The Break - Chapter 37

Chapter 37 After last night in Vancouver, Randy thought that he had seen the best of Ratdick. As decided last night, tonight’s show in Surrey was the first show that Storm Damage took the stage first. Once again they delivered a fairly wooden performance and even though they were still officially the headliners, they only played for an hour. The boys didn’t mind. In fact, they just started the third hour their show and they showed no signs of slowing down. The last ten months on the road had really seasoned the boys. No wonder their shows were selling out. It could explain the increased record sales. That was unlikely since they cut the record prior to the tour and although it was a solid album, it was an extremely pale comparison to a live performance. Standing in the wings, Randy felt himself being sucked into the music again. He fought the urge the best he could. It was true that he had been a casual fan of the band since the first time he saw them play. But this was completely different. Now, he loved listening to them play and that made it very hard to maintain his objectivity about the band. Randy made a mental note. they had to get a live recording of one of these shows released as soon as possible. At this point, Randy was so giddy about the band’s performance both on stage and at the cash register, that he decided he wouldn’t even fight Ronnie in negotiations. They were simply so good that money was not going to be an issue. He knew it, Ronnie knew it, so why play the game. The thought quickly faded as Randy began watching Ronnie. There was no doubt that Ronnie was talented, but he also projected an amazing stage presence. It was as if everything about him was greater than the sum of the parts. He was a talented guitarists and his voice was strong. But really it was the blend of those along with his ability to understand how music fit and to actually make it happen. Additionally, it seemed as if each note he sang was released from every pore of his body as if he was expelling his soul out of his body. His throat was not a large enough conduit to allow passage of the all the feeling he was able to pack into his lyrics. As Randy stood and watched he could see it, but he was more interested in watching the crowd. Even from this distance, he could see the glazed look in the eyes of the audience. It was as if they were completely mesmerized by Ronnie. Just as he felt himself falling under the same spell, his attention was yanked to the other side of the stage. Pete kicked in with a screaming guitar lick that threatened to slice through the fragile membrane of the inner ear and scramble the brain of the listener. But Pete knew exactly how to, and more importantly exactly when to , bend the note back. When he did this, the euphoric effect to the listener could be attributed equally to the beauty of the note and to the relief from the sonic assault. In progressive songs, he would push farther each time. Bring the audience to an ever greater brink, but pulling them back before they fell of the edge of the emotional precipice. The combination of the two, Ronnie and Pete could only have one result. That was to whip the crowd in to a frenzied pack of dancing lunatics. If the band consisted of just the two front men, they would be good. But what made them great was the fact the Ben and Ass laid down a driving consistent rhythm that seem to enclose the audience in an electronic wall of sound. Watching the crowd, Randy thought the stage served as the seawall to prevent the breaking waves of human from flooding the boys. Then he thought he saw something interesting. It seemed that as Pete and Ronnie propelled the crowd forward, they also extracted a heavy toll measured in gallons of sweat, cups of tears and even ounces of blood. It was physically impossible for a person to maintain the high level of energy output demanded by the music. That resulted in the wave like activity with those ebbing in energy moving forward and those that had driven them selves to the edge of exhaustion flowed toward the back. The interesting thing was when the weary minions finally made it to the back, it appeared as if they had backed into an electric fence. The jolt they received hey were once again propelled forward into the fray. Not only did they go willingly, they went with renewed vigor from the brief respite of not expending any energy for the previous few minutes. The rest of the crowd had pulled them out, the urgency of the music threw them back. There were a few warriors in the crowd that could match the stamina of the boys in the band, but even they had their limits. The only reason Ronnie, Pete, Ben and Ass could continue was because they only had their instruments to battle, not several thousand pounds of sweaty human flesh. Finally, the boys quit playing. Ever since the first show they played at Ecks Saloon, they ended their shows in the same manner. In unison, they would just stop playing and exit the stage without saying a word. It was uncanny how they were all able to stop at the exact same moment as though they all knew they had completed their mission. There was never any rhyme or reason to why they quit. It didn’t matter how many songs they had played or even if they were finished the song. When they