The Devil on Kazoo

27: Crumbs

"Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright"

-"Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles

The Crumbs would never forget the time they turned on BBC radio to find a new station, Radio 1, playing all of the latest and greatest pop music of the day.

They listened to Flowers in the Rain–the very first song that Radio 1 ever played–in silence. They didn't tap their feet or hum along because that type of thing wasn't done at funerals.

That was what this was–a homage to what had passed, an acceptance of a thing now dead.

After the song ended, they got up, and went about their day, feeling its emptiness as they did so.

Many more days passed like this, in somber idleness. They didn't know what to do with themselves and a part of them was scared to move around too much, lest they be noticed by the authorities.

The police had had their names in their ledgers for years now. It was only a matter of time before someone came and evicted them from their home.

Even though Bash and Smiley technically owned Wolgemoth & Sons, neither one of them was old enough to obtain legal permits to dock at the marina.

So they were forced to live in the shell of their old lives.

Without the radio, having to row back and forth to the docks felt less like a sacrifice to be made in the name of piracy and more like a mockery of what they used to have.

One night in late October, Syl and Bash sat in the wheelhouse, snuggled close together since the heat wasn't working.

Smiley lounged on an armchair and Kathy was scribbling a letter to Jim on the coffee table.

Jim had gone back home to the States, but he and Kathy had been exchanging letter after letter nearly every other day.

All the lights were off, except for the one above the stove, which cast a warm yellow hue around them.

Syl's head rested on Bash's chest and she said, "Do you want to know something?"

"Sure."

"This isn't so bad."

"What isn't?"

Syl shrugged a shoulder. "I thought losing the radio would be the end. But it's almost like I've gotten used to not having it."

Bash didn't want to agree, but it was true. After the emotions of losing the station wore off, he found himself on a precipice. And itching desire for something new. He would have stayed in radio forever, but now that that wasn't an option, he had his whole life ahead of him.

"What do we do now?" Smiley wondered, his voice mystical, knowing that none of them had an answer.

"I don't know, but I rather like it here. Right now." Kathy licked the edge of her envelope and sealed it with a kiss.

Bash smiled even though none of the Crumbs could see it.

His grin faded as another thought came into his head. "There's something I wanted to talk to you all about."

Syl sat up to face him and raised an eyebrow.

"My birthday's next month."

Smiley squinted. "Congratulations?"