She exhaled. He was right. This would be a chance to change the way she lived. She lived without having any goal except for playing music regardless of who it is with and when the darkness grew closer, she had to run. If this Ares Winter, was able to make her a professional, would that mean that she could stay and finally create a home where she is loved and cared for? Could the darkness really go away? What’s the harm in trying and if it doesn’t work out, she could once again, run away. Start all over. She’s done it once, why couldn’t she do it again?

     She nodded her head and The Jazz Man let out a howl.

     “Then it is settled! My child, we need to earn enough money in order to make a phone call! To get you a proper meal so that you may stand before greatness! Get you cleaned up as well! Come! Stand up!” he jumped to his feet and snagged Adolph. Quickly she stood up along with him.

     “We must play!” he ordered, shoving the saxophone into her hands.

She gave him a deadpan look, [You mean I must play!]

     “Well of course! Why should I play when it is your success? Success doesn’t come easy child so start playing!” he demanded and she jokingly rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

     She had never seen him so excited and proud before and felt kind of happy about it. She opened her mouth and placed the reed to her lips and softly began to blow. The soothing jazz song of Aint No Sunshine immediately brought a crowd that surrounded the two. Some women and men within the crowd lowly sang the lyrics while others bobbed their head. The Jazz Man went around with his tin can and collect what the Humans wanted to offer.

     He was happy that the minute the two had met, she took interest in the Saxophone. He thought she was weird at first but still began to teach her. After a while, she became better than he was and like the father he was, was absolutely ecstatic. But a thought crossed his mind that if everything works out well, this could be the last time the two played together at the subway. And he was okay with that.

#

     The minute she was finished, the two swapped and The Jazz Man played a beautiful solo that consisted of what felt like only a few second measures. And the crowd ate it. Some had stayed there longer than what they wanted too, missing their trains but felt like this show was special somehow. The show lasted a good half hour before they gave one last encore before the crowd disbursed. The Jazz Man counted how much money they had made tonight. It was enough for one phone call and two small meals.

     He smiled at the haul the two made tonight, “Pack up ole Adolph while I go back this phone call!” he ordered her as he walked down to the phones that were available for all who had enough coin.

     He inserted several bills into the slot and picked up the phone, dialing the cell number off of the card.

     It rang a few time and with each rang his heart fluttered. Suddenly, on the other line, it was picked up.

     “Hello?” he heard the tired husky voice on the other side. He had completely forgotten it was around 1AM in the morning and most normal Humans would be in bed by now.

     “Aye, I sorry for waking you, is this Mr. Ares Winter?” He breathed into the phone.

     “This is him…” The voice drifted off, “Who is this?”

     “This is Lumière. I call on behalf of she who cannot speak but can play the piano.” He stated.

     “Oh!” his voice perked, “The young lady I met day! Is she accepting my offer?”

     “She is.” He confirmed and heard a sigh of relief on the other side.

     “When can we meet so we can go over the details?” Ares questioned.

     “Tomorrow afternoon on the Bridge of Castro. We will be there.”

     “Alright. I will be there. Please, tell her 'thank you'. She won’t regret a thing. I promise you.”

     “I will. Good night, sir.” He hung up the phone and turned his head to see her standing right beside him.

     “My child…we will see you off tomorrow afternoon.” He told her and she nodded her head.

     [You seem sad] she pointed out and he shook his head.

     “No child. I happy.” He poked her nose, “Monsters like me and you do not get a chance like this. Come, let us eat with Vinen and tell him the good news!” He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away, “We shall celebrate!”