Alice idly paced the hallway in Kit’s house, wishing that Angelica would wake up crying or something, because then at least Alice would have something to do.  She knew she was really desperate for something to do, because normally she hated dealing with screaming babies.

Something caught her eye, and Alice rounded the corner back into the living room.  Heading into the corner of the room, she crouched down.  “Hello, what have we here?” she murmured to herself, picking up the battered acoustic guitar.  “Must have been from Kit’s old touring days,” she said aloud, putting the strap onto her shoulder and positioning the guitar in front of her.

She was surprised at how good and right it felt to have it there.  It was if it belonged there.  It had been so long since she’d gotten out her own guitar and actually played, she had expected the feeling to be alien. 

Alice experimentally plucked at the strings, stopping to adjust them slightly.  Hearing the notes, a rush of excitement came over her.  It was as if she’d never even put down the guitar.  I kinda miss playing.  And my physical therapist did say it would help my arm to take up a hobby such as guitar.  Oh, what the *****.  The least it could do is wake up the baby and then I’d have to get her back to sleep, which would give me something to do.

Perching on the arm of the couch, Alice positioned the guitar and strummed it slowly at first; quickly building up the tempo as she softly sang whatever nonsensical phrases came to mind.  This feels so right.  And God, does this ever take me back.

Standing up, Alice began playing more enthusiastically, creating her own riffs while adding along notes she remembered from songs she liked over the years.  Racking her brain for something to sing, she came up empty.  “I’m so bored,” she said in a sing-song voice, changing chords and tapping her foot on the ground.  “Bored, bored, bored,” she sang, her voice rising as her fingers flew across the strings.  Glad no one was around to see her, Alice jumped into the air with the guitar, strumming at the strings and shouting, “I’m so ***** bored and I have nothing to do.”

“Girl, that’s good!  You’re great!” a voice said behind her, causing Alice to almost drop the guitar.

Blushing, Alice swung around quickly.  “Oh my God, Kit.  I’m so sorry!  I didn’t hear you come in.  Here, I’ll put this up.  I didn’t break it or anything.  I’m sorry,” she apologized profusely, her face burning at the knowledge that Kit had witnessed her little show as she struggled to untangle the guitar strap from her body.

“No, no, don’t worry about it,” Kit insisted quickly, grabbing Alice’s arm to stop her.  “You’re good.  Well, not the lyrics.  That needed, uh, work.  But you can play that damn guitar, girl!  You’ve really got magic fingers.”

“So I’ve been told,” Alice replied, smirking, not thinking about her answer.  She reddened.  “I mean, uhah *****.”

Kit just laughed.  “You’ve really got talent there, Al.  Would you be interested in playing again?  Maybe helping me write some music and playing it with me?  I’ve got a new project coming up.”

Alice just stared.  Was she hearing Kit correctly?  “You want me to write some music for you and play it?  For an album?”

“Well, yeah, if you wouldn’t mind.  C’mon, girl, it could be fun.  With your music and my singing, we can’t go wrong!” Kit said encouragingly.

“***** yeah!” Alice agreed.  No need to ask this girl twice.