Page 45 of Together in Harmony
I clamp my thighs together so no one can sense what is going on in my core.
“Lyrics,” Hugo is saying.
“We want your words,” adds Asa.
“Amongst other things,” Lennox murmurs in my ear.
I try to pull myself together to focus.
“Lyrics?”
“Babe, you were so amazing coming up with the theme and phrasing for that piece we wrote at Clara’s. You have a magical way with words.”
“How would you feel about collaborating on our new album? We have the music piece worked out, mostly, but we are hitting a brick wall when it comes to the rest of it,” adds Hugo.
What?
“I can’t do that? I’ve got no experience, no idea what I’m doing…”
“That’s not true babe, what about the poetry?” says Asa.
“Our babe is a poet, wouldn’t you know it,” grins Lennox.
“I’d love to see some of your work,” Hugo tells me.
Good lord. No way I am showing anyone my poems. They are basically just small, slightly amusing word doodles.
“Maybe sometime,” I whisper.
“You are so good with words,” Asa is saying. “A poetess, a wordsmith. Please say you’ll try working with us.”
“Pretty please,” adds Lennox.
“It would be helpful,” says Hugo.
“I don’t want to be in the public eye,” I tell them.
What would be the consequences of saying yes to this...this absurdity? “We just keep this between us. Don’t even tell your record company.”
“But babe, you have to take credit for your work.”
“I don’t want it. I’ll work with you but I want anonymity.”
Asa looks as though he is about to argue, but Hugo puts a hand on his shoulder. “We will respect your wishes,” he says.
I give him a thankful look, happy that they won’t press the issue.
“Let's take Harmony to the studio and show her some of the stuff we have been working on.”
That sounds good.
“I’d love that,” I say.
???
The recording studio is in a converted barn. We walk along a covered walkway which attaches the barn to the house. Lennox holds open one of the heavy doors, and I step inside. Inside the brain and the heart of Mercury Rising.
The barn is sectioned into two parts; one area is full of instruments, with gray foam padding all over the walls. The other area has a large glass window, which looks over the recording side. There are banks and banks of monitors and mixers. It is all very familiar. I’ve spent hours, days, years, hanging out in places like this.
