Lacey Dannenhold tore off her apron and hung it by the back door of the hamburger joint where she worked after school every day. She grabbed her backpack and stuck her time card into the clock to punch out. Crashing through the door, Lacey looked at her watch. Shoot! She had to be there in twenty minutes. Good luck!shouted her boss. We're keeping our fingers crossed for you! Thanks!Lacey smiled back and headed toward the subway.
The subway ride from her Brooklyn neighborhood to the recording studio would take only fifteen minutes. Lacey found a seat on the train and pulled out a mirror to check her hair. A huge man who smelled of stale alcohol sat down next to her. She turned to the window and held her breath.
This was the opportunity of a lifetime. She'd been passing out demo CDs with her original rap music for almost two years. Finally, she hit pay dirt. A young music executive had come to the club where she'd been performing the previous weekend. Apparently, he liked what he saw. That Monday he'd invited her to the studio for an audition. Lacey was so nervous she'd crumpled the directions almost beyond recognition. As soon as she climbed the stairway out of the subway, she carefully unfolded the scrap of paper and was just barely able to make out the address.
Her dad would be so surprised...
Lacey had decided not to tell him about the audition. She hated to see him disappointed. Just Lacey, her baby sister, and their dad had lived together these last few years. Nothing was the same since a drunk driver hit her mom and her little brother on their way home from her choir concert. Her father could not forgive himself for working that night. He insisted that if he'd walked them home, the accident would never have happened. Lacey found it hard to believe that the doctors could save the unborn baby but couldn't do anything to save her mom. Nothing seemed fair anymore.
The locket holding tiny pictures of her mom and brother burned a hole in her heart. Lacey held it and kissed it. The devastation of losing half of her family had inspired her to write the song that the studio executive had fallen in love with. She found that singing rap music, loud and gutsy, gave her relief from her grief.
Lacey closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to her mother. Please help me to get through this audition. he imagined going home to their dark little apartment and announcing to her father that she had a recording contract. Maybe someday he could quit his night job and just work days in the parking garage. Maybe.
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