Sociopath? by Vicki Williams Page A

never played with a group before,” Rafe
warned, “only for myself, so I’m not sure how I’ll do with that
part of it.”
    “Well, let’s just make a run at it and see
how it turns out.” He named an old ZZ Top tune, When the House is
Rockin’. It was like most of what the band played, down and dirty
bluesy rock.
    He did fumble around for a while, trying to
get the hang of coordinating his playing with band mates but then,
he hit his stride and he was off and running, fingers flashing over
the strings, in perfect rhythm with the rest.
    “I think you’ll do, Rafe, if you’re
interested. We usually play most weekends.”
    “Sounds like fun, at least for a while until
you can find someone permanent. I’ve only got this year and then
I’ll be heading off to college.”
    “We’ll have to help you with the songs you
don’t know but we can add them back into the mix as you learn
them.”
    “Have you got them all on cds so I can listen
to them?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Give’em to me. I’ll teach them to myself.
I’ll be ready by next week.”
    Duke found the cds although he thought the
kid was blowing’ smoke to say he could learn that many songs in a
week.
    But, he wasn’t, blowing smoke, that is. Duke
ran him through every tune on the list. He was letter perfect.
    They had their first gig that weekend, a
senator’s daughter’s Sweet Sixteen party out in Falls Church. The
band was a hit and their new guitar player fit in like he’d been
playing with them all along. Duke, who paid attention to every
detail about his band (he was a lot like Chester Hughes in that
way), watched the interaction between Rafe and the audience. He
wore tight black jeans, a long-sleeved black turtleneck and black
cowboy boots with silver kicks on the toes. His too-long black hair
kept falling down so that he had to shake his head while he played
to throw it back out of his eyes. Slender hips and long legs rolled
in sexy time to the music. He was one of those natural showmen who
could look across an audience and make every girl there think the
midnight eyes and the flashing smile were focused right on her.
    At the break, he told Todd to move back
farther so as to be sure Rafe was front and center.
    “Why’s that, Duke?”
    “Aren’t you watching, Todd? The teenies haven
fallen in collective love with The Kid. When word about him gets
around, we’ll be so hot, we’ll be able to double our prices.”
    After it was over and the instruments had
been loaded into the van, Duke called Rafe over to the side.
    “I forgot to tell you about the rules of the
band, Rafe. There are only a very few.”
    “What are those, Duke?”
    “One, never miss a performance unless you’re
on your deathbed. Two, no drugs and in your case, no alcohol
either. Three, and this might be the one you’ll want to keep in
mind, Rafe, no messing with the babies. I don’t care if you fuck
their old ladies or their big sisters. They’re adults and that’s on
them but there’s nothing that makes a Senator more upset than
somebody taking advantage of his little girl. Are you straight with
all that?”
    Rafe nodded. “I can live with those things,
Duke.”
    *
    “Well,” Gabe asked Duke, “how’s it going with
my baby brother?”
    “He’s a rather awesome kid, Gabe.”
    “So, I’ve always been told.”
    “Were you two not close when you were at
home?”
    “No, nobody’s close to Rafe. Besides, there’s
eight years difference in our ages so I mostly remember him as a
little boy. All of us used to call him Injun because Mom and Dad
were always forgetting to get his hair cut so it was long and
black, and he was so quiet, we never heard him come or go. He’d
just be there one minute and gone the next.”
    “Are you the one who taught him to play?”
    Gabe laughed. “I guess you could say that. In
fact, it’s the most vivid recollection I have of us together. He
came down to the basement one day when I was practicing. He never
made a sound, just sat in