CHAPTER 3: Section Leaders and Ash
The night was colder than expected. Everyone was afraid to turn the bus heaters on, not just for fear itself, but also maybe they might be able to use what little energy they had left in this last greatest asset they had - their shelter. While few took the freezing temperatures as an excuse to bunk up with their favorite band or guard member, most simply wanted their own place, and while spacing was limited, the guys graciously took the floor underneath the seats (as they were too small anyway) and the aisles, and gave the girls the choosiest beds. Chelsea and the freshman clarinet, the smallest two in the band, were shoved into the hutch in the back, above the engine, the widest but also coldest as it was right beneath the window. Although uniforms were savorously warm in this kind of cold, everyone chose to wear their travel uniforms of a band shirt and jeans and a jacket, and spare their uniforms for the hope of using them again after they found there way out of here. Extra blankets reserved for frozen bleachers were passed around, and most given to the guys to share on the floors. The girls looked repeatedly looked down in the middle of the night and smiled with hushed 'aww!'s at the tough guys who in search of warmth had accidentally curled up around each other. In the morning, they woke up at the handful of girl's faces staring at them, and one pushed violently away the other who consequently woke up and threw a shoe back at his face.
Suddenly there was a little squeal and Amy whispered loudly and urgently, "How do we go to the bathroom?!?"
"How about in your flute?" Said a guy behind her, receiving a kick in the face a few seconds later.
Zach's head popped up from under a seat. "Any ideas, anyone?"
Silence.
"Are you all seriously that thick?" James sat up from an isle. No one answered. "Never mind. Ill go back to sleep then." He replaced his sunglasses and lied back down.
"What is it, James?" Zach said in a yes-you've-won-just-tell-us tone.
"Ocean," he shouted without moving.
"Ok, you all go down by the water. Figure out something."
Several disgusted gasps and an 'oh my god!' were heard from the front of the bus, where mainly the colorguard and flute section stayed, the girly girls of the bunch.
"Deal with it." Everyone went back to sleep. Amy ran screaming from the bus, and the rest of the front dreaded their next call.
Later mid-morning, a few were sitting up, waiting for the general wake up call and instruction on what to do next. Zach took up his whistle and got up painfully. He motioned for them to wake up the rest and when everyone was up, he blew the whistle softly to get them accustomed. At the front of the bus, he shouted:
"Everyone out. We're having a meeting right near the pit. Now."
Several minutes later, everyone was gathered outside around the fire pit next to the bus, with James' tuba case pulled up as the permanent new platform, Zach blew the whistle in the halt command, to signal complete silence, and began.
"We can't send any one out to look for help. The forests are too deep and someones gonna get lost and die out there. As long as we're all together, we can survive here. But everyone's got to help. That's why I'm assigning jobs. Every section will have a task to do everyday, and I mean EVERYDAY, to keep this all going. Shirking from anything can mean death. Again." He grit his teeth and closed his eyes. "I've already let one of my percussionists die. But I will not let it happen again. But you all need to help here. Got it?"
There was general nodding, along with some heaving sighs and swallowing.
"Ok listen up. We'll need wood for the fire, so I give that to the sax section, since they have the fewest members and it needs the least people. Everyday you need to go get wood and leave it here next to the pit. Make sure the pile is always about as tall as Brian."
"Next, we need some fresh water. Everyone's just about gone, right? No one brought extra bottled water, did they? So what do we do?"
"We boil sea water." Justin said quietly.
"And only get salt left?" Zach asked.
"We let the condensation gather on something, then have it pour into something else and drink it." Renee added.
"We have no pots to boil it in."
"Fire but no pots."
"What about an instrument?"
"You really want to destroy an instrument?"
"Better than dyin'."
"But who?"
"I don't think it's a matter of who would give up their instrument than using one that would work, and Im sorry to say I think the only one that could work is the tuba." Chelsea sighed.
"Don't be sorry." James smiled.
"Well, we'd have the bend it into more of a dip so it can hold water," Laura said, "and prop it up so we can have a fire underneath, and it would condensate on the top and run down into the instrument. Except we'd have to get it out by the..."
"Oh god no."
"Please, don't say it. We know what it is."
"I don't..." piped the little clarinet.
Lucy turned around. "They mean you'd have to drink out of the spit valve."
Half the band made gagging noises. "Yeah well when you're all dying of thirst," Lucy told them apathetically, "you'll be glad as hell to have it."
