Music Masters: CD One

RETURN OF THE SPACE COWBOY: PART THREE

For once, Michael Kay's mind wasn't going in a million directions.

In this brief moment, he wasn't distracted or daydreaming.

Because for the first time in a long time, he had but a singular thought in his head.

His eyes stared straight forward, still absorbing the physical presence of his uncle in front of him. His mind wanted to scream at him that this was all some sort of crazy hallucination, but Colleen's clear awareness of Rob's existence told him otherwise.

There had been silence for a good thirty seconds now as Michael remained stunned. Finally, Colleen made a statement in an attempt to ease the mood.

"Mike...I didn't expect you home this late."

Her younger brother ignored the words though, taking cautious steps forward.

Arms spread out, he looked up at his uncle with awestruck eyes. They were almost face to face now, Michael having grown almost a good two feet since Rob had last seen him when he was seven.

"This is real, right?" the afro-headed teen asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Rob just nodded, and Colleen seemed at a loss now with what to say.

Michael's face formed into a wide grin, and he began to laugh. He relaxed right into Rob's arms, continuing to laugh as they hugged.

Only moments later, and now Michael was laughing so hard that tears were beginning to well up in his eyes. Elation filled him up like air in a balloon.

Colleen just looked to one side, nervously rubbing her forearm as she debated on how she really felt about this whole situation.

"You have no idea how much stuff I have to tell you, Rob. But it's really good to have you back." Michael exclaimed, wiping away stray tears, a toothy smile still pasted on his face.

Rob looked down at his nephew as he snugly set his cap back onto his head. He'd always felt so uncomfortable without it on.

"Well that makes two of us. I like the new hair, by the way." he complimented.

Rob looked towards Colleen, and they seemed to communicate with nothing more than a glance. He could easily sense the veritable mix of emotions coming from her, but it seemed the moment to pursue them was not now.

"We'll talk about this later." Colleen simply declared, subtle annoyance in her voice before she grabbed her jacket and went for the door.

"And that means you too, Michael. You can't just be coming home this late like it's nothing."

With that, Colleen shut the door tight behind her, presumably off to another early morning shift.

Michael blinked, momentarily worried about later consequences from his sister. Then he remembered Rob right next to him, and any hint of worry melted away.

"Man, what's her problem?" Michael said so casually, as he plopped down on the couch, resting his head back for the moment.

Rob set down his guitar case nearby as he took to the couch opposite to his nephew. As Michael sat up, he noted the hardened calluses on his uncle's fingers; an obvious result of years of constant bass-playing.

"She's pretty angry with me." Rob replied, his voice low.

He didn't want to admit it, but there were still a great many things about Rob that Michael just didn't know.

"Because you've been gone all this time?" Michael pointed out, inquiry written all over his face.

Rob pulled his cap down further to hide his eyes. It was an old habit dragged over from his younger years. "Of course, And before you even ask, I can't tell you why I left. It's beyond what my niece thinks. And we all know she hates being left out of anything."