Chapter one: Micky

March 1965

There were no seats left to sit in when he entered the room so he was left to find a place to sit on the floor. He couldn't believe how many people had shown up for this audition because to him it didn't seem like it would have been a very big role. But seeing all these people in the waiting room didn't make him nervous. This whole waiting room, audition scene was nothing new for Micky Dolenz. Ever since he had graduated from high school he had found himself auditioning for anything and everything he came across in hopes of having his acting career. In this time he had learned that just about every one else in LA had the same idea as him. He just hoped that the fact that his parents were both actors gave him a little bit of an edge over the other aspiring stars.

There he sat on the floor amongst other people waiting to audition. He calmly and quietly opened the book he brought with him and began to read to himself. This was a great contrast to what was going on around him with the other people. There was a clamor of voices as the other people talked to each other and nervously went over random lines to themselves. Some people appeared extremely nervous as they wiped away beads of sweat and fidgeted as they sat there waiting their turn at auditioning. Waiting to audition was nothing new for Micky so he usually found it to be boring. He instead was able to block everything out around him and just focus on the book he was reading.

The guy who sat in the chair behind him was nervously shaking his legs. Despite the fact that the guy had unintentionally and repeatedly kicked Micky in the back while shaking his legs, Micky continued with his reading as though he didn't notice. The guy then stopped shaking his legs and bent down to tap Micky on the shoulder. Micky saved his page he was on and closed the book before looking up at the guy.

"Hey man I'm sorry if I'm bothering you."

"Oh no not at all. You're fine."

"I really can't help it. But I don't mean to kick you in the back. I'm just so nervous."

"Yeah well you'll get used to this."

"How can you be so calm about this?"

"I'm used to it. After going on so many of these things, it all just seems like second nature to me." Micky went back to reading his book

"How many of these have you been on?"

Micky shrugged his shoulders "After a while you lose count."

"I just hope I can make it through this one. It's my first."

"I ain't gonna lie, but it shows. You'll do fine."

The guy exhaled heavily "God I really hope so."

Right then the guy behind Micky got called into the next room for his audition. He stood up a little shaky and headed for the audition room.

"Hey good luck, man!" Micky called after him

"Thanks!" The guy entered the room

"You'll need it…" Micky turned his eyes back to his book

After a while the people in the room began to dwindle. Meanwhile Micky was able to leave his spot on the floor and find an actual chair to sit in. While taking glances away from the pages of his book, he often looked around the room at the remaining people. He watched as they entered the audition room and as they left after giving their auditions. Finally his turn to audition had arrived. He closed his book and stood up, quickly reminding himself of the lines he had memorized before heading into the room.

Right away as he looked around the room he knew that this wasn't going to be like other auditions. There were pizza boxes and random papers strewn about. There was a cluttered table at which two very casually dressed men sat talking quietly to each other. One of the men was busy building a pyramid out of Styrofoam cups on the table in front of him while the other guy shuffled through headshots like a stack of oversized cards. Micky stood for a moment at the door watching the two guys; quietly trying to read them. They seemed so laid back and young that Micky almost thought he was in the wrong room.

He then approached the table and stooped down in font of it across from the man building the cup pyramid. His eyes shifted from the cups to the guy with the headshots. The guy had set up the headshots in a photograph solitaire game. Micky took one photograph from the guy's stack and placed it on top of another headshot before looking to the guy as though he made a fabulous move. The guy simply smirked as though to say that was the move he needed to make. Micky then turned his attention back to the guy with the cups. He very carefully studied the cup pyramid, watching closely as the guy went to stack another cup. Letting out a small gasp Micky watched with anticipation as the guy slowly put the cup in place. All three men sighed in relief once the pyramid didn't collapse. Micky then picked up a cup and slowly, ever so carefully and steady-handedly reached the cup up to the top of the pyramid. But instead of nicely setting the cup down in place, Micky quickly slammed it down, causing the pyramid to completely crumble. He then stood up with a grin and looked at the guy who had been building the pyramid.

"Check mate." Micky said with a laugh

"You've played this game bit before."

Micky shrugged, still with a laugh "Not like this."

This caused the two guys to laugh, much to Micky's relief. They shook his hand and then the actual audition began like normal.

By the time Micky had left the audition it had begun to rain. Unfortunately for him this was one of the days he had foolishly decided to walk instead of drive, thinking "what bad could happen?" As he walked along the sidewalk, getting hit by the steady rain, he watched as puddles began to form here and there. After briefly pausing to think about whether he should use the crosswalk or not, a wood-paneled funky looking car drove by, splashing him with water. Micky didn't catch a good view of the driver; all he noticed was some kind of weird looking green hat.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, fucker?!" Micky shook his fist towards the car that had passed him

But then taking a deep breath, he continued walking down the sidewalk. When he finally reached the small, rundown apartment complex he momentarily sighed in relief, happy to be home. However that relief and happiness quickly left him once something occurred to him.

"Oh shit!"

He ran inside and up two flights of stairs all the way to his apartment. After fighting with the key for a second he got the door open and rushed inside. Just as he expected, due to the rain outside, his small apartment showed tell-tale signs of the leaks that the landlord had promised to have fixed.

"Damn it…" He let out a sigh of frustration "Well happy birthday to me."

Micky went to the kitchen area and grabbed a couple pots and a bucket and sat them on the floor under the leaks in the roof. He then grabbed some paper towel and cleaned up any wet spots around the room. After that he went into his bedroom to change out of his wet clothes.

Once in dry clothes and after combing out his hair he went back into the living room to relax. He collapsed and sank into the only piece of furniture he had in the living room; a black leather chase lounger. Closing his eyes he then prepared to allow himself to drift away into his own world of silence. But this silence only lasted about a minute before it was interrupted by some sounds that came through the wall. He sat up and opened his eyes, feeling very annoyed over this loud music coming from the next apartment over. He turned to the wall and pounded on it with his fist.

"Shut up over there, will ya?!"

For a second it seemed as though the music was going to quiet down, but then it got louder and was accompanied by a guy's voice. It seemed as though Micky's neighbor was purposely trying to annoy him by singing obnoxiously loud along with his music. Micky pounded on the wall again.

"I said shut the fuck up!"

Again the neighbor got louder and more obnoxious, and gained an extremely thick southern twang to his already southern accented voice. Micky groaned with frustration and got up. He left his apartment and stomped out in the hallway over to the neighboring apartment. But before he could pound on the door his neighbor turned off his music and stopped singing. Suddenly Micky was left with nothing to complain about. He lowered his fist and let out a sigh before heading back to his apartment. When he got back inside he plopped back down on the chase lounger. Somehow, as he closed his eyes, he knew that this was not the last he was going to go through with his annoying new neighbor.