Mae's words about a crossover came back to him as Trent looked around, leading Melody across the lot, towards the stage.
Gregg, Angus, and Jen were off in a little group, chatting and laughing. As he looked, Gregg began doing a little dance, making stabbing motions with a ridiculous expression, and Jen laughed and shook her head.
Jacob and Germ and their family were all over the stage with Stan, fitting everything together and making sure it was solid, all of them being overseen by Jackie, who looked fantastically competent.
Candy, Ann, Mae, and Bea were all gathered together not far from the stage, talking. They looked over as Trent and Melody approached.
"Hey, everyone. So, uh, Melody wants to volunteer to help sell tickets and fundraise," Trent said.
"I appreciate the help and can fill you in on the details," Candy said.
"Thanks," Melody replied.
"I've gotta warm up," Bea said, "and I'm gonna go into the woods because I'm kind of embarrassed about warming up and I don't know why and I'll be back in like ten minutes."
"Later, love," Trent replied.
"Have fun warming up, Bea!" Mae said.
Bea sighed and walked away.
"Walk with me, dear," Candy said.
"Okay," Melody murmured, looking a little awkward. They headed off.
"You look...pensive," Ann murmured. He glanced at her. She had a little smirk, looking somewhat amused.
"I am," he replied. "There's...a situation. With Melody."
"Did you get her pregnant?" Mae asked.
"What the fu-no! Wait why do you sound excited about that possibility?" he replied.
She shrugged. "Impregnation is hot. That time we pretended you were trying to get me pregnant, like, I'll be honest, I wasn't really into it at first but then...mmm...something hit. And now it's hot."
"Well...good to know. Melody is not pregnant, no. Or, at least, if she is, she hasn't told me."
"Did she catch feelings for you?" Ann asked, her smirk growing a little wider.
"...how'd you know?"
"I mean, come on, Trent, you're you. Of course she caught feelings for you," Ann said.
"I feel like I'm missing something," Trent replied.
"You're an amazing boyfriend, dipflip," Mae said, rolling her eyes. "Of course she thinks you're fucking awesome. I mean you eat pussy like super good."
"Mae," he whispered sharply.
"Oh whatever. But yeah. No big surprise there." She paused. "Wait so like does she wanna move in with us? I mean Bea has a point about the bigger bed thing…"
"No," Trent said, "she is not moving in with us. It wouldn't really work. She's not, like, asking to date me or anything. But she does really miss me, and want to spend time with me, and she was wondering if it would be cool to crash at our place for a few days and...have some fun."
Ann chuckled. "Some fun, huh?"
"Some sick, filthy fun," Mae whispered.
"Yes," Trent agreed awkwardly.
"You're so cute when you're embarrassed about girls," Ann murmured.
He sighed heavily. "Shut it."
"What if I don't?" she murmured.
"Oh my fucking God, you're turning into a brat, too…" he groaned.
Ann giggled. "Always have been."
Mae started laughing loudly. "Man, you are gonna drown in a sea of bratty bad bitches, dude!"
"Well, there are certainly worse ways to go...so is it okay?"
"Yeah I'm down," Mae said.
"Same," Ann agreed. "She can hang out for however long she wants. Although I imagine she'll want her stay to extend into June given, uh, everything."
"Yeah...how's this going, by the way?" Trent asked.
"Looks good. Mister Warton and Germ and his family are, like, really good at this stuff," Ann replied.
"How about you? You feeling good about playing in front of so many people?" Trent asked.
"We don't even know how many people will show up," Mae murmured, glancing back at the parking lot area.
"I think a lot of people will," Ann said.
"Me too," Trent agreed. "Where are we at with food? Is that still going to be a thing?"
"Yeah. I guess Germ's mom and all his aunts are cooking and grilling up a storm, have been all morning. They're gonna be here soon with like hamburgers, hotdogs, sloppy joes, potato salad, stuff like that. Oh! Also, I guess Stan and Candy got in touch with Jan and Sal! They're gonna bring like a shitload of pasta," Ann said.
"Oh yeah!" Mae cried. "Dude, I can't believe that's a thing. That's amazing."
"Wait so who are they?"
"Okay, so, before Taco Buck was Taco Buck, it was Pastabilities, this, like, killer Italian restaurant. It was founded almost thirty years ago by a married couple, Jan and Big Sal. They ran that motherfucker since the beginning. Like, they were personally in the place all the time, almost every day. It was like their life," Mae replied.
