Stallyn's World: Go Big or Go Home! [Currently On Hold]

Chapter 1

Bill S. Preston, Esquire

I flopped down onto the couch in a hotel room in Chicago.

"Well that was most non-triumphant," I grumbled, face down into a pillow, guitar still on my back.

"Tell me about it," Ted groaned, sinking into a chair. "The crowd was totally bogus!"

"Did you see that dude start leaving in the middle of our song?"

"Yeah!" Ted jerked up from his slouch in a rage. "He totally has no respect for rock and roll!" Ted sighed for a long time and fell back against his seat.

"And to think, we went all this way for nothing," he commented, picking up the remote control.

"At least room service is cheap," I reminded him, holding the hotel phone to my ear. Three chocolate cakes were the perfect way to solve any bogus gig.

Ted started channel surfing, so I tuned him out while I put in my order for the things that cheer us up the most: a 12 pack of Pepsi, three chocolate cakes, 5 pounds of bulk Skittles, and a 6 pack of microwavable movie theater popcorn.

Instead of watching tv with Ted like I always did, I started thinking about what went wrong tonight.

Was it because we didn't know how to play well?

Was it the lyrics that people didn't like? We tried hard to make them most relatable to the fans...

It didn't make sense! We played for a bigger crowd at Deacon's birthday party, and even a bunch of 10 year olds knew not to walk out in the middle of a set!

Was it because the amplifier caught on fire?

That must be it.

"Hey Ted!" I started, ready to explain our mistakes to fix it for the next gig --if there ever was one-- but Ted was already saying,
"Hey Bill!"

"You go first, dude," I said, chuckling it off.

"Nah, dude, you go first," Ted seemed most excited about something.

"I think I know what we did wrong tonight. Next time we should make sure the amplifier doesn't start on fire. Perhaps it made the fans feel endangered!"

Ted thought long and hard about it, then grinned and nodded, hair flopping everywhere. "Oh yeah! That makes sense! Okay, time for my news! I know how we can get famous, Bill!"

He was practically bouncing in his seat.

"How is that, my friend?" I sat up and leaned forward, interested.

"Wayne's World!"

Ted turned up the volume on the TV just in time to see two dudes air guitarring onscreen.

"They like all the things we do! I was watching them while you were on the phone, oh and get this! They're right in this city! Bill! Do you know what this means?!"

On his last sentence, Ted jumped from his chair and ran over to me and out his hands on my shoulders. The gesture was odd, but I was now too curious and excited to care how close my friend was.

"We're gonna be famous!" We yelled together. We shared a triumphant air guitar session just as room service arrived with our snacks.

I guess the night was not so bogus after all!