Elfhome

Riki’s head whipped around and he gave Oilcan a look of surprise and — oddly enough — hurt. Had it mattered that much that Oilcan had confided with him? That they shared that kind of pain? Oilcan jerked his head toward the brewing fight and Riki followed his gaze and then nodded.

“What’s that?” Moser asked of the melody. “A new song?”

Oilcan shook his head. There was no way he’d play the sorrowful song publicly, especially with the audience on the edge like it was. He needed a song though, one to tie this whole crowd together. An idea of a song went through his head and he started to fumble through a melody.

Moser quirked up an eyebrow but followed his lead. His frustration with the crowd fed into the tune. Couldn’t they just see that despite everything, they were all one people? At the very core, they had to have the same drive as his kids. Pittsburgh wasn’t a sane and simple place to live. You had to have a deep need to live there. The melody was defiant and angry and the words, when they came, were furious.

“Blood on the pavement, blood on the blade, blood flows through common veins.” The words poured from somewhere deep inside of him, like they were being torn from his gut. “Three worlds bridged by a single span, steel that climbs from earth to sky. Freedom to create, freedom to fly — one world, one people, one kind. We are Pittsburgh.”

When he hit the chorus the second time, they all sang with him.

#

He and the rest of the band were all panting and dripping sweat and glowing with joy. It was like they had a long session of really good sex. The humans in the crowd started to call for encore, but Oilcan’s body felt rubbery with the effort to stay standing.

Tinker appeared out of the crowd, bouncing like a mad thing. She couldn’t possibly know how cute she looked because she would have stopped otherwise. She bound up, claimed the microphone, and shouted. “We are Pittsburgh! We are one people!”

The crowd roared, loving her.

“When you see the whiskers on your face and the faces around you, remember! You’re not human, elf or tengu — you’re a Pittsburgher! You’re one of us!”

They roared again.

“Thank you for all the help you’ve given my cousin. Now, go home.”

The crowd laughed and went.

Despite his obvious exhaustion, Moser was still dancing. “This song is mine!” He had unplugged his electric guitar so there was no music to draw the crowd back, but he could still strum through the chords of the new song. “I call dibs on it.”

Oilcan laughed. “If you can remember the words.”

Moser laughed and pulled out his cellphone. “I saw the gears grinding and knew what was coming. I recorded it.”

Oilcan high-five’d Moser. “Let me hear.”

Tinker made a negative sound and gave Moser a little push. “You start that and you’ll be up all night. Go home, let the boy rest.”

“I’ll write up the score!” Moser promised as Briar grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the gym.

And suddenly it was all over. He had a massive house, five kids, and no idea if he even had a bed for the night. For all he knew, the upstairs was still filled with trash. He sat down on the floor and then went ahead and sprawled out on the smooth wood.

Tinker went off to make sure everyone actually left. She came back a few minutes later and nudged him with her toe. “I’m pretty sure this is a gym, not a bedroom.”

“They’re right about you being a genius.” Oilcan wished he could just sleep there on the gym floor. He had to find out, though, if the kids had someplace to sleep and if they got some of the food that circulated. Maybe he should pack up the kids and go back to his condo for the night. Then he remembered then the indi, the chicks and the puppy. He climbed back to his feet with a groan.

She poked him in the stomach. “You going to be okay?”

He laughed. He had no idea how to answer that truthfully. All day he had the sense of sinking in over his head until he couldn’t even see the surface.

“You know — no matter what — we’re always going to be family.” Tinker leaned her forehead against his shoulder. “You need something, and it’s mine to give, it’s yours.”

He knew it to his core but it was what he needed to hear. “I’ll be fine.”

#

Only after Tinker had left did Oilcan realize that he had no idea where his kids were. Even Merry had packed up her instrument and disappeared after the music ended; most likely scared off by the sekasha’s presence. The electric was on in the school, but with the exception of the high fixtures of the gym, most of the light bulbs had been smashed. Trying not to panic, he got a flashlight from his pickup and headed up to the third floor that he had deemed “the family rooms.” His footsteps echoed through the dark empty building.