unexpected dinner guest { closed

[ALEXANDER MICHAEL SUMMERS]

A wicked grin spread about Alexanders face. Where did he want to start? Did she really want to know? The questions in his head were irrelevant since she'd asked so he would answer. And take care so the intent didn't come so easily to Michelle's attention. "Let's start with the basics show me the chords," He spoke quietly out of habit only.

Theories had always been an intriguing topic for the young man. Practice was never as easy. Even with science, there was always theory before practice and a lot of extrapolating from data. There was very little actually hands on, so this was going to be a new experience. Not entirely new but foreign since he'd grown out of his teenage awkward phase into his much more comfortable adult confines.

Blue orbs were already scanning the keys trying to wrap a mind around something new. First the over all shape of each key forced its way into his mind. Rectangular with depth, reminding him of his youth not because Michelle played piano that would be too obvious. No but because as a child his mother had played Jenga quite often with him. The jubilant rush of excitement every time the thing nearly fell over put a genuine smile on his face, and a tear in his eye.

Next the over all color collected in his memory. Black against white. It was stupid but the first connection his mind made when referencing colors was to penguins. Given the sound Lynn made them produce squawking penguin seemed about right just reinforcing the stupid pictures.

One sense down and two too go. There would be three but there was no way he was going to taste the keys. No matter how they might also remind him of Klondike bars, and they really didn't smell like anything. Touch came next. It was an obvious choice given what he was asking for. Each key was as smooth as he'd remembered it from previous endeavors which usually ended in mindless noise.

" I vaguely remember you teaching Lynn acronym's for the lines and spaces... but they escape me... " He spoke in thought. "Something about boys, and faces right?"

[MICHELLE ABIGAIL SUMMERS]

Twenty minutes passed, and Michelle taught her nephew about the piano. She explained to him the lines and spaces on the staff, for both the treble clef and the bass clef. She started to teach him notes on the piano and showed him what the black keys did. A small smile remained on her face as she did this, brushing her hair back from her face on occasion. It wasn't long before the aging woman and young man were joined by someone else - Lynn, to be exact.

"Mom? What the--why the hell are you playing the piano? It's three o'clock in the damn morning. I'm trying to sleep. Dad is trying to sleep." Well, Lynn did not sound pleased. Michelle stopped playing when she heard her daughter and looked over her shoulder. She wore a frown on her face and sighed to herself. Then her voice came through the quiet of the room, somewhat intimidated by her daughter's tone and words.

"I'm sorry, baby. And watch your mouth; it's not ladylike to curse."

"Well, you use enough profanity..."

"Well, I'm also sixty. You're only fourteen."

"I don't care. Can you stop playing the piano?"

"Alexander wants to learn..."

"Mom, it's three in the morning! What is wrong with you? I think you're going senile, seriously."

"I'm not crazy."

"Well, you're acting like it."

"I'm not."

"You're playing the piano!"

"I can play the piano if I want. It's my house."

"Mine, too."

"No, you live here. Your name isn't on the bills; that's mine and your father's."

"It's my house, too."

"Lynn, no it's not. Why are you trying to argue about this?"

"Because I'm trying to sleep, and you're playing the piano. You're...obstructing my sleeping."

Michelle looked at her daughter and blinked her blue eyes slowly. She let her somewhat broad shoulders fall gently as she sat there at the piano. Her entire composure seemed to fall. What little happiness had filled her before while showing Alexander things about the piano seemed to diminish. She sighed heavily and shook her head before standing.

"You know," she started quietly, looking at Lynn, "You used to go to sleep to the piano. When I wasn't home, your father would have you in the bassinet, and he'd play until you fell asleep. When I was here, I would sing to you and rock you to sleep after I fed you. And when we were both home, well... he'd play the lullaby on the piano, and I would sing to it. It worked, and you really used to like it. Now you can't stand it. You hate my music and would rather do things that the other kids do." Michelle was pacing the room now. She had gone from a mostly cheerful attitude to a saddened one, and it was obvious that Lynn's disinterest for music and the piano and just having those little moments was bothering her.

"I've tried to find someplace where we can meet in the middle, find a common ground so I can understand you. I am trying to stay close to you, Lynn, but you keep pulling away. You don't seem like you want to share anything with me. You don't seem like you want anything to do with me. But Alex here... he wanted to learn the piano. And I wanted to teach him."

It had been in the middle of the graying woman's speech that her husband had appeared in the living room, having come down the hall from the bedroom after hearing Lynn raise her voice. He had watched in silence, in the shadows of the dark, for moments before finally walking over to his wife and gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She let her shoulders relax even more and glanced at him for a moment.

"Daddy," Lynn whined, "Make mom stop. She's playing the piano, and I can't sleep."

"Lynnie," Michael started, using his nickname for her, "I don't want to hear you speak to your mother like that anymore."

"Like what?"

"Well, I heard you curse at her, and then I heard you call her crazy. She's not crazy."

"Well, she sure as hell is acting like it!"

"Watch your mouth," Michelle interjected quietly, leaning her head on Michael's chest. He caressed her back comfortingly and looked at his daughter.

"Just go to bed."

"No," Lynn said defiantly. "Alex gets to stay up, so I'm staying up."

"I give up," Michelle said, throwing her hands up in the air as she pulled away from Michael. Her feet carried her into the kitchen, where she stood at the counter and stared out of the window and into their dark yard. A sigh escaped her lips.

Quietly, Michael looked at Alexander with an apologetic look. "Go talk to her, please," he said quietly to him before harshly grasping his daughter's shoulder and ushering her to her bedroom. As he walked her down the hall, he said something to her about being grounded, to which to complained, and then made sure she was in her bedroom before closing her door and going back into the master bedroom and laying on the bed. Alexander could talk to Michelle now - the two seemed to know each other - and he could talk to her later.