Drillmington: The Stars

So, they get the new house and it’s wonderful. More marble than the apartment and wood floors. There’s a place for children to play and even a chandelier. It sits on seventy acres and is the ideal spot for them to rest after grueling tour schedules.

“We put it together,” TSL announced.

“After we get this place furnished, we will be able to keep going with the business of business,” Julisia answered with arms around his neck. She kissed his face and his neck.

He returned the favor and wrapped his arm around her waist. After breaking their embrace, they walked around the house in separate paths. Top Shelf looked at all the space for his magazine collection. The library in the basement was climate controlled and featured a little place where they could store two million books.

Then, Julisia’s phone rang. Her face looked straight and no tears came to her eyes. She stood tall and tapped the phone.

“It’s my father. He’s dead.” TSL came over to her and held onto her shirt, grasped her arms and looked like a shield. Like he could contain her emotion that she wanted to express but couldn’t.

“He was a virtuous man,” TSL reassured. It didn’t matter. The amount of love that her father showed to her overflowed. Julisia had just let herself become in a good state of mind as memories rushed by like a school of fish. She walked away, her stiletto heels clicking like a vintage typewriter.

TSL gave her space. There was enough of it. They knew they could be away from each other. When his mother died, they canceled four shows and he went to Satorini, Greece for three weeks. He came back and it was back to business.

Julisia piled in her Spyra without saying anything to TSL. He understood. He got in touch with her sisters and mother and started making arrangements. He would cover all of the costs. He hung up the phone and scrolled through his phone and looked at photos of Julisia and her father. Her smile looked like a thousand watt lightbulb. She expressed her love to her father, being his youngest daughter. It was time for the people in her life and out of her life to convene for his funeral.

She drove the speed limit but just at the point of not going over it. Julisia didn’t let a tear drop but her mind raced like the pistons in her sports car. The vehicle took her all over Wilmington. She could understand the news. Her mind processed it. But she wanted to dismiss it like a text. She wanted to toss away the fetters around her mind that had locked on her since the knowledge.

She shifted the gears with precision. Each movement became like a balm to her soul. With the power under her, she took every precaution to take the power, the very force of her mind and apply it to her stellar driving skills. In all of her grief and turmoil, she pushed the six hundred horses respecting all of the laws of the road. A red light, a stop sign, a yield sign, she all acknowledged.

TSL took the time to message everyone that had ties to Julisia’s father. He brought some levity in talking to people whom he had not seen in years.

“Yes, I know. We’ll have to do something after this when I’m off tour,” he reminded her cousin.

“That’s right. Get that money,” Julisia’s cousin reminded.

“Exactly.” TSL brought his head up and looked at the stars in the ceiling in his home.