April and September

Five seconds, no time to program a sequencer. I'll have to do this the hard way.

"Red five, cover me. I'm going in!" I thought. The transition was here and the instruments fell silent.

"...aaaand NOW," I said quietly.

I spit out the Maglight and hit the button for Scene 6, full lights, as April began to play a rock beat. The crowd was back on it's feet and the rest of the girls played that familiar melody in a new way.

I began to hit scene buttons 1-5 one after the other sequencing the lights in time with the rhythm. Keeping time was easy with the crowd was clapping with the beat. What was hard was keeping this up for the two minutes remaining in the song. Punching buttons four times a second with the occasional flash on scene 6, my wrists began to ache.

The song ended and I hit scene 6 to bring up full lights, moved the fade rate to 40% and hit the key again to smoothly fade to black. The crowd cheered with a thunderous sound. It was over, and we had done it. We rocked the house. After I retrieved my Maglight from under the console and put it back in my crash kit, I sagged back in the chair. The stress of the last three minutes washed over me. I leaned back and wept quietly, pretending to rest.

---

We were the talk of the town. The band naturally, not the "little man behind the curtain", but that's how that works. I got kudos from all the girls and everyone who knows what I do.

My daughter was in the audience, having told her mom that she had to go to work. She does work at the theater, just not that night, so technically she didn't lie. She was amazed at the show, and I introduced her to the band. She and April seemed to bond instantly making me wonder things I couldn't put words to.

The sisters wished they could bring me along with them. I found out later that this was arguably their best produced show ever. It gives me great pride to know that I beat the big boys with only my skills and ancient equipment. I offered to run sound and lights for them anytime. I had a brief moment with April before she left, but that's all it was. A kiss to curl the toes and promises to keep in touch. They all hopped in the van and were off to their next gig.

I missed all of them as soon as they turned the corner, but I started to tear up when I though of April. My daughter saw me and rushed over and gave me one of her patented hugs. We went to a restaurant and talked about everything. I have no secrets from my daughter, and she knows all the details. She still ribs me about taking a 19 year old virgin to bed, but it's all in good fun.

About two weeks after the concert, April missed her period and we suspected that she might be pregnant. While it's not what we had planned, deep down we were both hoping she was with child. We thought that maybe we had beat the odds, and it would have been all the cat's fault... but it was not to be.

Her next period came on time and with a vengeance. It appears that skipping a period after their first time happens to one in five virgins because of a radical shift in their hormone levels. April believes that only one in five virgins ever have sex good enough to cause this, and considers it "a testament to the thoroughness of her education." I'm not convinced, but I'll take the compliment.

The remaining concerts on the tour were different. April's drumming became stronger and more confident. This raised the bar for the other sisters and they all rose to the occasion.

At the end of the tour, their record company trotted them around like show ponies. This was more to demoralize the other companies, and entice other artists away from them under the guise of assured success than it was for the girls' benefit.

This brings me to today. I got a text from April. Their contract is complete and after they catch their breath they will be shopping around for a new record company and contract. The girls unanimously agreed that they want to hire me for sound and lights when we're on the road, and production work when we're not.

Something tells me April had a lot to do with that, but I have seen some of their other concert footage in the mean time, and I have to admit that our production with geriatric equipment was worlds better. She said the official offer will come once they have another contract.

I swore I'd never work in the music biz again, but I think I'm going to make an exception for a very special case...

...for April the beautiful.