Friday, November 26, 2004
5.
5.
“You don’t know how to play that, do you?”
“Watch me.” Jack sat down at the Roland synthesizer that Cerebus’ regular keyboard player had been setting up. It was just after seven, and Jack was feeling pretty good. He had a rare buzz going, he’d hit it off like gangbusters with Keiko, and now he wanted to show off a little bit.
“Joe, you don’t mind if I mess around a little bit, do you?” He turned on the keyboard, and plinked a few keys. He didn’t like the sound coming out. “Hey, uh, how do you change this to a more traditional piano sound?”
Joe Baxter, the keyboard player, leaned over and pushed a couple of buttons. “Try it now.”
“Thanks.” Jack played a couple of notes, and smiled. “That’s more like it.” A few people had gathered around, but the only person he was interested in playing to was sitting right in front of the small stage Doug had put up. She gave him a warm smile back, and then he started playing “Take Five”. His father had insisted that he take the piano lessons as a counterpoint to his martial arts. He’d been okay at the piano, not as good as kendo, but he liked jazz, so he could play a number of different songs. Doug had asked him to join Cerebus, but he’d declined. A jazz keyboardist was not what Doug needed, and he certainly wasn’t going to join just to play the intro to “The Final Countdown” every night. As he continued to play, the lights in the ballroom suddenly went out. A few of the girls screamed, and everyone started talking at once.
Gary walked into the hallway between the two rooms. “Okay, everyone, no need to panic. I assumed this was going to happen.” He looked at his watch. “I’m surprised it took as long as it did, in fact. Don’t worry. Everything should be back to normal in a few seconds.” As he said that, a large chugging sound could be heard starting up from somewhere near the back of the house.
Thirty seconds later, the lights came back on, and a cheer came up from the living room.
Jack looked at the piano, then decided not to play any more. He was going to step away when Joe said, “Hey, man. Keep playing. You’re pretty good.”
“Uh, okay, I guess.” Jack sat back down and started to play another Brubeck tune. Soon, Mike the drummer and Kevin were playing along with him. As they finished “Blue Rondo A La Turk”, Jack playing the sax part on the keyboard, Doug walked back into the room.
“See, this is why I wanted you in the band. You’re a great piano player.”
“Well, it’s my little secret. I just wanted to have some fun.”
“It was damn good, man. Damn good.” He slapped Jack on the back, and then headed over to pick up his guitar. “Why don’t you stay and play some more stuff with us?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know most of your songs.”
“Hey, I know what we can play. I know you like Goblin. Let’s jam on some Goblin tracks.”
Jack looked over at Keiko. He wanted to go and sit back down with her, but she was watching him and smiling, so he decided to go with it. “Okay, Doug.”
Doug strapped on his Stratocaster, then looked around. “Where the hell is Bill? Anyone seen him?”
Kevin shrugged. “Last I knew, he was talking to Charlie’s girlfriend. They seemed
pretty engrossed in conversation.”
“Oh,” Doug said, “well, that’s interesting.” He was pissed, but he didn’t say anything. But Kevin could tell by the way he kicked at his pedal board to switch his guitar back to a live feed. This was not good.
“Look, I can play bass also. We’re just gonna jam anyway, right?” He picked up Bill’s bass. It was heavier then his guitar, but he figured he could handle it. He took Bill’s purple strap off, and snapped his own strap onto the bass.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He strummed a few chords, then turned around. “ Jack, anytime you’re ready.”
“All right. We’ll start with the theme from “Suspiria”. Kevin, you can just watch the keyboard changes.”
“It’s okay, man. I know that one. It’s got the ELP break in the middle, right?”
“Yeah.” Jack sat down, and looked out at the room. The small group of the partygoers had grown while they were jamming out the jazz tunes, and now there were a lot of people watching. He’d never played for a crowd before, and he was a little nervous. It wasn’t like playing hockey. There, he was nearly anonymous behind a mask. But here, everyone could see you, and would know if you fucked up. He looked down at Keiko, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the band. She gave him a little wave, and winked at him. He decided he was just going to play to her, and forget about everyone else. He started to play the intro to “Suspiria”, and the crowd applauded.
