? Maybe the attic.”

“Fuck, the attic? I don’t think I've been in the attic since Mike bought this place for him and Sarah back in, well, 2003. Probably around the same time that landscaping contract was signed,” Billie Joe remarked, shoving his keys in his pocket. “Well, let me help you clean this shit up, then, and we can head upstairs.”

“Yeah, thanks.”



Thirty minutes later, Caroline was in her bedroom with Tre and Billie Joe, pulling smaller boxes out of the walk-in closet.

“I hope this isn't all for nothing,” she commented with a huff, getting down on her hands and knees to peer under her bed. “I mean, what if Mike ended up throwing those lyrics on purpose or on mistake?”

Billie Joe frowned. “I hope not.”

He turned and headed back into her closet; pushing aside some of Mike’s clothes Caroline hadn't chosen to part with. One of the shirts hanging on a wooden hanger was a short-sleeved, white dress shirt with black words on the bottom right side that said, “ALL THE ELECTRIC STARS ARE SHINING.” They were lyrics to the song ‘Cherry Came Too’ by Jesus And Mary Chain and the shirt was worn by Mike on several occasions, notably during a photoshoot Green Day had done at Rudy’s during the American Idiot era. Subconsciously, he thumbed the material, and his mind wandered away from the task at hand. He found himself thinking less on Mike’s song for Caroline he was supposed to be looking for and more on Mike in general. The first time they met in the lunch room during the fifth grade popped into his mind, and then all the times they played mini shows at the most random of locations, like people’s living rooms or in front of pizzerias. Hearing the slight din of whatever conversation Tre and Caroline were having out in the bedroom; Billie Joe subtly brought the shirt to his nose and smelled the fabric. There was no scent left over that would've reminded him of Mike; just typical closet smell.

Just as he suddenly heard Tre shriek, ‘eureka,’ Billie Joe seemed to lose control of his emotions, which felt as if they came out of nowhere. He hadn't been in a sensitive mood in regard to Mike but, nonetheless, his heart felt like it was breaking all over; focusing once more on the fact that Mike was very dead and gone. Forever.

“Billie?” Tre called out, stepping into the closet. “I found the lyrics,” he announced happily. “They were in a shoebox in the bottom drawer of Mike’s dresser. It was sitting there with a bag of weed and some photos of him and Caroline, their kids, and even us. Kinda like it was a box of his most favorite things…”

Billie Joe let a sob escape, only then realizing he had tears rolling down his face quicker than he could blink them away.

“Shit, Billie? You okay?” Tre stepped closer and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, merely for the dark haired man to buckle at the knees and slowly drop to the floor, pulling the shirt he was still holding onto off the hanger in the process. “Fuck…Care…” Tre called out as she appeared in the doorway to the closet.

Tre sank down to his knees and peered at Billie Joe’s profile as Caroline, holding the sheet of yellow paper, came and joined both men, sinking to her knees as well.

“Billie…oh, Billie,” Caroline cooed. She leaned forward and rested her face down on the back of his neck, then encircling her arms around his waist, allowing Billie Joe comfort as he sobbed deep and heartbreaking sobs.

Joining the group hug, Tre wrapped his right arm around Billie Joe’s chest and his left arm around Caroline’s back.

“I miss him…” was all Billie Joe could manage to say in between the sobs, hunching forward and gripping the shirt.

“I know, we all do,” Care muttered into his hair.

“I know,” he winced, trying to blink the rest of his tears away and get himself back in control of his emotions. “I just…I get these moments, every once in a while, where something just…triggers me. And it just hurts all over like he…like it happened yesterday.” Lifting his hand to wipe his face as Tre pulled back from the hug, Billie Joe bit his bottom lip and let out a sigh. “I feel guilty crying because I feel like I don’t have the same right to do so. I mean, y’know…Caroline…he was your husband. You were there when it happened. And Tre, you lost Giselle two years ago yesterday and here I am, with my health, my spouse, my growing family and I didn't lose someone that close. But it still feels like I did.”

“Billie, you lost Mike just the same as us,” Caroline assured. “Blood or not and friendship aside, he was your brother. They say you can’t choose family, and his was chosen for him, twice, but he chose us. He chose you guys as his brothers. He chose me as his wife and mother of his children. We are so lucky to have been chosen by him; to have had him in our lives; to have loved him and be loved by him.”

Now, Caroline was crying. She hadn't pulled herself away from resting her face on the back of his neck, so Billie Joe could feel her tears on his skin. Slowly, he turned around in her back embrace which caused her to sit back on the heels of her feet and lock her watery eyes with his watery eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, Billie Joe embraced her in a regular hug.

“I’m so glad he chose you, too,” Billie Joe muttered into her ear.

As Caroline made an attempt to smile through her tears, she found herself glancing over at Tre who had seemed to fall prey to the cry-fest and was now streaming tears down his own face and biting down hard on his lips to possibly keep a sob from escaping. Letting out a laugh, Caroline beckoned for the drummer to rejoin their group hug, which he heartily obliged. All three of them really did look like a hot mess at that moment and after what was probably only a few more minutes they each seemed to gather themselves.

Sitting back on their feet or on their asses, they looked at each other and smirked.

“So,” Caroline began, “We have the song.” She held up the sheet of yellow legal pad paper; the handwriting clearly that of Mike’s. “The lyrics are…surprisingly beautiful.”

