After going back to the room I decided to not join our tiny group of travelers on this vacation and sat at the baby grand that my dad had flown in from Minnesota to practice on before the show. I was just sitting there tinkering with a melody on the black and whites as the thoughts of Armand were racking my poor brain. How was I gonna tell my dad about him and his situation? How can I get him in to see the show? I feel like I just made an empty promise to a kid like me. I failed at avoiding giving someone false hopes of seeing me or my dad tonight. My anger soon flowed from my fingers and down to the keys as the flow of the song began to change and the sound grew louder. I let out a sigh and stopped playing.

  "What did I just do?" I sadly asked myself.

My dad out of the blue gave his rebuttal response as he crystalized out of the clear blue sky.

  "Well that's a good question kid what did you do?" He asked as he stood in the doorway twirling his glasses around in his right hand.

I quickly turned to him surprised to see him standing there.

  "I really need you to not do your pop ups like that! You could give someone a hematoma doing that!" I said.

Of course my dad would get a laugh out of that because I was quick to toss a medical term that I had just learned on Dr. G Medical Examiner at any given time.

  "You know you would make a pretty decent nurse one day if you keep doing that. You just might be able to take care of me when I can no longer travel." He joked.

  "Daddy......someone needs to take care of you now. You're fliting with geriatrics already." I snidely said as I turned back to the piano and tinkered with the keys some more.

I could hear the drawn in breath my dad took when he started towards me. He was only playing shocked because he knew that I read like a book now that I've opened up more to him and been what he calls in tune with my emotions.

  "Now what would make you say something like that about your loving and caring father who can still move like the rest of them?" He asked as he sat down next to me and started to play a small part of The Question Of You.

I can tell by the way he was looking at me that he wanted me to talk to him about the current dilemma that I had placed myself in. He continued caressing the keys with his fingers and would occasionally nudge me with his elbow as he played. When I looked up at him he would flex his eyebrows and throw a wink my way.

  "What's eating you beautiful one?" He asked me now smoothly changing songs to The Morning Paper.

  "Right now the fact that you're playing that song in front of me." I replied with a grimacing look on my face.

He giggled a little and shook his head.

  "Well I am taking requests you know. What did you want me to play?"

I sat and thought for a minute as he continued playing. As the smile grew on my face I knew the perfect song and instead of telling him to play it for me I'd figure it best to surprise him and play it myself. I started transitioning into his song by playing Diamonds and Peals and his hands stopped moving and he watched me in awe as I played. I was playing my heart out and didn't even realize that he jumped in with the harmonizing. Once we finished the chorus together I looked at him and he was smiling ear to ear. I was a little embarrassed but proud at the same time that I taught myself how to play one of his songs perfectly.

  "Carlyn!" He said to me stunned.

  "I sucked........didn't I?" I said to him looking back the keys before me.

  "No!  You were amazing! Better than I thought you'd be! When did you go back to practicing? I thought after all of our lessons you gave up on me!"

  "I......I never stopped.....I've been practicing since our first lesson." I said softly to him trying to not to reveal my secret too loudly.

  "Well I'll be! Carlyn Nelson! You've been holding out on me! You sly little dove!"

  "Just....keep this between us. You made me want to play and......I figured that since I was going to be adopted one day I should get a hobby.....or a talent."

  "I see! Now.....what made you want to play today?"

  "What makes you think that I wanted to play?"

  "You were sitting here alone not too long ago trying to write your first song and was ready to beat all of the keys to a pulp. It's just a rental."

  "That's not......well.....maybe. The truth is......I think I may have let someone down. I didn't really mean to do it. I was only trying to be helpful."

  "Oh? How so?"

  "See.....I met this kid today at the food bank. He was sitting on a bench at the stadium and......I found out that he's a orphan....and he's also living on the streets. He's been looking for his uncle but......he just doesn't know where he is. He can't go home because his step dad is a monster."

  "Ahhhhh. So what was your part in all of this my dear?"

  "Well as long as you don't blow a purple fuse in your musical brain i'll tell you."

My dad just smiled and stuck out his pinky.

  "Carlyn you know that I wont......at least if its nothing that I need to punish you for."

  "No it's not. Hopefully." I said hooking my pinky around his.

  "So tell me what's troubling you my love." He said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

I let out a sigh and spilled the disappointment from my heart.

  "Well see....the thing is. He lost his mom and she was a big fan of yours. That's the last happy memory he has of his mother and I figured that maybe you could meet him to grant a wish in honor of her. And even.......maybe even help him find any of his relatives that were displaced from New Orleans so he can get off the streets. There's gotta be something we can do right?"

I was almost pleading for him to do some kind of magic trick and make all Armand's pain go away but I wasn't sure if this was one of those moments where he would give me the whole sticking my nose where it doesn't belong speech again. He sat with his hands in his lap and seemed as if he was in deep thought. I was hoping that he would have said something then but he didn't. He just sat there silent. Then.....he got up.

  "We better get ready for the show kid." He said as he started towards the door.

I shot up quickly and darted his direction.

  "But wait! What about my problem?!?!?" I asked him begging for an answer.

  "Let's worry about it a little later." He said with an ominous grin then left the room.

