The Gift (32 page)

Justin laughed. “Well, just don’t teach him bass. I’d
like to keep my job for a while.”

Just then Isabel toddled in from her bedroom holding
Gabriel’s toy guitar.

Zak said, “Belle’s next. They’ll probably start a band.”

Maggie and Justin laughed and then Maggie said “Thank
you Gabriel and Zak. That was a very nice surprise.” She was so happy to
finally be home with her husband and children. She vowed to not leave home
again for a long time.

Maggie and Zak relaxed at home for the next week, but
then they both started getting restless. Zak wanted to start playing again with
the Bayou Blasters, so they arranged to play a few local gigs. Justin and Tom
came over one night to rehearse and afterwards while they were having a beer in
the studio, Justin mentioned that he was thinking about buying a house. He had
made some money from playing on the two albums and thought it would be nice to
have his own place. Zak looked thoughtful when he mentioned it, and told Justin
that he and Maggie had been talking about getting another house too. Gabe and
Belle couldn’t share a room forever, and they’d like to have a guest bedroom so
friends and family could stay overnight.

“I really like the set-up that Tucker has down in Nashville,” Justin said. “He has a main house, a guest house and a separate recording
studio.”

“That sounds perfect,” said Zak. “You know, I always
enjoyed it when you lived with me and Maggie and we could play whenever the
mood struck us.”

“Yeah, I liked that too. Unfortunately, the house was a
little too small sometimes. You and Maggie got a little loud at times, if you
know what I mean.”

Justin and Zak both laughed at that.

“What if we pooled our money and bought some land
together? We could build two houses and a separate professional recording
studio and that way we could have exactly what we wanted. We could live near
each other and hang out and play, but we would still have some privacy.”

“That’s an interesting idea, Zak. Certainly worth
thinking about. Maybe we should see if there’s any land available and check out
how much it would cost to build.”

“What about you, Tom?” asked Zak.

“I’m not interested in living in a commune. I’m very
happy in my bachelor pad,” Tom said and laughed.

“It wouldn’t really be a commune,” said Zak. “It would
just be a way to pick your neighbors. I suppose one good thing is that we could
play as loud as we wanted and we wouldn’t disturb anyone.”

“Well, that’s true,” said Justin.

“It’s nice to have enough money so that we can even
consider doing something like this,” said Zak.

 “I certainly agree,” said Justin.

“We should probably run this by Maggie,” said Zak.

“Why don’t we look into it a little more first, and make
sure it’s feasible before we get too excited about it. Maybe we could talk to a
realtor in the next week or two,” said Justin.

“O.k.,” said Zak and he smiled at Justin.

Maggie knew that Zak and Justin were keeping some sort
of secret from her. They would go out for the afternoon, and not tell her where
they were going. This happened several times a week for a month. Maggie asked
them what they were up to, but they just gave her vague answers that they were
working on some sort of business deal. Maggie couldn’t think of two men who
were less interested in business, so that answer surprised her.

One day, after having been gone all afternoon, they came
home and asked to talk to her in the living room. They seemed so serious that
it made Maggie nervous.

“Maggie, Justin and I want to talk to you about
something,” Zak said.

Maggie looked at both of them and asked what was up.

“Maggie, as you know Justin is looking to buy a house.
And I was thinking that we will need a bigger house soon so that Gabriel and
Isabel can have their own bedrooms.”

“I don’t know Zak,” said Maggie. “I’m pretty happy in
this house. It’s small and easy to take care of, and I can get around pretty
easily. I don’t think we really need to move for a while.”

“Well, I don’t want to move for a while either, Maggie.
But Justin and I have come up with an idea and we want to see what you think
about it. We found ten acres of land about five miles from here. The price is
reasonable and we were thinking that we could build two houses there, one for
Justin and one for us. We’d also like to build a professional recording studio
that we could use and possibly rent out to other musicians. It would take a
while to figure out exactly what we want to build and then maybe six months or
so for the construction. What do you think Maggie, do you like this idea? You
always told me that you liked living in that group house in Lexington with your
old band, except that there wasn’t enough privacy. This way we could have our
own houses, but we could still all hang out together.”

