Broken Down on Memory Lane Alone, Together Alone

We finally arrived at the bookstore. I pulled into the staff parking lot in the back. I’d been asked to come in the back way for some reason. I guess they didn’t realise that only one or two people were probably going to show up. I’d never really been a Dravin Bloom or a Steven King. I had more of a little cult following, which I was happy with. The fact that people actually were taking the time to read my crap was enough to make me happy. I’d never gotten into writing for the money, or with the hope of getting famous. That just wasn’t my thing.

“This shouldn’t take long, so just look around while I sign things,” I said as I opened the door to the store, “I’ll buy you any book you want.”

“Really? Thanks gram,” Mara grinned, “but I think this is going to take longer then you think it will.”

I didn’t get a chance to ask her what she meant, as a woman came and ushered us along. Of course once I got to the signing table I knew what Mara was talking about. There were tons of people. And not just a bunch of creepy old men who were really into Sonny’s band. There seemed to be a little bit of everyone from teenaged girls, to older men.

“Oh god,” I muttered under my breath as I sat down.

Mara laughed and patted my shoulder, “have fun.”

I rolled my eyes at her as she laughed and walked away to explore the store. The next two hours were nothing short of interesting. I developed a slight writers cramp, but I managed to sign everyone’s books, and hear almost everyone’s stories. I’d apparently inspired quite a few young girls. Which I thought was ridicules, I wasn’t inspiring in the least.

Mara had joined me after an hour or so, with a large book on her lap. Lots of people asked her questions as well. She seemed to really enjoy the spotlight, just like Ani had as a little boy. He used to love going to things with his father and I.

Like I said I would, I bought Mara her book before we left. It was a big book about Marvel superheroes, which I approved of. Although the book was a little pricey, it was worth it. Anything to do with good comic books was worth the money in my opinion.

“So,” I began as I started the car, “where do you want to go to eat?”

She shrugged, “somewhere good?”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, “what do you like to eat?”

“Food.”

I lightly smacked her arm and turned on the radio, “stop being a smart ass and give me a real answer.”

She smiled, “sorry… I’m not really used to being asked where I want to eat. It’s usually dictated by Judy.”

I sighed. I should have known, “well I’m not a dictator, so I say you pick where we eat… and next time I can pick.”

“Sounds good I guess,” she looked out the window for a second, “how about Faith’s pub.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said as I started to head in the direction of the restaurant, they always had good food there.

The drive there was nice. I let Mara find a radio station she liked, it was mostly dancy music, which I enjoyed. I’d always had an open mind when it came to music, I’d give anything a chance. The only thing I could never get into was country and that whole emo thing. They just never did it for me.

Once Mara and I got to the restaurant, we were seated and given menus. We both placed our orders and observed the people around us.

“So, how are things between you and Judy?” I asked after our drinks arrived.

Mara took a sip of her ice tea, “okay I guess…”

“Same ol’ song and dance, I presume?” I rolled my eyes, “she says jump, you ask how high?”

A slight smiled turned up on Mara’s lips, “something like that.”

She played with the straw in her drink, looking sad and thoughtful. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there was something she wanted to talk about. Something was definitely bothering her. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about asking what was wrong, so I decided to play it safe.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” I asked softly, “I’ll always listen and never pass judgement. You can trust me.”

She looked up at me from her drink, “thanks.”

I shrugged, “it’s what I’m here for. Now, is there something you want to talk about?”

She looked down at her drink and shook her head, “it’s no big deal.”

I didn’t want to push her away or make her uncomfortable by pushing the subject any further. I was sure she’d tell me in her own time. Or, at least I hoped she would. We continued to talk, and soon we were served our meals. The conversation got much lighter, which was a nice change. Mara was back to laughing and being happy. I gave her a brief music history lesion. I doubted she knew half of the people I was talking about, but she seemed genuinely interested.

The history lesion lasted from when we began our meal to when I pulled into her driveway, “so, I take it you’d like to come over next weekend?”

Mara grinned as she got out of my car, “of course. Have a safe drive home, and see you next weekend gram.”

“You too,” I smiled and waved as she shut the door.

I pulled out of the driveway and started to head home. Today had been interesting so far; I couldn’t imagine what Sonny had been up to all day. The music room would probably be a train wreck. I could just see it now, all his papers with lyrics spread across the room, instruments here there and everywhere. He may have even managed to mess up the rest of the house too. I wouldn’t put it past him. And I’d have to be the one to clean it all up. In all our years together I don’t think he cleaned up once. He could live in a garbage dump and be happy.

To say I was pleasantly surprised to not find a mess when I opened the door was an understatement. And when I saw that Sonny had actually washed his dishes made me ecstatic. I wasn’t sure if he’d just suddenly developed some maturity and realised that it’s good to clean up after himself, or if he was just looking to get a little something for being a good boy all day. But I didn’t care; he’d certainly be getting whatever he wanted anyway.

I found Sonny in the living room laying on the couch watching something on TV.

“You actually did the dishes,” I was grinning like a mad woman, as I walked over and gave him a kiss.

He chuckled, “I take it you’re happy?”

“You have no idea.”

He moved a little on the couch and pulled me down on it with him, “good, we’re going to have a movie night.”

I laughed, “a movie night?”

“Yes.”

“What movie are we going to watch?”

“You’ll see,” he smirked as he turned on the blue-ray player and pressed play.

“Prepared I see,” I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

He just grinned as the opening song started. I started to laugh harder. It was the new movie that had just been made about Fright Night, with actors playing the guys. Sonny would make us watch this.

I managed to calm down before the movie started. I wasn’t even the least bit shocked that Sonny would want to watch a movie about himself. It wasn’t that he was conceded or anything, though he used to be. But, I believed, it helped him remember things that happened to him. He didn’t have a bad memory or anything. It was just the excessive drug use and alcohol consumption back then. There were at least two albums Fright Night made that Sonny had no recollection of even stepping into the studio to record. It was sad, but that was how Sonny was.

I cuddled into him as the movie started. I hadn’t seen this one yet, so it hopefully wasn’t going to be completely painful to watch. All I knew about it was that I was actually a character. I was a little weirded out by that, but there was nothing I could really do about it now.

The movie wasn’t half bad. They were actually getting things right, which was nice. But around half way through the movie my eyelids began to get heavier, and I drifted off to sleep.