Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:07:13 -0400 From: Homer Simpson Subject: Devon's Lie 8 Devon did freeze with eyes big as quarters. Cher came up to him and sniffed him all over. Devon was shaking all over. Sonny just stood there. Paul stood also, he had no idea what the dogs where up too. Normally they were even tempered dogs. Paul then realized that they didn't ever have a chance to meet anyone since hardly anyone came to visit him. Occasionally his cousins would come for a picnic and bring their children, course nothing like this ever happened before. After a good sniffing, Cher barked in the air before putting her front pawls on Devon's shoulders. Devon could feel the German Sheppard applying pressure like twisting his thigh up in the air some. The combination of the two dogs caused Devon to fall to his buttock in one motion. Sonny started licking the boy all over while Cher worked on the other end of him. Paul watched in amazement as the boy was rigid when he went down and then started giggling as the dog licking began in earnest. Paul laughed "Guess you aren't clean enough Devon" Devon giggled for at least 10 minutes before the dogs let him stand. He was petting them both the best he could. He'd never been around a dog in his 12 years since his dad was allergic to them. Paul just stood there watching them. After a bit, Devon looked up at him with tears in his eyes, "this is great! I've never had anything like this happen before" "Their love in unconditional, but come, lets get something to drink" Devon followed Paul into the house. They walked down a hallway where a kitchen came into view. Paul got out a beer for himself and a coke for Devon. He set the coke down in front of Devon and noticed that Devon scrunched up his eyes at the coke. "You don't want a coke? I thought kids loved coke" Paul said to him. "I'll drink it sir" he said as he petted the dog's head. Cher barked, jumped up on the table and grabbed the coke with her mouth, sat down and just held the coke. Paul watched the whole thing. "I somehow don't think you really want that coke. These dogs are acting funny" Devon petted them all that much more. Paul heard the boy sniff and watched him bend down and hug Cher and then Sonny. He put his head on them and looked down at the floor away from Paul. Paul heard another sniff. "okkkkkkkkay. So let's try this, what would you like to drink Devon?" Sonny barked then and started wagging his tail. In a small voice that he still looked at the wagging dog's tail Paul heard "May I just have a glass of water with ice in it, sir?" "Gee, I dunno. I will have to see if I have any water" Sonny barked again. Cher dropped the coke on the floor and barked too. Paul shook his head and gave the boy what he wanted. Devon drank a few gulps and set the glass on the table. "Thank you sir. I like it here. Are you all by yourself except for all your animals?" Paul looked the boy over before he answered "yes, all alone" Devon said a small "oh" and looked down at the dogs again. "Well, I have a few things to do before we can eat. You look around if you want. The dogs will hear me if I yell when I'm ready. I'll be in my study for a bit" Devon smiled at the dogs barked again and nodded. He never looked at Paul as he walked to the door. Paul looked back from down the hallway. Devon was petting the dogs again. Paul heard a giggle. "Let me see if I can find something for you to drink out of. I know you gotta be thirsty". Paul watched the boy stand and look at all the cupboards his level. He saw him peek inside a couple of them. Paul heard an "all right". He heard the water turn on and Paul walked off to his office. Paul got lost in his office work researching some information for a project he'd been working on for some time. He felt that he was near the end of it. He'd be able to market it. By the time he looked at the clock on the wall, he was shocked to see it was almost 2 pm. He'd been in the room for over 2.5 hours. He quickly closed up the computer he was working on and then shut down the computer. He then noticed some sound. It wasn't very loud. Paul walked to his door and stood there. He could hear a piano playing. He only knew of one place where there was a piano. It was in the music room. The music room had been built at the bottom of the 4 stories. Actually, Paul, who was on the second floor walked the concentric staircases that all led to the music room arena. His grandmother told him that the house was built during a time when music was live and appreciated. Lots of dances would be performed on the bottom floor. As the biggest house of the area, many parties would be given and as such many people would attend them. His grandmother told him that all types of people were encouraged to attend. The music room was big enough on the bottom floor to allow dancing along with the band. The area for 4 floors straight up was open to allow the music to be enjoyed above them by anyone on those other floors who might be standing on the stairwells or near enough to hear them. Paul came to the music room on the second floor. As he got closer, he could hear the music get louder. It wasn't overbearing but nice enough. Paul stood near enough to see Devon seated on the seat. The two dogs where lying beside him. The music room had two pianos and Devon was on the smaller of the two. He was reading out of a book and playing something that Paul didn't recognize. The music was steady and pretty. "How'd you guys like that?" Devon asked the two dogs. He got a thumping from Sonny who hadn't moved his head which was between his front feet. Cher was still laying there. "Yeah, it didn't do much for me either. I don't recognize much of this though. Here, let me play you my hit. Now I didn't write the song but I did the music. I had to work on it a lot but I finally got it good enough I guess" Paul noticed that Sonny's tail was still wagging. Paul was blown away when a long prelude began to come from the instruments that he'd never heard since his grandmother's time. "I like that part the best. When I play it for the fans, they have no idea what's coming but let me do it again for you and go into it" Paul once again heard the same music. Paul walked over and sat down in a chair out of sight