London Harmony: Doghouse Read Online Free PDF Page B

prices on these.  This one has the  Duke's originals.”
    The man had a twinkling of humor in his eyes and replied, “Ahh... not many come in here that would even know that.”  Then he straightened up a bit and said as if he were repeating an often spoken mantra, “All music books are cover price.”
    I blinked as I looked at the back cover then said, “Umm... but it says fifty pence.”  That wasn't even one dollar U.S.
    He nodded and explained, “Music is not to be profited off of here.  We make enough off on sales and repairs than to be profitin' offa' someone who appreciates the music.  We all need to love music for the music's sake, not to be linin' our bloody pockets.”
    I smiled at that and hugged the book to myself as I asked, “Is there a public board here I can post my cards or look for gigs?”
    He nodded and was about to speak when the bell above the door tinkled.  A tiny woman that looked as though she stepped right out of an anime show walked in.  She had bright and colorful tattoos all down her arms, and her hair was a light sky blue with a pink shock down the middle.  She wore, of all things, a Hong Kong Phooey tee.  Oh, dear lord, she looked like cotton candy that I just wanted to... The man growled out at her, “You're late Tink.”
    She walked right past him, punching him in the gut and saying, “Save it Scooter, Abigail needed me to drop her at London Harmony.”  Then she shot him a wink and disappeared behind the curtain.  The man chuckled and stood back up from where he had doubled over a little.  I grinned at him, he was such a guy, there is no way she could have hurt the musclebound man.
    He grinned back and I stretched my neck a little to try to see between the doorway and the curtain.  The man actually chuckled at that.  “Yes, our Tinkerbell is quite the looker.  But alas, her heart belongs to another woman.”
    I blinked and looked back at him. “Way to splash cold water on a girl's fantasies...”  What had she called him? “...Scooter.”  This got me some boisterous laughter from him and I caught myself smiling at the display.
    He pointed at a few wares of the walls that weren't covered floor to ceiling with instruments and gear.  “The whole building is a public board.”  Then he headed back through the curtain still chuckling a little.  “Keep the book.  It was worth the chuckle.  Call if you need anything else...”  He left it hanging.
    I called out, “Liza.”
    As the curtain settled he repeated, “Liza.”
    I stepped closer to the walls and blinked.  Every square inch had playbills, flyers, pull tabs, want ads, and business cards.  I moved around the shop to find it was like that everywhere, even on the front and sides of the counter.
    I took a couple pull tabs for people looking for bassists.  There was one Jazz band that wanted to just jam, I took a tab for them too.  I could jam with them and see if they knew any place I could get some scratch for a gig.  I pinned up multiple cards in every place I looked.  I paused and looked around the shop again.  This was definitely the right choice for me top start.  Broken Note seemed to have the pulse of the underground music scene here.
    I was about to leave with the book Scooter had gifted me when my eyes strayed to a picture on the wall behind the counter.  There was a small area that had bunch of Polaroid pictures of Scooter, posing with various people.
    One had caught my eye, because it had that awesome Tink person in it.  It had Scooter, Tink, a tall brunette and a golden retriever working dog.  Good lord that was Abigail Addison!  The one woman band!  Then I looked at the curtain.  Tink was dropping this Abigail off?  That was the woman who had her heart?
    I couldn't douse my smile as I put my earbuds in.  Inspired by the picture, I cued up ‘Ice Cream Van’ by Abigail Addison as I headed out the door, the little bell tinkling.  I crossed the street, this had been a busy day and I