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New York. November 1957
“You gotta hear this!” an uncharacteristically excited Shane exclaimed, barging into the office unannounced with a vinyl record clutched to his chest and striding over to commandeer the phonograph player.
“Oh I, do, do I?” Josef said with a level of tolerance he was pleased with himself for exhibiting. “Hello, nice to see you, I didn’t know you were in town, why didn’t you call…?”
“I’m in love!” Shane yelled with such conviction that the fact was unquestionable.
Josef shrugged. “It was bound to happen one of these centuries. Who’s the girl?”
“No girl,” Shane said distractedly, putting the record on the turntable.
Josef’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “You’re in love with a man? I may have to be jealous,” he said, only partly joking.
“Okay, so Bill Haley’s pretty good and I really dig Little Richard, I mean, who wouldn’t like good golly miss molly sure likes to ball -- but this… Listen!” Shane demanded, bringing the needle down with a flourish.
Four piano chords broke the silence, then the vocals filled the room: “You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, too much love drives a man insane, you broke my will but what a thrill, goodness gracious, great balls of fire,” came the energetic voice from the turntable.
“I see you’re still into that rock and roll stuff,” Josef noted.
“This is it, baby. This is why I’ve lived almost a thousand years,” Shane proclaimed, dancing around the room to the music with wild abandon – as well as plenty of hip swaying.
“Good grief, act your age. That’s it, you’ve finally gone totally off your rocker,” Josef said as Shane sang the words to him, unconcerned with his opinion.
“Oh, I haven’t even begun to rock,” Shane promised, deliberately twisting the phrase. He swiveled Josef’s desk chair around backwards and leaned in on the arms, being annoying and provocative all at once in typical Shane style. “Kiss me baby, ooohhhh feels good! Hold me baby, well I want to love you like a lover should…”
Josef shook his head in fond exasperation the Shane’s antics. “Personally, I’ve always thought it all sounded the same.”
“Cretin!” Shane declared, giving the chair a push that sent it spinning in a circle. “If you need me I’ll be in L.A. I’m going to get a band together.”
Josef couldn’t help smiling at his enthusiasm, even if he did fear for his brother’s sanity. For quite a few years now he’d noticed a change in Shane. He seemed bored with life, took on more outrageous lifestyles as if craving the variety – like his stint as a voodoo priest in New Orleans! It was a subtle change, no one but someone as close as Josef (and there was no one closer) would even have noticed. It had disturbed him on some subliminal level, and he hadn’t realized how much until this moment, seeing the excitement in Shane’s eyes like something had set his soul on fire. That was worth it. Even if it was over rock and roll.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Josef told Shane as the record ended and was promptly started again. “Business contacts, bail money, name of a good shrink...”
Shane pulled him up out of the chair. “You gotta loosen up,” he chastised, dancing with him around the room.
“I’m loose in bed,” he told Shane with a sly grin. “I don’t do moves like that in public.”
“What a square!”
“Square?!” Josef exclaimed in mock indignation at the insult. He bent Shane over backwards in a dip and was just about to lay a kiss on him – when a loud knock at the door was followed immediately by his secretary Rhonda poking her head into the room.
“Uh… Mr. Fitzgerald, sir? I uh, can come back later…”
Josef rolled his eyes heavenward as Shane grinned irrepressibly. “You’re always getting me in trouble,” he told Shane, letting go of him. He would have fallen to the floor if not for good vamp reflexes.
“Yes, do come back later, Rhonda. After I’ve committed the crime and hidden the body.”
“Yes, sir.” Having worked for Josef for four years now, she was used to strange goings-on, and very versed in ignoring them. The door closed again.
“Take the plane, don’t bother with that commercial crap,” he told Shane. “Just let my pilot know when you want to leave ahead of time so he can file the flight plan.”
“Let’s go out on the town tonight. I’ll take you to all the best clubs.”
“To hear the devil’s music, huh?”
“Best kind.”
“The stock market hasn’t closed yet…”
“You work too hard,” Shane told him.
“Give me strength,” Josef asked the air as he was led out the door by Shane.
“If you’re lucky, you’ll need it,” Shane promised.
The end.