The Performers

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

BOBBY AND CHAD met them at the airport the next morning, and they were more than glad to let Bobby drive them home. By the time they’d unpacked and taken a quick shower, Chad had lunch ready for them.

While they ate their lunch, Noah watched Bobby’s body language—it was clear that Bobby was keyed up about something, so he said, “Okay, Bobby, what’s up?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think you’re bursting to tell us something. Out with it.”

“I was going to wait until we finished lunch, but okay, here it is,” Bobby said. “I got a call from our lawyer yesterday.”

“And?”

“Uncle Joe has blinked.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know the lawyers have been more or less deadlocked in the negotiations over dividing the partnership assets, right?”

“Sure.”

“Uncle Joe is willing to let us have all the real estate except the eighty acres on I-10,” Bobby said. “He’ll keep the business and that one parcel.”

“Wow,” he said, “he did sort of blink, didn’t he? He was holding out for a lot more.”

“I know,” Bobby said. “Well, what do you think?”

“How long do we have to decide?”

“Two weeks.”

“What does Mr. Cooper say?”

“That it looks good on paper,” Bobby said. “Based on current market value, we come out on top. Uncle Joe seems to think that the new interchange will tip the scales.”

“Then I say let Uncle Joe have his dream. You and I can start slowly selling the real estate one parcel at a time.”

“That works for me,” Bobby said, “but what would we do with the money?”

“Purchase as much rental property as we can,” Noah said, “property that will generate income. By the time you finish law school, you might even have enough rental income to support you while you start your own practice.”

“Sounds good to me,” Bobby said.

SOMEHOW THEY GOT through the rest of April and the month of May. Noah’s senior recital had been very nearly flawlessly sung, as far as Tom could tell, and they were looking forward to a summer of respite from classes before the fall term began. The only items on their summer agenda so far were his performance in Boston and two performances in Florida. They even managed to find some time during the first two weeks of June to make use of the new privacy fence and lay in the sun a few times. Bobby and Chad had joined them on one such occasion.

Their plane touched down at Logan Airport on the Tuesday morning before the scheduled performance, and Henry was waiting for them at the gate. As they shook hands, Tom said, “Where’s William?”

“Waiting in the car for me to let him know we’re ready,” Henry said. “He’s parked where he can pull up in front of the terminal a few minutes after I call. Do you have any checked bags?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Tom said, “what with the music, my tuxedo, suits for both of us, and everything. I’m glad we shipped the recording gear and a small case of CDs up here last week.”

“No problem,” Henry said. “Follow me.”

Henry led them to the baggage area, and the three of them waited patiently at the appropriate baggage carousel. Their bags turned up eventually, and he and Noah pulled them off of the carousel. “That’s the lot,” Tom said.

Henry dialed a number on his cell phone. After a pause, he said, “We’re ready,” and ended the call.

Henry took one of their rolling bags and again said, “Follow me.”

He led them to an area near the queue of taxis. Two minutes later, a Jaguar sedan driven by William pulled up. The trunk lid popped open, and their bags were quickly loaded. They took the backseat and Henry got in front with William and said, “Home, James.”

The drive to Beacon Hill took them through a tunnel under Boston Harbor then through a maze of streets. Finally, they turned down a street lined with town houses, and William said, “This is Brimmer Street, and here we are. The church is just down the street on the left.”

The car pulled up in front of a town house, and William double-parked long enough for them to remove their luggage. “See you shortly,” William said before he drove off.

“The parking garage is just a couple of blocks down the street,” Henry said. “He’ll be back in less than ten minutes.”

He led them up a flight of steps and unlocked the door to the town house. They set their bags in the foyer while Henry disengaged the alarm and locked the door behind them. “We’ve put you in the little suite on the second floor,” Henry said. He picked up their garment bag and the music briefcase and started up the stairs. They took the rest of the bags and followed suit—the high ceilings made it a long climb up to the second floor.

