Chapter 5

The next weekend was kind of a repeat. But on Saturday Kris asked me if I wanted to go to a Halloween party with her next Saturday. Thankfully I knew Keith did not have a concert planned, so I said I would be there. She said to pick her up at 6, and we could go from there.

I went to see Keith afterwards, and this time I had my Casio in the car. He laughed when we went into the garage to jam after we each smoked up, and asked if that was a hint.

“Uncle Keith, nothing against this one, but it kind of blows. I don’t really use this one much anymore, the other two and computer can do everything without my using this. I will grab it if I need to use it, but it might as well stay here most times.”

He admitted that he had gotten it in trade for an old amp, the guy threw in a bunch of things, and mostly he wanted the drum machine. “That was before we hired Tim, we used that for a few months when it was the three of us. Then Tim joined us, so the drum machine was not used anymore. Then Crystal joined us, so Jack moved to guitar also and she took that over. Which is good because she loves bass, I’m only barely competent at it to be honest. But part of what he offered was that keyboard, and I figured it would be nice to have something here for guys like you.”

I nodded, and after some adjusting I had one keyboard on the stand and another on a card table next to it. When he asked if he should get another stand, I just shook me head. “Naw, no need to do that. But Becky does have these risers you can get, they can clamp onto this one and can add a second tier. I think they are like $20, and one of those might be nice though. I can use them side by side, but one over the other is easier.”

He nodded, and he had me go through most of the songs I knew, especially those I had changed. And he even had a reel to reel tape system recording it. It was not a bad home setup, for being in a garage. We were having a beer and hot dogs in his kitchen afterwards, and he asked me if I minded if he scored those.

“What, really? You want to score them?”

“Yep, sure do little nephew. I like your take on those older songs, and Crystal loves them also. They are old songs that us old farts like, and in a new style that you kids like. We get the best of both worlds with those. And in case you did not notice, all of us can read music. The first real band I was in was run by this guy named Rad. He’s a producer now, got me my start in doing studio work even. But each and every one of us in the band he only brought in because we could read sheet music. Peggy, she was actually really green when she joined us. But she could read music and soon was sounding just like the rest of us.”

“OK, I have heard a bit about that, but a flute player in a rock and party band?”

Keith looked at me, then laughed. “You know, sometimes I forget you are not your brother. Hold on, you might know this.” He went over to a turntable, after a moment put a record down and started it.

As soon as it started I recognized it, they had played it at my brother’s events, and my mom often played it. It had a long slow introduction, sounding almost baroque. Then it sped up, much like Zepplin would do in Stairway. Turning to an unquestionably harder rock number after over a minute. And I could hear a flue on occasion in the background, and it did not sound bad at all. Then came the instrumental bridge, and oh my god! The flute came back in, almost swirling and manic in style, and it was almost like it was a flute solo. It was not a solo since all the band was playing, but it filled the room with the playing. And when it was done he turned the volume down and looked at me.

“Good god, Keith. I had no idea. Yeah, I had heard that song before. My mom even plays it, but I thought the flute was just a sound she liked when she used that bank.”

“Nope, that is how Ian Anderson wrote it. He is the leader of Jethro Tull, wrote most of their songs, sang most of them, and played flute on them. Which is why you only hear it when he is not singing. But at the time Peggy joined us, Tull was real big, and the sax was making a big comeback. Peggy could play both, and when I saw her messing around doing ‘Baker Street’, I dragged her over here. She played for Rad, and was in almost instantly.”

“Why is she not in your band anymore?”

“Oh, other interests. Back then we were mostly kids still in school, so had lots of time. She is a music teach now, and has a family so that takes up a lot of her time. But that girl was like a prodigy back then. She had a 4.0 average, was into both school bands and our band, as a multi-instrumentalist. Oh, and a professional quality skater.”

“Yeah, I forgot but I did know that. Mandy has a lot of photos of the two of them skating. I guess they were partners for a while back then.”

Keith gave me this little glance, and nodded. “Yes, that indeed they were. Well, she still plays, but now I think like your mom. Mostly for the fun of playing. And since she got her teaching credentials she now does that for the school district. And I don’t think she has competed in years, but she still coaches skating.”

I admitted I was decent at it, it was one of the few things you could do on a date in Pocatello. He nodded at that and said it was like that out here when he and my brother were my age. “Back then, it seems like you could not throw a rock in the Valley without hitting an arcade or skating rink. For a while there it was like any unused building big enough became a skating rink, and the smaller ones arcades. Grocery store, bowling alley, hardware store, one was even an ice rink before. They just poured down urethane, put in speakers and a rail, and it was a skating rink. Mandy and Peggy both did performances and competitions back then. Your brother and me, I think it was more to have something to do with the girls.”

