Hey guys!
Ok, instead of studying for an exam tomorrow I wrote up the chapter. I know I'm bad and am probably going to bomb the exam...but I just couldn't resist! Anyways, I know chapter 19 was a bit on the dark side but not to worry. I'm sure that this chapter will put a smile on your face. Now after you read it grab your copies of the Lost Boys and watch the scene that is described in this chapter. If you don't chuckle out-loud then I know that I'm did something wrong. And as you all know, I do not own the Twisted Sister lyrics. But let me tell you, if only the extra stuff was stuck in the movie I would be head-banging along with those two punks during the concert.
Enjoy!
Approximately four months later…
Well folks, now we finally come to the part that you have all been waiting patiently for, the beginning of the end. During that last month I focused all my time and energy into perfecting the plan and while I was busy meditating on possible outcomes of our actions, the boys kept a low profile, pacifying Max with their subordinate behavior, lulling him into a false pretense of authority.
We all waited with our breaths held for the right moment to set our plan into action. We waited and waited and waited. During this time I kept myself off the Boardwalk and beach all together. It was just too dangerous for me to be seen anywhere near the boys and the last thing we wanted was to jeopardize the plan. Every night the boys made sure to hit the Boardwalk, searching for the key figure to our little scheme and for an entire four months they searched in vain until one night, right around the middle of August, the moment we were waiting for suddenly happened. The Emerson's arrived in Santa Carla.
It was another hot, sultry night and the Boardwalk was packed with people of all ages, shapes and sizes, enjoying the glorious humidity as they busied themselves with what the Boardwalk had to offer. The tinny music of the antique carousel blared out over the concession stands as people milled about, slowly making their way over to the temporary open stage that had been set up for tonight's performance. Some guy named Tim Cappello was going to be performing, a regular born and raised Santa Carla native who did cover songs as well as his own work. He sang a decent tune and since it was head-banging worthy, the Boardwalk regulars loved it.
Backstage Tim and his band were putting the finishing touches to their performance get-up, having already tuned the instruments and checked over the amps and other equipment. Tim gave himself one final glance in the small mirror that he held, making sure that the chains around his necked were aligned properly and that the long locks of his dirty blonde curls were slicked back just so. The last thing he needed was for his hair to get in the way when he moved about on stage. Winking at himself, he put the mirror down and flexed his right arm, making sure that the soreness was finally gone. Pumping iron before a show wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he had done it anyway. It takes a lot to keep his buff body in top form.
"Yo Tim! There's someone here to see you." One of his band members, the drummer, said from behind as Tim bent over and picked up his alto saxophone, screwing the neck in place.
"Who?" Tim said over his shoulder as he rummaged around through his personal belongings, looking for his reed holder.
"Is that all I get from you? A who? Thanks a lot. Honestly I don't know why I bother sometimes." Said a voice, one that he had not heard for a while on the Boardwalk. Tim turned around and grinned when he saw Fay standing there, leaning casually against her silver and ebony cane, one hand on her hip as always.
"Fay! Where the hell have you been girl? I haven't seen you in months! C'mere." He said and before she could protest, he enveloped her in a one armed bear hug, careful not to squeeze her too hard. He and Fay were old acquaintances and when he heard about what had happened to her almost a year ago, he took it hard. "You're looking good Fay. You always land on your feet, so I shouldn't be surprised eh?"
"Well, nine times out of ten I get the landing right Tim." Fay chuckled as she wiggled out of his hug. The guy was built like a tank and one of his biceps was nearly as large as her thigh. Not that she didn't mind the affection but it was like trying to hug an oiled up Greek athlete and she honestly didn't want to walk around covered in some guy's body oil at the moment. I don't think that Dwayne would be too pleased about it.
"So how's your sister doing?" Fay asked, eyeing the saxophone that appeared almost half its size in his large grasp.
"She's doing good Fay. She misses you at the studio. She says that Alice and Mimi are good but that new teacher they got can't teach for shit." Tim said with an off-handed shrug as he set the saxophone back down on its stand and snatched up the reed holder that had been evading him for the past little while.
