Chapter two: Mike
Right on the last day of February, Mike packed up his "woody" station wagon and left his house as fast as he could. He had decided that morning to leave his home in Texas on a complete whim. Headed for California, he was determined to make it big as a musician. His music career was a long time coming for him and now he knew was his big chance. In his mind all he had to do was get to LA and then everything else would fall into place. He knew that he wasn't the only young musician headed for LA in hopes of becoming a big star, but he felt that he was one of the special ones. He was going to let his name be known to every record producer in California even if it killed him.
It had taken him a relatively shorter time to drive from Texas to California than he thought it would. Once he arrived in LA he searched immediately for a small apartment he thought that he could afford. Luckily for him he found such an apartment and moved in right away. Some of his neighbors, he learned, were aspiring musicians and actors, so Mike knew that they would understand his plight. It was only the beginning of March and Mike had only been in California for a short time, but he was already certain that this impromptu move was going to be the best thing he had ever done.
One night when Mike was getting ready to go to bed, he discovered how thin the walls in the apartment were. Coming from the next apartment over, he could hear his new neighbor reciting some lines in an overdramatic and somewhat cheesy way. Mike rolled his eyes over the guy's bad acting and hoped quietly that this wasn't going to last very long. His actor neighbor seemed to get more and more into his scene, surprisingly getting a little better as he went along. However, the guy could still be heard just as well as if he were standing in Mike's apartment. After about a half an hour Mike groaned in frustrated annoyance over his loud, obnoxious actor neighbor. He thought that if this sort of thing was going to keep up, he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep that night. And sleep was the one thing he really wanted to do right then, for the next morning he was going to meet with a record producer.
The next door neighbor finally quieted down and Mike sighed in relief. Mike lay down in his bed and closed his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep he grinned softly over his thoughts about the next day.
The next day could not have come soon enough for Mike. As soon as he got up he showered, shaved and got dressed. He then grabbed his acoustic guitar, put on his lucky green wool hat, and headed out the door. As he walked down the two flights of stairs one of his neighbors pushed past him while reading a book and eating an apple. Mike was about to say something to this rude guy, but decided to put it out of his mind. He felt that if he let little things bother him that morning; things would not go well for him with the record producer.
Mike had to mentally admit to himself that he didn't have the first clue what he was supposed to do when dealing with record producers. He didn't have a demo tape due to the lack of means to record one, but he figured playing his guitar and singing in person would suffice. The secretary managed to give him a break and let him in to personally speak to the producer himself. He was glad to know that his charms worked wonders when he needed them. However his charm didn't work so well on the busy producer. Mike managed to play the first few bars of his song before the producer cut him off.
"Thank you Mr. Nesmith for coming down today. But you're just not what I'm looking for at this time."
"But you didn't give me a real chance!"
"I heard enough. Thank you Mr. Nesmith."
Upset and discouraged Mike left in a huff. The moment he stepped outside he was hit in the face with falling rain. Letting out a frustrated sigh he felt that his day could not have gone any worse than it had. After a few minutes of sitting in his car, sulking with his face pressed into the steering wheel, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. All he wanted to do now was relax and get his mind off of things.
As he drove he passed a few people along the sidewalk. Among those sidewalk pedestrians was the familiar looking book-yielding guy who had passed Mike in a rush earlier that morning. Mike ignored this guy, and the fact that he had just unintentionally splashed him with water from a puddle, and continued to drive home. Just a short drive down the next road later, Mike pulled the old woody into the parking lot of the apartment complex.
Once inside his apartment he tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter and pulled off his hat. With his hands he then smoothed out his black hair before walking over to his chair to sit down. For a few minutes he sat there quietly thinking. Unable to continue sitting there he got back up and grabbed his acoustic guitar. He sat on the floor in the middle of the living room, casually strumming on his guitar. As he played he could hear his next door neighbor rush inside his apartment seeming quite upset. Mike shook his head with a soft snicker as he listened to the poor guy complain to himself about the leaks in his apartment. For a few minutes more Mike sat there strumming his guitar before he got an idea. He remembered the night before when his neighbor had kept him up with his annoying bad acting. Then setting his guitar down, Mike stood up and went over to his record player. He snickered to himself as he turned the volume up before putting the needle down on the record.
"Payback."
A few seconds later Mike heard the sound of his neighbor pounding on the wall between them and shouting at him to be quiet. Mike grinned and turned the volume down for a moment. Then he cranked the volume again before singing along at the top of his lungs. Again his neighbor pounded on the wall.
"I said shut the fuck up!" Was the guy's shout through the wall
Mike began to purposely sing much more obnoxiously, laying his accent on thick. The next thing he heard was the sounds of his neighbor tearing out of the apartment and coming down the hallway. Mike then turned down the volume on his record player and stopped singing. Then as he held a satisfied grin upon his lips he heard his neighbor turn and go back to his own apartment. Mike couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself as he thought that things around there just got a little more interesting for him. Then he turned his record player off and walked back over to his previous spot on the floor. He picked up his guitar and continued to play the song he previously was playing. This had become the brightest spot in what started out to be a bad day. And he knew that after that day, things would only get even brighter for him.