Notes From The Midnight Driver

A few days later, Sol proposes an idea to help Alex get back into playing guitar: Sol will teach Alex how to play in preparation for their next benefit concert, which Sol has scheduled for April in collaboration with Steve and Annette. Alex protests, saying he will be “embarrassed again” (211), but Sol firmly suggests that what Alex really needs is practice.

Back home, Alex finds his parents trying to act normal together: His father is cooking pasta alfredo. Upstairs, his mom is trying to pull out old pictures of them together but drops one, cutting her foot. Alex’s father takes her to the hospital for stitches, and Alex finds the alfredo sauce on the stove, “a thin wafer of charred carbon” (215). 

Sol struggles to teach Alex the guitar, explaining different aspects of the music to him. As they work on “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” Sol explains that jazz was traditionally played “as funeral music […] in New Orleans” (216). Sol illustrates the ways that Alex can shift the rhythm of a song intentionally. After a few more lessons, Alex realizes that they can’t both play at the concert together and comes up with a plan to get another guitar: He’ll give Sol his Telecaster and he’ll “buy a cheap jazz guitar” (220) for himself.

Sol is surprised at Alex’s selflessness and tells him to use the key to go open storage locker 344 at the end of the hall. In the locker are boxes with different labels, like “Family Photos” and “Judy” (222). At the back is a “very, very dusty guitar case” (222). Alex brings it back to Sol, who opens the case to reveal a beautiful guitar with a hand-laid mother-of-pearl inlay, saying, “GOTCHA!” (224). Sol explains to Alex that since Alex had gifted him the Telecaster, this guitar is for Alex to play. Alex tunes the guitar, noting how incredible it sounds, and the two begin practicing again, though Alex does note that Sol’s eyes are “watery” (225).