Page 55 of Places I've Never Been

What’s next?

The words were soft and hard to read, and the wind pushed at the edges. This wasn’t going to work for long. “Do me a favor? Go see if Bayo has anything to write on?”

“On it.” Adam jogged away.

“Toilet paper and a pencil would work,” she called after him.

It took him a lot longer than she thought it should. By the time he came back, the sand all around her was covered in graffiti that she could barely read. If she didn’t get it all down soon, she’d lose it forever.

She looked up with expectation, but Adam’s hands were empty, and his expression was apologetic.

“Sorry, Mattie. There’s nothing to write with and the toilet paper is way too thin to write on.”

She swore under her breath, unable to hide the frustration. The song that bubbled somewhere in the sand slipped through her fingers every time the wind blew.

Adam took a step forward, but she waved him away. “Don’t move! You’ll erase it.”

He stopped with one foot in the air. “Erase what?”

She stared around at the scribbles in the sand. “I swear I’m never leaving my notebooks behind again. Do they make waterproof ones?”

“Not sure about waterproof paper, but I have an idea.” Adam shifted his feet away from the outer edges of her notes. “Let’s work it out right now.”

She stared up at him. “Now? Without writing it down?”

“If we put words to melody it will be easy to remember.”

“I’ve been taking notes my entire life. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to work on lyrics without writing them down.”

He grinned. “Take a walk on the wild side.”

It felt dangerous, but also oddly freeing. “Okay. Where do we start?”

Adam’s gaze traveled the sand divots all around her. “You tell me. I can’t read any of that.”

The wind kicked up and smoothed some of the edges of the words. If they didn’t act fast, it would all be gone. “Maybe the hook? The idea I had for it is all on this side.” She pointed right.

Adam narrowed his eyes at the area, then shook his head. “Tell me.”

“It’s circling around change, like the rest of the album. In this case, I was thinking about your dad. How you said he was afraid of what comes next. The idea of letting go of the past, or the past crumpling down around you. Being anxious to moveon to something new, but unable to let go of the past. Something like that.”

Adam tapped his hand against his thigh, making a soft rhythm. “The past it haunts you, the future it taunts you.”

She grimaced. It wasn’t what she’d meant. She searched her mind for a way to make her intentions clearer. “Think about the turtles. They go through all that pain, all that work, just to leave it all behind. Your dad’s change is a lot like graduating high school, right? Except he feels like things are ending instead of beginning. It’s a perception shift.”

Adam looked thoughtful. “Yeah. He thinks if he quits work, he quits life. But he put life on hold, just to hold onto that job. It’s messed up.”

She looked down at all of her sandy notes. “So now we have to translate all this—going through all the pain of work, of life, only to leave it all behind to start again—into song number two. And we have to do it without writing it down.”

“No problem. We got this.” Adam nudged her shoulder with his. “Just tell me what you think Dad needs to hear.”

An ah-ha lightbulb went off in her head, sparking a surge of excitement. “That’s it! The last song was about change and how hard it is. This song should be about how it’s worth it to reach for that change. To take the next step. To…to…it’s…what wouldyoutell him?”

She pointed to the section of notes she thought was relevant. “He’s been working hard his whole life. It’s who he is, and what he is. Then suddenly what he does is gone. Then what? What would you tell him?”

Adam tilted his head, frowned at the words she indicated, then shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I’d tell him it’s not over. Life, I mean. It’s just a job. The job’s done, but life’s not. He can do what he wants, just like I did.”

Her heart filled with excitement and adrenaline. “Yes! That’s it. It’s not over. Life’s not done. Just because the job is finished doesn’t mean your life is meaningless. The next step’s waiting. All you have to do is take it and you’ll make it more than you had before.”

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