I nodded, as that did make sense. He was still not bad, but rather limited. I asked Keith if any were left, and he shook his head. “Nope, just two left as far as I’m aware. Parthenia is still open, that has been there since before I was born. And Moonlight in Burbank, same thing. The others all closed at about the time you were born, or shortly after.”

Well, if her mom liked skating, good chances that Kris did also. I would have to ask her if we could do that sometime. Then Keith looked closely at me, and brought us another beer. “OK George, now it’s time for something I hate.”

I looked at him, he sounded more serious than I had ever heard him before. “I was surprised last week when I realized you did not remember Crystal was my daughter, but now it makes sense. While we have a very unusual relationship, she is still my daughter. I know she drinks and smokes. Hell, I’m the one that gives it to her most of the time, just like with you. And I know she has had boyfriends, and I do not want to know what all she has done with them.”

I nervously took a drink and waited for him to continue. “And I know there is something between the two of you. Only a blind man would not see that, and I’m hardly blind. But if you want to hold her hand, or kiss her, go ahead. I could tell you both wanted to the other night, and I did catch you two kissing in the park after that concert.”

I jerked at that, and he chuckled deep in his throat. “Why do you think I started calling for her? Janice said she thought the two of you went to the bushes for a toke. So I went to find her, and saw she had you pinned against the tree and you were not trying to escape. So I went back to the path and started calling her name. But I will say this, if you hurt my little girl I will hurt you. And I mean that as in hurt. Harm her physically, or purposefully harm her emotionally. Heartaches and breakups I understand, those things happen. But don’t do anything purposeful and I can live with that. Do we have an understanding?”

I looked into his eyes and nodded. “Keith, maybe you should know, I am kind of seeing somebody else.”

He looked at me, then nodded. “OK, fair enough. I’ve done that before. Heck, even your brother did that before. What I would suggest is you let my daughter know that. No need for names or details, just that she is not the only one you are seeing. And to be honest, it would not surprise me if she was in the same situation at school. But no playing with her heart or emotions. And if she becomes pregnant, I expect you to do the right thing.”

I nodded, and said that I would do anything I could to prevent that from happening. He looked into my eyes, and nodded. “Oh, and we are not particularly observant, but like me she is Jewish. In case you did not realize, the pizza I got the other day had vegetarian sausage on it.” I did give him a funny look at that.

“But you are eating meat now.”

He chuckled, and nodded. “OK, we have some dietary rules we follow. The biggest ones are we never eat any kind of pork, and never mix meat and dairy. There are others, but those are the biggest. Pizza has cheese, so no meat on it. But since there is no meat in vegetarian sausage as well as no pork, it is a good substitute for gentiles like you and we can eat it also.” Then he looked at me funny when I started laughing.

“Oh, I’m not laughing at you, Uncle Keith. You see, most of those up where I live are Mormons. And they call any who are not like them ‘Gentiles’ also. And they have restrictions also, just different ones. No caffeine or brewed beverages and no alcohol mostly. I just find it funny that only to them and your faiths have I been referred to as a ‘gentile’.”

He laughed, and nodded. “You know, your brother told me that years ago after he moved here. And he was right, I looked into it once. Their founder had a kind of strange fascination with both Jews and Indians. One of the few religions in the country that not only did not pester us, but actually seemed to respect us.”

I nodded. “I’m not one, but grew up around it. The founder saw his group as the modern incarnations of the Jews, with himself as the new Moses. And the Indians as the Lost Tribe of Israel. So now that I think about it, it would not be unusual for him to adopt a Jewish term for those that were not his followers.”

“Well, you’re a smart college boy, study it. I can’t remember what term, but I know one of your humanities electives will be in religion. You might want to take it, I only studied it as a layman as part of the game.”

I just shook my head, and said I rarely if ever played anymore. He looked at me funny, and I nodded. “Oh, I started when I was like 12, but it was just too much. My brother always wanted to make these grand adventures, with intrigue and messages hidden inside them. But me, I just wanted to go through and kill everything. Not search for the meaning of life each time I played a game.”

He looked at me for almost a minute, then shook his head. “I guess from your point of view, that makes sense. But look at it from his, and mine also I guess. When we started, that is all that the adventures were. Go out, kill everything, split the loot at the end then do it again. Your brother is actually one of the most influential in changing that. Making the story itself actually mean something. Tel me, you’ve played Starcraft, right?”

I nodded, of course I had. One of my favorite games ever. “OK, great. Now imagine if the story was just the humans, Zerg, and Protoss fighting it out. Rip out that almost love story between Raynor and Kerrigan. Her being taken and converted, then Raynor being forced to fight her. And even though he is forced to fight her and try to kill her, he wants to save her. The first would be like games before Pete, but what you see in Starcraft is the games after Pete. I was actually there and was playing in his very first game ever as DM.”

