Cantrell: The Middle Years, Part Two

Thank you. I must have reached my limit, otherwise I cannot conceive of why your post went unanswered. Please forgive me. Yeah, Andrew came home went upstairs, changed into his PJ's and then on his way back upstairs, collapsed.  So funny.

SemiDemiQuaver 2287, a Cantrell: The Middle Years, Update-9

Erik wished he could say the day started out like any other — except that it didn’t.  All six of his children were up and about at the crack of dawn. This was the weekend, so this was not normal, to be sure.  

He threw the bed covers off, went to wash up and as soon as he emerged his eldest daughter, Melodie came right over to him. Erik found himself chatting with her. The girl was a bit of a chatterbox, but he was okay with it. Better they chat than she keep things all to herself, letting whatever it was fester.  As she chatted away, he was busy gazing at her. Within a few seconds, he became greatly disturbed by what he saw. Her slender small hands, gesticulating wildly as usual, were a light shade of yellow.  At first, he thought she was wearing rubber gloves of some sort. But her bare feet were also the same shade of yellow.  

Looking more closely at her neck, while it wasn’t yellow, so much, he distinctly saw pink lines going upward. Her sweet face was also flushed. “Melodie, sweetheart, this is all very interesting, and I promise we’ll talk more about this. But right now I need you to go get dressed. You’re going with me.”
“Where?”
“We are going to visit a friend of mine, who lives in Innisgreen.”

“But I’m not Harmony — I’m not into Fairies, like she is.”
“No, and I understand that, but you need one, in this case. You have come down with an Ailment, my dear.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Once they arrived, Erik walked with a sense of purpose. Melodie found herself almost running to keep up with him. She knew they had a full schedule today. First church and then her father had the Starlight Accolades to attend. He must be nervous about it. Was her guess as she looked up at him.  

Locating his friend, he grabbed Melodie by the hand and marched her over to a very pale, platinum haired lady. She was dressed in a dark suit. All business was Melodie’s assessment.
“Care Renn,” Erik said, “this is my eldest daughter, Melodie.  Melodie, this is Care Renn. The Liaison to the Council, and my personal friend.” Turning back to Care Renn, Erik said, “As you can see, she has managed to come down with an Ailment. Go ahead, Melodie, ask.”

“Oh, my, yes, you do. From the look of it, too, I would say Burning Passion. How old are you my dear?”
“Fourteen, just.”
“You cough up fire?”
“Why, yes, how did you know?”
“I will be most happy to help you. Erik, how many children do you have, now?”

Gasping, Melodie glanced about here, “where did she go?”
Erik pointed to above her head. “Stand still, she has shrunk herself down in size in order to circle your head.”
“Oh, my, are we in Oz, or something?

That quickly the fairy returned to her previous size and stood before the girl.
“How do you feel,” Care Renn asked. Melodie was busy looking a her long legs that were no longer pink in shade.
“Great. I feel great. May I give you a High Five as a way of saying thanks?”

By the time the two arrived back home again, they changed quickly and went off to church. Upon their return the weather, which had been cloudy all morning finally burst into rain.

Before too long, Erik and Kayleigh were dressed in their finery and off to Del Sol Valley. “There’s pizza all ready for you in the pizza oven. And after the barbeque grilled itself, please be content with the pizza. Oh, and there’s ice cream in the freezer,” Kayleigh said, as Erik tugged on her hand.

Sitting in chairs awaiting the moment, Erik seemed a tad uncomfortable. Bothered at his apparent mood, Kayleigh turned to speak to him. She most certainly regretted it a moment later.

“Bark, bark to you, too,” she whispered. Glad when the moment came and the host, Genevieve Mansouri, introduced the night.

“The following artists have been duly nominated for the Record of the Year 2287. Does anyone else feel as if this years is just zipping by at Warp speed, or is it just me?  At any rate, let’s give a hand to the following: Jarek Bookings for his Rendering in Glass; Margarete Samson for her Splendor in the Graveyard; Nicholas **bleep** for his Lost Letters; Sally McKnight for her Reckless Love; and finally, Erik Cantrell for his Spring Rainfall.  And the winner is . . .” she went to remove the heavy cardstock from the pre-slit envelope, yelped a bit and brought the injured finger to her mouth. “Ouch. Sorry, paper cut,” Removing her finger from her mouth she did her best to recover the moment. “Let’s try that again, shall we? And the winner is . . . Erik Cantrell, for his Spring Rainfall! Well done. Come on up here, Erik. you deserve this. Come on.”