"Yeah, I heard that through the grapevine. But you tell her to stick with it. Sooner or later she'll be able to hit LA go professional. Hey, maybe one day she'll even be in Cats." Fay grinned as she stepped out of the way as some of the backstage technicians hurried past, checking the wires as they did so.
"Maybe Fay, maybe. So what do I owe the pleasure?" Tim asked her as he eyed the two bamboo reeds, checking to make sure that they weren't cracked. Heaven forbid he should go out onstage with a busted reed. That would be a total nightmare.
"I know you guys are about to go on so I'll make this brief. I was wondering if you could do me a favor." She said as she carefully stepped over a bunch of chords that lay in a heap on the floor.
"Fay for you anything. You want me to crack a few skulls or something?" Tim asked as he wrapped his black neck guard around the saxophone just as the stage manager poked his head behind a lighting boom.
"You go on in five." The guy said before he hurried away, talking into his heat-set to some guy named Mike.
"Nothing that serious." Fay chuckled as she crab-stepped forward, trying to avoid being knocked over as musicians and technicians hurried about, making sure everything was good to go. "I was just wondering if you could play a song for me. Well, it's actually for a friend of mine and I really think that he'd appreciate the gesture. He's a big fan of Twisted Sister." She said before glancing down at her wristwatch.
"Twisted Sister huh? I sure can do. Which song?" He asked Fay, slapping on a wrist guard and other add on's to complete the get up. Complete with tight purple pants, he cut quite in impressive rock figure.
"Their one and only decent song, you know the one I'm talking about. I really appreciate it." Fay said as the stage manager appeared once more and motioned to Tim that he had two minutes left.
"No problem Fay. You gonna stick around for the show?" He asked her as he watched a back-stage hand cart away his saxophone and stand in order to place it on the stage.
"I wouldn't miss is." Fay grinned and gave him a flirtatious wink as she turned to leave. "Oh and one more thing. I like the pants." She said as she stuck her tongue out at him, KISS style. Tim just rolled his eyes and waved as Fay hurried off before he exhaled deeply and met up with the drummer before they made their way on stage where a large crowd had already gathered.
"Do you wanna get rocked!" Tim shouted out to the crowd and a unified cheer rang out as the guitarist strummed out the first chord and the show got underway. Within no time the large crowd of teens was moving to the beat as Tim sang on about believing in something or other, accenting the lyrics with the screeching of his saxophone. Despite her promise, Fay was doing her best to worm her way out of the surging mosh pit, which was taking her longer than she had anticipated, and as she did so someone from behind her nudged her to the side in order to get past. Growling under her breath, Fay turned to give the person what for but stopped herself when she saw who it was. There were two of them, the elder one no more than 19 while the smaller one who was wearing something right out of a Teen Bop magazine looked to be freshman material.
"Hey Michael, what's the rush?" The younger of the two asked as Michael continued on, shouldering his way through the tightly packed music lovers as the younger boy followed close behind.
"Where'd she go?" Michael muttered under his breath as they moved on, the path they created instantly vanishing as people continued to dance and jump around, getting lost in the music. Only Fay stood stock still in the whirling, moving bodies, appearing to be somewhat stunned before she was shoved to the side once more by a group of metal heads that were shoving one another around for the hell of it. Giving herself a good shake, Fay redoubled her efforts to get away from the stage, hoping that the others were ready and waiting.
Just a few minutes away Tomfoolery was on the prowl, slinking his way through a sea of legs as he hurried from game stand to game stand, quickly eyeing the people towering over him before he moved on. He was running out of time and he knew that if he didn't complete his part, the entire plan could be ruined. Hissing viciously as some mow hawked punk accidentally stepped on his tail, Tom bolted away from the water gun stand and streaked across the Midway, his one good eye opened wide as he tried to find a young child as lucky should have it he spotted one by the cotton candy vendor. The little boy was digging at the ground with the toe of his shoe as his mother busily rummaged around through her purse, trying to find exact change in order to buy a stick of cotton candy. Wasting no time Tom immediately went into action.
