Gig

"Please, Danny? I know you can play and I promised the gang. We can go forty bucks, and there will be plenty to eat and drink." Dave told me over the phone.

I knew Dave sort of in passing, he was an OK kind of guy. But it wasn't any kind of "buds" thing so I was surprised when the phone rang.

Some party, they wanted live entertainment, and I did some of that. But I charged $100 a night, and this gig was damn near a 100 mile round trip out in the valley.

Most of the time I played at weddings or smaller bars, usually just instrumentals at those because my voice sounds a bit between a bus with a rod knock and a rock crusher. In the bars I would break out in song later on when things got drunk enough that I knew I sounded better.

Yeah, that is me, a free lance musician. Always looking forward to the next meal, unfamiliar bed, sometimes a friend for the night. Then, up the next day, in my van and headed on down to the exact same thing with a different name for wherever in the hell it is.

It was a living.

+++

Once back when I had a different manager, he booked me into a cowboy bar. I walked in and looked around. My leather coat had tassels, I wore a head band around my way too long stringy hair, and my beard was a good 6 inches long.

Every head that turned my way had on a cowboy hat, every single one of them had on cowboy boots.

Kind of weird, there wasn't a single horse tied up outside?

I figured I might be back on the road in short order with my head shaved for free.

Then as I set up and started to play, smart enough to begin right in with some cowboy bob crap, here came the resident wise ass.

Anyone who ever frequents a bar knows that guy, 5'5", skinny, cocky smile and trouble if you aren't careful. The other part is they are always in fights, so they are good at it, and they are usually fast. They have to be to survive to become an adult, if that term even fits the asshole.

Smack dab in the middle of "Trailers for sale or rent" he waves a five dollar bill and yells that he will bet me I can't play the "Tennessee Waltz".

The whole place, knowing what is coming, turn to watch the show, since they have all seen it start like that before. What happens is he spews insults, the victim takes offense, in a few seconds the scrap is on.

Been there, done that, since I spent a lot of time on the road. I just grinned at him, took the wager.

Fooled him, could too, launched into an instrumental that would make your eyes blink, then sang the song in my best southern drawl, got his five bucks and instead of getting pissed off and snarky I was suddenly his best bud.

That was the "Dave" guy I started out talking about. We talked, drank some beer, about it. Other than that, I knew nothing about him, didn't want to know, either.

Lots of those kinds of experiences, in over a decade of scratching out a living. So when I happened to be back in the area, playing at a dive downtown, my phone rang, I was all fine until I got the details.

+++

It started out with it being an invite to a party, which turned into me bringing along my guitars, I got that. Been there before, too.

You know how it is, the local Doctor goes to a party and someone starts asking questions about whatever ails them at the moment, or the local mechanic gets asked about whatever is wrong with someone's vehicle.

Got to be careful or the Doctor could end up doing surgery with a kitchen knife, the mechanic might find himself outside taking some jerk's car apart.

Musicians are supposed to entertain, way it is. Which is what they mean by, "Bring your guitar."

I will. For $100.

But Dave, somehow he ended up getting me to agree to $40 and some food which right then sounded good, plus he mentioned the party would be "crawling" with women and since it had been a couple of weeks?

Well, you know.

+++

The place was a house, of course it was. But it was a big house, whoever owned it had some bucks, which got me to thinking about that $40 I had agreed to.

People with money seem to be good at keeping it, way it is. Cheap bastards, but hell, I was used to that, too.

Dave was there, no cowboy hat or boots, just slacks and a shirt. He told me it was all informal so play some when I wanted to, check out the food and action when I felt like it.

That meant three sets, maybe a 15-20 minute break in between. Yeah, been there before, too. Get to fiddling around too much and the customer balks at the $100, (I mean $40.)

I am onto that so I had his two 20's in my pocket when I plugged in my amp.

+++

Looking around, it was clear there was no theme so I did some mellow instrumentals. I was just finishing up when some lady about 40 or so with a set of jugs that you would not want to be underneath when her bra came off wandered up.

"Hi, I'm Caroline!" Big bright smile, she stuck her hand out. I took it, it felt oily like there was some lotion or something on it.

