The Finnegan’s Concert

Charlie put the bread in the toaster before heading over to his carry-on to take out his toothbrush. He started packing up the day before when he heard that his grandmother had passed away.

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He didn't know what to do, he just kept singing the chorus of Benson Boone's 'In the Stars'. When he attempted to close his eyes and drift off into slumber, he saw his grandma, her fierce black hair with its faint streak of white falling in curls over her shoulders, her wrinkling face relaxed into that big smile she always had for him.

“Charlie my boy,” he could hear her whisper with her arms open, and every time he was running with arms outstretched toward her, he woke up.

He stopped trying to sleep after the third attempt. Now as he inserted the toothbrush into his mouth, his reflection stared back at him from the mirror.

His blonde hair was strewn everywhere, just like his grandfather's. It grew to the back of his neck and to his eyebrows. His large, brown eyes were sagging with bags under them, and his freckles were worse now that he could barely take care of himself.

He was rinsing his mouth when he perceived something burnt. He dashed off to the toaster and turned it off, waving smoke away from his face as he tried to salvage the rest of the bread which was now a darker shade of his brown eyes.

“Stupid machine!” He cursed silently, those were the last slices he had, and he couldn't afford not to fuel the old truck. As it was, he prayed the truck would take him safely to Hilly Falls.

As the first grandchild, he was obligated to go over to the old farmhouse and take whatever was left for him. If he was lucky, he could get the house and farm his way through the hunger pangs that had seized him for the past 3 months.

He returned his toothbrush and took another look around to ensure the place didn't look too different. He didn't want the landlord to know he was moving because he didn't have the $10,000, he owed for rent.

It was 3 hours to Hilly Falls and by the time Charlie was there, he was nauseous from hunger. He could see that his uncle Darwin and his scrawny brother Jacob were here already.

“Look who we got here, Darwin” Jacob said grinning. There was a troublesome glint in his eye.

“Charles,” Darwin was the only one who called his actual name.

“It's good to see you, sir. Accept my condolences.”

“And mine” his uncle was a man of few words. “Your grandmother left you a few of her husband's things” he pulled out a dusty box and guitar with ‘For Charlie’ boldly written on it. Charlie muttered “Thanks” and went over to her room to see what was in it.

There was the photo album he loved to look at every time he came to see her, and a few records. He took them out, examining each of them till he saw one that said, ‘Finnegan’s concert, 1984’. He rose to play it.

It happened so fast, one minute he was in his grandmother's room, the next, he was in the middle of a large field. Everyone was yelling excitedly. There was a large banner that also read ‘Finnegan's concert’. It was about 7 pm from the look of things.

He was sure he could hear singing in the background and when he turned back to the stage, there was a man he had seen severally in pictures standing at a microphone and playing his guitar passionately. The man was flanked by a drummer and some dancers.

It was Finnegan, his grandfather.

The crowd went wild as the music came to an end. Several people rushed forward to drop notes and coins at his feet. Finnegan, his grandfather, raised a hand and the noise in the crowd died down. Then gesturing at Charlie, he said,

“Come up here, boy.”

Charlie went to the stage, Finnegan gave him the mic and his guitar, the same one in the house.

“Play something for them” his grandfather whispered in his ears.

Charlie lost track of time but by the time opened his eyes, he was in his grandmother's room again, the bag of money he got from his excited fans was seated conspicuously beside him.

Then it all came back to him, his grandfather had asked that every note dropped for him be packed into the bag and handed it over to him.

“Come back anytime” he winked before pushing Charlie down the stage and back to his grandmother's house.

Somewhere in the room, he could still hear the Finnegan's concert record playing softly.