Notes of Destiny: A Musical Odyssey by Neil Grant

Chapter 6



hapter 6 Harold Patter 

Ms. Healy removed two notes and returned them to him. 

You don’t need to give me extra. All I want is for you to repent and treat Ancira better! She’s a good girl and a loyal wife! How could you treat her like this?” 

Ms. Healy, this is my way of thanking you. Please accept it.” 

Neil pressed the notes back into her hand. Staring into her eyes, he said solemnly

Ms. Healy, this is nothing compared to what you have done for my family! Here’s a suggestion, if you have money to spare, invest in a few houses in Remmington. It’ll appreciate over time, and you’ll get a lot of money from them after selling them off!” 

Ms. Healy was shocked

Neil left immediately after

Appreciate? Earn a lot of money?She mumbled to herself

She did have spare money. Her children worked for governmentowned companies. She had saved the money they sent her every year

The money had been earning interest in her bank account. She had two houses and had never considered buying property in the city

Did Neil have inside information

Ms. Healy silently watched him leave

Neil knew that people of a certain age would not consider buying property, especially those from small towns

Who would have thought that housing prices would rise from a thousand to five or six figures in thirtyodd years

It was just some offhanded advice, but the choice to invest depended on her

He returned home with the remaining roast chicken

Once upstairs, he smelled his wife’s cooking

Aneira had terrific cooking skills, even though they ate the same vegetables, and the meat was a rarity

She transformed them into different dishes for her children

Neil entered with the roast chicken

Aneira had just placed the food on the table

Neil surveyed what she had cooked

Stirfried broccoli, roasted pumpkin, and a small plate of pickles

Neil’s heart ached for his children eating such meager meals

After becoming a worldfamous singer in his past life, he indulged himself in various delicacies. He had enjoyed his fame and wealth to the fullest

But he had left his wife and children to suffer

Neil gave her a strained smile. He placed the roast chicken on the table and called the children for dinner

Yivi! Luca! Here’s your roast chicken!” 

Wow! There’s really roast chicken! Yivi loves chicken!The twoyearold bounded over and clapped her hands in glee

Aneira eyed Neil warily

Knowing she did not trust him, Neil tore off a piece of meat from the chicken breast, put it in his mouth, and began to chew

Aneira allowed the children to eat after Neil had taken the first bight

Take your seats. Daddy will help you.” 

Neil washed his hands. He carved the chicken and placed the meat onto their plates

Such delicious food was so hard to come by. The children stuffed their faces with chicken meat until their cheeks puffed out

After dinner, Aneira took the children out for a stroll

Neil sat down on the wornout couch and began to plan for the future

Traveling to the provincial capital on the tenth will require some money to cover food, accommodation, and transportation

He had about eight hundred left. It will last him quite a while

He’ll sing The Pearl from The Eastat the competition. The song will receive a lot of attention

and music companies should be interested in buying it

He didn’t have money or a channel to promote it if he were to release it himself

Cassette tapes, CDs, radio stations, and music channels on TV were popular during this time

Without the internet, it would be difficult for indie songs to gain traction. He’ll need tens of thousands of dollars, which would be hard to come by

But this will all depend on him winning the grand prize and getting the attention of these major music companies

In his previous timeline, Harvey had caught their attention. But different people had different qualities that attracted attention

Back then, Neil had only become famous with the introduction of the internet. He was one of the early waves of people who became famous online

He wasn’t sure how he’d get famous now

He can’t put all his eggs into this competition. There were too many variables he could account for

He needed to find a job

Ideally, one at the county radio station

He had no connections, so he’d have to start as an intern and work his way up

As long as they had good conditions for broadcast and lax academic requirements, he could be a regular after his internship, depending on if he passed the test

With a stable job and a steady income, Aneira would worry less

But an internship at a radio station would not pay much

He needed another way to make money

Neil turned on the dated TV, but there was only static

Ms. Healy had given them the TV

After channel surfing, Neil realized that the familiar shows he was used to did not exist in this timeline

But the entertainment industry remained unchanged

At eight o’clock, there were two channels showing fantasy films

Another channel was broadcasting a period drama equivalent to The Crown in 1996

The only difference was that this series was on this alternate universe’s history

Neil had an idea

There were two ways he could make money quickly

First, he could write some theme songs for films and tv dramas. He could make money from the copyright that way

Secondly, he could write fantasy novels and publish them on the traditional route

It would be much quicker, and he could earn more by writing novels

Even though Neil could not remember every word and sentence in the novel, the plots, and iconic sentences he had read were deeply ingrained in his mind

Now all he had to do was to regurgitate the stories he had read in his own words

There was one problem

He had to write the novels by hand. It would be much slower than typing it out on a computer. One novel would take him at least a few months to complete

Neil sighed

He had no choice but to try

As long as he had a direction, the rest would be easy

At that thought, Neil hurried out. He found a stationary store and bought some paper, pens, envelopes, stamps, etc. 

He also bought the latest issue of two entertainment magazines and a literary magazine

It wasn’t easy to earn money even by writing short stories

That night when Aneira got home, Neil had fallen asleep on the couch

Aneira bathed the two children and tucked them into bed

She turned to see Neil still sound asleep on the couch

He was cleanly shaven and had thoroughly washed himself in the shower. He didn’t look as 

unkempt as usual

The house looked like it had been cleaned. The windows had been wiped. The floor was mopped, and even the wooden table which looked like it was on its last legs had been tidied up

There was a stack of paper on the table weighed down by magazines

Aneira picked up the paper and looked at it

The first line was a title

Harold Patter

Aneira frowned. What is this? Was Neil learning to write novels

For some reason, Aneira felt anxious

Neil used to be obsessed with music. All he did was make music

Aneira had fallen in love with his music and then with him. She had married him, but she never once thought he would sink so low after meeting some setbacks

She had understood then that Neil wasn’t someone who could handle failure. He always saw himself better than everyone else

If he wrote these novels and could not publish them, would he feel slighted and take out his anger on her and the children

Feeling unsettled, Aneira read the first few lines

To her surprise, Neil’s writing was outstanding


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