Chapter 10: Second Chair
Julian hired a part-time afternoon companion—a young education student named Rafi who could play guitar properly and did not flinch at noise. Clara trained him on the unspoken rules: Toby’s need for the beat, Leo’s need for exactness, the difference between quiet and neglected. Rafi learned. The boys tested him and then accepted him. The house gained another source of sound.
Julian kept his early days. Some weeks it was two. Some weeks only one. He stopped announcing them as exceptions. They became part of the architecture, like the gates and the oak door.
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One afternoon he came home to find all four of them on the rug—Clara, Rafi, Leo, Toby—working through a new song. He left his briefcase on the floor in the same place as the first day and sat on the armchair without being invited. Toby shifted to make room near the bongos. Leo handed him a spare shaker with solemn instruction.
Julian shook it off-beat until Toby corrected him. Clara’s mouth almost smiled. The room held the noise without complaint.