Zach pressed his eyes closed and continued. "We'll to get enough you'd have to be doing it all day. Which section has the most members? On second thought, just, all the section leaders come up here."
Renee was pushed up by the saxes, Lucy made her way through the flutes, Laura the clarinets, Julie the trumpets, and Zach, being Drum lieutenant stayed put.
"James..." Zach gave him a semi-serious look. "You're not exempt."
"Didn't say I was. I can represent from right here, thank you." He reclined against his the side of his case with Jean in his arms.
"Ok," Zach began. "Which section has the most members?"
"Uh, you forgot the colorguard." Judy stepped up with her hands on her hips.
"No, we didn't." Ray started.
"You aren't included here."
"Im the president of the band. And we don't trust you."
"Im colorguard captain."
"Judy, just get up here." Zach shook his head. "Ray, they're gonna hafta work too. Just let um."
"Only for you."
"Ok, now, who has the biggest section? I mean, who the most members?" Zach asked again, annoyed.
"Either the flutes or the guard."
"Ok, flutes, you got water duty. Every second of the day I want water boilin-"
"The colorguard is bigger than the flute section."
"Im getting to you!"
Judy glared.
"Anyway, Every second of the day I want water boiling in the tuba, and let it collect on the top and run off through the bell, and have something to collect at the spit valve. You might want to do a test run first, to get all the crap out of there an stuff..."
"What are you implying?" James laughed.
"That you're a dirty son of a bitch, James." Everyone had a good laugh.
Zach blew the air out of his lungs. "Ok, what next? Anyone?"
"We're running out of food, Zach." Mary alerted them. "We all, well, most of us brought food, but only a few snacks, and we've got barely nothing now."
Zach looked around. "What are we gonna do about this?"
They all reflected.
"Whats in the forest?" Julie asked.
"Wood."
"Trees."
"Dirt."
"I didn't see any animals."
"'S not like we could catchum anyway."
"Shit..."
"Um...what about fish? Is there any down by the beach?"
"If we had a 50 foot long pier, or a boat, or fishing gear..."
"Well," Zach said defeated, "I guess there's no other choice than to save all the food we have and ration it until we figure out what to do. I'm gonna leave that to the low brass. I trust you guys." Ryan the trombone and Floyd the baritone smiled. James looked asleep. "After the meeting, everyone bring all the food you have left to them. Please. We have no other options." He looked at them over the ashes flying up from the pit. "What next? Oh yeah, colorguard, I have a job for you...you girls can clean out the bus every morning. You leave the most mess in there anyway."
The entire band almost burst into cheering, but it fearfully died into a soft laughter as Judy turned around and shot them all a murderous look. She grabbed her right hand girls and stomped off in silence.
"Now that that...unpleasenentness...is taken care of, theres the fire. Its gonna get cold all day now, so we need someone to keep it going all day, and possibly at night too. Clarinets, im gonna put you in charge of that. And now, the most important job of all, --"
"You said that about the food,"
"And the water-"
"Those are too, but this is really import-"
"Like?"
"Just shut up for a second and I'll tell you! Trumpets...I want you to think of some way to go out and search for a road or a path or something, anything. You have to go out and get us rescued."
Julie looked stunned. "You're putting these morons in charge of your being rescued?" she waved to her right.
"Hey, you're our leader. And that's why im sitting on this side of you." Mark looked indifferent.
"I thought we were trying to _not_ get people killed here."
"What's your point? If they run off and get lost its better for everyone, right?" Mark laughed.
"Yah, but I'm gonna be held responsible!" Julie said.
"Ohh..." Mark suddenly looked more serious.
"So what do we do? Me and the idiot pack here'll run into the forest and run around for a little while..."
"You have no shame, do you?" Chelsea smiled.
Julie fell over laughing.
"We have no rope, we have no flares, no weapons, hey, but we do have instruments..." Mark continued.
"So drag some sticks behind you and follow the lines back. Just make sure its not raining or windy or something. And if you get lost, just blow yur trumpets. We'll pull out the bari and guide you home." Ryan suggested.
"Done and done." Julie looked satisfied.
"So now what? Anything else?" Zach asked the crowd of wandering eyes.
"I think not."
"Ok then. We'll get to it when it comes. Band Dismissed." Zach stepped down, wiped his head with the back of his arm, and replaced the whistle back around his neck.
