Music of the Knight

Chapter 6-1

Chapter 6

Returning from the washroom, I took my time walking down the long carpeted hallway in the incredible Knight house. At every step, I paused to look at the many family pictures hanging on the walls. Most of them were of their travels. The family posing by the Eiffel tower, the pyramids, or a beautiful sunset on a beach somewhere. Of course my attention lingered a little longer on those of Lei’s, but they were all pictures of him as a kid or teenager. No recent ones. And in each picture, Lei had the same uneasy smile, as though he couldn’t wait for whomever was snapping the picture to get it over with.

From where I stood in the hall, I could hear the muffled sounds of guitars, mixed in with Lou’s powerful voice. The basement music studio was soundproof and I could barely hear the guitars, so the neighbors surely couldn’t. This whole house could have been featured in a documentary about musicians. It was eccentric without being too strange and luxurious without being too aristocratic. The three story Victorian house was situated in the old NDG neighborhood. Charming and impressive all at once, it had a front yard full of oak trees and virgin vine shrouding the windows in privacy.

Of course the Knights were gracious hosts, and Lorraine was a joy to be around. In the last hours, I’d sat back in awe, with a permanent smile on my face and a drink in my hand. Throughout the night, Louie and Al had played everything from CCR to Half Moon Run, and some of their own compositions, too. Lou could belt out Janis Joplin songs, but her real talent came through when she sang jazz. From what I could tell, Louie was the most serious musician out of the three, having a professional band called Louie and the Seekers. He’d been playing in venues in the last years, but now that his wife Kelly, a funny and adorable South Korean woman, was pregnant, Louie had retired from doing shows. He was his father’s main man at the store, and it seemed, in everything else in general.

I was having a great time, and yet, was a bit disappointed that Lei wasn’t here. I’d expected him to be.

I left the pictures in the hall and made my way back to the basement. Downstairs, I found Louie and Al playing Hotel California near the console, and Lou chatting with her mother over mojitos at the table in the back. Kelly had fallen asleep on the corner black leather couch, under Louie’s plaid shirt, so Louie was now in his under shirt, and I couldn’t help getting an eyeful of all those intricate and wild tattoos covering his shoulders and arms.

“Hey, do you want some coffee?” Lorraine asked, as I joined her and Lou. She was already getting up and walking over to the bar where a full coffee pot awaited.

“Thank you so much,” I said, over the sound of the music.

“I’m so f*****g glad you came.” Lou slapped my hand on the table. “My dad and Louie really like you.”

“Yeah? Cool. I like them, too.” I was a bit tipsy, but the coffee would take care of that. “I wish you all would have a reality show.”

Lou burst out laughing.

“No, seriously. Like the Osbornes meet the Partridge family.”

Now Lou was frowning at her phone. Lorraine handed me a cup with Elvis’s face on it and then sat. “What?” she asked, looking at Lou.

“Lei’s coming. He sent me a text twenty minutes ago. Said he was on his way.”

“Here?”

I sipped my coffee, aware that my heart had started to pound.

Lorraine twirled her straw around the melting ice in her drink. “Wow…that’s quite a step.”

“He’ll take another street, that’s all,” Lou said, and then they shared a deep look I couldn’t read.

Why would he take another street?