Maggie was stunned, something like this had never
occurred to her before.

“Justin, are you sure this is something you want to do?”
She knew that he was concerned that he was too attached to her emotionally, and
she wasn’t sure that this idea would help with that situation.

“Yes, I want to do this, Maggie. You and Zak and Gabe
and Belle are like my family.”

“Yes, but you are probably going to have your own family
someday,” Maggie said.

“Well, then I’ll have a house to do that,” Justin said.

Maggie thought about that for a moment, and wasn’t sure
if she cared for the idea of Justin being married to someone else and living
next door to her.

“I guess we can think about it.” Maggie said.

Zak and Justin looked at each other.

“Actually we don’t have time to do that. This land will
probably sell pretty quickly, Justin and I want to go ahead and buy it.”

“I don’t know Zak, give me a couple days to think about
it. You guys have sort of just sprung this on me.”

Zak kissed Maggie and said “O.k., don’t take too long
though.”

After careful consideration for several days, Maggie
finally agreed to their plan. It was a good thing that she did, because they
had already started planning the studio, including what kind of equipment they
would like to purchase. Zak and Justin went ahead and contacted an architect
who came out one afternoon to discuss the design of the houses and studio.

“I’d like a house kind of like this one,” Maggie said. “I’d
like an enclosed porch that runs along one side of the house so that we could
sit out during the evenings and play.

“Anything else?” said the architect.

“How about a large eat-in kitchen so that Maggie and I
could cook together and the kids could sit at the table for their meals or to
play,” said Zak.

“I think the house should be one-story, because I can’t
see well enough to go up and down stairs,” said Maggie.

“Is there anything else that you would like to help you
with your low vision, Maggie?” the architect asked.

“Well, maybe a large shower in the master bath with grab
bars. I’m always afraid of slipping. I also need better lighting. I have a lot
of trouble seeing after it gets dark. And a lot of light switches in convenient
places.”

Zak and Justin looked at each other when Maggie was
speaking. They had no idea that she had been having so many problems getting
around the house. They realized that she had been struggling a lot more than
they thought.

“Maggie, we should get your input on the studio, we want
you to be comfortable there too.” Justin said.

Zak took Maggie’s hand in his and squeezed it. “I’m
starting to think that this idea is even better than I thought.”

“Maybe I should consult with an architect that designs
housing for the disabled. I’m sure that would give me some other ideas to make
Maggie more comfortable in her new home,” said the architect.

Maggie didn’t say anything because she felt
uncomfortable with thinking of herself as being disabled, but in some ways she
felt grateful that people were finally realizing that she had special needs in
her living space.

Several days later, the architect came back with several
more ideas of ways to design the house to help Maggie get around better. Maggie
especially liked his suggestion to paint the edges of cabinets and counters
with a contrasting color to help her locate doors and surfaces more easily. He
also suggested using door knobs and light switch plates of contrasting colors
so they would stand out more.  The architect recommended designing the kitchen
and bathrooms to be larger than normal, making it easier for Maggie to get
around. He thought they should add extra storage space, especially for the
kids, so that they wouldn’t leave their toys around on the floor. By the end of
their conversation, Maggie found that she was actually looking forward to a new
house that had been designed with her needs in mind. Zak was happy that Maggie
would have a home where she could function better.

Everyone was feeling positive and optimistic about the
future. Zak and Justin worked hard on their plans for the new houses and
recording studio. They also set up some local gigs so that they wouldn’t get
rusty performing their music. They asked Maggie if she would play with them,
thinking this would give her something to look forward to and motivate her to
work on her music. Maggie had been working on her guitar skills with Zak almost
every evening after they put the kids to bed. They had worked out some songs
where Maggie played acoustic guitar and Zak played electric with the intention
of playing together at the next Bayou Blasters gig at the Purple Peacock.

