Have A Little Faith In Me by Brad Vance Page A

his own face looked the same way.
    “Fuckin’ A,” Dex said.  “That was the greatest moment of my life.”
    Alex nodded.  “Why’d you pick that song?  Just curious, I just wouldn’t expect, I mean no offense but…”
    Dex laughed.  “Yeah, I know.  Not exactly shit-kickin’ music, right?  I don’t know.”  He frowned.  “I just felt…it just…”  He shook his head.  “It was like I heard someone playing it, in my head.  Far away.  But not far.”  He laughed.  “Some fucking bullshit anyway.  Hey, I bet you can’t play ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ on that thing.”
    “Oh yeah?  Listen and learn.”
     
    Day after day, they huddled like conspirators in Alex’s bedroom, listening to music.  Alex’s parents often had private students downstairs in the afternoons, to supplement their meager incomes from teaching music in the school system.
    “Your parents are cool,” Dex said wistfully one day.  It was true.  Alex’s dad, Alex Sr. was a whip-thin man with keen blue eyes behind rimless glasses, but his smile belied the otherwise stern look on his face.  Alex’s mom was always smiling, because, shockingly, she always had something to be happy about.  She was happy it was fall, she was happy Alex had a new friend, she was happy they liked her pumpkin pie.
    Alex smiled.  “It’s adolescent blasphemy to say it, but yeah.  They are cool.”
    “I’m jealous.  My parents are…ah, shit.  It’s a jungle at my house.”
    “Here,” Alex said, pulling an Altoids tin out of his desk.  “You need to get stoned.”
    Dex blinked.  “But your mom and dad are downstairs…”
    “It’s Friday.  My homework is done.  Time to relax.  You think they won’t be lighting up later, too?”
    Dex laughed.  “I’ve never smoked pot before.”
    “And you call yourself a musician.”  He pulled out Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  “It’s so trite, but really, there’s a reason this is the stoner’s favorite album.”
    Dex could see the appeal of weed immediately.  The clock was slowed down, so that you had all the time you needed to get inside the song, to walk around the notes, see them as if you were inside a 3D mobile, the shiny components stirring in the breeze from your motions.  Alex’s parents hadn’t grudged the price on his stereo system, either, so the notes rang clear and cool.
    He and Alex sat on the floor, their backs against the side of the bed, and Dex just let his mind wander.  Alex had posters of people Dex had never heard of, jazz musicians and classical violinists and shit like that.
    “Your house is like…on a different planet.”
    Alex nodded.  “In Biloxi?  Yeah.  This is totally a portal to another universe.”  Alex sighed.  “I can’t wait to go to college.  Get the fuck out of here.  I mean, I’ll miss you .  But that’s it.”
    Dex felt his stomach drop.  Shit.  He’d totally forgotten that they were seniors in high school.  That this wouldn’t last.  Alex would go away, and he would stay.  Forever, probably.
    Dex frowned.  “The only guys I know who get out of here go in the military.  And now that’s a one way ticket to fucking Iraq, or Afghanistan.”
    “You’re smart.  You get good grades.  Don’t you?”
    “Well, yeah.  If I’m interested in the class.  If it’s like science, biology…I get really sick when I have to dissect something.”
    Alex giggled.  “Omigod I can see it.  A big old horse like you, fainting at the sight of a worm’s insides.”
    Dex fake punched his friend’s shoulder.  “Fuck you.  I can cut up a worm.  Just not a frog.  And you know, you can’t really…you can’t answer a lot of questions in class.”
    “You can’t?  I do all the time.”
    “Yeah, but you’re a nerd.  No offense.  People expect you to know the answers.  If I do it, it’s gay.  Guys will rag on me.  Studying is even gayer than reading.”
    “I almost got an F this