In the world of this story, I am not afraid of my characters dying. The love of Izak’s life, Emily, had just passed away before this novel started. Now, while attempting to get Emily’s son out of his grief of losing his mom, Izak has met someone unexpectedly, just as it can happen in real life. And in this case, an unexpected connection in my life inspired this section of my tenth work in progress.
Jake
“I tell you guys, it was like watching a master, how easy it was for Izak to meet someone.” Susie was in bed already when I returned after my blues outing with Izak.
“Okay, Jake. Details. And don’t worry, we won’t tell him you told us.”
“Liam, I’m not sure he will care. I think he was surprised as I was at how the night went.”
“Are you intentionally stalling now? You understand, I have been worried about Izak ever since Emi… Sorry, Jake—I didn’t mean to say it that way. Your mom was our friend; her loss means different things to all of us, especially to you now.”
“Mia, it’s okay. I’m getting more used to that, especially when it comes to Rose. I’m working through it. Anyway, back to my night out… So, guys, Izak told me during the band’s break that they usually play a blues standard called “Dimples’ as the second song after the break. I’m sure you would recognize it if you heard it. It came out in the late 50s, and Izak told me he and my mom had heard occasionally when they were in college.”
“I guess if it is still being played today, that says a lot about it being a standard.”
“Exactly, Liam. Izak told me to pay attention to how this singer enunciates the lyrics, especially on the line, ‘You’ve got dimples on your jaw.’ So, when that came up in the song, I could have sworn that he sang, ‘You’ve got dimples on your dog.’ So, I leaned toward Izak and asked what ‘dimples on your dog’ meant. And he just laughed at me.”
“Okay. So far so good. I hope I can speak for Mia and tell you I hope you will explain why this story is so important, sometime tonight…”
“Ah, Liam. I am getting there.”
“But very slowly, I must point out.”
“My bad, Mia. It’s just funny how it worked out; Izak wanted to get me out of my house as a diversion, and he got one instead. So, those lyrics come up in the song four times in one verse. I noticed that Izak had been watching a small group of women dancing. And after the song, one of them approached the group’s leader, who had been singing, and we were close enough to the front of the crowd to hear her ask him about the meaning of a certain line. I couldn’t believe it. She was asking about that line Izak had told me about. She said, ‘Hey, what do you mean, you’ve got dimples on your dog?’ I tell you guys, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Izak so interested in any one thing as he suddenly was interested in that woman at that moment, both hearing what we had heard and that she actually had asked for… no, demanded, to know what that meant.”
“So, could you two tell what the band leader answered?”
“Of course. He was using a headset mic, so everyone heard. He said, as Izak and I already knew, ‘It’s not dimples on your dog. It’s dimples on your jaw.”
“I got my eyes on you. So, then?”
“So you know the song… Anyway, Izak yelled out to her that he had heard it the same way she had.”
“No way. Our Izak did that?”
“Funny, but true. Izak yelled out, ‘I also heard it as ‘dimples on your dog.’ When she heard him say that, I swear this is true—she walked right over to our table, put her hand out to him, and introduced herself.”
“And?”
“Well, Mia, that was about all I heard of it, directly. Izak stood up and went out to the dance floor with her.”
“So, they danced together. Sweet…”
“No, Mia, that’s not it at all. They just talked out there, for a long time, most of the way through the second set. Then, Izak handed her his phone, and she typed something into it.”
Memory is the Key 