They reached the second floor landing and saw an open door to the right and a hallway leading to the rear of the house. There was also a door on the opposite side of the landing, but it was closed. The next room down the hall was a well-appointed library, and the hall ended in a door that opened into a large bedroom that included a small sitting area in one corner.

“The bathroom is through that door to the right of the bed. I’ll leave you now in case you want to freshen up. Come downstairs when you’re ready; we’ll be in the parlor just off the foyer.”

Henry left the room, closing the door behind him, and Tom said, “Is this a great house or what?”

“It’s very nice, and I love the floors,” Noah said. “What kind of wood is that?”

“I think I remember William or Henry telling us that the floors are teak. They saw teak floors in an Episcopal church somewhere in Virginia and that gave them the idea.”

“I need a shower, how about you?”

“Yes.”

They discovered that the tiled shower would accommodate both of them with ease, so they took advantage. As they were toweling themselves dry, Noah said, “What shall we wear?”

“Our hosts were wearing khakis and polo shirts.”

“Okay.”

Dressed and refreshed, they went downstairs in search of their hosts and found the Lanes sitting in a matched pair of wingback chairs in the front parlor. “Don’t get up,” he said, as their hosts started to stand. “Noah and I will sit.”

“Feel better?” William said.

“You bet,” he said. “It takes a shower and a change of clothes to wash the travel grime off, no matter how short the trip.”

“We love the floors in this house,” Noah said.

“So do we,” Henry said. “When we saw the floors in Trinity Church down in Staunton, Virginia, we said then and there that one day we would live in a house with floors of teak.”

“What’s on our agenda?” Tom said.

“The organ is available for your use as often as you like, because there’s not a lot going on right now,” William said. “My suggestion is that you practice in the mornings—the earlier the better, as it’ll be much more comfortable inside the sanctuary.”

“I can relate to that,” he said. “They don’t turn the air on in Good Shepherd unless there’s a service, and the heat and humidity in Jacksonville can be intense, even in June.”

“Rehearsals aside, we have a list of things you might like to see and/or do,” William said.

“Right,” Henry said. “For one thing, the Freedom Trail is a must.”

“I’ve read about that,” Tom said. “Isn’t it a walk from the Common through the historic areas to Bunker Hill, or something like that?”

“Exactly,” Henry said. “It passes by the place where the Boston Tea Party was planned; Faneuil Hall; Paul Revere’s house; the Old North Church; Old Ironsides; and winds up at Bunker Hill. You can spend an afternoon on the Freedom Trail, what with side tours of Old Ironsides and other stops along the way.”

“Another well-spent half day would be to visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,” William said. “They’re only a couple of blocks from each other and worth your time.”

“We plan to take you to dinner at a couple of interesting restaurants in the North End,” Henry said. “And we may be joined by two others, depending on their schedule.”

“We’ve pretty much cleared our calendars for the next three afternoons,” William said, “so we can show you our city. We’ll also give you a key and the alarm code so you can come and go as you like.”

“What’s the earliest time I can gain access to the church?” Tom said.

“Whenever you wish, after the first session,” William said. “Dr. Mabry, our organist, wants to be there the first time you play the organ, and we’ve arranged for him to give you a key so you can come and go as you please after that. He’s expecting you tomorrow morning at eight.”

“Great,” Tom said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

“What’s on for tonight?” Noah said.

“We’re going to take you to Durgin Park,” William said. “It’s a famous restaurant that has to be experienced to be believed.”

“Sounds good,” Tom said.

“Would you like to see the rest of the house?” Henry said.

“Sure,” Tom said.

The Lanes showed them the first floor, which consisted of the front parlor, dining room, kitchen, and laundry room. The third floor contained two very large bedrooms which were connected by an equally large bathroom. The tour ended in the second floor library, one corner of which had been turned into a nice little office.

“Did you bring a laptop?” Henry said.

“Yes, I did,” Tom said.

“Good,” Henry said. “If you need to access the Internet, let us know and we’ll give you a password that will let you use our in-house wireless.”

Someone’s stomach rumbled, and Noah said, “I’m sorry. I guess I should have eaten before we left home.”

