Free London Harmony: Minuette by Erik Schubach Page A

Mindy that I was afraid to ask.

Chapter 6 – Moments
    The next couple weeks just dragged by and my contract with London Harmony had to be renewed.
    Two people came forward with missing tracks to collect the bounties.  The only ones missing now were the first three that they did not know about.  When we listened to the whole thing it even felt incomplete without the ending.
    June had come up to listen and she even shook her head.  “That isn't all of it.  It feels as if we came in the middle of something.  I think there are some older tracks that we are missing.  The whole beginning of the song is not there.”
    Did I mention just how scary smart these women are?
    It was a treat to watch June and Fran listen to the tracks, they would both close their eyes and dance and sing along, adding backups and harmony to each track.
    So the bounty was upped to two thousand pounds for any Minuette track that June didn't have.  She was a woman on a mission and money was no obstacle.  I had to wonder why she was on such a crusade.  I finally asked, knowing it might cost me the temp position I never wanted, “Why are you so determined to find her?  She obviously doesn't want to be found.  Can she make you that much money.”
    Fran froze and June paused to study me as she formed her response.  I couldn't tell if she were upset or not.  Then she smiled.  “I don't care if we make a single penny on the deal.  I just want to share her music with the world.  Something so beautiful and inspiring, filled with that much emotion shouldn't be hidden away in a corner someplace.  It should be shared, to make it something bigger than itself, give it a life of its own.  People deserve to hear her music.  Even if she never steps out of the shadows and we present the music anonymously like my early J8 music.”
    I almost felt ashamed for thinking this was about money.  I just looked at the superstar in wonder and blinked, then said sheepishly, “That's a pretty good answer.”
    She chuckled and Fran joined in.  I blushed and wrung my hands.
    June placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  Then headed toward the stairs.  She pause before going down and looked back.  “It's Thursday Night.  You and your friend...”  She thought then asked, “Mindy?”  She nodded to herself then disappeared down the stairs.
    I turned my confusion to Fran.  She beamed at me and said as she turned to work.  “She likes you.  She just invited you to our weekly family gathering on Tabby Cat's Water Witch tonight.”
    I blinked.  Tabby Cat?  Oh good lord, how do I get this stupid smile off my face.  This just made her grin.
    “So that's a yes?  We'll see you tonight at...”  She typed on her computer and looked at a sunset table.  “...around eight?”
    I nodded dumbly and mumbled, “I'll ask Mind.”
    She looked satisfied as she said, “Good.”  Then moved over to the SmartCanvas.
    I followed.  Since there was nothing to do on the Minuette front for most of every day, I had been assisting her with loading up more titles on a server to test cloud streaming of music from various artists to the unit instead of using onboard memory.  She explained that that would give them virtually unlimited catalogs instead of only twenty or thirty titles.
    I had asked once, “How exactly does that work, is there some sort of...”
    She had cut me off with a silly nose crinkle. “I don't know.  I think it is some sort of black magic Tim has devised.  Fairy dust and elves or whatnot.  All I know is how to operate the beast.  Tim does all the testing remotely from the States.  That and I have to record thousands of intros.  It will take me a year to catch up.  I can only record about a hundred a week.  The evil man and June won't let anyone else record them.  I think it is my penance for coming up with the idea.  It is how they punish me.”
    I had chuckled at that, especially since I could tell she absolutely loved doing