The night was colder than expected. Everyone was afraid to turn the bus heaters on, not just for fear itself, but also maybe they might be able to use what little energy they had left in this last greatest asset they had - their shelter. While few took the freezing temperatures as an excuse to bunk up with their favorite band or guard member, most simply wanted their own place, and while spacing was limited, the guys graciously took the floor underneath the seats (as they were too small anyway) and the aisles, and gave the girls the choosiest beds. Chelsea and the freshman clarinet, the smallest two in the band, were shoved into the hutch in the back, above the engine, the widest but also coldest as it was right beneath the window. Although uniforms were savorously warm in this kind of cold, everyone chose to wear their travel uniforms of a band shirt and jeans and a jacket, and spare their uniforms for the hope of using them again after they found there way out of here. Extra blankets reserved for frozen bleachers were passed around, and most given to the guys to share on the floors. The girls looked repeatedly looked down in the middle of the night and smiled with hushed 'aww!'s at the tough guys who in search of warmth had accidentally curled up around each other. In the morning, they woke up at the handful of girl's faces staring at them, and one pushed violently away the other who consequently woke up and threw a shoe back at his face.
Suddenly there was a little squeal and Amy whispered loudly and urgently, "How do we go to the bathroom?!?"
"How about in your flute?" Said a guy behind her, receiving a kick in the face a few seconds later.
Zach's head popped up from under a seat. "Any ideas, anyone?"
Silence.
"Are you all seriously that thick?" James sat up from an isle. No one answered. "Never mind. Ill go back to sleep then." He replaced his sunglasses and lied back down.
"What is it, James?" Zach said in a yes-you've-won-just-tell-us tone.
"Ocean," he shouted without moving.
"Ok, you all go down by the water. Figure out something."
Several disgusted gasps and an 'oh my god!' were heard from the front of the bus, where mainly the colorguard and flute section stayed, the girly girls of the bunch.
"Deal with it." Everyone went back to sleep. Amy ran screaming from the bus, and the rest of the front dreaded their next call.
Later mid-morning, a few were sitting up, waiting for the general wake up call and instruction on what to do next. Zach took up his whistle and got up painfully. He motioned for them to wake up the rest and when everyone was up, he blew the whistle softly to get them accustomed. At the front of the bus, he shouted:
"Everyone out. We're having a meeting right near the pit. Now."
Several minutes later, everyone was gathered outside around the fire pit next to the bus, with James' tuba case pulled up as the permanent new platform, Zach blew the whistle in the halt command, to signal complete silence, and began.
"We can't send any one out to look for help. The forests are too deep and someones gonna get lost and die out there. As long as we're all together, we can survive here. But everyone's got to help. That's why I'm assigning jobs. Every section will have a task to do everyday, and I mean EVERYDAY, to keep this all going. Shirking from anything can mean death. Again." He grit his teeth and closed his eyes. "I've already let one of my percussionists die. But I will not let it happen again. But you all need to help here. Got it?"
There was general nodding, along with some heaving sighs and swallowing.
"Ok listen up. We'll need wood for the fire, so I give that to the sax section, since they have the fewest members and it needs the least people. Everyday you need to go get wood and leave it here next to the pit. Make sure the pile is always about as tall as Brian."
"Next, we need some fresh water. Everyone's just about gone, right? No one brought extra bottled water, did they? So what do we do?"
"We boil sea water." Justin said quietly.
"And only get salt left?" Zach asked.
"We let the condensation gather on something, then have it pour into something else and drink it." Renee added.
"We have no pots to boil it in."
"Fire but no pots."
"What about an instrument?"
"You really want to destroy an instrument?"
"Better than dyin'."
"But who?"
"I don't think it's a matter of who would give up their instrument than using one that would work, and Im sorry to say I think the only one that could work is the tuba." Chelsea sighed.
"Don't be sorry." James smiled.
"Well, we'd have the bend it into more of a dip so it can hold water," Laura said, "and prop it up so we can have a fire underneath, and it would condensate on the top and run down into the instrument. Except we'd have to get it out by the..."
"Oh god no."
"Please, don't say it. We know what it is."
"I don't..." piped the little clarinet.
Lucy turned around. "They mean you'd have to drink out of the spit valve."
Half the band made gagging noises. "Yeah well when you're all dying of thirst," Lucy told them apathetically, "you'll be glad as hell to have it."