After what I figured out later, I hope it was fucking lotion anyway.

I was instantly thinking of my wiping rag I keep in my case, no way did I want any of that shit on the neck of my antique Epiphone. Good old collector instrument there, a real one, not one of the later jap pieces.

"Do you know any Bob Segar, sweetie?" She asked me.

Well, yeah, I just happened to, and told her so.

"Neat, I like that kind of music." She turned and went over and sat down on the floor about 20 feet away. There were two much younger women sitting there smoking a joint, I had been eyeing the dark haired one already, trying to figure out if she was attached.

There was a bunch of people wandering around and more arriving, by now I would guess there was maybe 20 people in the house.

So, after using the rag to wipe my hands, I launched into "Turn the Page" which to be honest, could have been written about me and a lot of others just like me.

I do manage to carry a tune pretty good, but my voice is deep and rough, kind of gravelly would be the term. Whisky voice, they call that, except I don't drink very much.

I did notice the three women were watching intently and several other people appeared from the other room, so I stretched the song out.

Hell, I was kind of getting into it, I like the number. Then I realized that the way Caroline was sitting that I had a clear view up her dress and there sure as hell were no undies in sight.

OK. Every musician on planet Earth has been flashed at one time or another, even the ugly ones. Drunk females can get pretty silly acting.

But usually it is panties, or a nice peek at an expanse of tit, rarely even a nipple, but this one was a full blown hairy gash.

Caroline had a smirk on her face, her knees a good foot and a half apart. Then she reached down, hiked her skirt up some and used her fingers to pop the thing wide open!

I missed a couple of notes, collected myself and managed to finish the tune. I mean, dang! Now I grew up on a farm so I have seen what the hind end of a Cow looks like after they dropped their Calf, let's just say that Caroline had had some things way bigger than I got stuffed in there regular as clockwork from the looks of that thing.

Nice round of applause from the others, Caroline got up with a huge smile on her face and went into the other room.

OK. What in the hell was that?

I decided to stop for a few minutes and go find the beer, since I had seen several people going back and forth carrying those red solo cups.

I found the keg, reached for a cup, then I saw a woman over by the far side of the room.

No shirt on? Tent flap titties, you all know what I mean there, some bald headed guy flicking her nipples with his fingers. I got my brew and looked around, some chubby chick was on her knees and there was a guy sitting in a chair in front of her. All I could see was the back of her head, but she was clearly bobbing up and down on him since his pants were down around his ankles.

Just then another guy came up behind her, he reached down the front of her outfit and began molesting her tits. She didn't miss a lick, then when he pulled the back of her dress up, I wandered back into the other room.

Now I knew what kind of party this was. I retreated back to the stool I had in the corner, began playing some mellow tunes. I was thinking as soon as all of them were distracted, I would slip off and get the hell out of there.

Orgies just never was my thing, not after I saw the size of that needle they used when I was back in Nam. I never got one of those stuck in me, didn't want to either.

It was maybe an hour or so later, maybe four people left in the main room, everyone else had wandered off. I did see a lot of titties, several pussies and male junk in various stages, no avoiding that. Some of those guys acted like they were proud of what they had going on, damned if I could see why. They say normal is a bit under 6 inches and most of these guys came up short a bit.

I figured I better keep mine under cover and out of sight, from the looks of the old bags running around, I might find myself raped.

No one noticed when I packed my amp and guitar out, loaded it in my van.

That was when I spotted her.

+++

Hell, I would have just loaded up and driven off but the woman sitting there seemed out of sorts about something. How did I know? Hell, a guy just gets a feeling. So I grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler I keep in my van, wandered over there.

"Are you all right, miss?" I asked.

"Uh huh." She looked at me, then looked away. She had on a pleated type skirt and a light blouse with no sleeves, to be honest she didn't fit what I had seen inside at all. For one thing, she was younger and she looked.. well.. clean?

Besides, it had to be in the low 40's out, and she was hugging herself tightly. due to the light clothing she had on.

I took off my jacket, it was one of those with a fuzzy liner, including up around the collar, nice and warm. I draped it over her shoulders, she looked at me as I did that and then tugged it gratefully around herself.

