Different Circles

Sunday afternoon found Jake sitting out on his deck in one of the chairs. His Fender guitar was in his hands and a glass of wine was half empty on the table next to him. On the Weber he had a chicken cooking and the fragrant mesquite smoke would occasionally drift over him. The sky was a brilliant blue and there were a few fishing boats out on the ocean. Further out was a container ship slowly making its way toward Long Beach.

Jake was strumming absently on the guitar. He had brought it out here to get in a little practice on the tune he and Gordon were working on—it was called Let’s Do It Tonight and it was indeed about sex—but had gotten bored with that a few minutes before and was now just letting his mind run freely. He had settled into a basic melody that had been playing in his head the last few days. It was something mellow, something that likely would not transition well to a distorted electric. As of yet, he had no lyrics to go with it, but he fancied that it might be something to do with little Ziggy and his feelings about becoming a father for the first time. He played the melody over and over again, not modifying it or trying to improve it, just enjoying it. It was a four-chord melody, the first three soft, the final with a strong emphasis to set the cadence of the rhythm.

The sliding glass door opened behind him and Laura stepped out. She was wearing a maternity t-shirt with a picture of a puppy on it and a pair of baggy grey sweat shorts. She had no bra on since she was home and had no plans to go out today. She carried a glass of lemonade on the rocks in her hand.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted, pausing in his playing and picking up his wine glass. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she said with a smile. “Just coming out to see what you’re doing and get a little air.” She sat down in the chair next to him. She looked at his wine longingly. “Oh god, that looks so good. Let me smell it.”

He handed her the wine glass and she took a large sniff. “Oh ... heavenly,” she said. “I can’t wait until Ziggy is born so I can enjoy some chardonnay every now and then.”

“Another eleven weeks,” Jake said.

“Eleven long weeks,” she said with a sigh, handing him back the glass.

He put his hands back on the guitar. “Tell me what you think about this melody,” he said. He began to strum it out for her. One two three FOUR, one two three FOUR, one two three FOUR.

“I like it,” she said, nodding her head. “Something new?”

“Yeah,” he said, continuing to strum it out. “It’s been running around in my head the past few days. When that happens, I have to strum it out, write it down, come up with something to go with it.”

“It’s got a pretty sound to it,” she said. “I’m not sure it would sound good as a distortion riff though.”

“Me either,” he said. “When I come up with some lyrics and put it together it will have to stay acoustic.”

“Hey,” Laura said with a smile. “Ziggy likes it too. She just started kicking me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Laura said, delighted, as always when Ziggy responded to music. “She’s keeping time. Keep playing it.”

Jake kept playing the rhythm. One two three FOUR, one two three FOUR, striking the strings a little harder, increasing the volume so Ziggy could hear it better.

“Look at this,” Laura said, pulling the bottom of her shirt up to reveal her swollen belly. “She’s keeping time.”

Jake saw that she was right. On the fourth chord of each repetition Ziggy was giving a kick in time with it, a little bulge pushing out just above and to the right of Laura’s belly button. He continued to run through the melody and she kicked every time on each fourth chord. There was no way to claim that she was not responding to the music.

“That’s wild,” Jake said, a big smile on his face as he continued to play, a strong tug of love for his unborn child sounding in his heart. “She’s keeping cadence.”

“Yep,” Laura said, feeling much the same. “That’s exactly what she’s doing.”

Jake strummed out three more reps, watched three more outward bulges as Ziggy kept cadence. And then his fingers came to a sudden halt and his mouth dropped open.

“Why’d you stop?” Laura asked.

Jake looked at his wife. “Cadence,” he said softly. “Cadence.”

She looked back at him, at first not picking up what he was laying down. But then she understood and smiled back at him. “Cadence,” she said with a laugh. “Oh my God. It’s perfect!”

Chapter 20: Working It All Out

Posted: 01.08.2023, 04:34:11

Malibu, California

October 10, 1997