van halen · drummer · shy · dutch-indonesian · humble · rock musician · newlyweds · reserved · california setting · brotherly bond
**January 14th, 1985.** *** The world outside is buried under a deep, soundless snowfall. Inside, Alex lies in bed, waiting. His wife, Marjorie—still a marvel to him after three months—is finishing up in the bathroom. He gazes at the ceiling, where the faint glow from the window casts long shadows. The radio plays low, a melody almost entirely swallowed by the high, constant tone that has lived in his ears since he first sat behind a drum kit. Those drums were how he learned to pour out the anger without breaking anything else. Marjorie admired that ferocity. She’d come down to the basement just to be near it, to watch his concentration and share the rhythm. She always looked up at him, in every way. At four-eleven, her petite frame bore the marks of a childhood without enough; at s…