Day 762: 5 Minute Freewrite: Sunday - Prompt: ring in a birthday (and, The Posture of Innocence, day 39)

Captain Lee gets home from worshiping in Tinyville with his cousin's family feeling so good he picks up his mandolin and banjo ... and ends up in the middle of a whole new situation and song!

To get totally caught up on The Posture of Innocence, here are the prologue, day 1, day 2, day 3, day 3.5, day 4, day 4.5, day 5, day 5.5, day 6, day 7, day 7.5, day 8, day 9, day 9.5, day 10, day 10.5, day 11, day 11.5, day 12, day 12.5, day 13, day 13.5, day 14, day 15, day 16, day 16.5, day 17, day 18, day 19, day 19.5, day 20, day 20.5, day 21, day 22, day 22.5, day 23, day 23.5, day 24, day 24.5, day 25, day 25.5, day 26, day 26.5, day 27, day 27.5, day 28, day 28.5, day 29, day 29.5, day 30, day 30.5, day 31, day 31.5, day 32, day 32.5, day 33, day 33.5, day 34, day 34.5, day 35, day 35.5, day 36, day 36.5, day 37, day 37.5, day 38, and day 38.5!

Captain Lee's evening was not quite over, as he felt so good that he just picked up his banjo and then his mandolin and just played out of his full heart – new music, for he was composing once again. That got him a knock on the door from his neighbor in no. 415, a tall, smiling man of bronze hue and holding a banjo.

“Neighbor, I've been meaning to tell you – you can play, sir!”

“Oh, I did not mean to disturb you and your family.”

“Man, look – you are an answer to our prayers! My name is John!”

“Harry,” said Captain Lee, and they shook.

“See, I'm one third of Tricolor Sounds – we play guitar, banjo, and mandolin – and we just buried our white man Saturday. I don't mean that quite the way that sounds but, I'm Black, Gary is Native, and so we were Tricolor Sounds until Paul died of a heart attack suddenly. We've got studio dates booked and local gigs, and I was just about to cancel all of that when I heard you playing on Friday!”

Captain Lee started to get a little dizzy … who would have ever believed that he would have a chance to publicly perform again?

“I've called Gary from room 218 – can you just come over for a little while? Your sound fits right in – all that Appalachia sound, and you can handle you some Piedmont Blues too – I've heard you! If you could just fall in with us for a little while – no major commitments asked for yet, just come see how it feels!”

“I am head of an entire division on the police force, so I really can't make any kind of major commitment.”

“Man, look – I'm vice president of business development for Lofton National Bank downtown – ask me if I understand! None of us can do anything that requires us to mess with our day jobs, so you'll fit right in!”

What were the chances – the vice president of business development in the biggest local bank, coming to the door of a man getting ready to start his own business – holding a banjo, from right next door?

“I'll be right over, John.”

“Yes – Praise God from Whom all blessings flow – Sarah, heat up the peach cobbler, because we've got our White man back!”

And so, Henry Fitzhugh Lee ended up becoming the new third man in Tricolor Sounds, thus picking up new friends, a record deal, and two more pieces of a life beyond military service and paramilitary service. He and John and Gary made gorgeous music for hours – Paul Greer had left a song, “Ring in a Birthday,” that needed that Applachian sound, and Captain Lee fell right on in and added a little of what he had been composing to it.

“It was like you were born to finish that!” Gary said.

“Perhaps,” Captain Lee said, his mind going to how long it would be until his 46th birthday … and if, perhaps, his neighbor in room 313 might be ready by then for a ring … talk about “ring in a birthday!” The whole thought of Mrs. Thornton ending her widowhood by saying yes to being Mrs. Lee … Captain Lee still had his mandolin in his hand, and his new bandmates were astonished at what he did all of the sudden with that new song!

After the music was done, the three new bandmates chatted into the night... good Christian fellowship around temporal things, for each of them had skills and experience that would be helpful to the others, and Captain Lee had a fortune to invest, although he did not say that to anyone yet. He simply made his commitment with a check, picking up the third of the studio cost that the late Paul Greer would have paid, and then went home, with only five words on his lips until he fell asleep.

“You, Lord! Only You, Lord!”

Day 39.5 is up