I looked at him and raised my eyebrow, and he nodded. “We were, 16? He had only joined the group a few months before, and had an idea he wanted to try. That became the first Kaos adventure. Holly was Kaos, and a mole. I’m sure you know the story of that.” I nodded, and he grinned. “Well, his first was a dungeon with no dungeon. And in the end had her turn on us. It was amazing, and blew us all away. I was even there when he met Brad for the first time. Four kids from 14 to 16 at a small convention in the North Valley. He was still with Linda then, and I was with Holly. Brad watched the game, loved that it was something different, and asked for him to finish it up. And that was how he got into writing games.”

He finished the beer, and when he went to get another I asked for a soda as I was leaving soon. He gave me the can, then continued. “Your brother in that area is unique in the industry. In fact, he told me that he loves creating complex adventures that pull at your heart and emotions. Black elves that are not evil, dead characters becoming the guardian spirits of the village, having to help evil and evil undead monsters, good orcs, things like that. He makes people think, unlike most who play. Hell, I still play. We have a game here each Wednesday night. We are nowhere near as serious as Pete, but he does send me a new adventure when he is testing it. But don’t knock his games, they are the Shakespeare drama surrounded by Adam Sandler or Paulie Shore fluff comedies.”

And I did have to nod at that. Seen in that way, I could see what Keith was saying. “So that is why he still sells, I guess.”

“Yep. Anybody can make a simple dungeon crawl where you go in and kill everything. Pete is one of the few that can make it mean something in the end. I love his works, but could not play something like that every week. Especially as he almost seems to plan for somebody to die in the group. And has something written to have it mean something in the end. Think of it as caviar, in a world where everything else is grilled cheese.”

We chatted for a bit more until I finished my soda, then I headed back to the dorm. And when I got there, I found myself thinking of what Keith had told me. And that I would have to find a way to tell Crystal. And Kris, that would be an issue also. But so long as we were only holding at kissing, that should be no problem I did not think.

I got on my computer, and started for some reason to look up Spirited Away as I still had that movie in my mind. There was this cool new research tool called “Wikipedia” that I fired up and started looking through it.

And what I did not expect was that some of the voice actors I knew. Daveigh Chase, who was the younger sister in Donnie Darko voiced Chihiro. The guy that did Max Goofy was Haku, and the witch was Suzanne Pleshette. And the mom was Lauren Holly.

Her I did know, as she was in “What Women Want”, and Mary in “Dumb and Dumber”. I wondered if I could find one of her movies, so brought up Limewire and started looking. And sure enough, I found several movies and clips. I clicked on a few to download, including Dumb and Dumber, one called “Band of the Hand” that I had never heard of, and one listed as “Lauren Holly stroking a big hard cock”. I was pretty sure the last was fake, but what the hell.

On Friday I went to dinner with Becky at her place, and was not surprised to see Aunt Linda and her daughter there as well. And I still thought it strange that two of my brother’s ex-girlfriends were friends. And not only that, but lived across the street from each other. Becky had made a bunch of Mexican things and laid them out in a kind of buffet in her kitchen, and we all served ourselves and it was really good. Rice, fajitas, even home made refried beans. And after eating and putting the kids to bed Becky asked if I had brought a swimsuit.

Of course I had not, and I was surprised when Taylor left and came back and handed me one. And ten minutes later I had my first experience in a hot tub. I helped Taylor remove the cover, then after checking the water he added a handful of powder, then said it was ready. I saw all the lights go off but some Christmas lights strung around, and he turned on the bubbles and a light inside.

Becky and Linda came out in one piece bathing suits, and soon we were all inside. It was a lot hotter than I expected, but not all that bad. Becky and Taylor had glasses of wine, I had a soda and Aunt Linda had a glass of grape juice. We spent about an hour in there just relaxing, and it actually was kind of cool. Being treated as one of the adults, and not a kid. Aunt Linda asked if I had a girlfriend yet, and Aunt Becky nodded and giggled.

I said not really, but there was one I was interested in. Linda prompted, and in an almost hushed tone Becky said it was Kristen. Linda did look surprised at that, and grinned at me. “So, you and Peggy’s daughter? That is a bit of a surprise. But knowing your brother, not really. He always seemed fascinated with exotic women. Not the least of which were Asians, black, even a certain special Latina that I seem to remember.” Aunt Becky at that giggled and actually splashed her with water, causing Linda to cover her glass with her hand before she laughingly splashed her back.

“Bitch! You know as well as I do as that was never quite true!” Taylor meanwhile just leaned back and grinned. Becky finished her glass, and after holding it out Taylor refilled it for her. “Let’s just say that unlike many, your brother was not one to see things like race as a barrier.”

“Aunt Linda, did he and Peggy ever date?”