When the camera panned over, Erik was busy kissing his wife. Breaking away he made it to the stage and stood there silently for only a moment, as was his custom.

Glory to Thee, O Lord

“This has been one crazy year,” he began and then turned to glance at 
Genevieve, “and yes it has been whizzing by.  I would like to take this moment to 
thank those who help me with my music. A record just doesn’t happen on its own. I do the writing and the performing of it, but Team Erik down at Taygeta Studios do the recording and the mixing of it. Blending the instruments into the sound I hear in my head.  Ryan Ricks, my Producer; Toby Gleason the recording engineer; Michael Perry and Richard Freman both masters of sound mixing engineering. Without these four gentlemen I would likely be teaching music theory somewhere.”

“I would like to thank my dear, sweet wife of sixteen years, and our children for putting up with that guy in the corner, as they refer to me upon occasion. My parents, my many siblings. Most of all my fans for enduring my sometimes roller coaster career. You’ve stuck with me during the good times, but most of all you held me up during the bad times. Thank you. My heart is yours.”

“Thank you to the Starlight Academy for nominating Spring Rainfall. And to the Committee for their votes.”

“And now, if I am to take my wife to the dinner I promised her, I must bid you adieu. Good night, all”

Later at the restaurant, the couple were shown to a table for two on the second level. Inside, rather than on the balcony. The night air had grown a bit chilly. “Here you go,” the Host said. “I hope this table suits you.”
“Thank you, it’s lovely,” Kayleigh said, leaning toward her husband, she whispered, “And, just what is eating you?”

“Come here a second,” Erik said, drawing her to her feet. “I believe we simply need to Reconnect.”

All for now, thanks for reading!

It wasn’t good that Melodie became sick with the ailment 🙁 but it is a relief for her and her family that Care Renn was caring and healed her. It was sweet that  Melodie wanted to high 5 her to say thanks 💗 Congratulations to Erik on winning the award! 🙂The last photo of him and Kayleigh holding hands and the heart between them is special and lovely ❤️

It was good that Melodie got cured of the ailment! Congrats to Erik on winning the award! Maybe he and Kayleigh need a little getaway! 

Good Melodie was cured 😊 

Congrats for the win!!!

And yeah, after everything in general, they need a bit time together💗

Poor Melody coming down with an ailment, luckily Eric knows what to do when one occurs! Congratulations on Eric winning another award. It does seem like Eric and Kayleigh need some alone time together to reconnect.

Thank you. Yes, parents do need that time together. I was told by my late mother that we had access to her all day, but when my father got home from work, the time was his.  I look at it this way, the kids will all grow up, God-willing, and leave the 'nest'. If you and your husband don't nurture your relationship along the way, when they kids leave you simply won't have anything to talk about.

Thank you.  I was startled to realize those weren't yellow gloves on her hands. I'm beginning to think that once a child ages to teen, (adolescence) they are ripe to be afflicted with an Ailment. I've at least encountered three of the eight, to far. Note that Care Renn did ask Erik how many kids he had now.  She knows something that she's not telling the rest of us. LOL

Thank you.  When I built him another basement, Music Room, after doing some slight renovation on the second floor, to separate the twins before they killed each other, and by dividing up the original Music room into two other rooms, so that the girls each had their own room, too, I placed those shelves along the walls to ensure room for later wins. That's when I discovered I had jumped ahead of myself listing the first win of 2287 as his sixth Best Song when it was really only his fifth. Phew. Glad I got that straightened out right away. I keep trying to find the right moment for them to get away. I also want to send the 'babies' Cadence and Peter off to camp, too. I think I'll make that a priority. Thanks for the reminder.

Thank you. I thought I had responded to your remarks, but today it wasn't here. Forgive me, please. I was taken quite by surprise with her ailment, but it served as the impetus I needed to get this update written. Erik has now won three legs of the next possible Clean Sweep, as it now stands. Biting nails time. That Reconnect interaction came with Lovestruck, I do believe. I also find it sweet.