"And it shut down?" Trent asked.
"Yes! Fuck! I mean, I love Taco Buck, but...argh! I miss that shit! It was amazing!"
"Well awesome. I imagine that's gonna bring even more people out," Trent said. "...what the fuck are you grinning about?" he asked, looking at Ann.
"Just...thinking about how you're gonna make Melody scream tonight," she replied.
He sighed. "Oh my God, Ann."
"Hey, what are we fucking with Trent about? I want in," Bea said, approaching. They all looked over at her.
"Trent's being a fuckboy," Mae said, grinning broadly.
Bea's eyes flashed with excitement. "Oh really? Who are you hitting up this time? You finally make a move on Pastor Kate?"
"What?! No! Fuck. Melody's, uh, caught some feelings for me. She wants to stay over at our place for a little bit, hang out, spend time with me," he replied.
"Oh...well obviously she caught feelings for you, you're you," Bea replied. "And I'm cool with it if everyone else is."
"Sweet," Trent said.
"Yeah I'll bet 'sweet'," Bea replied, grinning. "I'm dating such a fuckboy."
"Don't even start right now," he growled. "Way too many people around."
"Mmm...fine. Oh hey, I think that's the rest of Germ's family, should prolly help them set up the food," Bea said.
"Aren't they here a little early?" Trent murmured.
"It's like eleven fifteen," Ann replied.
"What the fuck? Oh my fucking God time is moving way too fast…" he groaned.
"It's a good thing," Mae said. "Sooner we get through this, the better. Come on."
It was happening.
Trent found himself standing near the front of a surprisingly large crowd. While they had been in the middle of setting up, helping Germ's family and then Jan and Sal get all the food set up on a row of more foldout tables off to the side, people had begun coming. First in ones and twos, and then a massive line of cars showed up.
Even though they still had about an hour and a half to get everyone processed and in place, they were still trying to get it all sorted out by the time the concert began. Trent stood with Mae, Ann, and Jackie in front of some three hundred people.
Bea was all alone on the stage up there, with a microphone, her laptop on a small table, and several speakers to amplify it all.
She tapped the mic a few times. "Hey, everyone! Uh, sorry if I'm bad at this, I'm not a public speaker. I'm Bea Santello, I'll be opening up this shindig. Sorry everything's sort of hectic and chaotic, we didn't really have a lot of time to put it all together. But, like, thank you, to everyone who has helped us to keep a really, really good family from losing their home. Seriously, it means a lot. Also, uh, there's food over there.
"Even if you aren't that hungry, you should get it because it's, like, good. The Warton family provided a lot, and we also have the legendary Jan and Big Sal here with some of their pastabilities! So...okay, I'm gonna open with a song, then Jackie's gonna do one of hers, then our local band, Night in the Woods, will do a setlist, then Jackie and I will do a couple of Linkin Park covers, and then I'll close with my second song. Also, last thing, Jackie and I both have CDs and cassette tapes of our songs for sale! Jackie's is a full album and mine is an EP with two songs, because I don't really sing all that much. Buying them also goes towards helping save the home! All right, I think that's it. Let's get this show on the road!"
People cheered when she said that.
She pretty quickly launched into The Lighthouse then, and got the show kicked off. Trent found himself as awed right then as he had the first time he'd heard her sing. All too quickly, it was over, and then she gave the stage up to Jackie. He had to admit, he was impressed. If Jackie was scared, she was hiding it completely. She looked like she belonged up there. She could play guitar and sing. She stared out over the crowd.
"I'll be honest," she said, speaking into the mic, her voice carrying easily over the three hundred plus people now gathered, "we don't have a great relationship, Possum Springs and myself. It isn't my fault, but I can't claim the animosity is one-sided. I know a lot of you just...don't know how to deal with me. Several of you have said some brutally hateful things to me. But that's not why I'm up here. I'm up here because I care about the Borowski family, and I care about doing the right thing. So, let's make this happen."
And then she steamrolled right over all the awkwardness by launching into her song. Everyone he'd heard describe Jackie had used the word 'scream', and they were right. She had a good and strong scream, and she could go hard on the guitar. It definitely had a hard, old school punk vibe, which made sense.
