Bitter Farewell Read Online Free Page B

around. Danny refused to let anyone treat him special.
    Especially in Bakersville.
    He was not special in Bakersville.
    In fact, he felt evil in Bakersville.
    Rick, Chris, and Davey climbed into the van first. Johnnie joined Danny at the back and rubbed his shoulder.
    “Overwhelming, huh?”
    “Something like that,” Danny said.
    “I get it. Remember we used to come here, right to that gate behind us, and wait for planes to land?”
    Danny smiled. “I think we only saw two or three, right?”
    “Same plane too. That lawyer owned one... the one from up in Marsh County.”
    Danny looked over his shoulder. For a quick second, he saw himself standing next to Johnnie at the chain link fence. Their small fingers wrapped tight around the fence, both looking up, scanning the sky, wishing and hoping a plane would land. Maybe Johnnie just wanted to see an airplane, but when Danny was a kid, he hoped to get on one of those airplanes - with his guitar, of course - and fly away.
    Danny looked at the private jet sitting not so far away and realized that that dream had come true.
    He shook his head and shivered.
    It was suddenly overwhelming.
    “Come on,” Johnnie said. “Let’s go get settled.”
    Johnnie walked away and Danny shut the back door to the van. He took a step back and turned. The woman reporter was there, recorder in hand, a smile on her face. Next to her was a man with a camera, snapping pictures.
    “One more question,” she asked.
    “Okay. No more pictures right now, please.”
    The cameraman lowered his camera and put his hand out. “I’m a fan, man. Such a fan.”
    Danny didn’t recognize the man right away. He was younger than Danny.
    “Thank you,” Danny said. “We appreciate it.”
    “What would you...,” the woman said and then paused. “What would you say to your father, if you had the chance for one last conversation...?”
    What a loaded question.
    Danny looked to his left, then right, expecting Johnnie to be there to handle such a question. It was the kind of question he could think about for hours maybe and still not have the right answer.
    “Wow, that’s a good question,” Danny said.
    He swallowed and tried to keep his composure. This was the part of the career that he hated. He felt naked without his guitar and he definitely felt exposed with such a personal matter being discussed. After seeing what Davey had gone through with some wild fan who claimed he fathered her baby, her worried something like that would happen again.
    “So?” the woman asked.
    Danny licked his lips and took a deep breath. He nodded as an answer came to him. An answer with meaning, an answer that would satisfy the woman standing with the tape recorder running, and an answer that Danny would have said in real life, if given the chance to speak to his father again.
    “Danny, what would you say to him? One last thing...”
    “Goodbye,” Danny whispered. “Goodbye.”
    He side stepped and hurried to the side of the van and jumped in. He pulled the door shut and cursed under his breath.
    “He hates interviews,” Rick whispered to Chris.
    “I hate this,” Danny said as the van started to drive.
    “Everyone relax,” Johnnie said. “It’s going to be a busy couple days. We need to be low key and stay out of trouble. We need to stay put in the house too, okay? That’s why we have guitars. And I’m sure you all remember our father had a well stocked liquor cabinet.”
    “Here, here,” Rick cheered.
    “You think that’s still full?” Danny asked.
    “Of course it is,” Johnnie said. “He cared about those bottle more than anything else in the world.”
    Danny couldn’t argue that.
    For the longest time he wondered how someone could just walk away from love and family for something else. But as Danny drove through the streets of Bakersville, finding the smallest landmarks that held the biggest memories, he began to realize that perhaps he wasn’t all that different from his father...
     
    **
     
    Liv