Monday, October 22, 2018

The DJ and his son

Challenge Prompt: The Cottage | Word Count: 1200 words exactly  | Genre
Due Date 9/19

The party was in full swing, and Daniel was enjoying himself. He thought it might be the first time in the year since Audrey left him that he could say that.
 
He scanned the room, past the couples slow-dancing to the song he’d just started. Past the diners lingering at the tables around the edge of the dance floor. Past the bar where a group gathered, drinks in hand, chatting animatedly.  Past the hallway and into a small room where children played.
 
There was Liam. Daniel’s joy and his despair. Just to look at his three year old son you’d never know he was deaf, barely able to communicate. Daniel was teaching him basic sign language, but what he really yearned for was a way to connect with the boy.
 
He noticed Megan kneeling on the playroom floor amidst a pile of stuffed animals and tonka trucks, watching her three-year old boy, Kyle, climb onto a toy car, and Liam pushing Kyle across the room. Daniel couldn’t hear their laughter over the music, but he saw it in their faces and in the ease with which they played. 
 
Megan’s long hair shone in the light. He could see a hint of red in the dark brown waves. As if she felt his perusal, Megan looked up and met his eyes across the distance. She smiled a broad, crooked smile and his breath caught at the sight.
 
Daniel felt his cheeks redden under her scrutiny. He smiled a shy smile back. He supposed his golden eyes were twinkling under his bushy eyebrows. He’d been told they did that when he was happy.
 
 The song ended, and Daniel started a fast upbeat song meant to draw a crowd to the dance floor; but not too fast, as he didn’t want to amp the energy much beyond where it currently was.
 
He’d met Megan just a few weeks ago, while emceeing a wedding she had attended. She’d said she was impressed with his professionalism and the quality of his equipment and music, asked if he’d be interested in emceeing a small gathering at her cottage. He’d been impressed with her quiet manner and good looks, and readily agreed.
 
They’d met several times in the intervening weeks, to go over the details of the party and discuss music and potential playlists. He’d felt a romance budding between himself and Megan, which was something he’d avoided since Audrey left.

Megan had encouraged Daniel to bring Liam with him on the three occasions they’d met at the cottage, and suggested he bring the boy to the party as well. It pleased Daniel to see Megan taking such an interest in his son. Liam was a well-mannered boy, shy and cautious around others; and though the child was completely deaf, Liam and Megan’s son, Kyle, had become fast friends.  

 In a little while it would be dark outside and the gathering would move beyond the walls of the cottage and onto the deck and the beach beyond, where the full moon would illuminate wet sand and crashing surf.
 
His equipment was set up so he could cater to both environments, inside and out. Daniel could see gas heaters placed around tables on the deck outside; a bonfire stacked close to the shoreline, ready to be lit. A cool  breeze drifted through the screen door, past a large fire burning in an open fireplace, near the DJs station, keeping Daniel warm. 
 
He turned his attention back to the playroom, where Megan spoke a few words to the babysitter, then left and went to the bar. Daniel turned his attention away from his son as he tracked Megan's progress across the room. He queued up several songs as she approached, so he could give her his complete attention. “Thanks,” he gratefully accepted the beer she offered him. “How are you enjoying the party?”
 
 “It’s perfect.” She smiled that crooked smile again.  “You’ve set a great mood with your music selections. Just look at everyone, laughing and dancing; who wouldn’t be enjoying this?”
   
They chatted for a while, completely absorbed in each other, until suddenly  the babysitter came rushing out of the playroom, frantically looking around. Daniel’s heart skipped several beats when he heard her calling Liam's name. Abandoning his post, he hurried over to the playroom, Megan right behind him.
   
"What's happened? Where's Liam?”
   
"He was here a moment ago.” The babysitter cried, "I only went to the ladies room. He was gone when I came back.”  She was wringing her hands with worry; “Liam; Liam, where are you baby?”
 
"Calling for him won't help,” Daniel scoffed. "He can't hear you."  Panic had taken hold of his thoughts. He couldn't focus.
   
Kyle came running up to them, wrapping his arms around his mom’s legs. “What’s the matter, Mama?” he asked, blue eyes wide with innocent curiousity. “Are you scared?” 
   
“We’re looking for Liam. Did you see him leave?”
   
“No. But I know where he is.”
   
“You do?” Megan’s pale face took on a cast of hope, “can you show us?”
 
“He likes it in the corner over there,” the boy pointed towards the far side of the room; but the corner was obscured by the bar and Daniel couldn’t see what Kyle pointed to.
 
None of the partyers seemed to notice anything amiss as they rushed past.
 
“Oh, thank God!” Daniel breathed a sigh of relief, seeing his son sitting on the floor, unconcerned and unaware that he had caused such a panic.
 
Liam appeared utterly transfixed by a strange lamp that sat in the corner of the room. The lamp was somehow attuned to sound, blue and green light  intensifying and fading to varying noise levels. Daniel had never seen anything like it before.
 
“Where did you get this?” Daniel asked Megan, amazement replacing the fear that had gripped him just moments before, now that he knew Liam was safe.
 
“My brother made it.” Megan picked up the lamp and handed it to him. “He calls it a sound reactive LED light. He’s such an electronics nerd. He found the instructions on YouTube if you can believe it. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I could probably get him to make one for you, if you like.”
 
The song ended and the lamp dimmed in the sudden quiet that followed.
 
“Liam,” Daniel touched the boy’s shoulder, crouching beside his son, intrigued by the green light that flared when he spoke.

The deaf boy made a guttural, laughing sound, and when the light reacted to the noise, Liam laughed again. Blue light danced and Liam made the sign for MORE. He laughed again and his face lit up as bright as the light. He wore a smile that Daniel had never seen on the boy’s face in all the short years of his life.

Liam looked up then, right into his father’s eyes, and Daniel felt his first real connection with his son. It brought a lightness to his heart as he thought of the possibilities he could do with such a tool.

Megan suggested they let the boys take the lamp to the playroom, and Daniel agreed, feeling an overwhelming desire to kiss this lovely women. But all he could think to say was “thank you!” 

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