I could probably milk that for six months at least. And imagine all the free shit I can get from Gerber or Similac or Babies R Us for Angelica. I think it’s a hot idea.” Alice took a deep breath, her shoulders nearly touching her ears in a shrug. She stared at Tina for a long time. She really didn’t understand how this could be happening to Tina and Bette. They had a new baby, they were falling in love again, and everything was working out. So sad.
Alice was pulled from her thoughts when a young man with an early morning’s growth of beard walked into the room. The man wore a pair of jeans and a striped turquoise and white cotton T-shirt that made him look like he had been dressed by the same people who chose Bert and Ernie’s attire on Sesame Street. He carried a guitar on his back and he actually bounced into the room more than walked in.
“Hey, how ya doin’?” he said in that kind of ‘I’ve been smoking pot all morning,’ way.
Alice looked at him and wondered why he was there. She knew that Tina didn’t know him. “Hello?”
“Hi,” he drawled while turning his guitar around his body to the front. “My name’s Angus and I’m Ms. Kennard’s music therapist.”
“Music therapist? Umm, she can’t talk or move. You’re not going to get her to sing.”
“No, no. I come in for a few minutes and just strum the guitar, create some simple tones with my voice. Here, watch me. Don’t say anything, though. Watch to see if you see any reaction.”
“Okay.”
Alice turned to look at Tina and for a fleeting moment thought that if the parenting story didn’t fly, she could sell at least one article on treating comatose patients.
Angus looked at Tina for several seconds before he started. He watched how her chest rose and fell with her natural breathing and then mimicked that with his guitar trying to blend and create a harmony between the two. After a few minutes of strumming the same chords, he added his voice. Softly, Alice heard him sing, “Dooooo-dooo-dooooo-dooo.” Angus repeated this pattern for ten minutes and the one time he saw a change in Tina’s breathing, he changed his pattern to accompany her. Suddenly, he stopped, pushed his guitar behind his back and said to Alice, “Did you notice anything?”
“No.”
“I think her breathing changed a bit once or twice. I think she sensed it.”
“I couldn’t tell. Maybe.”
“Well, hey, it was nice meeting you. I need to make my rounds. Maybe I’ll see you around again.”
Angus quietly slipped away, heading to the next room with a comatose patient.
Alice looked at Tina. “He was kind of cute, huh? In a stoner kind of way.”
* * * * *
Shane walked through her kitchen, glanced out of the side window and saw her Jeep parked in the driveway. She was looking for Carmen and thought she had gone to the store or MacDonalds. The car was there. She opened the back door and stepped onto the deck.
