"I have never felt that Calvin." The excitement in her voice had its own tone in the room and if I was honest with myself then I would admit that rocking the idea in my head had me damn excited too.
I knew music, it guided me in any stage of my life, and now I brought it out in such a unique and tasteful way... knowing the approval waiting outside the doors would tell me I made the right choice.
"Holy shit Cal..." Chad says with awe and hugs me. "I had no idea how East of awesome you really are." He shakes his head in astonishment and I laugh.
"East of Awesome is catching on... I like it."
I look to Shame for his opinion on the orchestral drums instead of techno drums. "How did the drums work?"
"Bad ass. Makes me want to add some to our slower shit. How'd you get the beat to know how to chase a computer set up?"
"Just how I hear it I guess. That's all I could think to avoid that bass beat and use the guitar, drums and piano to replace it."
"Fucking genius." Noah says and Axe starts jumping in front of me.
“Like that Axe?” I sign and speak knowing Lexington doesn’t speak ASL.
'It was loud and made my feet tickle. Shame was playing air drums to it.' He signs then laughs when Shame hi-fives him. Drummers in arms.
"He said it was loud and tickled his feet and that uncle Shame was playing the air drums." Jen says to Lex who smiles huge.
"Can he read lips?" She asks Jen and we both say yes, if it is slow.
"I can interpret." Jen says and tells Lex to talk.
"Thank you for coming Axe. I am so glad you liked it." She said still smiling at him as Jen signs.
'I wish I could hear your voice better though.'
Jen smiles sweetly at him and signs. 'You will one day and I bet they will sing for you then too.'
Jen stands when he nods and I explain to Lex what he said.
She looks at me sadly for a second then claps her hands and jumps in excitement. "You recorded that right?"
"Yeah." I say and watch as she runs for her flash drive.
"Can you uploadHurricanefor me really quick?"
I do as she asks and she loads it in her computer. "Now, set the sounds on all the volume levels and up the treble."
I follow as we all do because this is her thing not mine. Once I do as she asks she asks Jen to sign for her again.
"I am going to put the recorded version on in a way I think you will be able to hear it and your dad will sign it for you." She looks at me then as Jen signs to him. "You know all the words, right?"
I nod and watch as Axe lights up and runs to Shame.
'I will drum with you ok?'
'You got it. Let's do this my man.'
The song starts again with the treble high and though it sounds like shit to us, it makes it easy for Axe to hear more of the song. I start signing the lyrics to him and see him follow my hands as he takes in the words. Though he is still too young to understand the depth or meaning, for one split second he was free of his hearing disorder.
Once the drums came in, he followed my hands as Shame sat him on his knees for the bass and used his hands for the toms and symbols.
I had never in my life seen him this happy. Not ever and I felt like a King.
He looks at us when it goes silent for a few seconds until the piano comes through and I watch him try his best to focus to hear the sound. All too soon though Shame had him beating the shit out of the air drums and I loved his giggle.
