Chapter Forty-Three: Game Seven

Inventing—or discovering—a new synthesized sound wasn't easy. First, Song Ya had a hard time describing the sound in his head to Delay. Then it was even harder to recreate it with a combination of instruments or electronic equipment. Delay was an excellent keyboardist, but his skills in this area were still lacking. Song Ya couldn't afford to hire a top industry expert, either, so progress was extremely slow. The new company also had to remain a shell for the time being, since Song Ya didn't want to be distracted by running it at this stage. It would have to wait until later.

Rehearsals for the new song, on the other hand, went smoothly. Little by little, people began visiting Joe Music.

The first to show up were publicists from SBK. They took Mira and the band to perform a few acoustic sets in Chicago bars. The response was good, so they began preparing for the next phase of promotion. A song full of profanity wasn't fit for polite company, and in this still-conservative era, it had no chance at serious awards unless they changed the lyrics. It would have to be censored to air on major outlets like MTV, but with so much profanity in FXXXYOU, censoring the whole song would leave it a mangled mess. Better not to bother. They decided to stick to their earlier strategy: focus on equality rallies and music festivals, and let word of mouth build.

Dr. Michelle had also brought people in several times to assess the song. On her last visit, she brought along the Chicago police commissioner and two highly respected Baptist ministers from civil rights organizations. Soon, a large protest against South African apartheid would be held at Grant Park, where Mira would perform the song publicly for the first time. They needed to assess its potential impact beforehand. First, it couldn't be too inflammatory, lest it provoke the large crowd. Second, its criticism of de Klerk couldn't be too harsh. After all, everyone was counting on the white president of South Africa.

Song Ya had discussed both points with Michelle long ago. Mira was a white girl, and she performed the song more like a teenage love song. Combined with its somewhat tongue-in-cheek delivery, that took the edge off as much as possible. The two ministers had their reservations, but, as expected, everyone approved it unanimously. If the performance at Grant Park went well, Song Ya could consider his assignment complete.

Watching the bigwigs discuss and assess the song with such solemnity struck Song Ya as a little funny. The South Side was a mess, and there had recently been a fatal shooting right across from Joe Music, yet these people acted as if they hadn't noticed...

Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to say any of that aloud. He found the South Side friendlier than New York, but that didn't stop him from planning to move away, somewhere safer to live and go to school.

Another unexpected visitor was a producer from Mira's next film, Return to the Blue Lagoon. He'd heard about the song and hurried over to assess its potential impact on the film's lead actress, as well as to adjust the film's promotional strategy to fit Mira's expected rise in popularity.

It was a good thing. When the Columbia Pictures producer left, Mrs. Jovovich went with him to Los Angeles, and Mira was finally free of supervision. When they weren't rehearsing, she and Song Ya spent their time doing what they liked best, watching movies, strolling around and shopping, and visiting nearby attractions. They were practically newlyweds enjoying a leisurely life. They even planned a vacation to Detroit. The Bulls and Pistons had taken their Eastern Conference Finals series to Game Seven. If the Bulls lost, Little Lowry's plan to perform at the Finals would be ruined, so they figured they might as well go watch the excitement.

"Yo! APLUS!"

When they ran into Little Lowry again at The Palace of Auburn Hills, he was dressed to the nines, decked out in gold chains, and had his arm around a black girl about his age. AK, Tony, and the rest of the crew followed behind him. Even his walk had a swagger now. Old Joe had told them that although they hadn't received their share from SBK yet, their fame had spread across the country, and offers were already pouring in during the promotional period. In every city they visited, nightclubs, strip clubs, and other places would invite them over privately. All they had to do was sing a song that lasted a little over three minutes, and they'd be paid a fat wad of untaxed cash on the spot. It was a pretty sweet deal.

"Hey, little bro, check it out." Tony followed behind Little Lowry, showing off the Gold Rolex on his wrist. He even rolled up Silencer's sleeve to show off the matching one.

Song Ya wasn't too fond of Little Lowry these days, but in fairness, Little Lowry treated Tony, Silencer, and the others well.

"Hey." Song Ya greeted them with fist bumps.

"Isn't that..."

Little Lowry recognized Mira beside Song Ya, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. Last time, she'd flipped him off and rejected him, embarrassing him. He immediately bristled. "You snuck her past me, huh?"

"Hello." The black girl beside Little Lowry eyed Mira warily, looking her up and down.

"Hi..." Mira smiled at her. Ever since she and Song Ya had gotten together, she'd mellowed out a lot.

"AJ!" Silencer suddenly blurted out the letters. There was a Nike shoe store nearby.

There was still a little time before the game, so everyone went into the store together. Little Lowry hurried over, grabbed a pair of AJ5s from the display, struck a few shooting poses, then tossed them at Tony like a basketball. He picked up another pair and threw them to AK, then another pair to Silencer. "Yeah!" All three caught them. As if he'd just hit a game-winning three-pointer himself, Little Lowry spread his arms and ran around the store celebrating.

"Let's keep our distance." Song Ya glanced at the flustered salesclerks and the customers' disgusted faces, then put his arm around Mira and led her to the other side.

"These are nice." Mira picked out a pair of AJ4s.

"Hey, APLUS, why are you buying your white girl the discount stuff?" Little Lowry called from across the store, picking up another pair of AJ5s. "These are yours! Fifty! This pair! A hundred!" He tossed them over from a distance.

Song Ya quickly caught them and handed them back to the salesclerk, shaking his head with a wry smile.

Fortunately, Pablo showed up just then. He hadn't changed much. Pointing at his watch, he urged them, "It's getting late. Let's get inside. There are reporters in there, so don't mess around like that again."

Little Lowry put on the new shoes right away, leaving his old pair where they lay. With his arm around the black girl, he hurried out. Tony and the others changed into their new shoes too, but their sizes were wrong, so they swapped them around in another burst of confusion. Once they were finally done, AK gathered up the old shoes from the floor and tossed them in the trash. He headed to the register to pay, but didn't forget to point at the shoes in Mira's hand and mime tossing them over.

"No thanks, we'll keep looking around," Song Ya declined. He waited until they'd left before browsing slowly with Mira. AJ5s cost around eighty to a hundred dollars, while the out-of-season AJ4s were marked down to about fifty. They both liked the all-white AJ4s, and they made a nice matching couple's pair.

After buying the shoes, they went into the arena. Old Joe and his people were already seated. Song Ya's ticket was next to Old Joe's, so he led Mira over and sat down. Old Joe was nervous; after all, he also had a stake in the Finals performance.

Pablo and Tony were seated not far away, while Little Lowry and the black girl had gone to seats closest to the court. Old Joe told Song Ya that the girl was the daughter of a Detroit music legend and was preparing to release her debut album. Sitting there with Little Lowry meant they'd definitely be caught on camera. It was a promotional ploy to get her on screen and stir up publicity.

The game began, and the Bulls' shots wouldn't fall. They never had a chance. Old Joe cursed nonstop, blaming Phil Jackson for his incompetent coaching, cursing the Pistons for playing dirty, and calling Pippen, who'd gone one for ten, and Grant, who'd gone three for seventeen, a pair of useless teammates. He even cursed Little Lowry, accusing him of being too greedy for insisting on performing at the Finals and costing him a chance to perform at a playoff game.

Song Ya watched Little Lowry slumped in his seat from across the arena. He didn't feel sorry for him at all—in fact, he could barely keep from laughing.