LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

stood and bowed, using my hand in a sweeping gesture to indicate the instrument in front of me. “Gentlemen, the Mellotron MkII.”

      “It is very impressive,” Hamed added, coming around to look at the control panel. “How does it work?”

      I handed him the repair manual I’d also purchased. Turning back to the instrument, I consulted the track sheet, pressed another button and began the opening to “Watcher of the Skies” by Genesis. The sound was even more spectacular.

      “How come you know all this old stuff, boss?” Johnny asked.

      I answered, sounding more disgusted than I wanted to, “Because it wasn’t that old when I learned it.”

      On and off during the day, we all kept gravitating to the mellotron, putting it through its paces. Every sound was tried, and none found wanting. Some seemed like old friends because of the number of times we’d heard them on recordings: cello, mixed choir and flute (“Strawberry Fields” anyone?), but several were new to me, bass flute and French horn being the standouts there. Hamed liked the sustained guitar (another new one), and we all especially liked Gothic, a huge sound that was a blend of string section, mixed choir and pipe organ—very atmospheric and creepy to the point where it actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

      Shortly after Johnny had left with the organ delivery to a studio downtown, the buzzer on the back door sounded. I’d built a small room with a counter to keep customers out of the warehouse proper, so we couldn’t see who had entered. Hamed trotted off to find out. I had my head down fiddling with the reverb control on the mellotron when two sets of footsteps approached.

      When I didn’t look up right away, Hamed cleared his throat. “Michael, this woman says she’d like to speak to you.”

      I looked up distractedly, and there stood Regina. She didn’t really want to speak to me. She just reared back and gave my face the kind of full-handed slap you only see in movies.

      Five

      We all stood frozen as the sound of Regina’s slap seemed to echo around the warehouse.

      My first thought was how much it hurt! My face burned, but not simply from the force of hand meeting flesh. Kevin and Hamed stood shuffling awkwardly, eyes down. Regina stared at me, her expression daring me to say something, at which point, I had no doubt, she would have slapped me again.

      After a good fifteen seconds of uncomfortable silence, Regina turned, and with her head held high and her body stiff, started back across the room. The sound of the outside door slamming followed shortly after. At the same time, the three of us started breathing again.

      I knew I deserved what I’d got, but why had she come all this way to deliver her rebuke for my caddish behavior? Princess indeed! I guess I had delivered the ultimate insult, and at all costs, it had to be redressed.

      Partly without willing it, my feet began moving, following in her footsteps. I had no idea what to tell her, but I owed Regina more than stunned silence. As I crossed the room, I could hear Kevin say softly to Hamed, “What the hell was that all about?”

      “A woman scorned is my guess,” Hamed answered.

      Without a coat, the extreme cold hit like a hammer as I left the building. Hair streaming behind her, Regina stood hunched into the wind in the middle of the driveway.

      I walked forward and touched her shoulder. “Regina...”

      She turned slowly, and her face had an odd expression. If I hadn’t known better, I would have said it looked something akin to triumph.

      “It’s cold out here,” I began lamely. “Come inside, and I’ll call you a cab.”

      “You hurt me!” Regina said savagely. “I gave myself to you, and you just walked away.”

      “This isn’t the place to discuss my shortcomings, certainly not in this weather. Why don’t you come into my office, and we can talk?” I grabbed her arm, steering her back to the door. “Please, come inside.”

      Regina resisted for a moment, then sagged. “All right. It’s too damn cold out here.”

      Hamed and Kevin were where I’d left them as we re-entered the warehouse. Without a word, we passed through, entered the office and shut the door. I knew they’d be speculating themselves into a stupor, and without a doubt, the story would be all over town in short order. Even though it had been years since I had been in the limelight, people still seemed to take inordinate notice of my comings and goings, as if they were expecting me to break out at any moment and become a Rock Star again. In the past, it had been sort of amusing, but this time I dreaded the chatter. Well, the damage was done, and I would have to live with the fallout, even if a report surfaced on that damned Neurotica fan website that had appeared a few years previously.

      “Would you care to sit down?” I inquired politely.

      Regina, arms crossed, stood for a long moment glaring at me, before taking the offered seat. I thought it best to put the desk between us, so I sat in my own chair.

      “You are a total bastard!” she spat out.

      “You came a long way just to tell me that. A phone call would have been easier and a hell of a lot cheaper,” I answered, rather coldly and immediately regretted it.

      For several seconds she didn’t say anything, and I thought she might start crying, but although her eyes brightened, Regina maintained her composure and said quietly, “Angus warned me you could be like this.”

      I ran my hands over my face and back through my hair, then looked across my desk at her. “Regina... I know it won’t mean very much after the fact, but I regret what I did. I really do.” A bad thought crossed my mind. “What else did Angus say about me?”

      Regina’s eyes drifted away to a poster of the Red Hot Chili Peppers behind my desk. “Angus cares about you very much. To be honest, I wish I had a friend like him.”

      “You’re stalling. Come on. What did he say about me?”

      “He told me that, regardless of outward impressions, you have no idea what you’re doing with your life, that I shouldn’t take what you did personally. You’ve been running away from things for years. Well I’m sorry, but I did take it personally.”

      “I didn’t make any promises,” I said, but it sounded lame even to my ears.

      “And I didn’t expect any! But the least you could have done was woken me up and told me that it had been fun, but you really had to be going. You made me feel cheap, slinking out like that!”

      “Regina, that’s the last thing you should feel. The problem was all at my end. I guess I just freaked. It was a stupid thing to do.”

      “Yes, it was. I came here to get back a measure of self-respect!”

      I rubbed my cheek reflectively. “You certainly made your point.”

      “Good! You damn well deserved it.”

      I sighed, knowing that this was my just desserts for letting my gonads make decisions for me.

      Checking my watch, I said, “Let’s get the hell out of here. Can I, ah, take you to dinner or something?”

      I didn’t know why I’d said that last bit—probably another pang of guilt—but it slipped out before my brain got hold of it, and once said, it wasn’t in the realm of possibility to take it back. My only hope was that she’d decline.

      She didn’t.

      “That’s the least you can do,” Regina responded primly. “I haven’t eaten anything all day.”

      “Okay, I know just the place. Great food, and we don’t have to be dressed up.”

      “That’s good, because I don’t have much more than I did when I jumped into your car. I did a little shopping at the Glasgow

Скачать книгу