"Prow? Merow. Meeeeeeeeeeeeow!" He cried as he ran up to the little boy and rubbed himself against him, purring and pawing as if he were the most affectionate cat in the world. The little boy whose name was Terry blinked but didn't shoo the scarred and scruffy looking cat away. Instead he grinned and patted him on his head while Tom licked his fingers and wrapped his tail around the boy's hand. Terry laughed as the cat ran off and stopped a few feet away, looking over his shoulder as he did so as if he wanted the boy to follow him. Without thinking, the little boy chased after the cat as Tom ran back and forth, leaping about like a hyper puppy in order to keep Terry's interest focused solely on him.
"Come back!" Terry called out as Tom sped up, heading straight of the neon rimmed glass windows of VideoMax, the largest video rental store on the Boardwalk. The cat stopped just outside of the open doorway and waited until Terry had caught up with him before he gave a final meow and zipped away, vanishing into the shadows before the boy could even call out. Instead of chasing after the cat once more, Terry looked around but didn't recognize where he was. Unable to spot his mother he did what every seven year old child would do. He began to cry.
Leaning against the Boardwalk railing, David exhaled a cloud of smoke as he flicked away the butt of his cigarette. Paul breathed deeply as he ran a hand through his hair and nudged Marko in the side. The two friends shared an uneasy look but it quickly vanished as David and Dwayne started forward, their tense postures relaxing into an easy slouch as if this was all the spur of the moment and not planed out to the tiniest detail. You got to hand it to Fay. When she wants something done, she leaves no stone unturned in order to get perfection.
"Here we go." Marko muttered under his breath as they walked past the crying kid and entered the video store. With his hands shoved into his jacket pockets, no one saw that he had both fingers crossed.
A sharp tinkling announced their presence, David entering first with Dwayne right behind him and Marko and Paul trailing in last, but none of the boys missed the annoyed look that Max shot at them, least of all David. Snarling internally, David just smiled in response as Marko and Paul playfully shoved one another, ignoring Max altogether. Dwayne didn't bat an eyelash as he locked eyes with Max, his brooding stare causing Thorn to growl deeply in warning. Before Max could say anything, Lucy Emerson entered the store, leading the lost little boy by the hand.
"Excuse me, this boy seems to be lost." She said her voice naturally soft and caring, the voice of a loving mother. Max blinked as he turned to her and as he did so he missed the sharp, calculating look on David's face as he eyed Lucy like a hawk. So this was the woman that Fay had been talking about for the past few months. God, she looked like June Clever lost in the 80's. Despite his misgivings, David revealed nothing as he followed the other three around the cashier counter, eyeing Max's head cashier Maria for a moment before he went back to watching Lucy out of the corner of his eye.
"I thought maybe his parents might be in here?" Lucy asked Max with a half-pleading smile on her face. It didn't take a genius to see that Max was taken with her. Thorn growled once more, louder this time, but everyone ignored him. As Max opened his mouth to say something Terry's mother frantically dashed into the store.
"Terry! Oh, thank God! I was so worried!" She exclaimed as she bent over to scoop her son into her arms, giving Max a thankful look before taking the sniffling boy by the hand. Max smiled and handed the boy a lollipop as his mother thanked them both for finding her son.
"There you go Terry." Max said as David looked on, memorizing this little scene in order to analyze it later on. For their part Marko and Paul nailed their troublesome, roguish charm as they cruised Maria, swapping flippant comments. Dwayne managed to crack a half-hearted smile but that instantly faded as he eavesdropped on what as being said between Max and the new arrival. When Max handed Lucy a lollipop, David motioned for the others that it was time to leave and the boys began to shuffle towards the door.
"I told you not to come here anymore." Max said, the gallant nice-guy tone vanishing from his voice as he glared at the four boys, giving them a look that told them that they were going to pay for disobeying him. David smiled once again, biting back a chuckle that threatened to reveal itself as he looked from Lucy to Max, a knowing gleam in his eyes. Dwayne just stared at Max, his eyes hard and unreadable as he wished that he could tear the head vampire to pieces right then and there. Paul couldn't even look at Max as he tried his very best not to burst out laughing and tell Max how screwed he was. So instead of blowing it, he keep his eyes on the floor and clapped Dwayne on the shoulder, letting him know that now was not the time. As they trooped out, Marko just smiled his genuine boyish smile before stepping out of the store.
