A Town Without Honor Ch. 04

"Ya tolds me nothin', b'ye."

He looked at me confused. "I swears I did. Last night. You weren't that far gone."

If he did, I had no recollection of it. "Sorry. I don't remember it. Things were kind of hectic."

He grinned. "No kidding. I thought for sure they were going to lock Janie up in her room if she got any more brazen. 'I wanna be yer girlfriend!'" he sang.

I'm sure I blushed. "I wasn't trying to lead her on."

"Hell, we knows that. It is what it is. So what else do you have that we could play?"

As it was, I did have one other song. Actually, a pretty good pub song, I thought. And not near as maudlin.

Once again, Ronnie worked his magic, although it took him a while longer, and we had a few more interruptions. Still, by the time he was finished, and we'd played it through a couple of times, I was surprised at home much of a difference it made. Like night and day. I told him so.

"Shit," he mumbled. "There's nothing to it. You already did the hard part; all I did was polish it a bit."

"So it's true, you can polish a turd?"

Any reply on his part was cut off when Jeffery showed up again, saying I was required inside.

As soon as I walked in, both men stood up. Uncle Darren stuck out his hand. "We'd love to partner with you on this, Honor. Starting as soon as you're willing."

Tom joined him in shaking my hand. "We know you're taking a big chance on us," he said. "We won't let you down."

"I know," I replied. "We can open a bank account tomorrow, and I'll have the initial funds transferred in. It shouldn't take more than a couple of days. I'll leave the patents with you, and see if I can't find a way to send an engineer up this way by the end of next week. I'm planning on heading back by the end of the week and will start working on things from the other end. In the meantime, I hope you'll pull together the business elements."

Darren nodded. "We can do that. Damn, this should be an interesting ride!" he said with a big grin.

"That it will be," I said.

* * *

That night we were back on George street, playing again. Janie was there when I arrived.

"Ronnie called and let me know where you'd be," she said. "I'd be home alone if I waited for your call." There was a bit of a sting in her words.

"I didn't know where we were going until we got here a few minutes ago. Ronnie said it was a surprise. I don't know why; it's not like I know one of these places from another."

She gave Ronnie a quick glare before grabbing my arm. "Second biggest dance floor in the area. It's not where new bands usually get their start."

"We're not a band, Janie. Just two guys singing a few songs."

"Did you even see the sign outside? The Runner and Waiter Show, with Honor the Newf. Are ya blind? The banner's a good five feet tall!"

I guess I was blind. She laughed at my stunned look.

"Don't sweat it, Honor. Just have a good time. Do what you've been doing. You'll be great."

Great. Right. "I think I need to talk to Ronnie."

She laughed as I wandered off look for one more family member I needed to kill. Damn if he wasn't helping some guy set up his drum set on the stage.

"What the hell is goin' on, Ronnie?"

"Settin' up," he said.

"We're the band for the night? And now we have a drummer? What else is going on here that I don't know about?"

He just shrugged, glancing over to the side, and I saw that his on again/off again girlfriend was watching us. "Not much to tell, b'ye. Greg the owner's a friend. He offered to let us play here. It's a good gig, and it even pays, if not much. Free drinks all night for the band. People want to hear us; you can't be lettin' them down."

"Damn it, Ronnie! We haven't even practiced. And now a drummer?"

"Pete's good. I've played with him plenty. He can play along to anything. We'll be fine; it's not that big a deal, not much different than the other night."

"The other night that had me passed out and in Janie's bed the next morning?" I reminded him.

"Is you complainin' now, b'ye? I'd thinks you'd be grateful. Stop worryin'."

I hate to say it but Ronnie was right. We played three sets, two of them to a packed house. Janie joined us on stage for about a third of our songs and she was incredible. I guess she was pretty well known; every time she joined us the crowd near took the roof off of the place before she even opened up her mouth.

Ronnie must know half of St. Johns. Every half dozen songs he'd drag someone on to the stage, spout some history they had, and we'd have a guest singer or musician for a couple of songs.

The crowd was raucous, drinking hard, singing loud, and dancing wildly. It didn't seem to matter that there was no rhyme or reason to our songs, no theme. They were just out to have a good time.

We did end up playing both of the songs I'd written, and I was surprised and pleased that they went over well. During the third set we were even asked to do an encore of the second of them. The Runner and Waiter song which Ronnie and I had reworked before the show.

♫ Drink a beer,

Bend an ear,

I got a story

You should hear.

'Bout a guy

and a girl,

How she rocked

His simple world.

It was love,

It was fate,

When they went on

Their first date.

Everyone knew it was meant to be,

Their love was plain for all to see.

Should I wait (Should I wait)

Should I run (Should I run)

Do I tell her that it's over,

Do I tell her that we're done?

Should I run (Should I run)

Should I wait (Should I wait)

Tell me how long does it take,

To turn my love into hate? ... ♫

Hearing the crowd echoing the first two lines of each part of the chorus was a rush. A couple of hundred people screaming out your words, dreams and heartache.

