X is for Xylophone
Plot bunny by Cheryltx
Eight year old Gus was spending a few weeks in Pittsburgh visiting his dad and his Justin. Brian and Justin had planned time off but of course last minute changes in a critical ad campaign and the opportunity for Justin to enter a few paintings in a show threw a large monkey wrench into their plans. Justin had to be away for a few days and Brian needed to work through the weekend. Debbie had brought over a casserole to the loft just when Brian got the panic call from Cynthia.
“I’ll take him home with me,” Debbie volunteered.
“Yay!” Gus cheered as he threw his arms around his Grandma Deb.
“Are you sure?” Brian asked feeling more than a little guilty. He really had planned a work free vacation to spend exclusively with his son. “It’ll only be for the weekend. The final presentation is Monday morning.”
“Brian, sweetheart, I’m not so old that I don’t remember how to take care of a little boy. It’s not like he’s a baby. We’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be good, Daddy, I promise,” Gus pledged.
Brian saw the sincerity in his son’s eyes. “All right, let’s go pack you a bag,” Brian said as hand in hand the Kinney boys walked into the alcove.
*****
“Whatcha watchin’, Grandma?” Gus asked as he climbed up into Debbie’s lap. After Gus’ favorite dinner of mac and cheese and hot dogs, Deb, Carl and Gus sat together on the sofa to watch TV.
“This is The Lawrence Welk Show,” Debbie explained. “When I was a little girl we watched this show every Sunday night.”
“You had TV back in the olden days, Grandma?” Gus asked with awe. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the program which happened to be in black and white. Debbie frowned as Carl snickered.
“Yes, we did,” Debbie sighed. “It was invented just after the dinosaurs died out,” she snarked. Before she had to explain the concept of TV without color, the next performer took the stage. Lawrence Welk introduced Jack Imel and his xylophone solo. The instrument was so large it took up half the stage.
“What’s that?” Gus asked.
“A xylophone.”
“A whataphone?”
“Xy-lo-phone,” Debbie slowly pronounced. Gus carefully repeated the word several times until he got it. The music it produced seemed to fascinate the young man, so with Carl’s help they booted up their computer to do some research on the xylophone.
“Do you think I can learn how to play the xylophone?” Gus asked with all the innocent wonder and hope a child could muster.
“I don’t see why not. In fact I bet we still have one,” Deb said.
“You have a xy-lo-phone?” Gus asked in disbelief.
“Well, not a big one, but I’ll let you in on a secret. Your Uncle Michael wanted to play the xylophone when he was just about your age. The school let me have one made for kids. And I think it’s still in the basement,” Deb said as she pushed Gus off her lap then disappeared downstairs.
Carl and Gus heard a lot of noise for several minutes, not to mention a few bad words, and then a loud screech of satisfaction. A few moments later, Deb was back holding an old canvas bag. Placing the bag on the coffee table, the three of them explored its contents.
*****
“What the fuck is that?” Brian cursed to himself as he came home to the loft Monday evening. With his campaign contract finalized, Brian’s vacation was back on schedule. Brian followed the noise to the alcove where Gus was entertaining Justin with his new xylophone.
“Daddy!” Gus shouted when he saw his father. “Look what I have!” Gus proudly announced. “It’s called a xy-lo-phone,” Gus stated.
“Is that what it is?” Brian said hiding a grimace. “And where did you get it?” he asked as he gave his son a kiss on the head then properly greeted his partner.
“It was Uncle Mikey’s but Grandma Deb said I can have it,” Gus explained.
“Uh huh. You must remind me to thank her,” Brian said as he began to plot his revenge. Gus went back to giving his concert which really wasn’t as bad as Brian thought it would be.
Several hours later the exhausted musician was fast asleep; his trusty xylophone next to him.
“What are we going to do with that thing?” Brian asked Justin as they lay together in bed.
“We could throw it out,” Justin suggested.
“And tell Gus what, that the xylophone fairy took it away and left him a few bucks. I don’t think so.”
“We could get him lessons while he’s here,” Justin said trying to be helpful.
“Great,” Brian snarked.
“And of course when Gus goes back home, his instrument will have to go with him,” Justin said with an innocent smile.
Brian smirked. “You’re so smart,” he said.
“Yup,” Justin agreed as they snuggled close together.
“I wonder where I can get a good xy-lo-phone teacher,” Brian murmured.
Justin giggled.
-end-
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