Linda closed her eyes a moment, and then shook her head. “No, by the time we met Peggy we were unquestionably a couple. Had been for months in fact. And, well, after we met Peggy she started dating somebody else for about a year. But then she snagged Mike, and they had been together ever since. No, most of the other girls came after we had broken up.” And I could swear she sounded a bit wistful as she said that.

Even Becky nodded. “That’s it exactly. A few before me, and quite a few after me before he and Mandy finally got together. Oh man, we were even taking bets among us how long they would last.” All three of them nodded at that, and I asked why.

“Oh, you have to realize how we know your brother” Linda said. “For me, it was almost always Holly and Keith, and Pete and me. For over a year. Then Keith became persona non grata, and it was Holly and Jack. I was out a bit later, then it became your brother, Becky, Holly, and Mandy.”

I sat back at that, it was like a bombshell, and confirmed my brother was a prig. “Wait, all three at once?”

Becky splashed me at that and said “I am not a ‘them’, thank you very much! But no, not all at once. That was when he was home on leave, you were all of two or three years old. He and Linda here already broke up, and somehow he ended up dating both Holly and Mandy when he was home. Nothing serious, probably not unlike you and Kris right now. Go on dates, kiss a bit, kinda like that. I was the unexpected one. We had met years earlier when he bought Linda and him matching computers.”

Linda and Becky both laughed at that and even clinked their glasses. And she even grinned and said she still had that computer. And I was not surprised, it would be just like my brother. Instead of buying jewelry or flowers, he buys a girl a computer.

“Well, he came into the store with Mandy, and we remembered each other. I remembered he said he was buying the computer years before for his girlfriend, and I just assumed that was Mandy. It was only afterwards that she said she was the sister of the old girlfriend, and Mandy told me he was single. So during that month I dated him also.”

Wow, here I was trying to figure out two girls at once, and my brother had three?

“But it was nothing salacious. We would have dinner and kiss a bit, then a few nights later he would do it with one of the other girls. And when he left, we all kinda agreed we would see what happened when he came back in a few years. Well, he did. Mandy was seeing somebody, Holly was actually with Dan by then, and I was the only one single. So I ended up with him by default.”

Linda actually reached out and rested her hand on Becky’s leg, and said that she knew that was not it. And Aunt Becky nodded and agreed. “Oh, I know that. I just was being melodramatic. Other than Taylor here though, he was the best boyfriend I ever had. But eventually we realized we were just moving in two different directions. I was obsessed with success and making lots of money at that time, he was just mostly playing with his computers and going nowhere it seemed. I was already into my thirties, and feeling the biological clock ticking. Well, one reason I know that he never saw me as the default is that I have never viewed you as a default, honey.” She was looking into Taylor’s eyes as she said that, then kissed him softly. And Linda smiled at me as they kissed.

“But one thing about your brother, if you look almost every girlfriend he ever had was a friend first as far as I know. And even after it ended, we tended to remain friends afterwards.”

“It just took some of us longer to realize that” Linda said. Becky nodded, and took her hand and said that was true.

“George, Linda and I were not friends actually until she moved in here. Let’s just say our first meeting was very rough. The gun your dad used to shoot that gangbanger with in Pete’s house? Be bought that after that first meeting I had with Linda.”

I jerked at that, but saw both ladies nodding. “After we realized Linda was not a threat, at my urging he gave it to your dad. Good thing, also. That might have saved his life that day. Linda and I met a few other times after that, like when he and Mandy got married. But we always kept our distance from each other after that. Nod, greet each other politely, then move away as quickly as we could.”

“When I moved here and saw Taylor, I actually got scared. I even told Becky I would move if my being here made her uncomfortable, but she said that was not needed. And since then we have become good friends. I watch her kids when she works as I work at home. I still do events and other things at my old job though. Before Christmas, come on down sometime. It is this large office cluster, and half is a auditorium we rent out. But during Christmas, we set up chairs and play old movies all day. Parents drop off their kids, and we are a kind of babysitting service with movies and junk food.”

Becky and Taylor said it was great, and they went sometimes on movie nights. I raised my eyebrow at that, and Taylor nodded. “Oh yes, the first Friday of each month they show some old movie. The kinds we would have seen back in the day when theaters still did midnight movies. Mad Max, Rocky Horror, Time Rider, Heavy Metal, things like that. It’s always a blast, and we watch her daughter on those nights. But sometimes if it is a movie we both want to watch we will get a babysitter for the kids and we will all go.”

I asked what the next movie was, and Linda said it would be Rocky Horror. They both shuddered, and said they would pass “Oh, but the one in December is ‘American Pop’. These are so old that we can actually rent them for a fixed price, no need to split royalties or anything. You should come on by, it’s a lot of fun. You might even like that one, being a musician.”