Geek to Farm

I looked the part. I had found a pair of hipster jeans and had small reflective discs sewn down the outside of the bell bottom in a pattern of swirls. My belt was from a Cowboy shop and was a wide thing with a silver buckle sporting an eagle with spread wings. The white shirt I rented from some fancy dress shop and was almost gaudy with lace-like frills at the back and over my chest. From my shoulder down to the frills they had also sewn the little reflective discs.

I bent down, picked up my guitar and plugged in. A few chords and then I gave it an off-key strum with the distortion on high. It reverberated around the stage and I could see the mass of people react to it.

"Hello to all you beautiful people!" I yelled into the mike and raised my guitar into the air. The crowd cheered and I started plucking softly at a random collection of chords. "So this is it!" I shouted into the mike again. "I hope all of you have donated royally to our charities because I sure as hell am not going to stand here and ruin my vocal chords for nothing!"

Cheers and clapping greeted me and I laughed. "All right! As you know, today is the day we honor those who came before. This is a concert of only covers and all of them have to be at least thirty years old!" I started playing a heavy rock intro and just as most people began moving to the music I slapped the guitar to silence.

"All day today I listened to bands rocking and rolling!" I laughed into the mike. "We are concerned that too much of a good thing may be detrimental to your health and have decided to play out tonight with gentle Country ballads only. So, close dancing and no head banging!" I was silent for a few seconds. "Oh and by the way. The volume will be turned down low to protect your ears. I expect no talking while I sing!"

I saw people laughing and some raising glasses. I turned and nodded to Nicky on bass. Jimmy started a soft and slow drum beat and I started playing the intro to John Denver's 'Take me home Country roads' to the confusion of a few people down below me. I let it go for a few lines and then nodded to Nicky again. 'Country Roads' suddenly turned into the heavy thumping intro to Nazareth's version of 'This Flight Tonight' and I felt gooseflesh. I was ready for this!

I have a rather raspy singing voice so I could do well with covers of Nazareth, Smokey, Rod Steward and the like. I also like to play with my voice but this song by Joni Mitchell, made famous by the raspy scream of Dan McCafferty just fitted me like a glove. I loved singing it and I gave it my all. The crowd grabbed my performance and I could see many singing along while moving to the energetic beat. At the end of it we glided into Bad Finger's 'Baby Blue'. Nicky loved playing bass on this and I could see him leaning into his guitar, his fingers busy making his guitar rumble. Cheap Trick's 'The Flame' followed and for nearly two hours we went at it with great gusto before we took a drink break. I was feeling on top of the world.

When we picked up again I took the acoustic, went to the mike, took it off the stand and started pacing the stage while talking.

"You may have noticed that up to now we have only done songs by male singers. There is a reason why. Can you imagine listening to this?" and I started on Juice Newton's 'Angel of the Morning'. Of course I wrecked it. No way on this earth will I ever be able to imitate that beautiful voice and I intentionally made my voice slip over the higher notes. In the crowd I saw a guy bent double with laughter and I gave it a few more lines before raising my hand to get the guys behind me to stop.

I guffawed as I started to speak and had to wait for the laughter to subside before carrying on. "Now you know!" I grinned and made to go and sit down on the bar stool on stage. "On the other hand, there have been a few of our more beautiful artists that sang songs that even I can sing along to without causing dogs to bite their humans. One was referred to as God's Only Daughter because of her striking beauty and unique voice. Melanie Safka sang the Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday and gave it her soul. It has been sung by many but improved by none. Of course, I have no intention of imitating her voice but I like the arrangement."

I sang that song with my soul hanging out. Somewhere I sang with Tammy, Jenny, my mom and even Justin in my mind but somewhere the vague image of Melanie's face popped up. I sang with every fiber in my body and was tired when I played the closing chords and the crowd erupted. I bowed, put my guitar down and walked to the keyboard.

