Chapter 6- This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day
The Monkees ate, showered, and dressed. As fast as they could they made it to their garage before noon to rehearse. As per request of David Squire, the first thing they rehearsed was Micky's 'D.W. Washburn.' Then they noodled around, playing a variety of different tunes, making up some, ruining others, till noon hit again. Except they forgot to stop at noon.
There was banging on the garage's front door. Mike sighed, getting up and and opening it, finding a very angry Mr. Green at the front door. "What do you four boys not understand about the word 'quiet?' As you know Nesmith, my programs start promptly at 12 o'clock pm and end at four-thirty pm. When you boys first moved here you all agreed you would refrain from practicing your noisemakers between those times."
"Yes sir, we are sorry Mr. Green, we just got a little distracted, that's all," Mike apologized. Micky, Peter, and Davy all tried to keep their surprised yet amused faces hidden from the scary old man.
"You damn right better be. I don't want to hear any more of this noise, you understand?"
"Yes sir," Mike said. Mr. Green huffed and marched off back to his house to watch his programs. Mike shut the door and sighed.
"I wonder what's gotten up his-" Micky began before Davy slapped a hand over his mouth.
"What time is it, Pete?" Mike asked, setting his guitar on its stand.
"Quarter after twelve," Peter answered, glancing at his watch.
Before Mike could suggest a solution, there was a knock on the front door to the house. They all gave each other confused looks before running to answer it. Mike got to it first thanks to his long legs. They all straightened up before opening the door, revealing Mrs. Gray and the children who roamed the neighborhood.
"Ah, good afternoon Mrs. Gray, children," Mike nodded to them. "Uh, what brings you by this morning?"
"The children, have something to ask you, don't you?" Mrs. Gray said directly to Mike, but more so the children. When they said nothing, Mrs. Gray playfully rolled her eyes and continued. "They accidentally kicked their ball into your yard a little earlier this morning. I came out to water my flowers and found them squabbling about who should go into the yard and get it. None of them wanted to because they were afraid of getting yelled at by any one of you young men. Now I told them that I knew it would be okay with you if they just went in and grabbed the ball, but they still were scared."
"What's there to be scared about?" Micky asked the children.
"Well-well," The small, black haired boy Peter remembered to be Scotty stuttered, "Last time we threw something into your yard, Mr. Nesmith threatened to give us all detention." The boy shrank behind Mrs. Gray.
"Why would he do such a thing?" Davy asked, giving Mike a confused, but almost snarky look. Mike had a face of complete and utter surprise.
"I'm sure he was joking," Micky defended his bandmate. "You really wouldn't do that, would you Mike?"
"No, of course not," Mike said, thankful for his bandmates. "I was joking. Surely, I was."
"See kiddos, nothing to worry about!" Mrs. Gray said triumphantly.
"Yeah, if you kids need to grab something of yours from our yard, just do it. You don't need permission," Davy said reassuringly. He saw the children relax a little and one of them, Dylan, even smiled.
"Thank you sirs," Dylan said.
"You're welcome kids," Peter smiled happily.
"Why don't you all go play now?" Mrs. Gray insisted. The children murmured amongst themselves for a minute before running off. "You know, they were standing outside your lawn for at least half an hour to an hour before I finally made them come over here. It took all my strength not to intervene."
"Which you ended up doing," Davy pointed out.
"Yes, well, they didn't seem to be getting anywhere, now were they. It was Alexis's ball, too. She was devastated."
"You seem to be the all-seeing eye around this place, aren't you?" Mike proposed, leaning against the door frame.
"You could say that," Mrs. Gray smiled. "But don't tell anyone, though." She then gave a hearty, old lady laughed.
"Then you could tell us why Mike seemed to be so scary to those kids, huh?" Peter asked. "They weren't so scared of him yesterday when we saw them."
"Oh it was just a little drama that happened about a month or two ago. I think you three might have been off doing I don't exactly remember what, but you were home alone, weren't you Mike?"
"Uh, yeah, because teaching," Mike said, passing the confused look he had to his bandmates.
"Right, exactly, and you might have been having a rough day because you were genuinely mad at those little rascals. Didn't you make it up to them though by bringing in cupcakes for your class the next day?"
"Ah, that's right ma'am," Mike said, trying to go along with the story.
"Mike, you made them cupcakes? Why don't you make me cupcakes?" Micky whined.
"Because you're a grown man, fully capable of making your own cupcakes," Mike shot.
"That explains a lot Mrs. Gray, thank you so much," Davy said, breaking up the tension between Mike and Micky. "You're a lot more than anyone on this street deserves."