Zach pressed his eyes closed and continued. "We'll to get enough you'd have to be doing it all day. Which section has the most members? On second thought, just, all the section leaders come up here."
Renee was pushed up by the saxes, Lucy made her way through the flutes, Laura the clarinets, Julie the trumpets, and Zach, being Drum lieutenant stayed put.
"James..." Zach gave him a semi-serious look. "You're not exempt."
"Didn't say I was. I can represent from right here, thank you." He reclined against his the side of his case with Jean in his arms.
"Ok," Zach began. "Which section has the most members?"
"Uh, you forgot the colorguard." Judy stepped up with her hands on her hips.
"No, we didn't." Ray started.
"You aren't included here."
"Im the president of the band. And we don't trust you."
"Im colorguard captain."
"Judy, just get up here." Zach shook his head. "Ray, they're gonna hafta work too. Just let um."
"Only for you."
"Ok, now, who has the biggest section? I mean, who the most members?" Zach asked again, annoyed.
"Either the flutes or the guard."
"Ok, flutes, you got water duty. Every second of the day I want water boilin-"
"The colorguard is bigger than the flute section."
"Im getting to you!"
Judy glared.
"Anyway, Every second of the day I want water boiling in the tuba, and let it collect on the top and run off through the bell, and have something to collect at the spit valve. You might want to do a test run first, to get all the crap out of there an stuff..."
"What are you implying?" James laughed.
"That you're a dirty son of a bitch, James." Everyone had a good laugh.
Zach blew the air out of his lungs. "Ok, what next? Anyone?"
"We're running out of food, Zach." Mary alerted them. "We all, well, most of us brought food, but only a few snacks, and we've got barely nothing now."
Zach looked around. "What are we gonna do about this?"
They all reflected.
"Whats in the forest?" Julie asked.
"Wood."
"Trees."
"Dirt."
"I didn't see any animals."
"'S not like we could catchum anyway."
"Shit..."
"Um...what about fish? Is there any down by the beach?"
"If we had a 50 foot long pier, or a boat, or fishing gear..."
"Well," Zach said defeated, "I guess there's no other choice than to save all the food we have and ration it until we figure out what to do. I'm gonna leave that to the low brass. I trust you guys." Ryan the trombone and Floyd the baritone smiled. James looked asleep. "After the meeting, everyone bring all the food you have left to them. Please. We have no other options." He looked at them over the ashes flying up from the pit. "What next? Oh yeah, colorguard, I have a job for you...you girls can clean out the bus every morning. You leave the most mess in there anyway."
The entire band almost burst into cheering, but it fearfully died into a soft laughter as Judy turned around and shot them all a murderous look. She grabbed her right hand girls and stomped off in silence.
"Now that that...unpleasenentness...is taken care of, theres the fire. Its gonna get cold all day now, so we need someone to keep it going all day, and possibly at night too. Clarinets, im gonna put you in charge of that. And now, the most important job of all, --"
"You said that about the food,"
"And the water-"
"Those are too, but this is really import-"
"Like?"
"Just shut up for a second and I'll tell you! Trumpets...I want you to think of some way to go out and search for a road or a path or something, anything. You have to go out and get us rescued."
Julie looked stunned. "You're putting these morons in charge of your being rescued?" she waved to her right.
"Hey, you're our leader. And that's why im sitting on this side of you." Mark looked indifferent.
"I thought we were trying to _not_ get people killed here."
"What's your point? If they run off and get lost its better for everyone, right?" Mark laughed.
"Yah, but I'm gonna be held responsible!" Julie said.
"Ohh..." Mark suddenly looked more serious.
"So what do we do? Me and the idiot pack here'll run into the forest and run around for a little while..."
"You have no shame, do you?" Chelsea smiled.
Julie fell over laughing.
"We have no rope, we have no flares, no weapons, hey, but we do have instruments..." Mark continued.
"So drag some sticks behind you and follow the lines back. Just make sure its not raining or windy or something. And if you get lost, just blow yur trumpets. We'll pull out the bari and guide you home." Ryan suggested.
"Done and done." Julie looked satisfied.
"So now what? Anything else?" Zach asked the crowd of wandering eyes.
"I think not."
"Ok then. We'll get to it when it comes. Band Dismissed." Zach stepped down, wiped his head with the back of his arm, and replaced the whistle back around his neck.