The above-mentioned conversation took place at the entrance to The Octopus Garden, where "Songs," a friend of Copperfox, had met the fishing party after their return from the reservoir. They were still going to have a snack here; Emmett felt he owed Copperfox some business, and besides, he did like the old sailor's bean soup, one item Copperfox prepared personally.
They had "Songs" sit with them. When the owner came to greet them, Emmett asked him, "Squid-boy, could you please let Queenie an' Songs hear the song you sang as the weddin' processional the day you married Janalee?" Copperfox got a faraway look, but nodded, and softly sang a short song which he explained was done by an early Christian band called Love Song, which also called this song the same thing. The tune (which Copperfox remembered as being by Chuck Girard) was wistful, to a 3/4 beat, with a haunting shift in the first line from G major to G major-seventh, followed by an even more haunting major-to-minor shift...
"Come, lend an ear to a love song,
Ooh, a love song; let it take you, let it start.
What can you hear in a love song?
If you can feel it, then you're feeling from the heart.
All the emotions, true feelings of life,
Are what music of love is about,
If you are listening with peace in your heart
And no doubt.
So, come listen now to God's love song;
If you can hear it, we will never be apart."
They could all see Copperfox just barely managing to get through the song and keep his composure. When the old veteran (of more things than one) finished, he took refuge in turning to singing-technique talk, something in which he and "Songs" were on common ground. "You notice, _________ ," he said, using her actual given name, "that the emotion in that song is kept under control: no howling or squealing or sobbing or ooh-babying. It comes across in beauty and elegance..."
"...and makes a _listener_ feel it all the more," Songs finished for him, squeezing his hand in understanding.
When Copperfox had excused himself, Emmett noticed that all three women seated with him had moist eyes. All of them knew about Copperfox, one way or another. Queenie whispered to her fiance, "Should we really have been pulling him into our discussion? Were we rubbing his nose in what we have, when it's the same thing he lost--twice?"
Emmett drew her closer to him. "Don't you cry for my pal--well, not too much, anyway. He ain't the lowdown sort that wants everyone _else_ to go lame because _his_ foot gets caught in a prairie-dog hole." Turning his eyes on Joel: "It was partways for _your_ benefit, son, that I wanted old Papa Joe, as some call him, to have his say. Boy, the time's to come when you'll know what the excitement's about; but you got to know there's _more_ than the excitement. Love's an _investment_ also: you pour yourself into it, you stake yourself on it, with no turnin' back. You put your cards, your chips, and your gun on the table, knowin' you can lose--but knowin' that bein' too yellow scared to try is a still worse loss.
"Look at Queenie here: when she was turned away from the dark side, she came lookin' for me, not knowin' if I'd have any part of her...but darin' to try. And Songs there: without pryin' into her life, I know she's rode some cactus-lined trails of her own, but still has hope in the Lord. Love--toward God and toward fellow mortals--demands a lot from us, Joel: demands that we hope an' believe an' persevere an' so on. The burdens are different for different folks; but the final reward that awaits is the same. An' somethin' so great merits gettin' sung about a whole bunch."
It seemed like awfully rambling talk to the boy; but being a cut above the average eleven-year-old, Joel Finney strove manfully to absorb it.