"We changed the following song quite a bit and we love the sound of it but we need a man up here who is a master of the electric guitar to give it that special energy. Please give our guest artist a chance to get to the stage. I jokingly call him our jerky treat because of his age. He claims to have been a deck hand on Noah's Ark. Do I believe him? You bet!" The crowd laughed and I watched as Wallace untangled himself from where he and Mom had been sitting with Tammy and Devon and shoulder his way through the crowd. As he came nearer the clapping and cheering followed him. It was obvious that the crowd reacted to this rather big, bald headed man in his senior years. On stage he went to his guitar, plugged in and without so much as a moment's hesitation made that thing sing and dance. For seconds the crowd was stunned to silence but then they started dancing and the cheering and whistling grew in volume and intensity.

On que he slowed down and brought the volume down before changing to just a whisper as I started on the keyboard with the intro to 'Alone'. Between Wallace and us we had modified this song extensively on Sunday. We slowed down the beat and gave it a more robust sound with a stronger rolling bass. The moment I started to sing Melanie came to mind again and once again I sang with my soul. I loved this song and sang it easily. Singing it with Melanie in my mind also seemed a good thing. As I ended the third verse Wallace stomped on his pedal and that guitar of his roared to life. I glanced around at him and smiled before looking into the crowd again. Happy faces and couples dancing close with others obviously singing along at the top of their voices. I idly wondered if we should record this version of ours. It had a fire that rivaled Heart's best performance.

"The sexiest female duo ever to grace our stages!" I yelled into a raised mike as the song ended. "Ann and Nancy Wilson of 'Heart' took this song and turned into a fantastic hit!" The crowd roared and I started on Smokey's 'Gypsy Girl' . Wallace simply did his magic and that song really came alive.

Many songs later I glanced at my watch. We still had at least another forty minutes on stage. My voice was getting tired and I had a long drink of water. I nodded to Wallace and he walked over.

"Think you can do something to give my voice a rest? Something like that awesome solo? I'm taking strain here with the increased time."

He just nodded and walked over to the rest of the guys. After a quick chat he came to the front and gave me a thumbs-up. I gratefully walked backstage listening to his guitar starting an intro that was vaguely familiar and then I came to a stop and turned around. I stared at Jimmy and he gave me two big eyes. I glanced over at Nicky and Donny who just smiled at me and I saw them lean into their guitars.

I stood transfixed, praying that this was not going to blow up in our faces but when Wallace started to sing I felt my scalp crawl. It took only seconds to realize that Wallace was a master of 'Tougher than the rest' and that even Mr. Springsteen himself would have been impressed. The crowd went berserk and I watched as cigarette lighters went up all over the crowd with people swaying to the glorious music. A pang went through me as I thought of Joey who would never be able to enjoy this. Near the back I saw Devon effortlessly lift my protesting mom onto a table so that she could see.

My sore voice forgotten I sauntered up to a mike and softly hummed to fill the score. Donny was singing into his mike with his eyes closed and once or twice even Nicky croaked into his mike. Zach seemed in a world all his own with eyes closed and an expression of rapture on his face as he softly tickled his twelve string.

As Wallace closed that song down the crowd went wild with loud pleas for an encore and without so much as a glance at me he went into that incredible solo and as on Sunday the rest of us gently moved into it. This time round it was even better as the rest of the band had start had a chance to get their act together and the crowd wallowed in it.

After that we did Smokey's 'Wild, wild angels' as a duo and then launched into our rendition of Rod Steward's 'I don't want to talk about it', also as a duo. Wallace laughingly started acting as the hurt individual but when he went down on his knee, pleading with me I burst out laughing. Wallace snorted and the crowd roared with laughter with him rolling on stage, screaming. Jimmy kept the music going while Wallace and I tried to compose ourselves only to fail and collapse again as soon as he tried to sing. We eventually got it together again and finished it to a tumultuous applause. 'Sailing' followed and near the end I noticed the producer standing in the wings and with his hands together in front of him. I looked over at him again and saw him motioning to me to give him a moment. As the song ended he walked over to me and pulled me away from the mike.

I felt empty when he walked off stage. I motioned to all the band members and they clustered around me. I quickly told them the bad news and turned to the mike as the rest of our little band put down their instruments.