  "Gee way to leave a girl hangin' dad." I hissed as I thought about what he meant by later.

And what was he smiling for? I swear he's never been so confusing! It drives me batty! I just threw my hands up and decided to not give myself a brain injury trying to figure out his cryptic message and got showered and changed for the show. An hour and a half had gone by and I was sitting on the couch next to Joey waiting to leave.

  "Carly? You look sad? What's the matter?" He asked me in his little voice.

  "Nothing. I just made a mistake that's all. I'm sure it's gonna give me a one way ticket to limbo if all the other mistakes I've made haven't already."

  "Aww it's ok. I'm sure whatever it was dad wont be too mad."

  "UUUUGGGG I'm as good as dead meat." I said as I slunked down from the couch to the floor.

  "If dad saw you like that he would probably tell you to stop talking to the dust bunnies."

  "I'd prefer the dust bunnies than the show right about now." I said with my face in the carpet.

I could hear footsteps coming into the living room and my dad and uncle Andre talking about how excited they were about the turn out for the show.

  "Every seat in the house sold out Skip! It's gonna be a really dope show." I heard uncle Andre say.

  "Man we're gonna tear the room off the place P! I can feel it!" Uncle Dez responded.

  "Let's hope so guys. We better get moving though you know how I feel about being late. Time is money." Daddy said.

  "Yeah we know about you and your deduction of pay restrictions." Uncle Andre laughed.

  "Don't start early Dre. You can take a cut now if you want to." Daddy laughed

  "Nah I need every dime man. I'm alright." Uncle Andre said.

The room was starting to get quiet when the last person left was Tony and my dad. He sent our uncles out to the car and pulled my dad to the side to discuss the possibility of what my dad calls stage runners.

  "I just wanna make sure that you and the kids are gonna be safe boss." Tony said.

  "We'll be fine. Thanks for coming to be extra muscle. I'll make sure your paid extra for your time with the kids."

  "It's no trouble boss. You know I'd do anything when it comes to Carly and Joe."

My dad shook his hand and dismissed Tony to get to the car. He soon called out to me and Joey and Joey was never so happy to get ready to see the show but I wasn't. I actually wanted to hide inside of a closet. When daddy sent Joey down to meet with Tony I actually did get up from the floor and hide in a closet. When he came back inside the suite to find me he walked past the closet that I was hiding in and started to call for me.

  "Carlyn? Where are you?" He called as he began his search for me.

  "Come on mama we can play hide and seek when it comes to the bills."

  "I'm in here." I yelled out from the door.

I heard him come towards the door and turn the knob slowly and pulled the door opened to find me sitting on the floor with my head down.

  "What are you doing in here dove?" He asked.

  "I don't wanna go daddy. I messed up." I replied.

  "Carlyn? Give me your hand and stand up love."

He put out his hand and I took it pulling myself out the closet following behind him. I felt awful about going to this show knowing that I just let Armand down.

  "Do I have to go? I don't wanna see the look on Armand's face when I have to break the news to him about not getting him any help." I said keeping my eyes to the floor.

  "So that's his name! Well now. Don't you worry about a thing. Come with me."

Again with the cryptic messages! What is he up to? We left the suite and went to the elevator to make our way to the waiting car. Once there we flew to the concert venue to get my dad ready for the show. We were pushed through a crowd of screaming fans to a door that lead to the back stage dressing rooms. My dad and my uncles were quickly in makeup and changed their wardrobe and were all ready to give a great performance. Uncle Dez and Uncle Dre were escorted to the stage by the venue security and Tony stayed back to wait for my dad before we went with them to watch the show from the wings. My dad finally came out dressed to the nines like he always does with a smile on his face.

  "You're gonna rock it dad!" Joey said excited about the show.

  "I hope so little guy! You ready to see your old man get down?"

  "I can't wait to see you out there on stage! Maybe one day I can play with you out there!"

  "Gotta keep practicing son! You will get there one day I promise." Daddy said as he patted him on the head.

Tony took Joey by the hand and lead him from the dressing room and out into the hall leaving me and daddy alone.

  "Carlyn?" He called to me.

  "Yeah dad I know. I messed up by doing what I did. I just wanted to help him. I didn't like him being so sad."

Daddy raised his hand and stepped to the side to reveal what my eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing.

  "Daddy......it's......" I stammered out happily as I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

There he was with a big smile like me with a man standing next to him.

  "I figured this was who you were talking about but didn't really want to talk about. I'm always a few steps ahead my little dove." Daddy said with a smile.

  "Armand! But....how....." I questioned.

  "I saw what you did. You gave him the food and made him feel like a person and not like an unwanted object. I knew not to pass this up. I found out a little information about him and had a few of the attorneys locate his family. We had happened to find the uncle on the south side and invited him to the show to reunite them."

  "Daddy! You are too cool for school!" I said to him and hugged him.

  "I know I'm the man. But I gotta go. You guys enjoy the show." He said as he winked at me.

Daddy came though for me even when I thought that he didn't know what was going on. I'm glad he was a few steps ahead. Armand found his family and got to meet the man his mother adored before her passing. Everything is right again and get a gold star for my good deed.