088: Rafe

The curtain that closed us off from the rest of the company was pulled aside, letting in cooler air. I think we are both light sleepers, and we both squinted into the dim light. It was Holli, she just stood there, with the curtain pulled back and her hand on the top. Staring.

I turned over to look at her. This was fairly unprecedented. Completely unlike her, or anyone for that matter. She was scowling.

"You have a decision to make." She said without preamble, and Aubrey sat up and scooted back against the wall of the bus. I saw Ben come up behind her and lean against the wall. He looked sleep ridden as well, and his long hair was wild. His nose was running, and he wiped it on the back of his hand. I pointedly looked away thinking they both had no manners.

"What is it?"

"The venue canceled." Holli said. I noticed that Allen had come up also, and Jeff was behind him.

"Should we talk about this out in the lounge?" I asked, swinging my legs off.

Holli grunted. "Just the band, Rafe. We don't need everybody."

I cocked my head to one side. "What are you talking about?"

"Her." Holli sneered without any affectation, she was openly challenging Aubrey.

I shrugged. "Aubrey is my fiancé, and her opinion is necessary. To me." I added, as Ben and Jeff both looked affronted. We generally made decisions as a whole, but when they'd each gotten married or a serious girlfriend, we had included said women.

"I don't---." Aubrey could be counted on to make herself inconspicuous, but I wasn't letting Holli bully her. We both padded down the hallway after Mutt and Jeff.... Did you ever notice that Mutt and Jeff are the names of cartoon characters?

I looked out the windows. It was late afternoon, almost evening. I knew the venue was a smaller one--- a club venue—one we might not have originally considered, except we'd played there years ago, and it was sentimental. And we'd met the owners and liked them. "So, what happened?"

"Basically, they can't handle us. The inside area isn't big enough--- and the town square which is outside is not--- secure. After what happened when you went to church, your security detail decided to check out the venue and talked to the owners and they all decided---."

"Wait! Whose security? Our security, or her security?" Jeff cried in awareness. I leaned against the wall, Aubrey sat in the recliner and pulled up her feet.

"All the security." Holli admitted, I'm sure she wished it was just Aubrey's so she could blame it on her. I knew she didn't like being usurped by someone more connected and with more clout that her. She liked to be the goddess of the tour.

The door opened and Lavon stepped up the stairs. I moved so he could see.

"There was a shooting in that club just a week ago." Lavon said. "There was a fire the last time a band played there, and a lot of fighting. Six people were killed in the stampede."

I nodded and stroked my chin. "That's good enough for me guys. What do you think?"

We were actually not the kind of band to take those kinds of chances. We'd not played Mexico before, on purpose--- or South America either--- except Rockin' Rio, but there were too many crazy things happening in those parts of the world, and we weren't a druggie group. We'd been through all that and we were older and wiser now, and we made lots, lots more money in Europe or the States.

"I say we scrap it." Ben said easily, "But I don't want to travel tonight. There's this canyon close by—called Copper Canyon, and it's got the longest zip line in the world. I want to take tomorrow and go there."

I glanced at Aubrey whose eyes had perked up at Ben's description. She mouthed the words, Sounds fun, to me and I nodded.

"There was this band I think they were called Full Mouth Dying, and they actually did piercings on stage for their fans. Anywhere you wanted to be pierced, they'd do it right there. The girl was into sadomasochism." Dylan offered this tid-bit and we all turned to him like--- what are you talking about.

"Don't be a dick." Mutt said. "We're not doing this."

"I tell you what. I'll go talk to the owners. I'll see if they want just me to come and do an informal thing--- talk and film and sign autographs and take pictures. We'll give away some t-shirts and hats and stuff."

"Great idea, front man. It pays to have a front man." Allen put in enthusiastically.

I watched the guys.

"Are we safe here?" Ben asked.

Lavon looked up. "Pretty safe. I think we drive down to Chihuahua and stay at the Parque we supposed to be at, and you guys do you thing tonight and tomorrow, and no issues. We drive on schedule tomorrow night."

"I want to know if you think this has anything to do with Aubrey Mann and her entourage accompanying us." Holli said.

"What? Why would it have anything to do with her?" Dylan whistled. "She's just his girl, if her daddy wants to send his own paid security, good for us. We could let two of our guys go."

I glanced at Dylan who could really be a dick sometimes. "We're not letting anybody go. Her guys are self-sufficient. I for one am glad they were with us today." I told them all, and everybody nodded except Holli who was still scowling. I think it was a permanent scowl.

The guys were all nodding.

I turned to Holli. "Any objections? Can we rearrange ourselves to fit this slight deviation?"

She looked annoyed. "It is a deviation, but I guess it won't hurt anything, and it's just one day. I think in the future you should clear any other outings to church or canyons or whatever with me in advance."

I shook my head. "That's not ever been in our----."

"Okay." Aubrey sat up straight. "But it is now. Yes, we will check in and let you know where we're going, Holli. I really appreciate your concern. It makes sense. Traveling in a foreign country, and a kind of unstable one at that, with a known affiliation with drug cartels. Yeah, we don't mind checking in and asking the bodyguards to come with us. Mine will be with me all the time now, so you might want to make alternate assignments for your best trained guys to keep track of these guys. Thanks for your forethought." She smiled winningly at Holli, who sputtered, and pursed her lips.

