Page 46 of The River in Spring
“This is so fun!” Scarlett calls.
The sound of whispers and laughter follow me into the living room, fading as we get further away.
“Hey Dad, fill me in. What has she planned?” I whisper my request hoping we can form an alliance. I’ve been watching too many reality shows with Dove.
He looks at me as if I’m about to be committed. “That’s not going to happen. Just sit here and enjoy it.”
“Do I really have to participate?”
“Don’t be a tight ass. You’re going to like it.”
I haven’t been called that since he tried to get me to take his bookkeeper’s pissy daughter out in high school. The stupid part of the story was that my father was the one who had previously told me about her shitty attitude. When I pointed out I could choose my own dates, he said ‘Well get to it, son. You’re not getting any younger. And quit being a tight ass.’
So I take his remark in the spirit it was intended. Fatherly guidance.
“Okay. Okay. I’m in.”
There are new sounds now. That’s when the red blindfold in his pocket gets tied around my eyes. I recognize the silky square Dove and I have used to tie her wrists in the bedroom. Ha! Think my girl is sending me a private joke. Love the way she thinks.
“And don’t look out the bottom,” he says, adjusting the folds over every possible sliver of light.
“I can’t see a thing, Dad. Quit pushing on my eyes!”
“Okay. Sorry that’s good I think.”
I hear footsteps going away from the dining room and kitchen and moving toward the guest rooms. But I knew that already. Whatever is in there requires multiple people to carry it, or maybe assemble? No, they wouldn’t wait till now to do that.
What kind of noise was that? Sounded like bells. Or maybe a chime? It is directly followed by people shushing each other and laughing. It brings a smile to my face. Now there are a few people coming into the room. Something heavy is being rolled across the wood floors.
“Where do you want it?” Parish whispers.
“Dude, he can hear us! His ears aren’t covered,” Van says, making my father laugh.
“You guys, over here!” Dove says, directing traffic.
“Be careful!” my mother says to someone.
“Careful of what?” I say, getting more confused by the minute.
“It will all be revealed soon!” Scarlett adds in the voice of a prophet.
Another clue. “What’s that? Sounds like a tambourine! Aargon is in the house!” I say, beginning to put the puzzle pieces together.
“Shut up! Just wait one more minute,” Aargon says, walking from the hall into the room.
“Oh I must be close. Is it something musical? Are we playing Name That Tune? That’s it. We used to play that when we were young.”
“We’re still young!” Van says, laying something metal on the coffee table. “At least I am.”
More footsteps and voices.
“Are we all ready?” Dove says. “Yes. Okay, Nobel you may remove your blindfold.”
As soon as I lower the scarf, I’m greeted with an onslaught of sound coming from The Lyon Family Birthday Band. The matching T-shirts declare the group’s professional name. Everyone plays some kind of instrument, from Sam and Teddy’s actual guitars to Aargon’s old tambourine. My mother has a kazoo I’ve never seen. She hands my father one of his own, which he immediately begins to toot. Scarlett and Parish represent the drum section with a bongo between his legs and a child’s drum hanging around her neck. Van is the pianist and that is probably because he took piano lessons longer than the rest of us. The portable keyboard works for his limited skills. Happy Birthday was his opus back in the day when anything more sophisticated was out of his reach. He played it fourteen thousand times back in the day. Dove holds a cowbell and she’s ringing it at the right spots.
“More cowbell!” I holler.
I think they are still playing Happy Birthday but it’s hard to tell because of the laughter and the fact they have to start over three times. Whatever it is, I love that they’re doing it for me. The lump in my throat will have to stay there though, because I’m not about to get emotional over a happy birthday song.