"You are the musician, I could hear you playing in there. You are really good." She smiled up at me. She had shoulder length sandy hair, a pretty face with no makeup, and really didn't need any.

"Thanks." I said, and sat down. Hell, she had my coat on and it cost me 90 bucks, I wasn't about to leave it.

"Are you done for the night?" She asked.

"Yeah. That was some party." I guess I was a bit curious about what the deal was here, she had to know what was going on inside but here she was, sitting outside.

"Can we sit in your van? It's cold out here and I don't want to go in."

"Sure." We got up and climbed in, I started the engine, knowing it would only take a few minutes to warm up. Plus the thing had seat warmers, I pushed the button and in just a couple of minutes we both felt that.

"So, why aren't you inside at the party?" I asked after a few minutes.

"I..it just isn't my thing, I only came because of Donnie." She said, not looking at me. She slipped my coat off, it was starting to get warm in the rig. I reached over and shut off the seat heaters.

"Donnie is...?"

"My husband."

"I see."

"He likes these parties, he insists that I come because I guess he can't get in unless...?"

"Oh, he has to.. It's couples only, right?"

"Yes."

"But you? You were sitting outside?" I asked.

"I just don't want to.. you know. Donnie encourages me, but I don't. At least not yet, this is only the 2nd party. I mean, I don't really know any of those guys and all of them are..." She sounded almost like she wanted to cry.

I had seen them, I knew exactly what she meant.

Just then, someone knocked on the side window. I roiled it down, there stood a husky looking guy in his early 30's or so. He looked at me, then over at the woman. She instantly went tense.

"Are you going to come inside, Jan?" He asked the woman.

"You must be Donnie. Jan and I ain't done yet, maybe later?" I told him.

The guy looked at me, then at Jan, then back at me. A huge grin spread over his face.

"Oh. OK. I see you are finally loosening up, great! Have fun, see you later, honey. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He laughed at his idea of a joke, headed back to the house actually looking happy.

I was thinking I read that one right, a short laugh escaped my lips.

"Thank you." She looked at me with a smile.

Then we sat there for a long time, I slipped one of my own tapes into the tape deck, the one I thought was the best. After all, it did sell almost 40 copies.

"You are a nice guy, aren't you?" She asked, finally.

"Well, I try to be."

"Will you? I need to be with someone and I don't want to go back in there." She had a drift of shyness in her voice.

"Will I what? Oh, you mean, sex?" I had that figured out too. She didn't want to, her husband did, so he was pushing things.

I had no intention at all with having sex with anyone after being inside.

"Let's go somewhere else." I told her.

"OK."

I put the van in gear, drove the about 10 miles into town. There was a café there I knew would be still serving. I opened the passenger door, Jan gave me a puzzled look, then smiled and got out.

Inside, we both ordered a breakfast, the usual eggs and toast and fried potatoes Jan told me about nearly everything in her life, where she grew up, school, for maybe an hour she turned into a chatterbox. It was like it all came pouring out, so I just let her go on. I mostly just sat and listened.

Finally I mentioned some of my life, such as it was.

I liked the freedom of the road, work where and when I could find a gig, the surprise to some might be that while there is no way to get rich, a guy with a guitar and a bit of music can get by.

I really hadn't missed very many meals, although that did come close a few times. The way I grew up, food was out in the woods, not in a store.

I knew all about setting traps, snares, where a fish might hide, rivers had clams, things like that.

I explained all of that as best as I could.

"That sounds so wonderful, no one telling you what to do." She said with a smile.

But the time did come to leave the cafe, I was wondering what in the world I was going to do with her. Other than right at the beginning, we might as well have been two people on a first date.

"Can we go? To your place?" She gave me a small smile.

"That van IS my place." I told her.

"OK."

"I thought you didn't..? I mean, I can drop you off back at the house, you can just tell him whatever you want and...?"

"That won't work, Donnie would know. He wants me to bring home a.." She blushed furiously at that.

"How would he know...? Oh."

OK. One of those guys, I had heard of them.

"You mean, you really want to?"

"Uh huh."

We went out to my van, got in. This was something that I had never run into in my entire life. Let's face it, a musician, up on the stage, woman watch and listen. Most of the time, I could take my pick.

