Page 67 of Theo of Golden

He was usually too focused on his own work, and the janitors too hurried in theirs, for them to notice one another.

As Simone stood in the doorway of his rehearsal room listening for more sounds of singing, a stocky young man rounded the corner to retrieve something from his cart.

Their eyes met, and a moment of awkward silence ensued. Both looked as if they had been caught doing something wrong.

“Man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

At that moment, the singer in the hallway was fearful of getting into trouble and losing his job, something he could ill afford to do. Policy dictated that maintenance personnel were never to interrupt students or faculty from their study or rehearsal.

Sensing a measure of distress in the custodian’s voice, Simone quickly absolved him of any trespass and walked toward the cart. If there was a caste system that separated musicians from maintenance men, he was unaware of it.

“Was that you singing? That was excellent.”

Both faces showed signs of relief and warmth.

“I couldn’t hear you very well,” Simone continued, “but what I heard was really nice.”

“Well, thank you.”

“My name is Simone Lavoie. I’m a student here.” He held out his hand.

“I’m Kendrick Whitaker. I work here.”

“I thought you might be a student yourself, a vocal performance major or something.”

Kendrick laughed, not quite grasping the compliment he had been paid.

Simone asked, “How did you know that song I was playing?”

It was admittedly an old song, hardly in fashion, even if there were a few thousand recorded renditions of it in circulation.

“I learned it in high school,” Kendrick replied. “My music teacher made me sing it one year at the school talent show. She made me listen to lots of different people sing it and then she told me to put my own voice on it. That’s a good song, y’know.”

Simone nodded, intrigued. “Did you ever sing after that?”

Kendrick shrugged. “Not really. Sing for fun, you know, but that’s about all. Sometimes me and my little girl go to church with my grandmama, and we sing there. Ol’ stuff, ol’ gospel stuff.”

“You’ve got a nice voice, Kendrick. What other things do you like to sing?”

Simone and Kendrick talked for a short while, mostly about music. Kendrick would have asked questions about the cello, but knew he was supposed to be working. Policy.

Simone apologized for interrupting him. Kendrick apologized again for interrupting him.

“Of all the versions you listened to, who sang ‘Summertime’ the best?” Simone asked.

“Aw, maaaan, that’s tough. There are some good ones. But for me it’s gotta be Miz Ella. She owned it.”

Simone nodded. “I agree.”

“Well, I better get back to work. Nice to meet you, Limone. Is that right? Limone?”

Simone laughed.

“Close! It’s Simone. Simone Lavoie. But sometimes people get it backwards. Limone Savoy. That’s got a nice ring to it.”

Kendrick put both hands on his cart to return to work.

“You keep singing,” Simone said.