Mr. Hodek and His Little Minion

25

"Again! Again!"

I threw my arms into the air with joy, and Birthday laughed as he plucked random strings on his old guitar.

"Man, you act just like a little kid sometimes, you know? You're almost 13 now, and look at you!"

"I don't care, B-Day, you have to play our song again! Please?"

He sighed and shifted on the floor to make himself comfortable. "Alright. It is pretty good, right?"

"Well, you're not allowed to say that. You're the one who wrote it."

"Shh," Birthday shushed me and held a finger to his lips. He slowly began to strum, with his capo on the sixth fret. I sat and listened to him sing even softer than before,

"Don't struggle, pinky kid, I'll be right there for you.

"Don't smile if it hurts, you need some resting too.

"Be braver than those guys who need their blue to stand.

"You're so remarkable, and—"

"Is that Birthday's guitar I hear?"

He stopped playing immediately, and I saw a trace of panic in his features before he realized Anniversary was just visiting our room.

"Hey, Anni," I said, grinning and pushing Birthday's shoulder to signal him to keep playing. He didn't just yet, though.

"What brings you here to the cavern of awesomeness?" He asked, gesturing around himself like a king. I giggled, while Anni just scoffed and shook her head.

"You better not be playing that stupid song without me again."

"Masquie likes it, you know that."

"Still! Wait for me to get off patrol before you start fooling around, huh? Now." She sat down on the ground in front of us, completing the circle. "How about that clever girl bit that you said was just for me." She flashed a smug grin and rested her head in her hand. Birthday clicked his tongue and rearranged his fingers to play the second verse.

"Don't stifle, clever girl, your words can make you strong.

"Don't step back from success, those adults are a'thinking wrong."

I shifted closer to both of them and joined in.

"Be angry so they know, they're picking stupid fights!

"You're so unstoppable, and you can reach those unknown..."

"Heiiiiights!" We all finished, holding out the note for as long as we could. Anni and I laughed, and Birthday leaned back and placed his guitar on the ground beside him. Anni picked it up.

"Where'd you learn to play this thing, anyway? It's so weird."

"Yeah, my imposters were crazy rich. I was just delivering this back to some dude for them when the Elder found me, and it turned out one of the guards knew how to play. Taught me everything I know. I can never find him now." He sat up again, fiddling with the little tuning knobs at the end. "It's pretty cool, though, right?"

"I guess."

"Yeah!" I agreed, flopping back onto the floor and stretching. "Hey, do either of you think I'll get assigned something anytime soon? Like guard, or scouting, or naming?"

"Uh, Masquie, I think only the Elder gets to name people."

"That's not true. I saw someone tell the new kid that her name was Xylophone."