I took a deep and shuddering breath before starting to speak in a voice that was not at its best for more reasons than being tired.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Some of you may have heard why Kriptin had to cancel their show tonight. Philip has laryngitis and consequently could not sing. What most of you do or did not know was that Kenny, the bassist's mom, was critical with pancreas cancer and all of them were with her."

I took a few deep breaths. "We just heard that Kenny's mom had passed away a few minutes ago."

I saw the shock travel through the crowd and noticed a number of women burying their faces in their hands. Others had their faces into the chests of the men with them.

I looked around and made a decision. "I do not think it would be proper to carry on with the festival so I guess we wrap it up here." The crowd was silent and I glanced around. First at Jimmy and then at Wallace. Both nodded, and I turned back to the mike.

"I want to ask everyone present to stand with their hands on heart while we have a minute's silence in which we hold those left behind in our thoughts."

Most of the crowd was standing anyway and a hush fell over us. I let an interminable time elapse before I glanced up with a "Thank you". I scanned the crowd below me and something caught my eye. I swung my eyes back and noticed a vaguely familiar face close to the front. It took a second look to recognize Melanie. She looked beautiful with her hair loose and hanging in a bunch of wavy curls down the side of her face. I wanted to show her to come up stage but a large group of people moved in front of her and I lost sight of her. I tried to find her again in the maelstrom of bodies but failed. Wallace spoke to me and I turned around to answer. By the time I looked into the crowd again it had thinned but Melanie was nowhere to be seen. I kept scanning the crowd in an effort to see her while we packed up our equipment and stowed the big bits into Jimmy's trailer after which I got into the SUV and started home.

The buoyancy of earlier had made place for exhaustion and there was a burning sensation in my throat. Next time we were offered two consecutive slots at a festival I will show the producer a rude set of fingers. Dave's house was dark and I decided to let Grody spend the night. I showered and flopped down on the bed. Tired as I was I could not sleep. I wondered how Joey and company had fared. I chuckled. I had gone from disliking that woman to liking her a lot. I remembered her clinging to my body and kissing me madly. Any other woman would have had me running for the hills or aroused but with Joey it just seemed natural. It was just her happy way.

My thoughts drifted to Melanie. If I had known she was coming I would have asked her to join our group. I liked her and I idly thought back to our strange encounter when Justin was killed. I was certain her behavior towards me would have been frowned upon had it been witnessed but as it was, the worst I saw was Mark's reaction to the half and half incident. I remembered wondering what she would look like had her hair not been tied back so severely. Tonight I saw her briefly and her hair had been loose around her face almost like my girl with the honey-hazel...

"Shit!" I yelled and sat upright with so much force that the bed moved. I desperately tried to remember Melanie's eye color on the night of Justin's death but had to give it up. The lights had been dim and I had been too upset to really notice but somewhere in my memory two pairs of eyes tried to fit. Damn!

Can it be possible? I fell back against the pillows, laughing to myself. It would be the funniest thing! Her face... Now what did my honey-hazel eyes look like? I had to shrug to myself. In all fairness to myself I can only remember a view of a few seconds. Dark hair. Wavy. Eyes lit up because of the slanting sun. Other than that? Yeah! The smile! Why the infatuation? Was my vigil at the traffic light at an end? I fell asleep wondering.

Chapter 6

I woke to find Grody in the back garden happily dozing in a patch of sun. I phoned Dave, thanked him for the favor and made myself a boring breakfast. The Sunday traffic was easy as I took a leisurely drive to work with Grody sitting in his seat and looking at the rest of humanity as if he simply tolerated them. At the office I parked and cocked my eye at an eclectic selection of vehicles parked close to the main entrance. Nearby a U-Haul was parked and I frowned when I noticed four armed men standing around it, obviously on guard detail.

With Grody at my heels I walked to the main entrance and was met by some more guards who stopped me from entering. Now, there are things in life that make my hackles rise and some stranger preventing me from going where I had full right to be was rather high on that list. When one held his arm stretched out to stop me my temper flared and I lifted my arm to shove him out of my way. Another moved his hand over his baton and I swung on him.

"If you touch that thing I will ram it down your throat so hard the tip will stick out your arsehole!" I yelled at him in my still hoarse voice.

