Derek pulled out his phone, hands shaking so badly he nearly dropped it. I’m calling the police, he said. I didn’t blink. Go ahead, I said. His finger hovered over the screen. When they come, I said, I’ll file a report about Tyler destroying my guitar. I’ll explain how you told a nine year old to test whether it was fake. I’ll explain how an adult turned a child into part of this. Derek froze, the phone still in his hand. I continued in the same even voice. That becomes a serious problem for you, Derek. Especially when adults use children to destroy other people’s property.
Clare’s face drained of all color. She grabbed the phone out of Derek’s hand. Don’t call, she said. Please don’t call. Derek stared at her. He destroyed my car, he said. And you helped destroy my guitar, I said. So call. Let’s both explain our sides. Let’s both face the consequences together. Derek slowly lowered his arms. He couldn’t risk it. Clare couldn’t risk it either.
Richard tried stepping between us. Both of you need to calm down, he said. I am calm, Dad, I told him. He had no response to that.They had taught me the lesson yesterday. I had simply applied it back to them today.
I walked to my truck, opened the door, and reached into the back seat, where the guitar case still sat. What remained of the Gibson was inside. Derek was already on his phone again, this time calling the insurance company, his voice frantic and desperate. It went in the lake, he was saying. Yes, the entire car. No, I don’t know how.
Barbara followed me to the truck. Where are you going, she asked. Home, I said. Marcus, please, she said. I looked at her. Thanks for the lesson, I said. She looked confused. What lesson, she asked. You taught me how this family handles the destruction of expensive property, I said. I’m a fast learner.
Richard stepped forward and drew his line in the sand. If you leave now, he said, you’re choosing to end this family. I looked at him, my father, the man who had taken everyone else’s side but mine. No, Dad, I said. You chose yesterday, when you sided with Tyler over me. When you dismissed my feelings. When you told me it was just a guitar. I climbed into my truck. I just made sure the lesson was clear, I said.Clare was crying now, her voice breaking apart. We still owe eighty seven thousand dollars on that car loan, she said. I started the engine. It’s just money, I said. You can earn more. That’s what you told me, right.
I backed out of the driveway. In my rearview mirror I could see Derek shouting into his phone, Clare sobbing with her hands pressed over her face, Barbara standing frozen in place, Richard looking helpless and defeated. Then Tyler came outside and looked around at all the adults yelling and crying. Why is everyone mad, he asked. Nobody answered him. I drove down the long driveway and left them all standing in the ruins they themselves had built.
Two hours later I was home in Nashville. It was ten in the morning and my phone would not stop ringing. Clare. Barbara. Richard. Derek. Clare again. Barbara again. I blocked every number, made a pot of coffee, and sat on my porch. Finally, quiet. Then an unknown number called through. I answered it.
Derek’s voice came through shaking, though trying hard to sound determined. We’re getting it out, he said. Getting what out, I asked. The car, he said. I called a tow company. They have a crane. How much is that costing you, I asked. Forty five hundred for the crane, he said. Eight hundred for the tow. I laughed before I could stop myself. What’s funny, he demanded. You left the windows open, remember, I said. Silence. Water damage, I said. Engine, electronics, interior, all of it. Even if they recover the car, it’s finished. His voice cracked. You knew that, he asked. Yeah, I said, and hung up.
That afternoon my phone buzzed with texts coming through another thread, since Clare’s number wasn’t technically blocked on that account. She was writing in short bursts. Insurance denied the claim. Intentional submersion isn’t covered. Derek still owes eighty seven thousand dollars. The bank wants monthly payments on a car sitting at the bottom of a lake. We’re ruined, she wrote. Marcus, you have to help fix this. I read every message, then deleted the thread and went back to work. I had a recording session at three that afternoon.