I'll admit I was more than a little tipsy through the third set. Janie was on stage with us, as well as Ronnie's girl, standing in back and playing some weird shaped tambourine. Janie was at least as tipsy as me and I was getting a nice little bit of affection from her. To be honest, I felt great. Incredible.

People were clapping, cheering, calling out songs to play. On many of them I was just along for the ride, following Ronnie's lead. That didn't seem to matter. There were pretty young girls in the crowd, staring at me with stars in their eyes.

"Damn you, Honor," Janie whispered in my ear, standing behind me with her arms around my waist. "Don't be givin' them sluts no hopes. You're taken, twice over I'll remind you." At least she said it with a smile in her voice.

"Jealous?" I teased, putting my guitar down for a mini-break, halfway through the third set.

"Seriously? I'm supposed to be jealous of an old fart with a hairy ugly mug who's half tone deaf? A married man with children who God knows would never cheat on his wife, no matter how easy those sluts are. An unemployed Yank from away? Jealous?" She gave me a pinch. "Let's see who's jealous. There's a few studs out there who have been givin' me the eye."

She turned to walk away and squealed when I yanked her back into my arms and laid a big ol' kiss on her that had the crowd screaming. She was blushing mightily when I let her go.

"I loves ya, Ducky. Ya knows I do," I told her in my best Newfinese.

Her smile was a bit sad. "I knows ya do, Honor. But it's not enough now, is it?"

I was holding her in my arms, staring down into her captivating eyes. "I need time, Janie. You know my situation."

She shrugged it off with a laugh. "I know, Honor. So now it looks like there's two Waiters in the Runner and Waiter band. But I won't wait forever." She pulled out of my arms, took my hand and dragged me off stage, where beers were awaiting us, direct from the owner's hand. Ronnie was standing by his side.

"I knew it," he said, grinning. "When I saw you the other night, I knew you'd be a hit. We have to make this a regular thing."

I looked over at Ronnie who looked like the bird that ate the canary. I couldn't help but notice his girl was at his side, clinging to him like a barnacle.

"We'll talk. Ronnie will get back to you," I said.

He didn't look especially pleased by my response, but he slapped me on the shoulder. "Do that. We can talk about money then. I'm sure we can come to a deal."

It wasn't time for the discussion with Ronnie. But we would be talking. I didn't like being blindsided.

We finished our set and the place was still two-thirds full. We even did an encore for two songs before I begged for it to end. I was exhausted, completely shot, and could barely talk.

While Pete was taking down his gear, I cornered Ronnie. "We need to talk."

"So talk, b'ye. I'm all ears. Pretty sweet gig, eh?"

"I hope you're not planning any more surprises. You know I can't stay. I'm leaving in a couple of days. I have to go back and deal with things," I said.

His eyes told me the story. "For fucks sake," he snapped. "You're telling me now? After all I done? They're expecting us next weekend. Two nights. Top dollar!"

"Don't you think you should have talked to me before making a decision like that? You know I'm not here to stay. Jesus, b'ye! Get a clue."

"But you told Uncle Darren—"

"I told him to get started and I'd come back regularly. Half-time at best, no more than a week or two each time. I'm not saying we can't play, but you have to work with me. Talk to me. Don't just go running wild."

"So when are ya comin' back, den? Any clue?" he asked, looking around.

It was then that I realized we had a small audience. Janie was standing behind me with two beers in her hand, his girl, Rhonda I had found out her name was, was waiting for him. A couple of our cousins from the last time out were standing nearby.

"I can't tell you now. When I get back home and see what I've got to do, I can call you and give you a tentative schedule. Figure at least three weeks before I'm back."

He looked disappointed, but nodded. "Fine. We'll work with that. Don't leave me hangin', Honor."

"I won't. I promise I'll give you a schedule as soon as I can."

He nodded and turned away, grabbing his girl. Janie stepped in front of my and handed me a beer. "When were you going to tell me, Honor?"

I sighed and took a needed drink. "Tonight. I just made the decision after talking to Darren today. My daughter's birthday is in a couple of weeks, and I already told her I'd be back by this weekend. I've to go back. There's a lot of business stuff I need to handle. It's going to be a hellacious few weeks before I can return. But I will be back. In less than a month. I promise." I grabbed her arm, pulling her close. "All this happened today, the talk with my Marie, the business discussion with Darren and Tom. You have to believe me, Janie. I'm not hiding anything from you, we just didn't have a chance to talk."

She nodded slowly. "I do believe you, Honor. It still hurts a little. Promise you'll be back, hopefully with your head on straight?"

"I promise. As for having my head on straight, we can only hope. I can tell you this: you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. I'm not going to forget that."

She moved closer, spilling my beer a little when she kissed me. I mean really kissed me. "It's only going to get better, Honor, if you give us half a chance."

=====================

For anyone wondering how long it takes to write a story, the songs written for this one were submitted as poems to Literotica back when I was halfway through chapter three -- back in 2013. Ouch. This one's been gathering dust in the story pile for a long time. I'm glad that BlackRandl1958 convinced me to polish it off and finish it up for the Legends day event.