40 Something - Safety (3 page)

Drums.

We have the
piano that the girls learned to play on. We have the violin that
Alexis played for a year. We have the electric guitar that Isabella
played for 4 months, if I’m lucky. We even have the flute that
Jessica played in school band for a couple of years. That is four
instruments that are collecting dust in our house and will the boy
play any of these? No. Of course not. Aiden wants to play the
drums. I still don’t know where we’ll put them.

I don’t want
them in the living room or family room where he will bother me. The
basement is dark and dirty. If we put them down there the boy will
never play them. I’m not sure how or if they will even fit in his
room.

Drums.

It’s always
something.

We’ll buy the
drums, he’ll play them for a period of time and then I’ll be
tripping over them or stuffing them into the basement with
everything else the kids have out grown and forgotten about.

Alexis begged
me for months to get her violin lessons because she was bored of
the piano. I finally relented and it was a painful audio experience
for the rest of the family, until she finally mastered the angle of
the bow against the strings. At least she completed a year of
lessons and can play the instrument, if she wants to take it up
again.

Isabella, on
the other hand was a complete waste of money. She couldn’t just get
a cheap electric guitar and amp. No, she needed the most expensive
one she could find because her and her friends were forming a rock
band. That lasted for 4 months before there were creative
differences and the band fell apart. I was hoping Jessica or Aiden
would want to play it, but neither seemed all that fussed about
guitar.

In grade 7 and
8 Jessica played the flute in the school band until she found art
and computers as electives and the flute was put aside. I can
understand why Aiden wouldn’t want to play the flute, and maybe the
violin, but come on, isn’t the electric guitar cool?

“Mom, mom, come
look at this set.”

I let Aiden
lead me to the drum section in the store.

“What about
these electric ones Aiden. You can play them with earphones.” I
pull away from him to take a look and gag on the price tag, $2
999.99. That’s a lot more than I want to spend. I guess this isn’t
an option. Though, it would be quieter.

“I don’t want
an electric one. I want this one over here.”

“A thousand
dollars? I was thinking more like a couple hundred.”

“Moooom. This
is the best one. It comes with everything and I need to rock.
Pleeeease mooom.”

I know I should
say no. The most we spent on the girls’ instruments was $600 and
that was the electric guitar and amp. The other girls were at most
$300. The salesman shows Aiden a few things and his face lights up
as he tries to hit the drums the same way.

“What do you
think mom?” The salesman asks me.

“Do you have
any cheaper options?”

“Well we have
this starter kit here that’s $200”

“What about
this one Aiden?”

“It doesn’t
have all the drums and stuff and its’ small.”

“Does he need
all the drums? He’s just starting out.”

“No. This set
is good for beginners.”

“You hear that
Aiden? This is the set for beginners, that’s you.”

“Moooom. I’ll
catch on really fast. This one has the snare drum and the floor
Tom. That one’s for little kids. Gerry would laugh at me if I
played that one.”

Laughed at.
Would he get laughed at? I’d hate for that to happen. I want him to
have the best option available, but a thousand dollars? I look at
the cheaper set a bit closer. It is a lot smaller. It looks cheaply
manufactured. It’s probably a Chinese model.

“Aiden can you
just sit here so I can see.”

“Do I have
to?”

“Yes, you have
to.”

He sits at the
drum set and he does look too big for it. He hasn’t even hit his
growing spurts yet. I take a deep breath. I want him to have
lessons and a decent instrument to play. I always wanted to know
how to play and instrument growing up, however, my parents couldn’t
afford it. We can’t really afford it either with all the other
activities, still, it is important that they get to do everything
that they want to. It’s up to us to make sure they get the best
start in life, all the chances we never got, and that includes drum
lessons with a decent kit.

“Yeah. That one
won’t work.” I say.

My phone rings
and I excuse myself.

“Hello.”

“Hey Hun. How
are things?”

“Well. I’m at
the music store with Aiden.”

“Yeah? Did you
find a drum set?”

