A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Chapter XIX: Sure Know Something

"You can come in if you want," I said holding the door open. Cara ran right in no questions asked. Linda stepped inside, carefully avoiding the muddy footprints all over the floor. "Sorry about the mess, I was just about to clean it."

"That's alright, I'm sorry about coming on such short notice," she said taking a seat on the couch. She set Ross on her lap who just stared at everything. I couldn't remember how old either of the children were, but Ross was no more than a little baby with only a couple of teeth. Cara was old enough to explore. She took to peering in doorways and around corners. "Stay close, Cara."

I grabbed the bucket and mop and began cleaning. Might as well get a little work done while we talked. Linda wiped away a spot of drool on Ross' chin. He looked at her. Cara ran over to her mum and climbed on the couch. "What brings you all here?"

"We were about to go shopping for groceries in town and just thought we'd drop in for a visit," she said. "Have you heard from the boys at all?"

"Angus phoned and told me about Georgeanne," I said. 

"It's so exciting, I can't wait to see pictures!" Linda gushed as Ross babbled. Cara put her finger to her lips and shushed her brother. "I'm glad Cliff got to see him. I was lucky to have these two on their tour breaks." She gently ran her fingers through Cara's hair. 

"Then Brian called and said Angus got the flu."

"Mal said something was going around but he didn't say what it was," Linda said. "Maybe they thought it was just a cold or something."

I couldn't help myself, I had to ask. "How's Malcolm doing? I mean, I figure you probably heard more from him?" Linda grabbed her purse and pulled out a baby toy, giving it to Ross to hold. 

"He's okay," she said. "Very tired. Calls about once a day to ask about the kids. I know he wants to come home. Between this last tour and their next album...and I heard they're producing the next one again." I stopped mopping for a second. "They're going back to Switzerland to finish it."

"Angus didn't mention all that," I said.

Cara yelped in pain. Linda removed Ross' hands from her hair. "That's enough of that, young man. Malcolm's been calling a lot more than usual lately," she explained. "He's been talking a lot about what's going on and I'm not even sure I understand all of it." Cara took her shoes off and stood on the couch. "I think he said something about music videos too, but..." Cara pulled on her mum's sleeve. "What is it?"

"Mummy, can I go play now?"

"Yes, but don't be nosy," Linda said as Cara jumped down and ran off somewhere. "Management wants them to make some videos for the album and I don't think they're too thrilled about it."

"Why not?" I could think of a few good reasons.

"He said it doesn't fit with what the band's about, or...something along those lines. He said the ideas they were given were awful and they have little say in what happens and...." She sighed and removed Ross' hands from her own hair. "It's been a lot," Linda said with a smile. 

"What about you guys?" I asked. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's been good. Our backyard is flooded from the storm last night." Ross shook his toy.

"I just finished cleaning outside, it's awful out there," I said taking the bucket back to the kitchen. The water sloshed around in the sink and down the drain. 

"Is that plant new?"

"Oh yeah, I got it the other day," I said petting the delicate fronds. 

"Malcolm mentioned something Angus said about you and plants," Linda said. "Something like, they're your equivalent to children." I giggled. 

"I think he's right," I said. "Animals and plants."

"That's too bad he's sick," Linda said as Cara came running into the living room and diving headfirst into the couch. "I'm sure Malcolm will catch it too and then he'll be really pleased." We giggled to ourselves. Linda glanced at her watch. "We'd better get going, we just wanted to drop in real quick." She stood from the couch and hoisted Ross in her arms. "Come on, get your shoes." She held her hand out to Cara who took it and followed her to the front door. "It's been nice seeing you, Hannah, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon once the tour is finished."

"I hope so." We hugged each other as best as we could all things considering and Cara hugged my legs. I patted her on the head and waved at Ross.

"You wanna wave goodbye?" Ross stared at me then looked at his mum. "I've seen him do it, he's just shy." I opened the door for them and they stepped onto the porch. "We'll be seeing you. Oh, say hi to your friend for me! Maude right?" I nodded. "Alright, goodbye."

"Bye," I waved. I watched them go then closed the front door. I could only guess Angus didn't want to talk about all the stress they were under and thus didn't mention it. Angus had caught on sometime in our relationship that when he was stressed, I got stressed. A lot of things happened that he didn't tell me about until they had already happened like dismissing Phil. Sometimes though, I think he knows or at least suspects that I already know what's going on. Not to mention the flu leaving him drained of energy to even speak at all. I felt bad for him. For all of them.