I paced my room still beaming with joy for at least another ten minutes before Tony had come to my room.

"Excuse me? Miss Carlyn?" Tony said as he knocked and opened the door.

"Tony my homie! What it do shawty?" I said to him and gave him a pound.

"I was told to bring to out to the courtyard. Prince wanted you to join him for the shoot."

"He does? Wait I don't have anything to wear."

"Don't worry he's got all that under control. Come on let's get you out there. The boss can get irritable if your not there in the next five minutes."

"What with your boss anyway? Why does he expect so much from some people?"

"Well boss man believes in running a tight ship. He thinks everything has a time and a place. If it's not planned according to his day he won't have it."

"I bet if he was married that would have a different take on all this shit."

"What's with your ruggedness girl?"

"I live in an orphanage what the hell do you expect?"

Tony laughed as we walked through the house and out the door to the courtyard outside.

"I like you little lady! I really hope you stick around for a while."

A smile soon grew big across my face.

"I hope so too!" I said as we rounded the corner.

When I got through the gate Prince saw me and waved me down.

"Hey! Carlyn! Come over here!"

I went over to him and he sent away his camera crew and makeup team. I was a little disappointed that he didn't want to take pictures with me right away but I'm sure he has something up his custom made sleeve. Somehow he always does.

"Come have a seat." He said as he sat down at purple picnic table.

I sat down across from him and he smiled at me. It was weird. It was creepy. I wanted him to stop.

"What are we doing here dude?" I asked as I tried to hide my excitement.

"Well I figured we'd have a little lunch together. Maybe go out today and stop at a music store. Make a nice little trip out of it before I have to take you back later."

"Sounds like a thrill! I can finally go and pick up my OutKast album before I'm never able to find it again."

Prince smiled a little and shook his head.

"You and you're music. I swear kids today don't like the old school but they sure think it's hot when it's sampled." Prince said as he stuck his fork into a piece of cantaloupe.

"Isn't sampling a god thing though? I mean it's some type of acknowledgement right?"

"Well....."

He paused for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say. He finally thought of how he was going to explain the industry to me.

"It's both a good and a bad thing. If the artist asks for permission to use a sample of another artist then it's fine but if they just sample it and not ask then it becomes a problem. It's basically like having someone borrow your toothbrush."

My face was purely disgusted.

"Dude. Ew."

"Exactly."

As I tried to shove a piece of cantaloupe in my mouth that was too big to fit Prince watched in shock.

"Don't you wanna cut that?" He asked as he continued to watch.

"Na a ca da at!" Which in English was 'Nah I can do it'.

"What? Carlyn come on cut it first!" Prince giggled as he still watched.

I kept trying to shove the piece of fruit in my mouth as he watched. When I tried for the final time somehow I managed to flip the cantaloupe from the fork and in front of his bowl. Prince looked up at me as my face suddenly was blank.

"I'm so sorry man. That was an accident I swear." I said in somewhat of a panic.

He took his fork and place the cantaloupe on it and flipped it back to me and it hit me square in my face. The wet slimy fruit made a sloshing sound against my forehead before it fell down into my lap. I looked down at the fruit in my lap then up to Prince.

"Dude! Whatcha do that for?" I asked him.

"Because! It was funny!" He giggled.

"Oh really?" I said taking a grape and hitting him in the nose with it.

"Didn't they teach you not to play with your food little girl?" He laughed.

"I'm sure they taught you too nerd!" I giggled tossing another grape at him.

He caught it out of the air and shoved it in his mouth before it could land on him.

"Well let's go we got things to do." He said as he wiped his hands with a napkin.

We got up from the table and went out of the courtyard to the front of the building. Prince's black BMW was parked just outside of the doors of Paisley Park. He pushed the button on his key to unlock the doors and we got inside. The car started and away we went to downtown Chanhassen. Our first stop was a definitely a music store but it wasn't the one I had in mind.

  "Uhhh Prince? Why are we at an instrument store?" I asked as he parked.

  "You'll see." He said turning. The key and pulling it out of the ignition.

He got out of the car and made it up to the door and turned back to find me still sitting in the car. He came back to the car and tapped on the driver side window.

  "Come on!" He said with a grin.

  "Do I have to?" I asked annoyed.

He shook his head yes and went back to the entrance of the store. I got out with a huff and closed the car door and followed behind him. I went inside and saw all the instruments lining the walls.

  "This is interesting." I said impressed as I looked over all of the horns on the wall.

Prince's voice calling me from a distance caught my ear and my attention.

  "Carlyn come here I wanna show you something." He said.

I went over to where he was and he was sitting behind a keyboard.

  "That's what you wanted to show me?" I asked with a bit of a snarky attitude.

  "What? This? Oh no! I actually wanted to show you that over there." He said pointing to a picture of a young man wearing a purple metallic looking jacket with small metal spokes on the right shoulder.

The man had black long curls covering his left eye and in his hand was a white cloud guitar. It was just like the one back at Paisley Park.

  "Who's this guy? He looks cool holding that sweet guitar like the one you have at home."

I never meant to call Paisley Park home but it just slipped out like it was just a natural thing to say. Prince came up to me and placed a hand on my right shoulder.

  "That cool guy you're looking at holding that sweet guitar is me." He said softly as he touched the younger version of himself pictures on the wall.

  "Are you shi- kidding me?" I asked him happily.

  "Yeah. I was at least 26 back then. That was around the time I had just finished The Purple Rain Tour back in 86 if my math is right."

  "You must have been badass back in the day. What made you get saved, sacrificed, and judgmental?" I asked him.

  "That's cute!" He said laughing.

  "Well I wanna know!" I asked.

  "The younger ones like you need a role model and not somebody glorifying violence and drugs all the time. That was the change."

  "That was nice of you but you know it's gonna take more than just you to change the world right?"

  "I know that. Things just take time. One day it will happen though. But! Let me ask you a question."

  "Again with the questions! Geez! Who are you a detective?"

  "No but be honest. You called Paisley Park your home. Did you mean that?"

Shit he noticed. Well I can't lie to him now so I better just tell him.

  "Well yeah I do! I mean your a bit of a pain but I hope you go through with the adoption."

Prince was surprised.

  "What adoption?" He asked confused.

  "I was in your office today looking for some......reading material when I pulled out the Twain novel and found the letter from the orphanage. I know you would make a certain little girl or boy very happy."

He sighed and grabbed my hand.

  "Carlyn that letter you found is from a year ago. Six months before all of this I had changed my mind about adopting."

My heart stopped. I wasn't getting adopted after all. I got my hopes up like a dumb ass...for nothing.