“DOUG!” DEE SAID. “That’s too much!”
Derrick was speechless. He looked up at Doug, almost as if to ask Is that mine?
Doug just shrugged again. “Look, I wanted you guys to know that this is your home too. So, I figured a housewarming gift was in order.”
Dee turned to Derrick, “Well?” she implored. “What do you say?”
“Thank you so much,” he said. But Derrick was still in shock. He’d never had a brand-new guitar before. In the back of the U-Haul, his old Epiphone acoustic guitar was packed in its case. He couldn’t wait to get everything unpacked and play the new electric guitar.
He’d always liked Telecasters and would often go to the Terry’s Music in Clearwater to play them whenever he could. He’d daydream about being able to go in one day and purchase one for himself.
“Alright, let’s get to work,” Dee said. Derrick and Cassandra followed their mom and Doug back outside. On the way out, Doug stopped at the refrigerator in the garage and withdrew a handful of maroon soda cans, tossing one to each of them. They cracked them open, and Derrick drank his greedily. It tasted so good and felt so cold in his throat on the hot summer day.
“We’ll get everything out and into the garage first so we don’t have to work all day in the sun,” Doug said.
He unclasped the latch on the back of the U-Haul truck and threw it open. Hopping onto the deck, he started pulling out boxes, sliding them to the ledge, where Derrick and Cassandra would pull them down and place them in the garage. They left behind or sold all the large appliances back in Clearwater, so mostly they just packed their personal belongings. Aside from their beds, the mattresses stacked on their sides toward the back of the truck, the only large pieces of furniture were Cassandra’s vanity and Derrick’s large five-drawer dresser.
Doug heaved a box from the truck. “Goodness,” he said, wiping his brow. “What’s in all these?”
“Clothes, mostly,” Cassandra said, pulling the box down and sliding it across the concrete of the garage floor.
Grabbing a box himself and sliding it into the garage, Derrick knew that was the truth. Cassandra had more clothes than anyone Derrick had ever known, even after donating two bags’ worth before leaving Clearwater.
They worked like this over the course of the next hour and a half, stopping occasionally for a breather before finally getting the entire truck unloaded. Once they had all the boxes in the garage, Derrick and Cassandra were responsible for the boxes labelled with their names, tasked with taking them to their bedrooms to begin unboxing it all. Doug and Dee came in behind them, building the beds on their rails and putting the headboards in place.
Derrick found his Walkman and pulled the headphones over his ears. He pushed play and Eddie Vedder’s voice filled his head. He let the music flood over him. The tape, a mixtape that was a parting gift from his friend Jerod back in Clearwater, was full of their favorite bands, including several songs off of Pearl Jam’s album Ten. They had both discovered music over the last year, finding solace in grunge bands like Pearl Jam and Fuel.
By the time Derrick had all his belongings unpacked, he’d played through both sides of the tape. The room looked nice, if sterile. He’d take time to hang a few posters and make it more a reflection of himself, but for now he couldn’t wait to get his hands on that new guitar that called his name from the corner. He’d set his acoustic beside it, the instruments a makeshift shrine to his burgeoning passion.
With the headphones still on his ears, he picked up the red Telecaster, feeling the weight of the instrument. The body, a solid block of ash with a maple fretboard and neck, was heavier than he’d anticipated. The back was a flat slab of wood with holes where the strings were anchored. He sat on the edge of his bed and strummed a few chords along with the Pearl Jam tape that he’d flipped back to Side A. He never noticed Doug standing in the open doorway, leaning against the frame, his arms crossed over his chest.
Derrick looked up and pulled the headphones off his ears, letting them hang around his neck.
“What do you think?” Doug asked.
“It’s really cool. I’ve never had an electric guitar before.”
“I know,” Doug said. “I thought it would help ease the transition. Plus, the Fender Telecaster is the ultimate rockstar guitar. Springsteen, Richards, both play this guitar. Dee thought it was excessive, but, hey, what kid doesn’t want an electric guitar? I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t know what to get Cassandra, so I gave her money to buy some new clothes at the mall.”
“Yeah,” Derrick said. “That’s probably the best thing you could get her, honestly.” A smile crept across his face, and for the first time all day he felt relaxed, like things would be okay. “This guitar is really great. Thank you so much. I’m just,” he trailed off. Then, “I’m just not used to having nice things like this.”
“I wanted to get you something to help you feel welcomed,” Doug said. He nodded to the headphones looped around Derrick’s neck. “What are you listening to?”
“Oh, just a mixtape. Pearl Jam and stuff.” He showed Doug the cassette’s handwritten label which Jerod had scrawled the names of the bands and songs on it in Sharpie.
“Oh yeah?” Doug’s eyebrows perked up. “When I was in Saudi Arabia, I had some buddies that were all into that Seattle grunge stuff, probably a year before Nirvana got really huge. A guy gave me a tape from a band called Mother Love Bone. Their guitarist went on to form Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder and the rest of the guys.”
“Really?” Derrick asked. To him, Doug always seemed more like a Garth Brooks or George Strait kind of guy, a country-loving lawman.
“Yes sir. I was all into those bands, especially after I got back to the States and entered the police academy. We would copy tapes for each other, just like this. All this stuff coming out of Seattle during the big grunge explosion. Soundgarden, Mudhoney, all those guys. I might still have some of them, actually.” Doug chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “I think they’re in a box in the attic space above the garage. Tomorrow, I’ll climb up there, see if I can find them.”
“That would be cool,” Derrick said.
“Well, listen, I hope you guys get settled in. I know moving is hard and can be scary, getting used to a new place,” Doug said. “I’ve been all over, and if there’s one piece of advice I can give, it would be to find people who make you feel at home. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I think so.” As they talked, Derrick could hear the tape begin to warble. He looked down at the Walkman clipped to his waistband of his jeans. The battery indicator was flashing. “Oh no,” he said. “Batteries are going dead.”
“I think I have some double-A’s in the kitchen drawer,” Doug pointed a thumb down the hall.
“No, I have some in my backpack. I left it out in mom’s car though,” Derrick said.
“Alright, well, shut the garage door when you’re done. It’s the button by the door.”
“I will,” Derrick nodded.
“I’m heading upstairs to help your mom finish unpacking. If you need anything else, let me know. I hope you like it here. We’ll get to know each other really well.”
Derrick nodded again, and Doug went down one end of the hall to the stairs that led up to the master suite, and Derrick headed through the kitchen and into the garage. He pulled the backdoor of the Corolla open and found his backpack, the canvas bag still warm from being in the car all evening. Checking the top pocket to make sure the package of batteries was still in there, he slung it over his shoulder and started back into the garage.
A single-cab pickup truck, its blue paint looking almost black in the darkness, pulled up to the curb of the house next door and Derrick glanced over and stopped in his tracks.
The pickup’s passenger door opened and a girl stepped out. She looked to be his age, but was more gorgeous than any person he’d ever seen in his life. Even in the glow of the streetlamp lights that lined the street, she was captivating. Long brown hair fell down her shoulders and she glided more than she actually walked. The truck roared off, its muffler breaking the silence of the moment.
The girl started walking up the pathway to her front door and looked over at Derrick, standing in the light of the open garage.
“Hi,” she said.
Derrick, his whole body going tense with teenage nervousness, quickly waved and went inside, hitting the garage door button harder than he’d meant to.