Billie Joe nodded. “Yeah, his songs could be deep when he wanted.”

“Well, let’s try playing the shit out of this song,” Tre added, slapping Billie Joe’s arm and leaning back with a chuckle.



They didn't jump right into learning the song, but instead joined Estelle, her friend Naomi, Mikey and Chloe in the pool for a short while until Caroline and Tre went back into the house to get the younger three up from their nap, changed their diapers and put them in their bathing suits as well to bring them into the pool for a bit of a swim.

The entire time, Naomi was clearly in her glory. The girl lived down the road and had met Estelle years ago when both girls were considerably younger, just after Mike had bought the house. While the girls had always gone to different schools and the bulk of their friends went to their respective schools with them, Estelle and Naomi had become friends when Estelle had no other girl her age to play with when she was at her father’s house. Naomi knew Caroline, obviously, and had known Mike when he was still alive, from any time she would come over to the house to play with Estelle or, as they got older, to ‘hang out.’ They weren't the best of friends but they were close enough. This was actually the first time, in their entire friendship, however, that Naomi got to finally be in the presence of both Tre and Billie Joe. And not just in their presence, but in her bikini, in a pool with them.

Caroline could tell the other teen seemed nervous and not sure how to act, but the guys were sweet and engaged her in conversation to help her open up and joke around with them while literally each adult, the teens included, had a child keep their eye on. Caroline had Lakota, Billie Joe had Rhiannon, Tre had Avarielle, Estelle had Mikey and Naomi had Chloe.

By almost two, everyone was getting hungry, so they had leftover hot dogs from the day before on the grill and sat around the patio table, talking and eating. Eventually, Estelle and Naomi retreated into the house to change back into their clothes because they planned on seeing ‘The Avengers 2’ again, and when Mikey whined about wanting to go see it, Estelle obliged her little brother, happy to spend as much time with him as she could before she left for New York.

Adrienne swung by a short time later to drop off Avarielle’s birthday present because she and Billie Joe were going to be at a wedding on Saturday when Tre was planning on having his daughter’s second birthday party. Her actual birthday had been the previous Saturday but it had been too hard to celebrate just then because Tre knew he’d be in a funk on that day and the day after, the anniversary of Giselle’s death. He didn't want to spoil the mood of his daughter’s day. So, he felt a week later wouldn't hurt. She wasn't old enough to understand when her birthday landed anyway. While Adrienne was at Caroline’s however, she brought up the suggestion of taking Chloe to the movies when she heard the four year old talking about how Mikey got to go to the movies with Estelle. Caroline was fine with the godmother-goddaughter bonding time and bid her other child temporary adieu.

And then there left only three more children: Avarielle, Lakota and Rhiannon.

Billie Joe hung around until late that night, even after all the kids had returned, after dinner had been consumed, bath times were had and they were all put to sleep for the night, with the exception of Estelle, of course. She was busy going through things in her bedroom or messing around on her laptop. When all seemed finally quiet, the adult trio resigned themselves to the living room to mess around with Mike’s song. Billie Joe sat on the couch with one of his own electric guitars he had brought over earlier that day but didn't bother plugging it into any sort of amp as not to wake the kids up, and Caroline and Tre sat together on the couch, listening to Billie Joe recall how the song went as she tried strumming through the melody.

Eventually, he got the hang of it and even remembered the harmony he had come up with the first time he had heard Mike play the song and joined him on it. It wasn't long after that Caroline took over singing that harmony and Tre drummed his hands on the coffee table to come up with the rhythm. When they finally seemed to have a handle on it, they retreated downstairs into the basement studio so Billie Joe could plug in the guitar, Caroline could attempt some bass chords and Tre could properly drum out the beat. Before any of them realized it, Billie Joe pointed it out that it was three in the morning and was going to head home.

Saying goodbye to his friends, he let himself out, once again leaving Caroline and Tre alone in the studio.

“You know, I was just thinking…” Caroline began to say.

“Did it hurt?” Tre teased.

“No, seriously. I was thinking that since Ted is in New York City mastering the album and Estelle is going to be moving there in under two months, why don’t we just go there to re-record ‘Goodnight Moon’ and ‘Little Boy’ and record, for the first time, Mike’s song? Just bring Estelle to the east coast earlier than planned. She can spend more time getting used to the city before her schooling would actually start. Two birds, one stone…all that.”

Tre shrugged. “What about the kids?”

“We bring them with us,” she replied. “We’d be doing it anyway when we go on tour.”

“True. The guys and I used to do it before, when our older kids were younger, till they got to school age, and then our wives or exes stayed home with them most of the time. But we had the two week rule. We couldn't go more than two weeks without seeing each other, so the kids would come to a show or two, usually flying out with the wives, girlfriends, when the shows landed on weekends. Sometimes we didn't mind pulling our kids out of school for longer.”

“I’ll have to do that for Mikey. He’ll be going into first grade this year, and for the most part I want him to stay at home and not miss school, so I’ll have my parents driving him to and home from school. But I’ll probably pull him out about the same…every two weeks, for a few days or more. I mean, we won’t be touring until sometime after the New Year, so…”

“Yeah, we kinda have to have a record out first.”

They both laughed.

“We’ll get there soon enough.”