West Coast

Night settled in Tangie Town quickly and everyone in the apartment gathered in the living room. On the hastily tour of the apartment, Lacey hadn't gotten a clear look at the living room, but trailing in behind everyone, she got an full glance. Cassidy, smiling from the couch, waved his hand to invite her to sit between him and Peter, which she did gratefully. Miles sat in a large, gaudy orange recliner chair next to the couch while Maggie sat on the arm of it. Suzie sat on the floor and leaned on the "coffee table" which was actually a great, big chest.

Before Lacey could ask what was going on, Cassidy leaned to look at her.

"What do you do?" He asked. It was an odd question, difficult to answer. Looking around, Lacey saw Peter pull a beautiful Les Paul guitar from behind the couch and started tuning it. Miles was chewing on a pen, suddenly deep in thought as he stared at a page in his notebook and Maggie was mending a stitch in her kimono while balancing a joint in her mouth. Looking down at Suzie, Lacey could see her setting up a house of cards.

"What's your passion, Lace?" Cassidy asked, rephrasing the question and staring at her with his big, brown eyes that matched her own.

"Well, I went to school for painting, I like to paint," Lacey thumbed for her pack of Virginia Slims and her lighter. Balancing the cigarette between her teeth, she mumbled "And back in New York, I used to sing in blues bars and shit." She finally lit the tobacco in her mouth on fire and took a long drag, sending her shoulders down and she relaxed.

"You sing?!" Miles's concentration broke from his notebook.

Lacey nodded over at him and took another drag.

"You must sing for us, we would love to hear you!" Maggie added and Suzie nodded even though her house of cards collapsed. Peter turned towards Lacey with a pic in his mouth. Snatching it, he smiled at her, saying, "Definitely. Miles plays drums when he's not spewing ink in his little book, we should jam."

Lacey was used to singing to crowds, but the idea of singing with these new, wonderful people almost psyched her out. When she was on stage, the lights were usually so dim that she could barely make out anyone's face, hell, she didn't even know the names of the men that played the instruments behind her. When she was on stage, it was very intimate for her. She would get lost in herself and the rhythm of the music, it completely filled her and she did her best to let it out of her when she sang. Before the Inkwell Cafe, it was a little difficult for her to get a job. Her voice was very bluesy and her range, wide, but she was often told how the world wasn't ready for her voice yet, and a lot of businesses turned her sound down.

"Oh, I-I don't know..." Lacey trailed. Her eyes were worried but she was stifling a smile. The group noticed and Cassidy nudged her into Peter and Peter nudged her into Cassidy, this became a short little jostle that made everyone laugh, including Lacey.

Stomping the cigarette out in Cassidy's empty PBR can, Lacey laughed and said, "alright, alright, maybe I will," She looked over at Maggie, smiled, and added, "if I can get a hit of that."

Leaning off the arm of the chair, Maggie passed the joint to Lacey. As she took a drag, Peter started strumming away a tune that Lacey was unfamiliar with. They made eyes contact and Lacey stuck the joint in Peter's mouth. He nodded in thanks, took a drag and reached behind Lacey's head and passed it to Cassidy who relit it, took a drag, and passed it Suzie who breathed it in and passed it to Miles to finish it off. Their heads swirled as one and Peter was leading the way, strumming away, allowing the music to fill everyone's lungs. Cassidy was fidgeting with the tab of his beer can and laid his head on Lacey's shoulders and Miles added a quiet drumming on his notebook with his pen and fingers to accompany Peter's tune.

Maggie looked at these kids in her living room and smiled brightly to herself. She was so lucky to meet such wonderful folks and give them a place to stay, a place to call home. Lacey was no exception. Maggie saw something in Lacey that she hadn't seen in ages, the golden look of a star was in her. Maggie may have been Mother Goose in that house, but she learned more from them than she could ever hope to teach them, and she loved them.

"Peter, darling," Maggie spoke, "What's Dylan got to say about dear Blind Willie?"

Peter smiled and slowed the pace of his song, it quickly turned into something beautiful and haunting. Oddly enough, Lacey recognized it and smiled wide, she started quietly laughing and Cassidy looked up at her from the crook of her neck and started laughing too, Suzie quickly stifled laughter herself watching the two.

"Seen the arrow on the doorpost, saying, 'This land is condemned, all the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem.'" Peter started singing, mocking the way Bob Dylan wold sing. Everyone started smiling and laughing quietly now. He continued, "I traveled through East Texas, where many martyrs fell, and I know no one can sing the blues, like Blind Willie McTell."

"Mmm, oh, brother," Maggie said, head up to the ceiling, eyes closed, just feeling the music. All through the next verse, everyone's eyes were closed, feeling every note and understanding fully what it meant. Lacey had never met anyone like these people before, people who appreciated and understood all these words of the past, people who could spent hours just like this, enjoying the things at hand: beer, pot, beautiful music, and each other.

Lacey joined in the next verse despite her previous judgement, she couldn't help it, "See them big plantations burning, hear the cracking of the whips," It was the verse that first stuck out in her mind when she first heard the song, years ago, driving over the Brooklyn bridge with her father. "Smell that sweet magnolia blooming, see the ghosts of slavery ships. I can hear them tribes a-moaning, hear the undertaker's bell." The smiles around Lacey grew and grew, hearing her voice was like time traveling and each and every person in the room grooved with it; "Yeah, nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell."

Maggie suddenly got up and grabbed an elegant scarf, she pulled Miles up with her and sang the next verse with Lacey and Peter, acting out the lyrics: "There's a woman by the river with some fine young handsome man. He's dressed up like a squire, bootlegged whiskey in his hand." Miles took Maggie's arm and acted like a drunk, swinging his half-filled beer can, listening to in slosh inside. They started to dance together. "There's a chain gang on the highway, I can hear them rebels yell!" Lacey and Suzie howled like coyotes and Peter continued, "And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell."

Maggie and Miles laughed loudly as they broke apart and Miles sat next to Suzie, throwing an arm around her shoulder. Suzie kissed him on the cheek and Maggie pet both of their heads before waltzing back over to her chair. Cassidy tossed the beer tap into his can and Lacey sat up, elbows on her knees. This next verse, she sang alone: "Well, God is in heaven, and we all want what's his, but power and greed and corruptible seed seem to be all that there is." The verse built up and, looking at Lacey, Peter joined in, just as angry as she did, just as angry as Dylan must have been: "I'm gazing out the window of the St. James Hotel," Now, everyone in the room loudly sang, "and I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell!"

Peter strummed the rest of the song and Cassidy nudged her into him again, but Peter was unphased. Miles was now sprawled out on the shag carpet and Suzie was leaning into her hand watching Peter, who soon found a stopping point.

"God, Lacey, you sing like an angel!" Suzie exclaimed in admiration. Lacey smiled at her as she would a small child. That's what Suzie looked like, Lacey concluded. For a minute, everyone just looked at each other and smiled, not saying much of anything.

Lighting another cigarette and leaning back into the couch, exactly as she was before the jam session, Lacey exhaled a puff of smoke and laughed lightly, saying, "I could get used to this."