“No need to be sorry,” Henry said. He looked at his watch and added, “If we walk to the subway station now we’ll catch the early crowd at the restaurant, and there’ll be plenty of daylight for sightseeing after we eat.”

At the front door, William handed Tom a key and carefully explained how to set the alarm. “We take the alarm very seriously,” William said. “Partly because this is a major city, but mostly because our grandmother lives next door, and that doorway at the head of the stairs opens into her house.”

“We take alarms seriously too,” Tom said. “We have an expensive organ in our house and an extremely valuable piano.” He told them the story of his inheriting a hundred-year-old Steinway Model C concert grand piano.

They followed their hosts down the street, with William and Henry taking turns discussing future points of interest until Brimmer Street ended at Beacon Street. William pointed out a line of people waiting to gain access to the Cheers bar and said, “There’s nearly always a line there, even though, except for reruns, the television show has been off the air for nearly twenty years.”

Their short walk to the Arlington Street station took them around the perimeter of the Boston Common/Public Garden. Before they descended into the station, Henry gave Tom and Noah each a ticket, saying, “These are passes good for unlimited travel around the system for seven days.”

“Thanks,” Tom said.

When they were below ground, William explained the system to them. Maps were posted all over the station, indicating where the various lines traveled. “This one is the Green Line,” Henry said, “and we’ll take it to the third stop tonight, which is the Government Center station.”

“I’ve never actually been on a subway,” Noah said.

“We went to New York a couple of times when I was in high school,” Tom said, “and my dad took my brother and me on the subway. However, we’d heard so much about crime, it was more scary than interesting.”

“It’s the only way to get around in a large and crowded city like Boston,” Henry said.

“It helps that downtown Boston is so compact,” William said. “A car is a liability in this city, and a lot of people don’t bother with owning one.”

“A system like this probably wouldn’t work in a city like Jacksonville,” Tom said.

“Why not?” William said.

“For one thing, the city is much too spread out,” Tom said. “Also, a system of tunnels like you have wouldn’t be practical for the same reason we don’t have basements—too much ground water too near the surface. We do have an above-ground monorail people mover between downtown and the south bank of the river, but it’s not utilized a great deal.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Henry said, “you may be right.”

“Is the system safe?” Tom said.

“I don’t think we have train wrecks very often,” Henry said.

“I think he’s referring to a different kind of safety,” William said. “Yes, unlike subways in some other cities, the system is safe.”

Conversation on the crowded subway car was virtually impossible, so they simply stood quietly and took in all the sights. They reached their stop very quickly, and the Lanes led them back up to street level.

“All those tracks going in so many directions down there,” Tom said. “It must be complicated for the people running things.”

“No doubt,” Henry said.

“At one point, I saw tracks descending to an even lower level than the one we were on,” Noah said. “You could get lost down there.”

“Did I mention that the Boston subway system is the oldest one in the country?” William said.

“I don’t think so,” Tom said.

William expounded at length on the history of the Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall complex as they walked from the subway station to the restaurant. The area was crowded with tourists, and the line at the restaurant was quite long, but Henry said, “Don’t worry about the line, it tends to move quite rapidly.”

They had a good time in the restaurant. Afterward, as they walked across the open area between the restaurant and Faneuil Hall, Noah said, “That was great, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a waiter throw the silverware at me in a restaurant before.”

“Noah,” Tom said, “he didn’t actually throw it at you, he simply tossed it across the table in your general direction. Actually, it landed in the middle of the table and slid the rest of the way, so you didn’t have to catch it or anything.”

“Sorry, I guess I was exaggerating just a bit,” Noah said.

“Extremely casual service is one of the trademarks of Durgin Park,” Henry said. “Along with wise-cracking and back-talking waiters and waitresses, it’s all part of their shtick.”

“Well, I liked it, shtick and all,” Tom said.

“Yeah,” Noah said, “and the food portions were unbelievably large.”

They walked the length of Faneuil Hall and then back to the subway station. When they reached the town house, their hosts invited them into the library for a nightcap.