Up and Strumming

Listen

Ari chewed at one of her few dread locks. She watched roadies scurry around this way and that, rushing to finish setting up everything before the show. A huge stage was set before her, gigantic booming speakers on either side, up above, and on the ground. Wires were like snakes, slithering and hissing electricity this way and that, and they were everywhere. All around her, it seemed like there was no quiet space. Everyone was either tuning their instruments, or their voices.

I hope this isn't what they sound like when they perform. Ari smirked to herself. Eventually, it would be her turn to warm up, but not so open like some people were. She jumped off the speaker she was sitting on, timing it just right so the roadies behind her came to lift it off and away. She made her way through the chaos around her, bending this way, spinning that way, and twisting around effortlessly to avoid crashing into anyone. It almost looked like a dance. Dancing. Ari loved to dance. After the shows the Slits would play, they would sometimes go clubs nearby to celebrate their show, or even if it wasn't, just to have a good time. Ari would learn all her dance moves there by watching everyone and just imitating them. Some were better than others, but it was fun for her and she loved it

She strolled over back to home base, their trailer, and stepped inside. No one was there. She smiled. She walked over to their portable boom box and shuffled through a coupe cassettes Mick had left for them on the table.

"Don't know." Ari said as she went through them. "Don't know, don't know, don't care." She finally paused at one tape, studying it carefully. The name at least was familiar. "...Oh what the heck." She shrugged her shoulders and popped in the cassette. She waited a bit for it to roll, and she heard the soft beat of a snare drum. The rapping of a rattle snake sound came into play. Then came a light strumming, slowly building like the music in a scary movie. The crescendo carrying the suspension, little by little. Then there came a sound. A lovely, slight rasped sound. No, it was a voice. It was Marvin Gaye's voice.

"...Ooh, I bet your wondering how I knew
Of your plans, to make me blue
With some other guy you knew before
Between the two of us guys, you know I love you more..."

The lyrics were simple. Yet...they meant so much.

"Oh I heard through the grapevine,
How much longer will you be mine?
Oh I heard it through the grapevine,
And I just about to loose my mind..."

"Honey, honey, yeah." A voice said behind her. Ari jumped and spun around.

Joe leaned over the window of the trailer peering inside at Ari, a small smile on his face. "It's a great song...but I never took you as one for that type of music."

"It's uh...yeah..." Ari stumbled over her words. "I mean...Mick left it with some others on the table, and...I guess it just kind of caught my attention..."

Joe smiled. "It really is a great tune. A favorite of mine."

"Joe!" Ari heard Mick call. "It's our turn for sound check!" Joe peered over and gave a nod.

"Well," he tapped the window frame. "Gotta run. See you around, maybe I'll check you guys out during sound check. I've never heard your voice, but I bet it's nice...like your normal one." He smiled at her and walked away, taking her breath with him. Ari felt stuck in place. She felt the urge to do something...big and wonderful. She looked over at the tape, the song finished but the tape was still rolling. Suddenly, it popped in her head. Ari walked over to the cassette player. She pressed rewind.

***

"WOOOAH-OH, IM just ABOUT LoooooooSE MY MiIiIND, HONEY HONEY!"

"Damn Ari," Tessa said as her, Viv and Paloma climbed into their trailer. "Practicing hard aren't we?"

Ari spun around. "Guys!" She yelled. She quickly pulled them all in. "BAND MEETING!" She called. "Sit, sit, sit! Quickly!" All three women scurried around to find a seat, curious to see what the youngest had to say. Ari stood before them on a guitar amp and calmed herself taking deep breaths. She opened her eyes.

"Guys...we need to sound good at tonight's show." All three women looked over at each other curiously.

"Um," Tess raised her hand, slightly confused. "I thought we had already established that...without actually establishing it."

"And we had." Ari said jumping off the amp. "But I said good, and when I say good, I mean great, and when I say great I mean fantastic, and when I say..."

"Uh, could we get to the point please Ari?" Viv said looking over at the time. "We go to sound check in ten minutes."

"Ugh fine." Ari straightened herself. "You guys...this is the first gig we play that truly, really matters. All these big bands...this is the first time they're gonna hear us, and if we sound crappy..." She slowly sat back down. "Well, then...I don't know what's going to happen to us..."

They all say in silence for a bit.

"Damn." Tessa suddenly said. They all turned to her. She looked up...and grinned. "The youngest guilt tripping us all."

Viv stood up. She looked at the clock and turned back to the rest of her group.

"We have a few more hours till the show." She said thoughtfully. "During sound check, I want everyone just playing riffs. When we get back here, we'll practice our asses off. There's not much we can do, but we can at least try." They all stood up. Viv put her hand out. "Are we in this together Slits?"

They all put their hands in the middle, and huddled up for a group hug. Then, one by one they all stepped out the trailer with their instruments and walked toward the stage, looking extremely bad ass. XP

Ari was feeling better about everything. Her hopes were as high as her spirits were. She had a feeling everything was going to be ok...

A hand gently touched her shoulder. She whirled around into the deep dark eyes that belonged to Paloma.

"I appreciate what you said back there. Kind of a pep talk." She smiled softly. But then a some hint of worry could be seen in her eyes. "We aren't a bad band are we?" She whispered. Ari and Paloma stared at one another, millions of words being spoken, but not said. Finally Paloma gave her soft smile and walked ahead of her. Ari stood back for a moment thinking. Did she really think they were such a terrible group?

She turned and ran ahead. She grabbed Viv's arm just as she was approaching the stage.

"Viv!" She called. Viv gasped and almost tripped. She turns and yanked back her arm.

"Ari! Christ, you scared me! If I didn't know it was you I could've hurt you!" Her furious expression soften when she saw Ari's face in the verge of crying. She knew it was a fake reaction for Ari to get her way as she usually did, but she also knew how good a little actress she was. She sighed. "What is it Ari?"

"Um, Viv," she twisted locks of her hair around, trying to look innocent as she could be. "Could I maybe...not do sound check?"

Viv stared. "They need to see how your voice sounds through the mic Ari."

"No they don't!" Ari burst. She quickly cleared her throat . "Please?" She clasped her hands. "I want to save my voice."
Viv looked at her young bandmate for a good long time. She heard someone call her name. She turned back to Ari with a stern look.

"You either wait here, or in the trailer. If I don't see you in either places in ten minutes, I'm calling child services." With that, Viv turned and climbed up the stairs, leaving behind a grinning Ari, who by the way, never listened to Viv.