Bill sat in the living room. He was waiting to go and play again, and he was considering heading off to fire one up before he did. As he watched Sportscenter on the large television, Kat came storming into the room. He saw her coming and smiled at her, hoping she wasn’t pissed at him. She stood in front of him, and as she talked to him, he couldn’t help but look down her t-shirt.
“Hey, you still got anything on you?”
“Of course. You wanna smoke up again?”
“Yeah.”
They headed back up to the second floor(again not noticing Audra watching them go), and shortly, they were passing a joint of nice Humboldt County special back and forth while Kat vented her rage at Charlie to Bill. She kept going on about how much of a bastard he was, and how she’d been used. He just sat there soaking it all in. All this time, he’d assumed that he didn’t have a shot with her, and all that it had taken to change her mind was Charlie’s aloofness and a couple of joints.
“And the worst part, Bill, is that all this time, he never went all the way with me.”
Bill coughed as he was taking a toke on the joint. “You’re kidding. The studboy’s a virgin?”
“Yup. Far as I know, anyway. If he’s been laying pipe with anyone, it certainly hasn’t been with me. All this time been together, the most we’ve done is fool around. He’ll get me going, and then he stops. I think he’s afraid that I’ll get knocked up or something.”
Thank you, Jesus, he thought. “Uh, well, did you want to?”
“Well, I did. I still do. I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re getting at. But I haven’t gotten any in quite a while.” She took the joint back and took another hit. She was aware of the hungry lust in Bill’s eyes, but she didn’t mind. It was nice to see someone looking at her like that. She wondered if he’d always been looking at her that way. She’d known him since the Golden Boys had started playing together at Holy Mother, but she’d never really noticed his interest before. He was just one of the boys. Part of her open relationship with Charlie was that she didn’t mess around with “the boys.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” He put her hand on her knee. She took it and guided it up, inside her skirt.
“The question is, what are you going to do about it, big Bill?” He pulled her towards him and kissed her hard, pushing his tongue into her mouth. “Not here, Bill. I know where we can go.” They got up and left the study, and quietly crept down the back stairwell. As they reached the first floor landing, Bill could hear the band playing Brubeck. He wondered if he should go back, but then he looked at Kat, thought about what might be about to happen, and followed her to the back door. They quickly got into their jackets, and then stepped out onto the back porch. Bill hoped they hadn’t been noticed, but he was only thinking about one thing really, and that was all that mattered at the moment.
The snow had slowed almost to nothing. Bill marveled at how peaceful and quiet it was out here in the woods, though in his stoned state, he felt like he could hear every last flake of snow hit the ground. They began to slowly trek across the back yard towards the pool house. Kat didn’t have a key to Charlie’s apartment, but she did know where the spare key for the pool area was. There was a good foot and a half of snow on the ground, and so it was slow going, but eventually, they reached the pool house. Kat brushed off a small box attached to the side of the doorframe, and pulled out the key. She opened the door, and they stepped into the warmth of the pool area. He reached over to turn on the lights, but she stopped him. Instead, she only switched on one light in the area near the sliding door to Charlie’s apartment.
“Better safe than sorry,” she said. As soon as she closed the door again, Kat was on him, kissing him and pulling at his shirt. They undressed as quickly as they could, tossing their clothes in a heap on the floor. Bill looked at Kat as she pulled off her panties. She really was beautiful, and he couldn’t imagine why Charlie would ever want to dump her, or for that matter, why he hadn’t taken every opportunity to get into just the exact position that Bill was in right now. He stripped off his boxers, then stood self-consciously for a minute by the poolside.
“You really are gorgeous, Kat. I’ve always thought so.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Bill. Let’s go for a swim.”
They jumped into the pool. Bill was a strong swimmer, and he pushed his long body through the water towards the shallow end. He splashed water at Kat as she swam up to him. She pulled him over to her and embraced him, pressing her naked body to him. “I want you, Bill. Right now.”
