Every Night

Chp. 9

I awake to see Wayne looking at me. He has a wet towel on my head and looks very concerned. It's then I realize I'm no longer in town, I'm back in the hotel room. "You're awake," he exclaims, "you had me so worried!"

"What.... What happened?" I slowly ask.

"Well I checked your text and I decided to let Platz finish looking around the museum, but I came to find you. I wanted to make sure you were okay. So I finally got back to the bear and I saw you asleep against it. I went to go wake you up, but I poked you a few times, but you wouldn't stir. So I tried gently shaking you, but still, nothing. I started getting really really worried and I called up Ben and Platz and asked them to come back to the bear immediately. They got there and none of us could wake you up, the only way I knew you were still alive is because I could feel your heartbeat, but it was slow. We got a cab and got you into the back and we drove back to the hotel, then they helped me get you upstairs and on the bed, I've been watching you ever since."

"How long was I out?" I ask, rubbing my head, it's less sore but I still have a headache.

"An entire day and a half..... It's show day Dan. I've been sitting here the entire day just hoping you would wake up. What happened? You said you ran into some problems in the slums, and why'd you even go there alone?!"

"I didn't mean too, the road I was on just dropped you into the slums. And some junkie shoved his blunt in my mouth, and next thing I knew I fell asleep at the bear, and then I woke up here."

"You must of had a bad reaction to whatever he put in your mouth, I was so worried you were never going to wake up."

"Well here I am" I say with a smile. "You said it's show day, what time is it?"

"10 am, but don't worry we don't have to be there till 1 today. Are you sure you can do this? We can always just go home if you need to."

"No, these people are counting on me to be there tonight. And I'm gonna do it." I try to stand up to make my point but I get dizzy and fall back on the bed.

"Are you sure buddy? You don't seem okay to do it."

"I just don't want to disappoint any more people than I already have......"

Wayne sits me up and gives me a hug, "hey, I think I got an idea."

"What?" I ask.

"Wait just a sec." He takes out his phone and sends a quick text, within seconds he has a response, and just looks at me with a big smile.

"Whatttt?" I ask him again, "tell meeeee"

"You'll just have to wait and see."

I stick my tongue out at him and he does so back. "You weirdo," I tell him.

He just lunges himself over and gives me another hug, "come on bud," he says, "let's go get ready."

He takes my hand and helps me stand up off the bed and we make our way downstairs to the bus. Ben and Platz are already there, and when we get on they come over and hug me and say, "You're awake! You had everyone so worried."

"Sorry...." I said shyly, and I went to go sit down on the couch.

We arrived at the arena, and went into our usual routine. Luckily we didn't run into any annoying interviewers this time, and the interviews went quickly.

We begin to walk to the stage for sound check and Wayne's helping me walk out there, and I asked him again, "what's your idea? There's no way I can stand for so long."

"I know." He says with a smile, "come on and let's go get you set up."

He walks me out onto the stage, and right at the front of my stage they got me a chair, and gave me my set up right around me. I've got my drum, it's been cleaned up from where I hit my head, and my mic stand, lowered just enough I can reach it while sitting. Wayne takes me to have a seat, and then heads back over to get in place.

I get through sound check just fine, and once we're done, Wayne comes back to get me and we head backstage to wait.

I take a short nap in the green room to make sure I have enough energy to get through the show. Wayne nudges me awake what only seems like a few minutes later and says, "Stage call time bud, you ready?"

"Yep." I tell him and I get back up and we walk backstage together. We do our usual rituals, and a few extra ones to wish for a good show. The music begins and Wayne puts his arm around me and we walk up to the stage.

We get out in the lights of the stage, and as soon as everyone can clearly see us I heard the crowd start chanting softly, but then they get louder and louder, and they're chanting, "Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan!"

I turn to look at Wayne and he smiles at me and says, "see, they care about you."

He walks me up to my chair and helps me get seated, and then gives me a pat on the shoulder and head back to his guitar.

I look around the audience and there's so many sign, "We love you Dan!", "You can do it!", "We care about you!" And so many others, it would have taken forever to read them all.

Carefully, and using the mic stand for a support, I stand up just a bit and wave to everyone, and I just yell "Helloooooo Denver!" Into the mic and everyone cheers.

I sit back down and hold my mic up to me and say, "You may notice that setup is a little different tonight, for one the bass drum is up closer to the front, and the big one, I'm sitting down. I had quite the mishap in Chicago the other night." I say rubbing my head, "it ended with me having these," I say pointing to the stitches on my forehead, "I'm still a bit in rusty condition, so I'm sitting down tonight, but I'm still gonna give you my all!" I finish talking and the crowd erupts in cheers.

We start up the concert I belt out each song from my chair, trying to put as much energy into my voice as I can. I'm able to do my drum solos from the chair, and we make it through the entire show.

Wayne sets down his guitar and comes up front to help me stand up. He walks me back to the rest of the guys and we do our big bow. "Love you Denver!" I yell as we make our way off stage. We go stand outside and meet with a few people by our bus. Wayne stays with me to help me stand up, and people keep coming up to me and saying, "You did so good!" And "There was so much energy it didn't even matter you were sitting!" I look over to Wayne and gives me a big smile and says, "You rocked it bud, you really did."

We walked back onto the bus and headed back to the hotel, we leave for Arizona in morning. Then it's LA, and back home for one last show. And then I can go home.

Wayne helps me lay down and before he can get on his side of the bed, I'm asleep, with a big smile on my face. He gives me a big hug and says, "I knew you could do it." And we both go to bed.