All Darnell Watkins, paralyzed soul singer and
reluctant icon, wants is some relief from the winter chill, his writer's block,
and some persistent bad memories. Instead, when his best friend is murdered, he
has to learn to cope with tragedy all over again. Here is an excerpt from
"Didn't You Used to Be Somebody?"
"If you'd like to be alone to write this in
your diary, I could leave."
I
snapped out of it, cleared my throat, and looked away. If I had known the clock
would start winding down on our lifelong friendship, I'd have hugged the
son-of-a-bitch and dared the world to write whatever down-low mess they wanted.
Not that they would have; I'd been downgraded from pop act to survival story,
any scandal wiped out with the snap of my spinal cord. Anyway, these young
folks coming up put us to shame. So, I don't know why I snuffled and said
"Allergies" only that it satisfied him, and he gave me this little
nod, as if to say all was forgotten.
I
suppose I should have known something was up when I got a phone call before noon,
although morning calls didn't give me an automatic jolt of fear since my mother
passed.
"Mr. Watkins? This is Detective Ken Ingram from the Phoenix Police Department. I need to talk to you about Alex Parsons."
I honestly expected Alex, loopy from being up all night, to sing me some "great harmony" he found in his head after five Coca-Colas, and even after the flat-voiced detective identified himself, I only thought there had been more involved in the burst of creation than Coca-Cola, in which case, I'd be more than prepared to hound the backsliding motherfucker.
Having
made the resolution to start right then, if need be, I straightened my spine
and said "Could I talk to him, please?
If he needs a lawyer, I can handle that."
The
cop coughed and sighed. I figured he
hadn't been doing it long if they let him make human noises. "Sir," he told me patiently.
"That won't be possible. Mr.
Parsons was fatally shot. His body is
at the medical examiner's office."
This story is available in Tales Of The House
Band, Volume 1. Still looking for a home for the novel version.
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