“You don’t know how to play that, do you?”
“Watch me.” Jack sat down at the Roland synthesizer that Cerebus’ regular keyboard player had been setting up. It was just after seven, and Jack was feeling pretty good. He had a rare buzz going, he’d hit it off like gangbusters with Keiko, and now he wanted to show off a little bit.
“Joe, you don’t mind if I mess around a little bit, do you?” He turned on the keyboard, and plinked a few keys. He didn’t like the sound coming out. “Hey, uh, how do you change this to a more traditional piano sound?”
Joe Baxter, the keyboard player, leaned over and pushed a couple of buttons. “Try it now.”
“Thanks.” Jack played a couple of notes, and smiled. “That’s more like it.” A few people had gathered around, but the only person he was interested in playing to was sitting right in front of the small stage Doug had put up. She gave him a warm smile back, and then he started playing “Take Five”. His father had insisted that he take the piano lessons as a counterpoint to his martial arts. He’d been okay at the piano, not as good as kendo, but he liked jazz, so he could play a number of different songs. Doug had asked him to join Cerebus, but he’d declined. A jazz keyboardist was not what Doug needed, and he certainly wasn’t going to join just to play the intro to “The Final Countdown” every night. As he continued to play, the lights in the ballroom suddenly went out. A few of the girls screamed, and everyone started talking at once.
Gary walked into the hallway between the two rooms. “Okay, everyone, no need to panic. I assumed this was going to happen.” He looked at his watch. “I’m surprised it took as long as it did, in fact. Don’t worry. Everything should be back to normal in a few seconds.” As he said that, a large chugging sound could be heard starting up from somewhere near the back of the house.
Thirty seconds later, the lights came back on, and a cheer came up from the living room.
Jack looked at the piano, then decided not to play any more. He was going to step away when Joe said, “Hey, man. Keep playing. You’re pretty good.”
“Uh, okay, I guess.” Jack sat back down and started to play another Brubeck tune. Soon, Mike the drummer and Kevin were playing along with him. As they finished “Blue Rondo A La Turk”, Jack playing the sax part on the keyboard, Doug walked back into the room.
“See, this is why I wanted you in the band. You’re a great piano player.”
“Well, it’s my little secret. I just wanted to have some fun.”
“It was damn good, man. Damn good.” He slapped Jack on the back, and then headed over to pick up his guitar. “Why don’t you stay and play some more stuff with us?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know most of your songs.”
“Hey, I know what we can play. I know you like Goblin. Let’s jam on some Goblin tracks.”
Jack looked over at Keiko. He wanted to go and sit back down with her, but she was watching him and smiling, so he decided to go with it. “Okay, Doug.”
Doug strapped on his Stratocaster, then looked around. “Where the hell is Bill? Anyone seen him?”
Kevin shrugged. “Last I knew, he was talking to Charlie’s girlfriend. They seemed
pretty engrossed in conversation.”
“Oh,” Doug said, “well, that’s interesting.” He was pissed, but he didn’t say anything. But Kevin could tell by the way he kicked at his pedal board to switch his guitar back to a live feed. This was not good.
“Look, I can play bass also. We’re just gonna jam anyway, right?” He picked up Bill’s bass. It was heavier then his guitar, but he figured he could handle it. He took Bill’s purple strap off, and snapped his own strap onto the bass.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He strummed a few chords, then turned around. “ Jack, anytime you’re ready.”
“All right. We’ll start with the theme from “Suspiria”. Kevin, you can just watch the keyboard changes.”
“It’s okay, man. I know that one. It’s got the ELP break in the middle, right?”
“Yeah.” Jack sat down, and looked out at the room. The small group of the partygoers had grown while they were jamming out the jazz tunes, and now there were a lot of people watching. He’d never played for a crowd before, and he was a little nervous. It wasn’t like playing hockey. There, he was nearly anonymous behind a mask. But here, everyone could see you, and would know if you fucked up. He looked down at Keiko, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the band. She gave him a little wave, and winked at him. He decided he was just going to play to her, and forget about everyone else. He started to play the intro to “Suspiria”, and the crowd applauded.