"Oh, why thank you Davy!" Mrs. Gray pulled Davy out of the house and planted two kisses on his cheeks, one for each cheek. "You boys do mean a lot to me. You all brighten up this street so much with your music, despite what Mr. Green thinks. You just keep doing what you're doing. You really are role models to those kiddos."
"Thank you Mrs. Gray," Peter said with a smile.
"You boys have a good day now," Mrs. Gray said.
"Thanks, you too," Mike finished. Mrs. Gray turned around and Davy rushed back in, shutting the front door.
"That was…" Davy started.
"Hilarious!" Micky laughed. "Oh Mike, those kids were so scared of you! Did you see the genuine horror on their faces even at the mention of coming on our lawn? What did you do to those poor kids?"
"You heard what Mrs. Gray said though," Peter defended. "He made them cupcakes."
"But you never make cupcakes for me when you apologize!" Micky argued.
"But like I said, you are a grown man," Mike argued.
"Who, to use your words Mike Nesmith, 'needs a babysitter,'" Micky almost fell over laughing.
"You know Mike," Davy said as Micky continued to laugh, "The person this neighborhood thinks you are becomes stranger and stranger by the minute."
"Yeah, according to this place you're a teacher who bakes cupcakes and can go from psychotically angry to abnormally happy in a second."
"She never said that!" Mike exclaimed.
"I'm just making assumptions," Peter shrugged. "I mean, she said you baked cupcakes for them the next day. That seems a little extreme even for me."
Mike rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just -"
"Mike, look! It's Melissa!" Peter shouted. He was looking out the window and had spotted the brunette talking with Mrs. Gray on the sidewalk in front of their house.
Mike's face fell. "Melissa! I totally forgot about our date today!"
"If I remember correctly, the details were very vague," Davy contoured.
"We had already arranged it before we confirmed it last night," Mike said without even looking at him.
"He moves faster than you, Davy," Micky joked.
Davy sneered, but kept his mouth shut about the issue. Peter piped up, "She's coming this way!"
"Here, let's have Mike have his moment," Micky teased, grabbing Peter and Davy and dragging them into the kitchen. When they heard the knock on the door Micky literally pushed them into the kitchen, out of sight.
Mike opened the door, smiling when he saw Melissa standing there, looking beautiful, just as she was the night before. Melissa, shy and nervous, addressed Michael. "Hello," She said meekly. "My name is Melissa N-"
"I know," Mike interrupted. "We met yesterday, remember?"
Melissa gave Mike a very befuddled look. "Um… I don't think so. I'm sorry if we did though. I've met so many new people this week it is hard to keep them all straight. Uh, my uncle and I just moved into the neighborhood, you see. He's hosting a barbecue tonight at our house. He is inviting the entire neighborhood. He sent me to tell the world, basically. My uncle does love his parties."
Mike felt his heart fall into his stomach. It was crushing. Everything that they talked about last night, everything they shared, it all had just vanished from her memory. Mike knew perfectly well it was only for one night, but let's face it, Melissa was the only person he really talked to last night. Sure, he briefly mingled with others, but he spent a lot of his time getting to know Melissa. Every minute he spent with her last night made him, dare he even think it, love her more. To see all of that vanish with just four words crushed him.
"We appreciate the invitation, Melissa," Mike croaked.
"We?" Melissa asked.
Without making Mike speak again, Micky, Peter, and Davy hopped out of the kitchen, running for the door.
"Hi there!" Micky announced. "We're the Monkees!"
Peter pulled Mike back a little, feeling the terror and depression resonating off the Texan. "We couldn't help but overhearing, Melanie,"
"Melissa," She corrected.
"Right," Davy added. "We couldn't help but overhearing your conversation with Mike here. We would love to come to your party at your uncle's house. Just give us the time and place and we'll be there!"
"Well," Melissa said, thrown off by the three Monkees. "It begins at five, over there at the house with 'Duncan' on the mailbox."
"Why thank you, Ms. Melinda. We'll be there!" Micky said, quickly shutting the door in her face.
Peter kept close to Mike. "Mike are you okay?"
Mike avoided eye contact with his bandmates. "I'm… I'm just going to go upstairs for a bit. Clear my head."
"You do that, buddy," Micky said, completely sober.
With his head hung low, Mike quickly made his departure for the bedroom, leaving the three Monkees downstairs.
"So this is the same Sunday," Davy said. "We are reliving yesterday."
"Seems like it, doesn't it? That explains why David was mowing his lawn this morning," Micky added.
"And why your injury is gone," Davy added.
"And why Melissa doesn't remember Mike…" Peter finished. They all knew very well that Mike never got the girl that often. When he did, he put his heart and soul into the relationship till one of them broke it off. Never had it broken it off so quickly that girl didn't even remember the relationship starting in the first place.