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Stories from the Verse
Re Verse All
Chapter 68: Takano 35
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Hastings 208
The club was crowded, but Tommy had brought her napkin signed by Johnny and flashed it at the door to get them to the front of the line. They got a better table this time, and Clark kept his word and danced with Dot.
Tommy realized that Jimmy and Peg were an awkward couple, that they both wanted to get together but neither of them felt comfortable making a move. She decided to give them a push. “You two should go dance,” she said. “I’ll be fine here on my own.”
“Are you sure?” Peg asked.
“Of course. I don’t know the dances anyway, so I’ll just watch.”
Off they went to join the others on the dance floor.
Johnny spotted her almost immediately--but of course he did, she thought, because he could feel her the same as she felt him, that scriff thing he told her about. He was definitely up to form, even showing off a bit for her, she suspected. That was fine. She didn’t really want to watch the dancers, anyway, and the way he spun and caught the sticks was definitely the work of years of practice.
When the band took a break, her friends returned to the table. Someone somewhere put money in a juke box, and songs familiar from the car radios started playing. Dot was still getting settled when Johnny came over.
“May I?” he asked, indicating a seat.
“Of course,” Peg said. “I’m pretty sure we came to see you.”
Tommy felt herself blush again as Peg gave her a pointed look.
“That’s fine,” Johnny said with facetious smugness. “I’m worth seeing.” He smiled. “So, Tommy, of course, and,” he closed his eyes and continued “Peg, Jimmy, Dot, and--and Clark, of course,” he said as he opened them again.
“That’s pretty good,” Jimmy said. “I think it’s been a month since you saw us.”
“Well,” Johnny answered, “Fans are important. Too many musicians take them for granted. You guys are people, and you’re not less important than the people on the stage. In fact, any importance we have we get from you.”
Tommy hadn’t thought of that before, but it made sense.
“So,” he continued, “let me give you another backstage pass, and I’ll see you after the show.” He signed another napkin, and then excused himself.
The group had skipped supper trying to get here, so they ordered food and soft drinks from an obviously overworked waitress, and waited for the second half of the show.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with five other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #379: Character Conundrums. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