were done, they were all done. Each time, an eerie uneasiness fell upon the audience. Stunned, they weren’t sure what to do. Soon, however, the result was a hurricane force demand for an encore. They boys always delivered. In addition to whipping the crowd into a frenzy for the encore, the dead silence also allowed the boys to hear individual voices in the crowd. The sudden ending had been Pete’s idea. He always thought it would help him identify who he would hook up with after the show. This particular evening, the loudest voice was not yelling for Pete. “Ronnie.” A woman’s voice called out and then continued very insistently. “Ronnie! RONNIE!” Searching the crowd, Ronnie saw the woman calling his name. She was a little taller than average, he could tell because she stood out in the crowd. Although she looked vaguely familiar, he could place the face. Her hair was stringy and matted in clumps in some places. “Ronnie, it’s me.” She screamed when they made eye contact. “Cindy.” Ronnie was taken completely by surprise. As soon as he heard the name, he knew it was his cousin Cindy. It had been years since the last time he saw her. She was almost ten years older than him. But the woman he saw in front of him looked much older than her early thirties. Even though she looked a wreck, Ronnie was excited to see her. “I’ll get you back stage.” He said. “Cool, cuz”” She responded. After finishing the encore, the boys filed down the skinny hallway towards the dressing room. They could hearing a woman’s voice speaking very loudly. “…and we were soooo fucked up.” Cindy’s voice said. Ronnie swung the door open and instantly knew that inviting her back stage had been a mistake. The tension in the air was as thick as a stage curtain. Annie and Chelsea were seated with their arms crossed tightly across their chest. The legs were crossed just as tightly. But one look at either of their burning stares and it was very apparent what they thought of this drunken interloper. Emily, on the other hand, was attempting to humor Cindy by pretending to listen to her story. As soon as the boys appeared, Emily abandoned her attempt and joined the other girls on the couch. “Hey, Ronnie.” Cindy slurred. “Gimme a hug, cuz.” Ronnie hugged her, but tried to extract himself as quickly as possible. The stench was overpowering. It was as if she hadn’t bathed or engaged in any type of hygienic activity in months. When Ronnie broke free, Cindy caught site of Pete. “My little Petey.” Cindy said as she embraced him. Pete tried to recoil from the hug, but before he could Cindy kissed him hard on the mouth. When she attempted to stick her tongue in his mouth, he pulled his head away quickly and pushed her back. “Is that any way to treat your mama?” Cindy asked. Turning to the girls on the couch, she added. “That’s what I used to make him call me when he was fucking me.” The words hit Chelsea like a slap in the face. She could believe that Pete would have anything to do with some one like Cindy, even if she was his cousin. “Ease up there, cuz.” Ronnie said soothingly seeing Chelsea’s reaction he knew he had to get her out of here as quickly as possible. “What are you doing here?” “Didn’t you hear?” Cindy explained. “I had a little trouble with the man…good ole Uncle Sam, ya know. So, I’m Canadian now.” “Well, it’s was good seeing you.” Ronnie said trying to wrap this up before any happened. “Oh, Ronnie. So sweet.” Cindy said. “So where are all the drugs? These bitches said you don’t have any around. I don’t believe it. Isn’t this all sex, drugs and rock-n-roll?” Not being too thrilled about being called a bitch, Chelsea was about to say something. One look from Pete told her to let Ronnie handle this one. “For us, it’s rock-n-roll.” Ronnie replied. “If I know Petey, it’s sex too.” Cindy continued. “Look at this fine little groupie he found himself. Hell, I’d even do her…for fifty.” Ronnie saw the look in Chelsea’s eyes. He knew she wasn’t going to take even comment like that without saying something. He simply had to get Cindy out of the room. “Look, Cindy …” Ronnie started. Just then the door swung open and Big Ron and Randy walked through. As soon as Big Ron saw Cindy, the smile vanished from his face. Ronnie could not recall ever seeing such a look of pure hatred on his father’s face. Cindy turned as saw Big Ron and came to a complete stop. “Hey, Uncle Ron …” Cindy said. “Get the fuck out of here.” Big Ron commanded. “Dad …” Ronnie started. “Stay out of this Ronnie.” Big Ron cautioned. “Cindy, get out. Now.” “At least give me a couple hundred Uncle Ron.” Cindy pled. “I know you got it.” Big Ron was doing all he could to not pick Cindy up and throw her out. “No, out.” Big Ron stated flatly. “Ronnie? Pete? Aren’t you going to say something?” She asked feebly. There was an uncomfortable silence, but it only lasted for a moment. Big Ron was not going to hold back much longer. “Cindy, last chance.” Ron said determined. “Well, fuck all y’all.” Cindy said. With that, she was gone. After a long pause, Ronnie finally found his voice. “Wasn’t that a little harsh, Dad?” Ronnie asked. “She’s pretty annoying, but she is your niece.” “Not any more.” Ron stated. “What?” Ronnie asked completely confused. “What happened?” Big Ron looked at Ronnie for a long moment and then