"Wild kids." Max muttered as he watched them leave before turning his attention back to Lucy when she spoke up once more.
As the boys mounted their bikes that were parked right outside the store, David looked around for a moment before he spotted Fay standing by a trash can, nervously clutching her cane while Tomfoolery paced up and down beside her. With a swift nod of his head he let her know that they had done what they had come here to do and he could almost hear her sigh of relief as they revved their bikes to life and peeled away from the video store. Fay and Dwayne stared at one another for a split second before he and the others drove off without saying a word. Now it was time to pick up Star and Laddie and see if part three of their plan had worked.
"You hungry Tom?" Fay asked her familiar and when Tom meowed his answer, Fay clicked her teeth together and the two of them melted back into the crowd, heading for a food vendor that was both cheap and satisfying. As Fay was placing an order for a hamburger at the Grill King burger and fries joint, Michael was getting shafted by the Boardwalk entrance as Star climbed on behind David, clearly out-of-bounds. While the others chuckled amongst themselves, David just smiled at Michael, a smile so unreadable that it would have driven Sigmund Freud mad if he tried to decipher the true meaning behind it. Part three was complete, hook, line and sinker.
"This next song was requested by a good friend of mine, so let's rock this place and let Santa Carla know what we're about!" Tim shouted into the microphone and the audience members roared out their approval when the drummer began to beat out the familiar tune. When Tim started singing everyone belted out the words along with him, screeching the lyrics to the unofficial anthem of teenage culture as loud as they possibly could.
"We're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore!
We go the right to choose and
There ain't no way we'll loose it
This is our right, this is our song!"
Whether it was the ear-bursting chorus or the guitar solo, Paul recognized the tune above the combined roar of the four motorcycles and when he did, he instantly hit the breaks, screeching to a halt as he kicked up a wave of sand.
"YO GUYS! HOLD UP FOR A MINUTE!" He shouted above the engines as Marko shot past him and fish-tailed a second later when he too heard the song. Dwayne, who was driving along side David, glanced over his shoulder before motioning to David that the others had stopped.
"What is it?" Star asked as David easily swung the Triumph in an arc and drove back to where Paul and Marko were waiting, listening intently.
"Listen man." Paul said as he nodded in the direction that they had just come from. The engines purred quietly as the four Lost Boys listened as Tim belted out the words that Twisted Sister had made famous. Slowly, mirroring smiles appeared on each of the four boys' faces as they realized just what was being said as the song played. Fay had just slapped the icing on the cake and what a cake it was!
"YEAH FAY! ROCK ON!" Paul howled as he threw back his head and roared out his approval. Marko cackled and howled out along with Paul, the racket that the two of them were making was loud enough to wake the dead. David laughed for the first time in days and shook his head. It was just too clever.
"'Atta girl Fay. Show that bastard." Dwayne murmured under his breath before he let out a challenging roar that outstripped Paul and Marko by a mile. Laddie and Star just looked on confused and a tad bit scared at the sudden change in the boys, but they knew better then to say anything. Instead they just hung on as the boys roared the engines back to full throttle and tore off along the beach, heading straight for the pier.
Back on the Boardwalk, Max lifted his head as he tilted it slightly to the side, listening to the song that drifted into the store from the speakers outside. When he recognized the tune his face darkened like a storm cloud as he scowled.
"We're right, yeah!
We're free, yeah!
We'll fight, yeah!
You'll see…Yeah!
"God I hate that song." He growled out-loud as he left the cash registers and slammed the front door close in an attempt to block out the song. But Twisted Sister's lyrics proved harder to get rid of then he realized. And as Fay shared half of her beef patty with Tom, she listened to the song and smiled.
"We're not gonna take it anymore!"
God I love irony.