RJ's Arc

Chapter 2 of 7

RJ stood in the quiet after Christopher's question. The melody still hung in the air between them. He pulled a folded paper from his coat. Eleven years of ink lived on it, crossed out and rewritten in his careful hand. His signature sat at the bottom like a small wound. "The song is called Let's Get this Show on the Road," RJ said. He held the paper out. "That's the title. That's all I ever named it." Christopher took the paper. He read it once. Then he jumped up off the platform and screamed the lyrics into the open sky. He grabbed the mic stand near the platform and pulled it close like he meant to swallow it whole. He ripped the white towel from his neck and flung it wide above his head. "This is it," Christopher said. His voice was steady now, but his eyes were burning. "This is the song that we are going to make the universe listen to. Not just part of the universe. All of it." RJ felt the ground shift under him. He had come here to fix a bridge. Instead, a stranger had named his song finished and aimed it at the stars. The paper was gone from his hand. The decision was no longer his.