"Please Sir," another guard pleaded. "We have orders that no unauthorized persons may enter the building. May I ask who you are?"

My hackles were still up when I growled, "Johnathan Gough. I work here."

"May I ask what your business is here on a Sunday?"

I looked at him and almost smiled. "You may ask but it has absolutely fuck-all to do with you. Now get out of my way. You are neither Police nor any Government sanctioned security force and consequently as far as I am concerned you are trespassing."

"The doors are locked Sir," he said carefully. "It can only be opened from inside on orders from those inside or a request from us."

I stared at him. "What in hell is going on here?"

He shrugged. "I do not really know. Our job is to secure the building."

I turned around and pulled out my phone. Derek's phone went to voicemail and I dialed my own desk.

Henry answered and my eyes nearly popped out. Henry at work on a Sunday? Something big must have happened.

"I am standing in the foyer and cannot get in," I fumed. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Hold on."

I heard mumbled conversation and then he was back on the line. "We can clear your entry Johnathan but that means you will have to stay here until this situation has been sorted.

"What?"

Henry chuckled. "Cloak and dagger stuff Johnathan. Have the day to yourself. In here we are almost prevented from talking and we can't leave."

"But what in hell is going on?"

Henry snickered. "I can't tell you much right now Johnathan. Have you seen the news?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Check it out," he chuckled. "As soon as this is sorted I'll get Derek to call you and give you as much of the details as he can."

I disconnected and walked to my car. Inside I got out my phone again and scrolled to the day's news. My jaw dropped. Almost every news channel featured the discovery of a new and malicious computer virus and most had it on about the destruction it had already caused. For a moment I thought that it may have been traced to us as the source and hence the security but then Henry's almost happy voice made a lie of that. So what happened?

With a sigh I started the car and drove home. Very soon I was bored to tears. I considered driving to town to buy myself a new laptop so that I could be occupied but then I thought of Tammy. My computer had been the problem there. Maybe I should consider a serious change in lifestyle. One where computers were off limits, like hiking or going to the gym. Maybe even start up golf. I went outside and played with Grody in the street. He loved chasing me around and very soon I was sweating and breathing heavily. I was seriously unfit and contemplated what to do about it when a car pulled up in my driveway. I gathered Grody to me and saw Kenny get out followed by Mark the policeman.

It was obvious that Kenny was still distraught but smiled as he shook my hand. "I came around to thank you for last night Johnathan. Mark was kind enough to show me where you live."

I shrugged. "Think nothing of it Kenny. My voice is a little rough today but it will get better."

I saw a question fly over his face and then he smiled ruefully. "Yeah, thanks for that as well but I was referring to you closing down the festival out of respect for my mom and especially the minute of silence. Please know that it is deeply appreciated."

I cocked my head. "You're welcome. Want to come inside?"

Kenny shook his head. "Things are a shambles back home Johnathan. Maybe another time?"

I nodded and watched them get into the car. They had already started backing up when I yelled at them. Mark rolled down his window and gave me a raised eye. "Something wrong Mr. Gough?"

I stood there feeling silly. "Do you know if Melanie is on duty today?"

He bit his lower lip. "She is on leave Mr. Gough. Why?"

"I'd like to contact her. Go someplace y'know?"

Mark looked up as if appraising me and fished for his phone. "If she asks, I gave it to you on pain of death."

Chapter 11

Half an hour later I threw the phone down for the umpteenth time. For some silly reason I felt like a teenager drumming up the courage to ask a girl out and failing. I switched on the kettle for some coffee, opened the refrigerator and stood there looking at a container of half and half. Screw this!

The phone had gone through about five rings and I nearly dropped the call when she answered. I realized that I had been holding my breath. I was scared!

"Hi Melanie," I rasped with my tired vocal cords. "Johnathan Gough here. I was thinking of taking Grody for a walk in a park someplace and wondered if you would join me. Afterwards we could go somewhere for a movie or dinner or...."

A giggle stopped me. "Hello Johnathan."

I took a long breath and chuckled. "Hello Melanie."

"You mentioned a walk in the park?" she said and I could hear the smile.