Page 47 of Baby Blue
“I think you need to be looking for better jobs, not worse ones.”
Blue shook his head. “Nobody’s going to want me.”
“What? That’s crazy! You’re a good mechanic. You should be able to get a good job,” Devon said, and Blue could tell he meant every word.
“Yeah? Well, I’m not ASE certified, and everybody wants that,” Blue told him.
“Hey, some of these places send guys off to school for that and pay for it. Plus you’ve got something these younger guys don’t have.” When Blue hiked an eyebrow up, Devon said, “You’ve got a ton of experience, and you’ve got good intuition.” Blue thought about what Mr.Wentworth had said:All he hires in his service department are book-learned idiots! They don’t know jack shit about cars.You deserve better than that. You’re a damn fine mechanic, and your talents are going to waste there.But he didn’t know how to get in touch with Mr.Wentworth. “Blue?” Devon said, and he realized his thoughts were drifting away.
“Devon, nobody will hire me. I’m a fuck-up and a loser.”
The big guy just laughed. “We’re all fuck-ups from time to time. But you have a skill set that most guys don’t have. You should go after something better, something that will give you a good living for yourself and that little girl. And wouldn’t you like to meet somebody special and have a woman who’d make life a little easier for you?”
Anne. She was so much better than him. He was a nobody. Why was she the least bit interested in him? “Yeah. That would be great,” he said, knowing it would never work out. She’d get tired of being dragged down by him.
“Then go for it, boy! You can do it!” Devon said, laughing, and slapped him on the shoulder. “Now let’s get in here and play this last set so you can go home and see your baby.”
Once again, Blue sang the song he’d come to think of as Indigo’s lullaby at the end of the set, and just like before, everyone applauded, whistled, and yelled. They were packing up their equipment when he felt a hand on his back and someone said, “Excuse me.”
He turned and found a man standing behind him. “Yes, sir. Can I help you?”
“I hope so. I wanted to ask?did you write that last song yourself?”
“Yes, sir. I did,” Blue said, snapping the case shut on his bass.
“No one else collaborated on it?” the man asked. That was when Blue noticed that he was dressed very well. This wasn’t just some guy off the street who’d come in for a beer.
“No, sir. I wrote it all by myself. Music and lyrics,” he said, straightening. “Is there a problem?”
“Oh, no. No problem at all. But I’d like to talk to you sometime when you have a minute.” The man pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Blue. “Please give me a call.” Without another word, the guy walked away. Blue watched him climb into a BMW and pull out onto the street.
The card was still in his hand, so he took a look at it.Alexander Wynn, A&R, Tidal Wave Records.Blue read it half a dozen times, wondering if he was reading it wrong. “Whatcha got there?” Devon asked as he stepped up beside Blue. Without a word, Blue handed him the card. Devon took a look at it and said, “Whoa! Wow! That’s awesome! You gonna call him?”
Blue shrugged. “Maybe.”
“You should do it. Maybe he wants to buy one of your songs.”
Buy one of my songs?Blue had thought the guy wanted to put him in a band, but buy a song? That sounded even better to him. He’d love to play in a big-name band, but he wanted to be at home with Indigo. “I’ll give him a call.”He probably just wants to know where I got my guitar case or something, Blue thought. But what if Devon was right?
Blue didn’t tell Anne about the guy with the business card. He didn’t tell anyone else. He just put it in a drawer and tried to forget about it. Disappointment was one thing he didn’t need. He already had a boatload of it.
One application after another was turned in, and he waited, but no one called. Did they even have paper routes anymore? He’d had friends who’d done those when he was growing up, but even that looked good. There was no money?none. Anne bought him some groceries, but he had water and electric bills coming due, as well as his house payment. Being the shithole it was, the house payment wasn’t much, but it was money he didn’t have. At least Anne wasn’t having to watch Indigo. Since he wasn’t working, he was home with her all the time.
And the more time he spent with her, the more he loved her. She was funny and cute and, from what little he knew aboutbabies, a pretty good one. She rarely ever cried and when she did, it was fairly easy to figure out what was wrong.
The only bright spots in his life were the kids and Anne. Since Anne was working and he wasn’t, Polly and Toady started coming over to his house every evening so they weren’t alone. They were a big help with Indigo, and he made sure they had their homework done. He ran back and forth to her house while they were there, starting loads of laundry, picking up, and cleaning here and there. If she was going to help him, that was the least he could do for her.
A week dragged by, and then two. Nothing cracked open, and Blue could feel depression settling on him like a big wet blanket. Getting up in the mornings was hard, but he had to. He had a baby to take care of, and there was no sleeping in. Several time he fed her and got her down for a nap, then just crawled into the bed. There was nothing for him to do. He stopped looking for work too. There was nothing out there.
They were closing out their last set that Saturday night when Blue looked out across the bar and saw the man again.What was his name?he thought. All he could remember was Alexander. And sure enough, when they were finished, the man made his way toward Blue. He heard Devon whisper, “Go for it, Blue. Do it.”
“Mr. Wallace?”
Blue turned to him. “Yes, sir.”
“AlexanderWynn,” the man said, extending a hand. “Just call me Alex. Did you lose my card?”
Blue sighed. “No, sir, Mr.Wynn. I’ve just had a rough couple of weeks.”
