Sing for Their Supper - 36

 

Sam took his job seriously. "This is the living room," he told Vin when they were inside. "And the kitchen."

 

Vin nodded. "I think I could have figured that out."

 

"And your room," Sam said, opening one of the doors.

 

"Four rooms, five guys counting me. Who did I put out?"

 

"Ricky. He's sharing with me," Sam replied. "But he doesn't mind."

 

"Nope," Ricky said as he and others trooped into the cabin. "It's not like I'm sharing a bed, just a room."

 

Something in the tone of Ricky's reply made Vin wonder if he wished it was otherwise, but he refrained from commenting. Not my place to, even if I'm right.

 

"Why don't I unpack," Vin told them, "then we can get to know each other."

 

He went into what was now his room. It felt strange, having a real bed and a place to store his things. It's been a long time since I've had somewhere to call my own, even if it is only a bedroom.

 

After he'd put things away, Vin went back to the living room. It was empty, but he heard voices, so he stepped outside.

 

"We're going down to the lake," Sam said. "Do you want to come with us?"

 

"At this hour?"

 

Roma laughed. "This from the man who never appeared until dusk. Yeah, at this hour. Come on."

 

Vin did, staying close to Roma. The kids seemed nice… But there're so many of them.

 

Everyone was settled on the shore, before one of the girls, Jolie—if Vin remembered right—asked, "How long have you been homeless?"

 

"Longer than you've been alive, young lady," Vin replied.

 

"Why?"

 

"Why am I homeless?" Vin sighed. "When I wasn't much older than you are now, I started drinking and, pretty soon, I was an alcoholic. Don't worry. I've beaten it. Well, I'll always be one—that's just how it is—but I haven't had a drink in over ten years. By the time I began getting my life together again, I had no life to go back to. I was used to the streets, so…" He spread his hands.

 

"Did you always play the piano?" DJ asked.

 

"I did. I was in a band, back in my youth. A pretty damned good one. But, we partied a lot." He paused, then grinned. "That's how the demon rum got hold of me."

 

"The what?"

 

Vin chuckled. "One name for liquor, especially when you get hooked on it. It's also a song by George and Ira Gershwin."

 

"Who?" Mace asked.

 

"Oh my God. Children, you have a lot to learn about real music. I bet you're all into, what do they call it? Hip-hop? Rap?"

 

"Nope," Sam replied, "Blues."

 

"Show tunes," Evie said with a hard nod of her head. "And I know who the Gershwins were, so there."

 

"Good girl. You sing? Well, of course you do or you wouldn't be here. Let's hear you."

 

Evie glanced at DJ. "I will, if he does."

 

"You're on," DJ replied. "How about… Yeah. 'You're the One That I Want'." He stood, pretended to slick his hair back, and started singing.

 

Evie was up seconds later, vamping as she sang Sandy's part. When they moved on to "We Go Together", the other teens joined in exuberantly.

 

"Not bad," Vin said to Roma.

 

She grinned. "Told you."

 

The group stayed by the lake for a while longer, listening to Vin tell stories about people he'd known on the streets—some amusing, some sad. Then he said, with a smile, "As the senior member here, I think it's up to me to tell you it's late and we should all be getting to bed."

 

"Damn," Dena stage-whispered to Jolie, "He's going all father on us."

 

Vin heard her, as she'd obviously meant him to. "I'm old enough, for sure. But I'd be a lousy one. Just think of me as a much older and hopefully wiser brother, who knows sleep is necessary. I suspect, from what Roma told me, you're going to be very busy starting tomorrow."

 

"Yeah. We're doing a read-through, whatever that is," Dena replied.

 

"Reading our parts together, to get a feel for the whole thing, I think," Evie said.

 

"Has everyone read their script?" Sam asked.

 

"Three times, for me," Mace replied. "I hope I can remember my lines when the time comes."

 

"I've got the feeling Tuck's going to make certain we go over and over them until they're imprinted in our minds forever," Ricky said.

 

"Why would you need to know my lines?" Mace asked with a straight face.

 

"Smartass," Ricky muttered.

 

Mace smiled. "Once a week, whether I need to be or not." He got up. "I'm going to read it—well, my parts—one more time then crash."

 

"I'm just going to crash," Evie said. She took DJ's hand when he offered it, letting him pull her to her feet, and they wandered up toward the cabins.

 

The rest of the kids dispersed, Ricky talking animatedly to Sam as they left the lakeshore.

 

"Nice bunch," Vin said to Roma.

 

"They are. I'm praying this all works out the way everyone hopes."

 

"It will, Roma. It has to…for all of us."