The drums, however, had been stored lovingly, in cases in the driest part of the basement. The guy asked me if I was interested in them as a possible trade. We looked them over pretty good, they had been stored as long as the guitar. They had belonged to his brother, and he told him to get rid of them. I didn't have anything I wanted to trade, but I bought them out right for three hundred. I could play, just barely.

Jimmy was like a kid at Christmas. He started uncasing and setting up immediately. Moira came up when we were half done. I had been listening to her,...