Green Day Baby

There's a pounding sound. I open my eyes and see rays of sunlight coming through the bedroom curtains. Adie was probably already up, since she's not lying next to me.
"Dad!" Joey, my oldest son calls. I have two sons, Joseph who's now eleven and Jakob who turned eight last week.
"Yeah!"
"Tre is on the phone for you."
"Mother fucker," I groan under my breath as I grab for the phone. "Hello?"
"Bill! It is her!"

I sit up instantly.
"Really!" I exclaim, "Can we meet her or something?"
"Uhh, I just emailed Lainey, that's her aunt."
"I figured."
"And I explained everything and asked if we could meet Rosie."
"I'll see you in studio, okay."
"Kay, I'm going to call Mike now."
"Alright," I say hanging up the phone.

I shower and dress before heading out of my room.
"Dad, are you driving us to school today?" Jakob asks as he follows me down the stairs.
"Sure," I say going into the kitchen to get me some coffee.

"Hey Dad," Joey asks from the kitchen table, "Who were you talking about?"
"Hmm?" I say as I add sugar to my coffee.
"With Tre."

"Get your brother in here, I only want to tell this story once," I grumble.
"Jake!" Joey yells at the top of his lungs.
"What!"
"Get your ass in here or I'll beat it to a pulp."
"Joey..." I warn, even though my immature side is laughing its head off, my parent side over-rules. "Pick on someone your own size."
"What!" Jakob demands as he stomps into the kitchen.

"Sit down I want to tell you guys something."
"Oh god, it's the sex talk." Jakob says putting his face in his hands, "Can't you just let us learn that stuff from Family Guy?"
"No, this isn't the sex talk." I say rolling my eyes, "But now that you mention it . . ."
"No!" the two boys say at the same time.

"Okay well," I start, "When I was twenty years old me and the guys were roommates."
"Yeah we know," Joey says rolling his eyes.
"And we had this neighbor named Adeena, she had a baby girl named Rosie." They nod, "One day the Rosie wouldn't stop crying and I got pissed off so I stormed over there and found Adeena passed out on the couch with a heroine needle in her arm."
"Oh," Jakob nods, my sons were well informed about different drugs and their affects.
"So I took Rosie because she was all dirty and starving and me and the guys took care of her for a while."
"Then what happened?"
"There was a power failure so we went to stay and Granma Ollie's when we came back the next morning we found Adeena dead."
"Dad."
"Yeah Joe?"
"What does a dead body look like?" I sigh.
"She was all blue and cold," I say rolling my eyes, "Anyway the cops came around looking for Rosie." They nod, "So we could keep her Mike claimed to be her father."
"But didn't they want DNA?" Joey asks, he's a bit of Discovery Channel junky.
"Yeah, so Mike went in for the test and when they got the results he made a whole scene about how Adeena lied to him and how he's been raising Rosie as his own and how they couldn't just take her away."

"Then how come she isn't-" Jakob says slowly.
"They said he could keep her but if they found her real family she'd have to go live with them."
"So they found her family," Joey says slowly, I nod.
"Her aunt."
"And now Tre found her?"
"Yeah."
"How old is she now?" Jakob asks interested.
"Let's see she was about a year and a half when I was twenty so she must be about fifteen now."
"Wow," Joey says, his eyes bulging, "And you haven't seen her since she was a baby?"
"Nope."

"Dad!" Jakob says pointing at the clock, "We have to go."
"Right," I say finishing off my coffee. "Where's your mom?"
"She got called with an Adeline emergency so she had to leave," Joey says as he and his brother go to get their school bags. Adie and I own a record company/clothing line called Adeline. She's got a majority of the power in the company since I'm busy with my Green Day stuff.

I put on my shoes and grab my keys. "Let's go slow pokes!" I call as the boys come running to the door. They put on their shoes and we head out.

"Don't terrorize your teachers too much," I say as we arrive at the school, "Its not even October yet."
"I'm not making any promises," Joey says as he clambers out of the car.
"Me neither," Jakob says slamming his door shut. I watch as they walk into the school with the rest of the kids before driving off to the Reprise studio where we're recording our next album.

I come into the studio to find Tre on the computer, Mike standing right behind him.
"Did you get a reply?" I ask eagerly.
"Not yet," Tre sighs.
"Let's just finish up yesterday's song and then we'll check again," Mike suggests.
"Yeah," I say nodding.

"I found out what school Rosie goes to," Tre says proudly. "I searched the local public schools and she did some environmental project and it was on her school website. She goes to East Bay Middle School."
"Alright," I say nodding.
"Searched the yellow pages and found out she lives on St. Denis street, you know near that outlet mall?"
"That's going into stocker mode," Mike teases as he plugs in his bass and starts plucking away.
"Its not like I actually went there to find her," Tre protests as he crosses his arms.

A few hours of recording later, there's a blinking at the bottom of the computer screen signaling Tre has a new email. We all gather around the computer as he opens it.

Dear Tre,
I'm sorry but I think its in Rosie best interests that she doesn't meet you. Three grown men and a teenage girl sounds unsafe and suspicious. I'm sorry if your in intentions were good but you just never know in today's world with all the sick-os out there.
Sincerely
Lainey

"What the fuck!" Tre yells angrily flipping the keyboard. "We fucking took care of her for two whole months!"
"Tre calm down," Mike says calmly, "Well just write again saying we don't mind a supervised visit or even a meeting in front of a police station for all we care."
"Yeah Tre, she has a point, what if three strange men asked to meet Ramona." I say referring to his daughter, which he's over-protective about.
"But Ramona wasn't raised by three strange men for two critical months!"

Mike sits at the computer and starts writing the reply. He was best with words, Tre sort of writes like a twelve year old. Minutes after he sends it we get a reply.

The answer is still no.

"Mother fucker!" I find myself yelling as Tre nearly punches a hole in the wall.
"Wait." Tre says pushing a silent Mike away from the computer. He goes on the East Bay Middle School site and he jots something down on a piece of scrap paper. Then he goes on the Oakland bus schedule site and starts taking down more notes. "Aha!"
"Tre, what the hell?" Mike asks confused.

Tre looks at his watch. "To the Tre-mobile!"