Trent found himself tensing up a bit as she came to the end of her song. He was expecting someone to yell something. She hadn't told him much in the way of specifics, but he knew that Jackie had endured a lot of shit. He wondered why she hadn't tried to move somewhere else yet, but then again, that was ridiculously costly, especially if she was going somewhere like Bright Harbor, which would be a much better place to live.
She finished her song, thanked the people for listening and supporting, and then helped Mae, Gregg, Angus, and Germ get set up. Trent noticed that Mae kept shooting him nervous looks. He tried to be reassuring. He wondered if maybe this had been a bad idea, but after thinking about it for a bit longer, he realized that unless it had been a lot more obvious of a bad idea, it was one they had to try regardless.
This was just too significant to Mae and Gregg and Angus. They had been in a band for years now. It didn't really matter that they didn't take it as serious as some people did and had never played out before. It mattered because it mattered to them, and who the hell didn't want to play in front of a big crowd, composed mostly of people from their home town? People who knew them? People who might respect them more, simply for doing this?
It was kind of ridiculous, but there was no denying that people tended to respect people more when they had been on a stage performing, especially if it was musical. They didn't have much to say. Angus pretty much introduced them and then they dove right into Die Anywhere Else. That one had a good energy, though it had a somewhat sobering effect on them, even on Germ. Then they blasted through Weird Autumn, and then after that Pumpkin Head Guy.
As they finished up, Mae suddenly stepped forward, shielding her eyes, staring at the back of the crowd. She abruptly looked surprised, then excited. She hurried over to Angus and said something to him, pointing. Then he shielded his eyes and looked, then nodded and took the mic off the stand and handed it to Mae.
"Oh my God, Miss Rosa, hi!" she cried. Trent looked back but couldn't see through the crowd. "Everyone make way! Make a hole! Come on, right down the middle! Trent, go help her!" Mae said.
People made a corridor of space right down the middle of the crowd as Mae had demanded and finally Trent saw who Mae was talking to. An old woman was leaning against her car, smiling at everyone staring at her. He jogged up.
"Hello, Miss Rosa," he said.
"Hi...do I know you?" she asked, squinting at him.
"No, we've never met, but I'm Mae's boyfriend," he replied. "My name is Trent."
"Oh! Goodness," she looked at him a moment longer, "she landed herself a looker."
He chuckled awkwardly. "Ah...thank you, Miss Rosa. Mae wants me to help you get down closer to the stage, do you want that?"
"Hell yes," she replied. "I'm here by myself, I'm afraid, because my daughter would have me committed if I told her I wanted to drive out here and see what all the hubbub was about. But I've got a wheelchair in my backseat, could you get it?"
"Yes, ma'am," he replied.
"Thank you, there's a good boy."
He got her wheelchair out and set down and helped her sit in it, then began rolling her carefully through the group, towards the stage.
"Goodness, so many people. All of them out here to see Mae and her band?" she asked.
"Yes, well, a few others, too," Trent replied. "Mae's so happy you're here."
"So am I. I knew her grandfather when we were your age and for a long time after that. A long, long time. That girl turned out more like him than his own son did," she murmured. "I'm glad for that. I like Stan but he's a little too buttoned down. Mae knows how to cut it up."
He laughed. "Uh, yes, yes she really does."
Miss Rosa chuckled. "I suppose you'd know."
"Ah...yeah, yes."
"Oh dear! I just realized, this is a concert, shouldn't I have a ticket?" she asked.
"Well, it's a fundraiser for Mae's parents, so it's optional…" Trent replied.
"I'd very much like to help out with the fundraising. Oh Roman would never forgive me if I didn't help Stan and Candy keep that house," she murmured, digging around in her purse, which now sat in her lap.
"Roman?" he asked.
"Mae's grandfather," she said.
"Oh. I guess his name has never come up before...here we are."
"Yes. Here, do you have a ticket?" she asked. "Is fifty enough?"
"Oh, wow, yeah, fifty's fine. They're actually like twenty bucks."
"That's fine. It's a good cause."
They had given him a few tickets to sell and he pulled one out and traded it for her fifty, slipping it into his pocket for now.
"Miss Rosa, hi!" Mae said, standing at the edge of the stage now.
"Hello, Mae!" she replied merrily. "Are you having fun up there?"