decided he might as well tell him. “She’s been a junkie for years.” Big Ron started. “Both her father and I bailed her ass out of trouble so many times, I can’t even remember all of them. She was in and out of rehab half a dozen times. The last time I saw was right after she and he drug dealer boyfriend kidnapped you and Pete.” “What?” Ronnie and Pete asked simultaneously. “Well, Pete’s dad and I agreed that there was no reason to tell you at the time.” Big Ron started. “But yeah, the last time you saw Cindy, when you went camping with her. You were actually kidnapped. She and her low-life boyfriend were keeping you and threatening to kill you unless we came up with a million bucks.” “Come on.” Ronnie said. “They couldn’t have been serious. They were just messing with you to see if you’d give them the money. They wouldn’t have hurt us.” Big Ron paused for a moment trying to decide how to respond. There was really only one thing to say. “Well, that’s what we thought until the cops told us who her boyfriend was.” Big Ron said. “Then when the cops closed in at the ransom drop, he pulled out a couple automatic weapons and killed a coupla cops and wounded several others before they dropped him. As soon as Cindy heard, she took off leaving you guys out in the middle of nowhere with no way home.” Ronnie thought back on the weekend that he and Pete went camping. They were thirteen years old and his cool cousin invited them to go camping. He remembered that she told them she had already checked it out with Big Ron and Pete’s Dad. They started the weekend end by smoking pot. It was the first time Ronnie and Pete had tried smoking. “Holy shit.” Ronnie said. “No doubt.” Pete agreed. “I might have been able to forgive her, if we didn’t know what she did to Pete.” Big Ron explained. “Did to me? Pete had his own memories. In addition to smoking pot for the first time, it was also the first time he had sex. Cindy taught him a great deal on that camping trip or at least that’s the way he had always thought about it. “Pete, I don’t think this is the best time or place to talk about this.” Ron said gently. “What?” Pete asked. “There’s nothing wrong with what happened. She and I had sex, so what?” “Pete, really, I don’t think we should discuss this now.” Big Ron counseled. Pete felt his anger burning, but he was quite sure why. All he knew is he wanted to talk about this and he wanted to talk about it now. “I don’t have any problems with it, why should you?” He asked Big Ron a bit too aggressively. “Pete, she was twenty-three, you were thirteen.” Big Ron explained. Still Pete couldn’t see an issue. Why would his dad and Big Ron be upset that he had sex? “Yeah, so.” “Imagine if the guy was twenty-three and he had sex with a thirteen year old girl.” Big Ron continued trying to make his point. “What would you say then?” “That’s just sick.” Pete said. “Exactly.” Big Ron responded. “Same thing, she molested you and then took off. Looks like she went to Canada.” Pete was completed stunned. For the first time he could remember, he didn’t have a snappy come back. He had always thought it was cool that he had lost his virginity so younger to a much older woman. It never occurred to him that it was wrong. The room remained silent for a very long time. Ronnie did not want to believe what his father had told him. But it did make sense. Cindy had never taken him any where prior to that weekend. Then it occurred to him that her boyfriend was very edgy and looked at him with venom in his eyes. Whenever Ronnie thought about it, he had always written it off as his being a young boy being unreasonably afraid of an older man. Finally, Big Ron broke the silence. “Look, guys.” He started. “This all happened a long time ago. I know it comes as a shock, but it is in the past. Let’s not let her ruin a perfectly good post show party. Right, Randy?” “Uh…exactly.” He said trying to act as if he wasn’t surprised. “Let’s do a little celebrating.” Randy paused for a moment, then he remembered the news. “By the way.” He chipped in. “The record company is … actually, I want to talk to you guys about a multi-record deal.” “Awesome.” Ass said elated. “That’s great news.” Ronnie wished that he had been so enthusiastic in his response. The look on his face did not go unnoticed. “Look, Ronnie.” Randy said. “I know I tried to hardball you in the past. But after coming here and seeing you guys for the last two nights, I know you are not going to be one hit wonders. You are going to make me a bunch of money regardless of how we structure the deal. I see you guys as long-term partners. You keep making music like that and I’ll making all of us money, deal.” “Deal.” Ronnie said. “Deal.” seconded Ass and Ben simultaneously. “Good deal.” Big Ron added. Looking over to Pete, Ronnie saw he was deep in thought and missed the whole conversation. “Pete.” He asked. “What do you think.” “Yeah, sure.” He said without really being aware that he was speaking. “Whatever.” Ronnie wondered what was eating Pete. But he was too happy to think about investigating the topic any further right now. There would be time to talk to Pete tomorrow. <<< Chapter 36 Chapter 38 >>> More stories from Paul Gavin. Info on novels Paul Gavin's Storefront. 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