Bill sat in the living room. He was waiting to go and play again, and he was considering heading off to fire one up before he did. As he watched Sportscenter on the large television, Kat came storming into the room. He saw her coming and smiled at her, hoping she wasn’t pissed at him. She stood in front of him, and as she talked to him, he couldn’t help but look down her t-shirt.
“Hey, you still got anything on you?”
“Of course. You wanna smoke up again?”
“Yeah.”
They headed back up to the second floor(again not noticing Audra watching them go), and shortly, they were passing a joint of nice Humboldt County special back and forth while Kat vented her rage at Charlie to Bill. She kept going on about how much of a bastard he was, and how she’d been used. He just sat there soaking it all in. All this time, he’d assumed that he didn’t have a shot with her, and all that it had taken to change her mind was Charlie’s aloofness and a couple of joints.
“And the worst part, Bill, is that all this time, he never went all the way with me.”
Bill coughed as he was taking a toke on the joint. “You’re kidding. The studboy’s a virgin?”
“Yup. Far as I know, anyway. If he’s been laying pipe with anyone, it certainly hasn’t been with me. All this time been together, the most we’ve done is fool around. He’ll get me going, and then he stops. I think he’s afraid that I’ll get knocked up or something.”
Thank you, Jesus, he thought. “Uh, well, did you want to?”
“Well, I did. I still do. I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re getting at. But I haven’t gotten any in quite a while.” She took the joint back and took another hit. She was aware of the hungry lust in Bill’s eyes, but she didn’t mind. It was nice to see someone looking at her like that. She wondered if he’d always been looking at her that way. She’d known him since the Golden Boys had started playing together at Holy Mother, but she’d never really noticed his interest before. He was just one of the boys. Part of her open relationship with Charlie was that she didn’t mess around with “the boys.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” He put her hand on her knee. She took it and guided it up, inside her skirt.
“The question is, what are you going to do about it, big Bill?” He pulled her towards him and kissed her hard, pushing his tongue into her mouth. “Not here, Bill. I know where we can go.” They got up and left the study, and quietly crept down the back stairwell. As they reached the first floor landing, Bill could hear the band playing Brubeck. He wondered if he should go back, but then he looked at Kat, thought about what might be about to happen, and followed her to the back door. They quickly got into their jackets, and then stepped out onto the back porch. Bill hoped they hadn’t been noticed, but he was only thinking about one thing really, and that was all that mattered at the moment.
The snow had slowed almost to nothing. Bill marveled at how peaceful and quiet it was out here in the woods, though in his stoned state, he felt like he could hear every last flake of snow hit the ground. They began to slowly trek across the back yard towards the pool house. Kat didn’t have a key to Charlie’s apartment, but she did know where the spare key for the pool area was. There was a good foot and a half of snow on the ground, and so it was slow going, but eventually, they reached the pool house. Kat brushed off a small box attached to the side of the doorframe, and pulled out the key. She opened the door, and they stepped into the warmth of the pool area. He reached over to turn on the lights, but she stopped him. Instead, she only switched on one light in the area near the sliding door to Charlie’s apartment.
“Better safe than sorry,” she said. As soon as she closed the door again, Kat was on him, kissing him and pulling at his shirt. They undressed as quickly as they could, tossing their clothes in a heap on the floor. Bill looked at Kat as she pulled off her panties. She really was beautiful, and he couldn’t imagine why Charlie would ever want to dump her, or for that matter, why he hadn’t taken every opportunity to get into just the exact position that Bill was in right now. He stripped off his boxers, then stood self-consciously for a minute by the poolside.
“You really are gorgeous, Kat. I’ve always thought so.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Bill. Let’s go for a swim.”
They jumped into the pool. Bill was a strong swimmer, and he pushed his long body through the water towards the shallow end. He splashed water at Kat as she swam up to him. She pulled him over to her and embraced him, pressing her naked body to him. “I want you, Bill. Right now.”