“Found a few,
thing is we can’t agree. He wants a $1,000 set.”

“Ha. Good Luck.
So, what are you doing after that?”

“He’s got
Football and then home.”

“Any chance you
can do me a solid?”

Right then
Aiden starts banging on the expensive drum kit.

“What? I can’t
hear you, just a minute.” I move away from the drums. “OK now what
did you say?”

“I need a
favour. I have a client who says he has a cheque to pay what’s
outstanding. I’m busy here on a job site and this guy’s been a pain
about paying last payment. Can you run out and get it?”

“Where?”

He gives me the
address and it’s in the next town over, it’ll take me 45 minutes
just to get there, too far to go while Aiden is at football
practice.

“Hun. The guy
might bail again, if I don’t get the cheque cashed right away.”

“OK. I’ll go
get it. How much is it?”

“Five grand.
Deposit it into the bank account right away.”

There goes my
afternoon and I still have to get a drum kit. I look around some
more trying to find other options.

“What about
this one Aiden? It’s nice. It has everything and is only $500”

“I want the
other one.”

“Look Aiden.
It’s this one or the beginner one. That’s it. Unless you have
$500.”

“I do.”

“No you
don’t.”

“In the bank
account grandma has for me.”

“Nice try.
That’s for University. Now which drum set do you want?”

He sits down at
the $500 set. It is the right size for him.

“It doesn’t
have the high hat cymbals”

“Do you sell
those separately?”

“Yes we do they
are over here.”

“I don’t need
to see them. Aiden, if you get this one, when your instructor says
you need the high hat, I’ll come back and get it. Deal?”

“I don’t know.
The other one is so cool.”

“Why?”

“It’s
black.”

“Does this come
in black?”

“Yes. I have a
set in the back.”

“There it comes
in black. We have to go. Do you want this one or the beginner
kit?”

“I’ll take this
one.”

What a way to
take the fun out of spending $500 plus taxes. He’s supposed to be
excited not disappointed. The salesman rings it up and Aiden helps
load it into the van. Next stop Football then to get the cheque
from Gus’ client. I should make it home by 7 at the latest.

What am I going
to do about Dinner?

Lindsay’s place
is a palace in the sky.

I can’t believe
we are going to be staying here.

The kid’s eyes
are huge when we walk off the elevator right into her apartment.
Yep. No hallway. You walk off the elevator and all you see is the
bay straight ahead. Once you walk further in, through a wide and
large entrance area you notice that to the right are neighbouring
buildings, as well as to the left. The place is floor to ceiling
windows.

“So what do you
think?”

I try to take
it all in. The décor is luxurious, the artwork expensive, the
kitchen state of the art and the view, breathtaking. What can I say
about it? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before, except in
magazines.

“Wyatt, don’t
touch anything. I can’t afford to replace it if you break it.”

“Don’t worry
Sophie, it’ll be fine. You’ll be careful won’t you Wyatt?”

“Yes mam.”

“See. Come on
in. Me casa eh your casa or something like that. Are you hungry? We
could order in some –“

“I’ll make
something.” I say.

“Ah I’m pretty
sure I don’t have much in the way of food.”

I go to the
kitchen and open the biggest stainless steel fridge I’ve ever seen.
It’s almost empty. There is some bottled water, some white wine,
doggy bag restaurant boxes, and a jar of pickles. The cupboards
aren’t much better.

“I’ll get some
groceries later and make dinner. We are good for now.”

“Well too late,
I already ordered a couple large pizza’s for lunch.” Lindsay says.
“We’ll get you set up and then we’ll figure out what to do from
here.”

What to do?
Isn’t that the question of the Century. What am I going to do now?
I’m not sure this was a good idea. Disappearing like that will only
upset Craig and I can’t have him upset. If he is upset I’ll never
get child support or my share of the house equity. If he’s mad he
won’t be fair. I spent every day of our marriage trying to make him
happy and now? I do something that I know will make him mad? My
stomach clenches and my body tenses at the thought of making him
angry on purpose.

