Chapter 26

“Richie. Come on in.” Fran greeted him with a huge smile.

“Morning, darling.” He said and placed a small kiss on her cheek. She blushed lightly, but he could tell from the sparkling of her eyes that she didn’t mind.

“I brought some fruit salad.” Richie said and handed her a bag.

“You made fruit salad?” Fran looked at him surprised.

“Uhm…no, I bought it. But it’s really good.” He explained and blushed a little himself now. She laughed.

“That’s very sweet from you, Richie. Breakfast will be ready in a couple minutes. I still have Muffins in the oven. But they should be ready soon.”

“You made Muffins?” Richie followed Fran into the kitchen and stared at the oven. “With chocolate chips?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed. “What else?”

“Oh, great!” He hugged her happily. “Self made Muffins taste so much better…” she watched him with a smile. He could get excited so easily about small things. Maybe he’s really only a normal guy from Jersey and not a big Rock Star.

“Where is Jason?” Richie asked and looked around.

“He’s in his room, fighting with his guitar.” Fran said and put the fruit salad in a huge bowl.

“Fighting?”

“Yeah, he was very excited about taking music lessons at Brooklyn Music School once a week. At the beginning it was easy for him, because he already knew the basics from Kim, but now he really has to practice and…well, to say it with his words…’That sucks’”

Richie laughed. “Maybe I can help him. Do you mind when I…” he pointed at Jason’s door.

“No, no…I call you when breakfast is ready.” Fran said and watch him leave the kitchen.

When Richie opened the door to Jason’s room, he could see the boy sitting on a chair with the guitar in his lap. His face was absorbed in concentration and he was chewing on his bottom lip. His whole body was tensed and completely stiff. He would probably have a rather nasty pain in his back later.

Jason tried again to play the notes from his note sheets and growled in frustration when he couldn’t hit the right frets. Richie smiled softly. He could feel his frustration.

“Need some help, buddy?” Jason looked up and saw Richie standing in the door. He sighed.

“Don’t know. Maybe I’m just too stupid.” He put the guitar down.

“Nah, you are not. Come on, I show you some little tricks.” Richie crossed the room and sat down on Jason’s desk chair. That boy needed some feeling of success or he would never pick up a guitar again.

“First of all...relax, Jason. You are sitting there so concentrated everything probably hurts.” Jason only nodded agreeing.

“Ok, turn the guitar a bit more…yeah, like that….” Richie instructed him. “…see much easier to reach the neck now, right?” Jason nodded again.

“But I can’t see my note sheets now.”

“We don’t need that now…” Richie closed the booklet and put it on the desk.

“But I can’t play without notes.” Jason said nervously.

“I’m sure you can…you can play an E Cord, right.”

“Sure. That’s what Auntie Kim taught me first.” Jason said and strung his guitar.

“See, then you can basically play a whole song.” Richie said with a smile. Jason looked at him confused.

“Do you know the song Bo Diddley?” Richie asked.

Jason squeezed his eyes together trying to place the title. Richie was sure he was way too young for it, but suddenly Jason sang slowly: “Hey Bo Diddley…Hey Bo Diddley…”

Rich watched him surprised. “Damn right, buddy…” Seems Fran and Kim listened to some fine classical rock ‘n’ roll. “Remember the rhythm?...Here let me show you.”

Richie took the guitar from Jason and tried to place his big hands on the small kids guitar. Jason giggled when he watched Richie trying to strum, but after a few tries, he knew how to compensate the differences to his guitar and he played the song.

Jason’s eyes were glued to his fingers and after a few second he started to move his own hands in the rhythm. Richie nodded. “Right…it’s all about the rhythm….here, try it, buddy.” He handed the guitar back to the boy.

Taking a deep breath Jason started to strum his guitar and frowned when he couldn’t get it sound like Richie.

“Try again…” Richie encouraged him and started to hum the song and clap the rhythm. After a couple minutes Jason relaxed and forgot abut Richie. With closed eyes he sat and played nearly in the same speed as Richie.

Rich smiled. That kid sure has talent. Kim was right to give him the guitar. He simply needed a little encouraging and they had to make sure he wouldn’t get frustrated in this early stage.

When Jason stopped playing, clapping came from the door. They both looked up and saw Fran.

“That was great, baby. Sounded as good as Richie’s playing.” She smiled and Richie laughed.

“Yeah, he’s good…my job could be in danger in a couple years.” Jason beamed at his praise.

“Can we have breakfast now, Mom? I’m hungry.” Jason asked and put his guitar down.

“Sure, everything is ready. Come on.” His mother replied and Jason rushed out of his room. Before Richie could follow him, Fran stopped him.

“Thank you, Richie.” She placed a soft kiss on his lips. He smiled.

“You are very welcome. It was fun…and I think we will do it more often now.” He squeezed her gently.

“MOM….RICHIE…Come on!” Jason yelled. They both laughed and hurried over to the dining table.