Everything Is Just Beginning by Erin Bartels

Author:Erin Bartels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction;FIC042100;FIC044000;FIC019000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

The afternoon crept along, track by track down in the basement, scoop by scoop out in the muddy backyard, and, I assume, artifact by artifact in the room that Deb would likely die in. Each of us chipping away at something. Time chipping away at time left.

I thought it might be awkward to edit the songs I’d written about Deb and Natalie with their husband and father, but the more time I spent in the studio, the more it felt like I was working on someone else’s songs, someone else’s feelings. With each successive track I thought I felt Dusty’s opinion of me go up just a little bit. Maybe these weren’t all B-sides. They didn’t really feel like singles either, though. And I had absolutely no idea how the typical crowd at Saint Andrew’s Hall might react to them.

“It’s eclectic,” Dusty said when I shared my concern. “But that’s not necessarily bad. It’s a good test. You’ll see which ones the audience connects with, and that helps you refine your sound the next time out.”

“I guess that makes sense. But I’d still rather have everything perfect before getting on that kind of stage.”

He nodded. “She’s rushing it. For Deb’s sake. I don’t really have the heart to tell her that her mother is probably never leaving this house again.”

There was a knock on the studio door. Mike was on the other side of it, deep furrows between his eyebrows. Dusty waved him in.

“Sorry, but I think you need to come see this.”

We followed him out to the back through the billiard room, where he’d left his boots on the mat outside the sliding door. He slipped them on and led us to the edge of the hole, then jumped down to the deepest level he’d dug. It didn’t look like eight feet yet.

“I can’t dig anymore until we deal with this.” He motioned to an area near his feet and ran some water from the hose on it. Strange shapes began to emerge from the mud.

“What is it?” I said. “A drainpipe?”

“Nope. Mastodon, most likely,” Mike said. “That’s the only big fossil you ever find around here.”

Dusty frowned. “Better call the university.” He shook his head. “But not now. It’ll be a circus over here. Deb doesn’t need that.”

“If you get it out of there, you could sell it,” Mike said. “I could see if I could find anyone who’d be interested in buying it. I know—”

Dusty stopped him with a pointed look. “Let’s just keep it quiet for now. Mike?”

His face fell. “Of course.”

“Michael?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Better go break the news to Natalie,” he said.

I stood there a moment before I realized he was telling me to do it. I walked back to the house, took off my mud-caked boots, and padded up the stairs. The women were back in the master bedroom, the door open a crack. I stood there listening to Natalie and Ruth laughing and waited to hear Deb’s laugh join theirs. But all she could manage was some muffled coughing.

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