Mind Games

Ignoring him, she wrapped the rest of the cake.

Lucy segued into “I’ll Fly Away” as Thea stepped out. And added her voice.

“Somebody’s got pipes,” Ty commented.

With another wink, Lucy looked at Thea. “Take the harmony, darling.”

“I’ll fly away, oh Glory.”

“More than one somebody.” Then Ty shook his head as Rem stepped out, added his voice to the old mountain hymn.

“You’re a hell of a trio.”

“We’ve been at it since they were about your boy’s age. Let’s hear one of yours, Tyler. This time I’ll catch up.”

Thea recognized the song from the first bar.

“Just One.”

“Just one breath,” he sang in that easygoing tenor. “Just one look.”

It didn’t surprise her when her grandmother found notes to pluck to fill in. But it did when Lucy knew the words and sang with him.

“And I was lost, that’s all it took.”

And it took her back, Thea thought, and brought her here, to the moment all at the same time.

She watched something weave between the woman who’d given her home and the man who’d once filled a young girl’s dreams. It was lovely to see that connection twine together.

“How about we switch?” He held the guitar out to Lucy.

“Oh my, I’ve never held an instrument so fine.”

She passed him her banjo. “Do you know what to do with that one?”

“Oh, I know a few things.” To make her laugh, he played the opening of “Dueling Banjos.”

“I’m going to take that challenge.”

They played, faster, faster, until even Bray stopped running to come closer and listen.

“Where’d you learn the banjo?”

Ty just shrugged. “Just sort of picked it up along the way.”

“You picked it up mighty fine. My daddy taught me, and my uncle, that’d be Michael John Riley, could handle a guitar. Their sister, my aunt Mae, she burned up a fiddle, I swear. Plenty of nights we sat on the porch just like this and played half the night. A little sipping whiskey, or moonshine if Michael John brought a jug. Those were some days.”

She sat back, sighed. “You’ve brought some good memories back, Ty, and given me some brand-new ones to hold. I’m taking them home with me.”

“How about one more, just to cap it off. Your bluegrass again.”

“All right. You may know this one from the movie, but it goes back a lot farther.”

As before, Thea knew the song from the first guitar riff, and clapped her hands as Lucy belted out “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow.”

She gave Rem an elbow bump, and they joined for the response, in harmony, while Ty picked the banjo.

“Great song, great movie,” Ty said at the end.