“Let me show
you the rooms and we can get what you brought unpacked. Charlie
said she’d get the rest sorted for you.”

“Is Charlie
always so helpful?”

“From what I
can tell she likes a good fight and she has a good heart. I don’t
know her well enough to say more than that.”

“You
don’t?”

“I met her a
few months ago, we hit it off and now we’re bffs. Here’s the first
room, what do you think?”

The room is a
decent size with windows looking down on the building next door.
The other room is beside it and is identical. Both rooms have
double beds and a dresser with simple elegant furnishings.

“Mom. This is
like a hotel.” Wyatt says.

“I know.”

“It even comes
with weekly maid service.” Lindsay says.

“I’ll clean.
You don’t have to clean up after the kids and I.”

“I don’t clean.
I have a cleaning service for that.”

“I could do it
for you, that way you don’t have to pay them.”

“Where’s the
fun in that? Come on Sophie, enjoy the labours of my ex and all his
money.”

“Well, the kids
and I will do what we can to help. Won’t we you two?”

“Yes. Mom.”

“So, Wyatt and
Olivia who gets which room?” Lindsay asks.

She’s bent over
to look them directly in the eye and is glowing with excitement.
They are all excited. I feel only dread. What is this going to cost
me?

“I want this
one.” Wyatt says.

They figure out
who gets what room and help me to bring up the boxes and suitcases
to put their stuff away.

“Sophie. Your
room is upstairs, come see.”

“My room? I can
sleep on the couch, I’m fine.”

“Hell no. You
need your privacy young lady. Come on.” I follow Lindsay up a glass
staircase, I’m gonna have to crawl down it. “It’s not really a
bedroom, it’s an office but what do I need an office for? It’s all
yours.”

Some office,
it’s gorgeous. A view of the bay, plush white carpets, ebony
bookcases filled with books, chairs, and a large ebony desk with a
computer. This is a dream.

“All this will
be gone by tonight and you’ll have a bed to sleep on. It’s all been
arranged.”

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“Why are you
doing this? You don’t know me. You don’t know my kids. Why are you
being so kind?”

“I don’t know.
You seemed like a nice person who just needed some help. I can
help.”

“It’s only for
a little while, until I can find somewhere. I’ll start looking
right away. We won’t be here long.”

“No hurry.” Her
phone rings. “Ah pizza is here.”

Gus and Gary
are packing Sophie’s couch into the moving van while mom, Justine
and I pack up the boxes. Sophie doesn’t have much so we should be
done in a few hours. It would have been quicker if Charlene had
taken the day off work to help. If Charlene had just stayed then
Sophie would be here and this would get done that much faster. At
least Lindsay left right away, there are always blessings when you
look hard enough.

It really
doesn’t make any sense why Sophie can’t stay at our house. We would
have made things work. It would be much easier for her to stay here
in town instead of dragging her kids downtown, where it isn’t safe.
How can anyone think that the city is a place to raise kids. Poor
Davie. He has to stay inside all the time because it’s too
dangerous for him to run around with friends. The city is not a
place to raise a kid. It’s not family friendly. As soon as things
get settled here I’ll talk to Sophie and we’ll get her settled in
to our place. Where it’s safer. We shouldn’t have listened to
Charlene last night.

As usual, she
took over, told everyone what to do. Then left early this morning
before anyone woke up. Leaving me to do the work, making things
harder for me, first, by taking mom and dad away from me and now
Sophie. That’s my big sister for you, always telling everyone what
to do and never helping out. Well enough. Sophie is my friend and I
can help her without Charlene.

“I don’t
understand. Why we are doing this.” My mom says. “You shouldn’t get
involved in other peoples problems, it only causes you drama and
trouble.”

“Mom, Sophie
needs help and she’s a friend.”

“Someone you’ve
known for what? A couple of months? You have no idea what kind of
woman she is. I’m just thankful that Lindsay woman took her. I
can’t believe you’d even entertained the idea of putting her and
her kids up. Nothing but trouble if you ask me.”