"Yes! This is awesome! Oh man, uh, it's gonna be like pretty loud if you're this close…"
"Oh that's fine, sweetheart. I'm seventy eight years old now and my hearing's started to go as it is. I'd like to hear the music again!"
"Well all right then, awesome! Let's rock! Again!" Mae replied, getting back into position.
While they were getting warmed back up, Trent leaned in. "Miss Rosa, did you ever eat at Pastabilities?"
"Oh yes! I did! I loved them! I was so sad when they went out," she replied.
"Well, Sal and Jan are here right now and they made some old fashioned Pastabilities food, can I go get you something?" he asked.
"Yes! Here…" She reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty. "Get me some lasagna, some garlic bread, and some sweet iced tea. I think twenty should cover it."
"I think so, too. I'll be right back."
"Thank you, you're a real sweetheart, I can see why Mae chose you," she said.
He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just jogged off, and he heard Mae talk again into the mic as he got the food put together. "Hey, be careful everyone! If anything happens to Miss Rosa this bass is gonna become a battle ax, understand?!"
As he returned with the food, he was grateful to see that someone had set up a little table beside her wheelchair. He got the food set up and Mae's band got started with one of their new songs, written since Mae had returned. The first was called Longest Blight and was apparently based on a nightmare Gregg had had involving zombies and snow. It reminded him of something out of Metalocalypse and he found that he really liked it. They closed it out with one that apparently Mae had mostly written called Trash Mammal.
After that, Bea and Jackie covered In the End, which pretty much everyone recognized, and then they did Figure.09, which almost no one recognized, but Trent had suggested when they'd asked him which they should do besides In the End. And then Bea capped everything off with The Devil Within, which really seemed to captivate the audience.
"Okay, and that's it for the music! Thank you so much for your support and coming out!" Bea said, and, as soon as it became obvious her presence wasn't required any longer on the stage, she hurriedly left it and came to stand next to Trent.
Mae was talking with Miss Rosa animatedly, and she seemed happy with the attention.
"Are you sure you aren't tired?" Mae asked after a bit. "I remember you always got tired the last time we talked...also, I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Well, I'm getting there, dear," Miss Rosa replied. "But it's summer and I have more energy in summer. But, well, I fell and broke my hip in December."
"Oh no!"
"I'm okay now, though. Had some surgery done and got a double hip replacement! I'm also on some heart medication now, and all of this seems to have made things easier to deal with. My hips don't hurt anymore, at least! Well, for the most part. And I sleep a bit easier now. But enough about me, dear Mae, you played so well up there! Seeing you up there certainly takes me back…"
"Back to what?" Mae asked.
"Well...I was in a band for a bit, back in the sixties. I played a mean flute, and sometimes we conned your grandfather into playing guitar for us. He was pretty good!"
"Oh yeah! I remember that, granddad used to play every now and then. I think it's why I got into bass in the first place," Mae said.
"He'd be so proud! You look so full of energy up there playing…" She yawned. "Oh dear, I'm getting tired again. Perhaps it was time I got going…"
"Maybe someone should drive you back," Mae murmured.
"I can do it."
They looked over and saw Mae's mom approaching.
"Candy! Oh goodness, it's good to see you," Miss Rosa said, smiling broadly at her.
"Hello, Rosa. It's good to see you, too." Candy leaned down and gave the woman a hug.
"Oh dear, I've missed you. I never get a chance to talk with you at church, and it's harder to leave the house these days...mmm, yes, I would appreciate it greatly if you could drive me home."
"Okay, I will. I'll find someone to follow behind us to drive me home," she said.
"I can do it, Candy," Jacob said.
"Thank you, Jacob," she replied.
"Well, we're going to take Miss Rosa home now. Thank you for coming, everyone! We really, really appreciate the support!" Candy called as she started rolling Miss Rosa back to her car. Trent watched them go, then looked over at the food table. Someone had brought wings and pizza.
"Go on, babe," Bea said, laughing a little. "I know how much you love wings."
"Second only to tacos," he replied.
"Yeah, don't fill up, though, because you're gonna be enjoying tacos when you get home," Ann said, laughing.
He looked at her. She was smirking. So were Mae and Bea. And somehow Jen had managed to slip in during all this, and she was too.
"I heard about Melody," she said, her grin widened a little.
"...I'm going to get wings," he replied, and walked off.