But I could tell that Aubrey's words had hit their mark. Holli was pacified and the guys didn't have to concede any weakness. They'd had the decision taken out of their hands. Everyone was satisfied. Aubrey went back to her Kindle.

There was nothing else to say. "I'll go make arrangements for Rafe. Will you be going too, Miss Mann?"

"Oh, call me Aubrey." She said with a smile, and her best patient doctor voice. "Yes. I'll be going."

I was surprised at her sudden confidence, in handling Holli for sure, but also in making the decision to come with me. It made me look at her differently. She wasn't that scared girl she'd been this morning after church for those few minutes and then at the river. Either she'd got over it, or just made up her mind to deal with it.

Holli left and Lavon said he'd go make arrangements also. That left the band--- and Jeremy, and Levi came in after Lavon left. We normally didn't hang out with the other bands all that much, but it seemed that we'd made some friends.

"So, the shootings you were talking about, Jeff?" Ben said.

"Oh, yeah, in the seventies, this metal band got all shot up on stage. Their lead singer died, and a bunch of other people."

"In the seventies." I repeated with a sad shake of my head. "Not like the danger is now."

He shrugged. "The danger could be now. I don't think it's a good idea to court danger. We aren't liked in every circle. I get hate email all the time. People saying they want to kill me and stuff."

"You report it right?" I prompted.

"He doesn't get death threats all the time. He's had the one we all know about, and that was in connection with that scandal when everybody thought you two were an item. It was probably some crazy girl fan, all butt hurt that Rafe wasn't in her bed."

"I don't even do social media anymore much." I said. "Occasionally."

"I look at yours all the time." Mutt said. "You post business crap, that's about it, and your fans still love you."

"Remember that time when Ronny was our drummer and he was throwing up on stage and really sick, and he passed out? That's when that kid from the audience came up and drummed the rest of the set." Dylan laughed.

It stuck in my craw, because Ronny was our first drummer, and when he quit, Troy took over and was our drummer till just three months ago. I didn't need the reminder.

Levi stepped up and sat down on the couch, and somebody gave him a beer. "I know of a couple of fans that got hit by lightning at a Grateful Dead concert."

"I heard they all lived." Mutt announced popping the top on his own beer. "So what are we doing tonight if Rafe and Aubrey go out?"

"Flip Wilson died of a heart attack on stage."

"He had a heart attack on stage, and died eight months later." Aubrey said. "Dick Clark paid for all or most of his medical bills."

"And then there's Bowie." I said.

"Aw... legend." Aubrey agreed and wiggled her fingers at me. I didn't peg her as a Bowie fan.

"An idiot fan threw a lollipop on stage and it hit him right in the eye and it stuck there."

"No way!"

"Yeah. Someone look it up. There's pics of it." I said, and they all bent to their phones, all except Aubrey who was looking at me with a mixture of amusement and interest on her face. Maybe she hadn't known I was a Bowie fan either.

"It hit him in the bad eye." Aubrey said. "He did have to have surgery to remove it, but he already had the childhood accident that caused his eyes to be two different colors."

Everybody looked up at her. "What? So I revere the greats. David Bowie is----." She gave a rapturous sigh. "Well, if you don't like Bowie, I am sorry for you."

"We have Labyrinth." Someone called out and Aubrey sat up enthusiastically.

"Let's watch it now!"

I chuckled. Of course, she would want to watch it now. What a girl. Silly girl, silly manipulative girl, took their minds right off weirdness's. We put on Labyrinth, and sat down to watch Jennifer Connelly act immature, cute and whiny, while Bowie sabotaged her in the maze.

I was on the phone and in the other lounge talking with Holli and Allen. The club agreed to the appearance, and Holli got it all fixed up with our camera crew and music photographers. We had to rig it with security also. This was a newer aspect of touring I hadn't dealt with before. Not that I didn't understand the need for security, and setting things up, I did, and I'd done it myself for many years, actually. But I'd also let it go over the last little while, in favor of quite a few other ventures, especially in production, that I found more interesting.

It was getting hot inside the bus, even with the air conditioner running, and I was ready to get up and get out anyway, so I signaled to Aubrey.

"It's the dance scene!" She protested as she kept her eyes on the screen, while making her way over someone's legs to my side in the hallway.

I knew the dance scene was every little girl's favorite. I'd been told by a model friend that Jennifer Connelly's dress was to die for.

"What is it about the dance scene?" I asked for good measure and because I wanted to see if Aubrey had the same opinion as the others.

She brightened, leaning into me suggestively. "I'm in love with Jareth in the dance scene. He's vulnerable to her. It's the best part."

"Let me get this straight. You're in love with Bowie?"

"Just Jareth, in that scene, haven't you seen it? He's looking for her, not because she is his nemesis, but because he is secretly in love with her, and needs her and wants her, and---." She purred against my chest with a very provocative smile and I had to laugh.

"So that's what girls want? To be needed and loved and wanted? God, Aubrey, that's everything I am for you! Just marry me now."

She wiggled her fingers at me. "Rafe." Her eyes literally flashed in the fluorescents. "Rafe." Now she shook her head in mock disappointment. "You'd better just open up the safe and pay up now, and I'm changing the rules for you. If you take His name in vain again, I swear to you--- swear to you, Rafe--- I will--- I really will--- go home."

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