A/N: I have included a live performance of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold".

I had just stumbled across this performance, and I wanted to share it. Young has this quiet charm about him that is just so heartbreaking to me! If you want to skip his little humorous intro, the song actually starts at 1:45.

This song has been a real favorite of mine since I was a young child. I really did not expect to be sharing so much of myself through my characters, but that is exactly what is happening. It's a journey for them, and a journey for me, too. This song really encapsulates Andy for me. I did not even write his character with this song in mind, but Andy led me back to it, today, so here it is.

Thank you, Andy.

xo,
Leanne

~~~~~~~~

   The window in Andy's room was opened wide, letting all the cool Sunday morning air stream throughout aimlessly. The breeze rustled the pages of the notebook before him. It lifted and played with his dark loose curls. The sun played, too. Deep in the pools of Andy's honey-dipped irises, as he looked at the window, bringing the eraser of his pencil to his full bottom lip.

   He had his well-loved, dented and scratched Fender San Marino laid upon his lap with his legs bent and crossed beneath it. He had already checked on all the kids earlier in the morning. Jude was out on the lawn messing under his Falcon's hood. Juliette and Lenny were out having breakfast. He could hear giggling in Juliette's room in the early morning. The two girls were locked in a hushed conversation.

   Andy was often interested in the lives of the kids, but he knew better than to pry. Sometimes, by simply observing them and applying only a tad of eaves-dropping, he was able to detect more that they thought he possibly could.

   It made him happy to think Lenny had a boy on her mind. She was a such a darling girl, and he surely hoped whomever she ended up with would be a true and good man. He felt the same way about Juliette.

   Now, when thinking of Jude, Andy was somewhat worried. He was not worried because he felt his handsome and beguiling nephew could not attract a good woman; he was far more unsure of whether or not Jude would be able to keep her.

  He swept his fingertips over the neck and propped the body of his guitar back into position to play it. He had been playing around with a melody earlier in the summer.

   The Wakelin family was up late one night, like how it usually happened when the kids were out of school and Andy did not have to work the next day. They we all sitting around the fire pit Andy had constructed using large stones and bricks and slabs of concrete. The embers glowed in the dark night and he played his guitar softly for his family.

   With a slow and steady strum of the strings, Andy softly sung,

    "I see the fire

   reflected in your eyes

   all the times you closed them

   afraid of the pain and cries

   You mean more to me than

   anything

   You mean more to me than

   anything I could sing"

   He removed the pencil he had rested upon his ear, and scribbled a little note on his paper beneath him on the bed. He also erased certain places, sweeping at the page with his fingers.

   When Andy was much younger, a teenager, he had a band with his high school buddies. They had quite a reputation around Blanesville, and the band did not break up until well into their college years. The band was called Moon Children.

   It was very hard to peg them into any one musical genre. That very fact both propelled and cut short their popularity. They toured to neighboring counties and sold their albums at music festivals. They were a great band, regardless of not ever truly making a  name for themselves.

   They played the types of songs that made girls cry and made boys jealous. Each member of the band brought a youthful sensitivity and energy to the group. Andy had probably the most adoring fans. His ability to make the female species wither before him did not go to his head, though. It did the exact opposite. It made him even more in awe of women.

   Having so many to chose from made it very hard for him to chose at all, so he did not. While on tour he was the only band member that declined the advances of countless willing ladies. He much preferred to stay in the van after a show, writing songs, sipping on his beer, and smoking his cigarettes. He would sometimes write and play his guitar until all hours of the morning. His band mates sometimes laughed at him, but mostly they left him alone. They knew he was creating. And what he was creating was pure gold.

"I will follow you

I will guide you

I will love you and

help you find you

Sweetheart, you are

not lost

These walls and these arms

around you

Sweetheart

This is your home"

   Andy's cell phone rang. He set his guitar on the bed, gently, and reached over to his bedside table for his phone.

   "Hello, Richard... Good morning... Messing with a tune here, how about yourself? ... Is that so? I wish I was there. I love a good barbecue...  I think she loves it. I think she met a boy... Really? Yeah. I guess I will have to wait and see... ," he gave a light chuckle before speaking again," ... Your daughters really put you through it, huh?... I am sure I will be calling you like a maniac in the upcoming weeks... Yeah. Juliette in college... I am not ready for that either... I know. She'll do amazingly well. I am sure of that...

   That sounds good. Yes... Send my love to your family as well... Tell Louise she needs to email that recipe to me , and I will hand it over to Juliette... Thank you... You too... Good-bye."

   He set his phone back down on the table.

"I will follow you

I will guide you

I will love you and

help you find you"

He stretched his arms up high above his head and let out a yawn. Standing up from the bed, some of the loose pages of his notebook fell onto the floor. He bent over to pick them up, and he folded them and placed them into the back of the notebook. He ran his fingers through his curls, and looked around the room for where he had left his bandana.

   After he rolled and tied it up around his head, he went out into the living room. He was wearing an old and worn shirt he had for many years. There were even some tiny holes here and there along the collar and hem. He liked the softness and low fuss of his old clothing. His favorite jeans were slouching low, in dire need of a wash.

   He went to the fridge and got out a jug of apple juice. After filling up a glass, he took a long drink, and walked over to the larger of the two living room windows. He could see Jude was deep into his work and frowning. He was not going to bother helping him out since Jude would most likely snap at him for suggesting another way to go about troubleshooting. He knew if Jude really needed help he would ask.

  With his bare feet propped on top of the coffee table, he leaned back onto the couch. With his apple juice in one hand and the remote in the other, he launched Netflix. He was about to select a show, when he heard the metallic screech of the screen door opening. Jude's head leaned into the room.

   "Uncle Andy, I need your help, please."

   Without a moment's hesitation, Andy stood up. He turned off the television, drank the last of his apple juice, and set the empty glass onto the table. He walked toward the front door, absentmindedly giving his torso a little scratch. He gave his nephew a sleepy smile.

   "I'm here to help ya."

~~~~~~~~~

A/N:  Dear Wonderful Reader,

Thank you thank you thank you for reading!

Anything you really liked about this chapter?

I am pretty sure Jude will be featured again very soon. We'll see. He's hard to resist.
;)

Vote and comment if you've enjoyed what you've read, please.

Have a splendid Easter weekend as well.

XO,
Leanne