Zak also had started substance abuse counseling at the
hospital. He wasn’t always convinced that he had a problem since most of his
friends used drugs recreationally, but he had to admit that there had been some
negative consequences to his drug and alcohol use. He was finding it difficult
to stay straight though, he missed getting high with his friends especially
when he was playing at gigs. But he had made a promise to Maggie and he was
trying to keep it.

Finally, it was the Saturday night when the Bayou
Blasters were going to play at the Purple Peacock. After leaving Gabe and Belle
with Zak’s mother, Maggie and  Zak drove to Eunice to the club where the rest
of the band was already setting up.  Maggie was excited to perform again with
the band. She was going to play guitar and her electric mandolin on some of the
songs. Zak, Justin and Tom were a little more jaded, they had played hundreds
of gigs over the years, but they were happy to get out and play in front of an
audience again. There was always an extra energy to a performance and they enjoyed
playing in front of an appreciative crowd.

They were about to go on for their first set, when Zak
excused himself to go into the men’s room. He didn’t come out right away, so
Justin decided to follow him in to see what was taking so long. He opened the door
to the men’s room and saw Zak standing near the sink with one of their friends.
They were both snorting coke.

Justin walked over to Zak and said, “What are you doing?
I don’t think I need to remind you that you promised Maggie that you wouldn’t
do this anymore.”

Zak looked at Justin and said “Yeah, this was a bad
idea. It’s hard to resist temptation sometimes.”

“Well, you need to try. Let’s get out of here and go
play.”

They went back on stage and played a good show, but
Maggie could sense that Justin was angry with Zak about something. As they were
packing up, she asked them what was going on, but no one would answer her. Zak
was unusually quiet in the car on the way back to the house. Maggie asked him
if there was something wrong, but he said he was just tired and needed to go to
sleep. After they got home and he put his equipment away, Maggie asked Zak if
he was coming to bed, but he said he wanted to stay up for a while and watch a
video. Maggie went to their bedroom and went to sleep. She woke up at 5 am and
heard a movie playing in the living room and Zak quietly playing his guitar.
She was too tired to get up though, so she just went back to sleep.

The next morning she woke up around 9 and realized that
Zak had never made it to bed. She went out into the living room and saw that he
had fallen asleep on the couch with the tv on. She leaned over to wake him up,
and noticed a small glass vial on the coffee table next to Zak’s keys. The vial
was almost empty, with a small amount of white crystal in the bottom that she
guessed was probably cocaine.

Maggie didn’t know what to do. She was tired of fighting
with Zak about this. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t just leave it alone.
She especially didn’t like the fact that he was bringing drugs into their house
when they had two small kids. She shook Zak’s arm. He woke up slowly and seemed
confused when Maggie showed him the small vial.

“What is this?” she said. “I told you what would happen
if you did drugs again. I’m sorry, I just can’t take it anymore.”

Maggie left and slammed the door leading into the
bedroom. Zak could hear that she was crying. He got up and made some coffee. He
felt disappointed in himself that he had broken his promise again. There was
nothing that he could say to Maggie that she hadn’t heard before. He heard her
talking softly on the phone to someone and then she came out into the kitchen
to get some coffee. She drank her coffee in silence and then went back into the
bedroom where he could hear her opening and shutting bureau drawers. He knocked
on the door and tried to open it, but it was locked.

“I’m sorry Maggie, I screwed up. I will try harder. I
don’t want to hurt you,” he said. But there was no response.

Finally, Zak decided that he needed to talk to Justin.
He said to Maggie, “I’m going over to Justin’s apartment, I need to talk to
him.”  Zak heard her respond through the locked door, “Zak, you need to go into
rehab or something. You obviously have no control over yourself when it comes
to drugs.”