The Life We Once Knew

Thunder, Lightning, Rain, and Clouds

Four people, that's what we needed. In order to make a storm you needed four things; thunder, lightning, rain, and clouds. Four parts of a whole. That's exactly what Storms Over London needed.

It would be the exact change we needed. Not only would we have a different name, but we would be a different band entirely, save for two members. Linda and I were the rain and the thunder. Linda was the rain, with her melodic piano playing that's all she could be. I was the thunder. With each beat of the drum, I created a clap of thunder to shake our entire band. All we needed was the lightning and the clouds. 

"I swear, if a bloke walks through those doors, I'm gonna lose it," I said.

Ellen shook her head, "I already told Prudence to turn all of the men away."

"And she'll do it too," I replied, "That girl is stubborn."

"And you're not?" Linda asked.

"We all know I'm stubborn."

Sitting at that table, I had deja vu. It was exactly like when we auditioned and found Linda, except a different blonde was sitting next to me. Mitch had set up a long table in the studio with enough room for four people. We all sat in a row, waiting for the first contestant.

Paul had graciously agreed to babysit Vera for the day. He was still healing from his accident and wasn't supposed to do anything too strenuous. Luckily, Vera was a low-maintenance one-year-old, most of the time.

"Let's call in the first girl," Mitch announced.

The first girl was young, perhaps around nineteen. She stood with her chest puffed out and a confident smile on her face. An acoustic guitar with hippie designs drawn all over it was slung across her back. That guitar reminded me of Janice, she used to doodle on her guitar like that too. The girl waltzed in with pure confidence. As soon as she spun around and her eyes landed on the four women behind the table, she lost everything. Her eyes landed on me and every ounce of confidence left her. She deflated in front of our very eyes like a balloon with a hole in it.

"You alright, lass?" I asked.

She opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. Linda and I exchanged confused glances. Ellen leaned forward, "Do you need some water?"

"I-" she shook herself, "I-I-"

"Cat got your tongue?" I asked.

The girl began to blush, "You're-you're Amelia McCartney. And you're Linda Eastman."

"Oh, good, you know our names," I laced my fingers under my chin and smiled, "Care to tell us yours?"

"I-um-I'm guitar. No, I mean, I play guitar. I'm bandabella. Wait, no, Anabella."

She was growing steadily redder with every passing second. I was legitimately scared she might faint, being starstruck does that to a person. Linda shook her head and whispered, "She's starstruck."

"Course she is," I muttered under my breath, "Alright, Anabella, can you play?"

"Yeah-yeah, I can."

"Go on, then."

She pulled her guitar in front of her and began to play. Her hands were shaking so bad, it's a wonder she managed to hit the strings at all. Every chord was off and she couldn't even get the words out to sing. Throughout her entire song, Linda, Ellen, Mitch, and I all exchanged glances. When she finished, I sighed deeply.

"Look, Bandabella," I grinned, "I'm sure you're a gear guitarist, but not when you're lookin' at us. Maybe this band isn't the best for you."

She nodded vigorously. Linda leaned forward and smiled, "It was nice meeting you."