Page 87 of Protecting Mr. Fine

Sang.

Oh, how

I wish

You’d

Stayed.

It wasn’t a tower, and you didn’t save me.

The animals were feral, but you let them raise me.

I needed more, but you didn’t guide me.

You went away, and you fucking

Left

Me

Here.

I stared at him as he belted his anger and hurt into a crowd of fifty thousand people. Lou grabbed my sleeve while we stood there, transfixed.

The crowd was stupefied. The drummer hammered each short line with a bass kick drum as Zane wailed the words into the night air. His hair flowed out behind him as he tilted his head back and closed his eyes, singing to a woman who would never hear his words.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I wondered how many people in that crowd of thousands saw themselves in his story.

And then the music shifted into the bridge, and his voice lightened.

Today, I see clearly

You only whispered your warnings

Out

Of

Fear.

It wasn’t a tower, and you didn’t save me.

The animals were feral, but you let them raise me.

I needed much more, but you didn’t guide me.

A child with a child, you just

Did

Not

Know.

He smiled and opened his eyes, turning for just the briefestmoment to find me in the wings before looking back at the crowd with a big smile still on his face.

And now, the sun glances

---