Thunderbowl - Lesley Choyce [4]
“One o’clock in the morning?” I asked Al. I was just starting to get an idea of how complicated my life was about to become.
“What’s the matter, Germ? Past your bedtime?” Al grabbed the beer from me and slugged it back.
What the hell had I got myself into? How was I going to make it to school the next day? What would my parents say?
“What if Stewy finds out I’m only sixteen?” I asked.
“Then we’re screwed, that’s what,” Drek said. He leaned over me and made it sound like a threat.
Al grabbed him by the shirt and pushed him back to the wall. “Lay off, buzzbrain. Germ here is the key to our success. This kid has million-dollar fingers. Without him we have no gig. So be nice.”
“Okay, okay. I was just goofing. I’m sorry,” Drek apologized. I knew he wasn’t threatening me anyway.
Just then the girl came up and started talking to me. “I liked your music,” she said. “I think you blew them all away.” She had long brown hair and a funny crooked smile. She said her name was Suzanne. “Can I buy you a beer?”
I didn’t want a beer. I wasn’t used to drinking. I wanted to go home. I was tired. But it had been so long since a girl, any girl, had been interested in me that I couldn’t just walk away.
“Be a gentleman,” Drek urged, pushing a ten-dollar bill into my hand. “Buy the lady a beer.”
So I left the guys and sat down at a table and bought her a beer. And then she bought me one. That’s how it started. We had this incredibly dumb conversation about different guys she had gone out with. They all sounded like slobs or jerks. She said she had even gone out once with Richie Gregg. Now she hated his guts. Who didn’t?
When I got around to looking at my watch, it said one-fifteen. I was thinking about my parents. I was thinking about the homework I should have finished for tomorrow. I felt a little polluted from the beer. And scared. I’m not sure why. Things were moving too fast.
The music had made me a lot higher than the beer. I didn’t want to come down. I looked at Suzanne. I looked around at the crowd thinning out of The Dungeon. And I looked again at my watch. I knew that this whole scene was going to be my downfall.
And I couldn’t wait to get started.
Chapter Four
I was still dreaming that I was up on stage when my old man stormed into my bedroom. He walked over to the window and snapped the shade so it flipped up to the top. Sunlight poured in like someone had just turned on a spotlight.
“Jeremy, get up! Where were you last night?” He was walking back and forth in front of me.
“Yeah, well… it’s just that… well, the band… we were playing and—”
“Don’t start telling me Thunderbolt—”
“Thunderbowl, Dad.”
“Whatever. We didn’t raise you to be a… a guitar player.” His voice was getting louder and louder.
“Dad, you don’t understand. Something happens when I’m playing music—”
“Yeah, I’ll say something happens. You start forgetting about real life. I should never have bought you that guitar. I’m going to put my foot down. You have to get home at a sensible hour or quit the band.”
He was still pacing back and forth, ranting and raving. I stumbled out of bed and picked my clothes up off the floor. I didn’t want to hear another word. All I wanted was to get out of there. Forget the socks. I put on my shoes and walked out. So I was a few minutes late for home-room. You’d have thought I had just set off World War Three.
When I got home for dinner, Dad had cooled down. His company had landed a big fat contract, and as far as he was concerned all was right with the world. He had had his talk with me and now he figured I would do the right thing.
“Well, Jeremy? Have you given some thought to what we talked about this morning?” he said as we sat down around the dinner table.
“Dad, I can’t quit the band until they find another guitar player.” I was just stalling. No way was I giving up Thunderbowl.
“But you are going to quit?” he asked.
I