This woman was completely different, I was feeling something I didn't understand. I wanted to get between her and the world, protect her, take care of her. Sure, that is crazy, insane, since we had barely met. The circumstances were strange, here was a less than willing wife, at a swinger party, not wanting to swing?

Yet she decided to go with me, have me fill her up to take that back to her husband? My plan at the moment was to just get her away from that bunch back at the house. Just a moment of crazy, I guess. I don't really even know what I was thinking.

There was a place I knew up North of town about 20 miles, I had parked there before. No one ever bothered me there, I had a small fire pit I had built out of rocks, between gigs I just camped out. There was a creek down below, it was full of fish. Sure, it wasn't fishing season but that didn't bother me any, they tasted just the same.

I pulled in and parked, Jan climbed into the back where I had a mattress and some blankets. It was pretty tight back there, since I had my equipment strapped down on one side.

"This is soft!" She giggled.

I looked back at her from the driver's seat, I guess I have to say I was not too sure of this. That might sound strange to some, but while being a bit of a vagabond, I also was selective.

Jan began undoing the buttons on her blouse, I watched as she slipped that back off of her shoulders. Her arms reached behind herself, she unhooked the and slid it off. It was close to dark so all I could barely make out was a pair of medium size breasts, and I guess that was what did it.

I felt myself almost burst into a full blown erection. My knight in shining armor facade went right out the window. Climbing between the seats, I slid onto my familiar mattress.

By then she was sliding her skirt down and off, I noticed she folded it carefully and set it aside.

Then we were kissing. Her mouth felt delicious on mine. My hands came up to stroke her bare breasts, as I felt her hands working at my lower clothing. There was a moment of hesitation when her hand gripped my erection.

"That is...? Oh, my God!" Was all she said.

The next 30 minutes was a mixture of grabbing and petting, we both were feeling our way in the dark. I wanted desperately to see her, so I reached up into the jockey box and grabbed my little flashlight.

She giggled at that, but made no move to cover herself. Her breasts were fine, with a tiny bit of a sag, I shined the light across her flat tummy and down to her loins. She wasn't shaved, the soft hairs there matched her head. I pressed one knee over, she didn't resist. Then she reached out and took the flashlight, turned it on me.

"My turn." She said, a happy laugh in her voice. Then she rolled over, up on top of me, shining the light down as we joined.

There sure as hell was no slamming together, it was a struggle. But she would lift up, relax, press down, then repeat that. Finally our pubic bones touched and she let out a guttural groan.

We didn't climax together, she was a few seconds behind me, which extended my own for several more long seconds. We basked, holding each other tightly, then I came erect and we did it again.

I have to say that even though I had no shortage of experiences, it was the most erotic session of my life. Usually there is kissing, licking fondling, but with Jan we just did it and if it makes any sense at all, it felt right?

The next thing I knew, light was shining in my van's side window. Jan was sitting there cross legged, still nude. That was a vision to wake up to, let me tell you. I wanted to just jump on her and do it again, but I didn't.

I got up, managed to drag my clothing on. Jan did the same. I got out, went around the back and got my little telescoping fishing pole. Jan followed me down to the edge of the tiny creek.

"Oh! You got one!" She exclaimed when a little silver bullet darted out of the weeds and grabbed my spinner.

It took me perhaps a dozen casts to come up with six nice Trout, each one a 7" carbon copy of each other. The red slash at their gills told me they were what we called mountain cutthroat, beautiful natural colors.

Those I cleaned, set out my gas grill and fried them up, along with some eggs I had in my cooler. I did notice the ice was mostly melted but they were still cool, so I cooked all five of those. We ate, then she helped me clean up and stow everything away.

"So, Jan. Where do you want me to take you?" I asked.

"I don't want you to take me anywhere."

"What?"

"I want to go with you." She said, grabbing me.

"But I don't.. what about your husband?" I asked.

"What about him? I don't want to go back there."

"Look, I like you but I can't..."

"I play bass guitar." She told me.

"You do?"

"Yes, plus I can sing some and I look good, just think. I can show a little bit on stage." She pushed out her upper body, that was interesting since now she didn't have that bra on.