from the boy. He heard the music drift into a natural song. Paul heard Devon's clear soprano voice above the song. The song wasn't some of that hip hop stuff he'd thought that all kids were into. It flowed and Paul had to close his eyes to enjoy all of it. Paul stood again and looked over the side at the boy. Cher and Sonny were now sitting up with both of their tails wagging. Paul saw Devon look at them and smile. He noticed the boy say something like "you like that" when he brought the music back again. Paul watched the boy. His hands moved over the keys with grace knowing where they wanted to be. Devon was singing with his eyes closed. Devon opened his eyes while looking up and saw Paul looking down at him. Devon froze with his hands on the keys. Paul instantly saw that frightened look again. "FREEZE BOY! DON'T MOVE FROM THERE" Paul quickly descended down the stairs. The two dogs were standing up with the hair on their spine standing up looking at Devon. Devon hadn't moved any but had tears running down his eyes. As Paul approached him "I'm so so sorry. I didn't hurt it. I promise. I didn't hurt anything at all" Paul's heart melted immediately for the scared boy. "I know" he said gently "you have a natural gift that I wasn't aware of Devon. From what I heard, it was beautiful" "How long have you been there?" he asked quietly. "For a little while" "You heard it all then?" "I heard you admit finally out loud what your problem was but I also heard you say that you didn't write the words but you did the music" Devon looked down "yes sir". Paul thought the boy sounded defeated. "You can read music also" "Yes sir. I always have been able too" "Very well, come with me then and bring the dogs. You are NOT in trouble" Devon visibly relaxed. "Really?" "Come" and Paul walked off towards another door. Devon and the dogs ran to keep up. Paul walked down towards the other end of the house into a room. He opened up the double doors. He walked thru them. Devon and the dog's entered then. Paul shut the door while Devon watched him. Paul walked over the two chairs and pulled them to the center of the huge room. Devon looked around the room. There were books on the many shelves along with some other things that Devon didn't recognize. "Come here and sit in this chair" Devon moved with the two dogs to the chairs in the center of the room. He sat in the one chair and watched Paul move over to a bar. Paul got two glasses out, fill them with ice and put water in them. He then reached down and put some water in a silver bowl. He placed them all on a platter and brought them over to a small table near the chairs. Paul then when over to a keyboard on a wall. He pushed some buttons and a huge screen made its way down the wall. Paul then pushed some more buttons and stuff. He picked up a remote of some type. Devon thought it looked like a TV remote control at least. Paul came over to Devon. He put the dish on the floor for the dogs. He handed Devon his glass. The boy stared up at him still in wonderment. "This house, Devon, has been in my family for generations, lots of life times. My family has always been rich and helping others. Either by physical labor, money or life enriching opportunities. YOU have found one of the life enriching opportunities. I do not profess to play a musical instrument at all. None. My parents died when I was young so I was raised by my grandmother. I own all this amidst some 300 acres. No one is around. If so, the dogs would let me know. I respect my privacy, my family and my house. The only room that I have made any major changes too is the one you're in right now. The changes are for my own enjoyment. I have a very strange taste in music. I am going to play you some music now. It will not be quiet either but I want you to sit back in that chair. The dogs might leave, but they are close and will return shortly. Sip you water, close your eyes and just l-i-s-t-e-n to as much as you can take in, then we'll talk" Devon nodded and sat as far back into the chair as he could. He had no idea what to expect. As the music started to ramp up the dogs stood and left abruptly thru a doggy door in a door Devon hadn't noticed. The music was by a group called Air Supply. The song was one he had never heard of. The music was also extremely loud but Devon could almost feel the orchestra in various places throughout the room. The singer had a clear voice that Devon enjoyed but didn't recognize. He figured the group was very old. Devon could feel the music pound thru him, the lead singer brought emotions out of him he hadn't experienced in awhile. After the music ended, Devon sat there with his eyes closed. "Keep them closed Devon. Listen to me. The music you just listened too was very popular at the time. The group lived in Australia but over 2000 miles apart. The music was recorded one place, shipped the music to the artist who would sing it at his house. They only met for concerts" At that point Devon's eyes popped open the size of silver dollars. "Really?" "One more" and Paul hit the control. Devon saw the room darken instantly and a video of the Beatles flashed up on the screen. Devon saw the 4 musicians singing. About half way through, it became apparent that the four musicians were in a studio by themselves. He saw the drummer and other three guitars. While the music was playing the screen shifted to show an orchestra playing to the vocals. Devon was simply amazed. He had tears streaming down his eyes as the music died away. "See Devon, music consists of songs, music and vocals. You might not have written the words to your song, but the music you put together was the other missing links. Together they make up the song that you took and made a hit" It slowly dawned on Devon what Paul was getting at. The dogs came back into the room then and sat at Devon's feet. Paul offered his hand to Devon. Devon stood and followed Paul out of the room back to the kitchen. Paul made something for them to eat. They sat down to eat. Devon was becoming comfortable with his situation and petted the dogs as he at the sandwich down. Devon looked at Paul a lot and back to the dogs. After awhile Paul said to Devon "So what do you think?" "I don't feel as bad but I still don't know what I'm supposed to feel"