Page 9 of String Boys

“Daddy?” Kelly ran to the door. “Daddy, what are you doing here? Seth’s daddy was making spaghetti. Is it done?”

Daddy shook his head. “No, son. We turned off the spaghetti. I think Seth’s going upstairs to eat with us tonight. We need to go to a meeting.”

Kelly knew his eyes got huge. “You and Seth’s daddy work in the same place?”How marvelous!

His dad laughed. “No. We have some of the same friends. Seth’s daddy got sad tonight—”

“Because Seth plays the violin?” Oh, he did not understand why this was such a big deal!

“No.” Daddy crouched down and looked Kelly in the eye, and Kelly knew it was important. “Because he did bad things, and it’s hard when you do bad things and hurt the people you love. He knows it’s going to take a while before Seth can forgive him. He needs some help dealing with that so he doesn’t drink some more.”

Oh.Kelly nodded, only a little confused. “Seth is afraid he’s going to hit again.”

“Yeah, I know. Seth gets to feel like that. His daddy is the one who’s got to work at making him believe he won’t. Tonight’s a hard night, so you take Seth upstairs and get some food. And did you guys decorate the apartment? It looks really good.”

Kelly grinned. “I put the paper eggs up on the window.”

Daddy nodded. “Nicely done. Seth?”

Seth just looked at him. “Sir?”

“We’ll be home before bedtime. Don’t worry. Your daddy wants to keep coming home and being your daddy. Is that okay?”

Seth nodded, his expression unreadable.

Kelly’s dad sighed. “Sure, it is. Come on, boys. Let’s get moving. Mom needs to know we’ve got one more for dinner.”

And that was that.

SETH’S DADDYand Kelly’s daddy went to lots more meetings together, but fewer and fewer over time. Soon it was down to once a week, but they never missed that once a week, and Kelly’s mom said that was a good thing. Pleasing Kelly’s mom was a big deal to Kelly’s dad—her belly was gettingbig.By the time the end of the year concert rolled around, one of the girls could sit on that belly and dangle her legs.

But the end of the year concert waswonderful.Seth’s daddy bought Seth a new shirt, made sure he did his hair, and bought him new shoes.

They all dressed up pretty and walked to the school together, and Seth played “Turkey in the Straw” and a slow song, something in C, which Kelly didn’t understand because C was a note they played all the time and having a whole song in it didn’t seem that big a deal, but Seth played the song like… like… like angels and starlight and the purest song of God and church and Christmas all wrapped into one.

Itwasa big deal, and both of their fathers were in the audience, listening to them.

Seth’s daddy cried.

Kelly hadn’t seen a daddy cry since his mom kicked his own daddy out of the house and told him not to come back until he got his shit together. And now he had his shit together, and Seth’s daddy did too, and they were all playing music and getting ice cream afterward and that was the best thing.

No.

Scratch that.

Kelly got to see Seth’s face, beaming and lovely, as he finished something in C.

He was the most beautiful thing Kelly had ever seen, and if Kelly had been a grown-up and Seth had been a grown-up, Kelly would have kissed him. It was so beautiful, and Kelly wanted all that beauty just gobbled up in his heart.

It wasn’t until he was a little older that he realized this moment—this moment of seeing Seth happy, on stage, showing his beautiful soul to the world—was the moment he fell irrevocably, implacably, forever in love.

Baby Steps from Home

“OH NO!”Seth whispered harshly, peering out from behind the curtain.

“What? Didn’t they make it?”

Seth glanced affectionately at Kelly, who was still hanging on to the violin, mostly, Seth was beginning to suspect, to keep Seth company. Matty, God love him, had quit after the fifth grade, but Seth and Kelly had been playing for two years.