Last Bandit: Book 1 in The Bandits Series

New Thing

Chapter 16: New Thing ~

Now that it's June and the band has had many practices, I feel like it is time to book shows and perform for people. Together, we have enough original songs to last an hour or so. And we could always learn some covers.

After consulting with Davey and the boys, we all go to Alexandra, and it's as if she has been waiting for us.

"Finally," she says with a big grin upon her face.

The Troubadour isn't as crowded as it usually is tonight. There's still some room to move. On any other given day when there's a band playing, it's packed and nearly impossible to take even a step. The five of us lean against the bar, sipping our drinks of choice.

"Gotta a name yet? You know, a band needs a name."

"Yeah," I announce. "The Bandits."

Alexandra slowly begins to nod, and her smile becomes wide once again. "Simple. But clever. Very clever. I like it."

And now I've finally got a band together. The Bandits, a name Davey, Brian, Rex and I composed after we listened to The Dogs D'Amour album, In The Dynamite Jet Saloon. The song Last Bandit was our main inspiration, but we knew if we called ourselves The Last Bandits, we might be thought of as a cover band for The Dogs. We have original music that must be played under an original name. So we took out 'last'.

"I'll get to work. In fact, I'll go talk with the Troubadour guys and see if I can get you a gig here soon," Alexandra says. "Stick around so I can tell you what they said."

Then she's off on a sort of manhunt just to help a new band out. I really consider her a good friend. Not only has she assisted me with my band, but she has been a good person to talk to. She's the only one who knows about Mary Ann. Alexandra's almost like the sister I never had. I think girls are wonderful in many different ways.

I hang with my brother, Brian and Rex at the bar, all of us drinking and laughing. I'm really excited about the group the four of us have made and perfected, and I can tell the boys are aflame too. There's fire in each of their eyes. And I can feel the sparks fly around in mine, just waiting to be released into a crowd of music lovers.

I've been feeling really good lately. Except I haven't heard back from Mary Ann yet. It has been almost a month since her last letter, and that's making me quite anxious. I wonder what she could be up to, what's keeping her from writing back.

"Could you imagine, Johnny, if we get signed?" my brother fantasizes, a little drunk from the vodka drink he has been sipping. "Our lives would be flip-flopped, and we'd be rich and famous and our music would be heard around the world." He looks off into the crowd with his mouth hanging open into a smile. "We'd be so happy."

It's nice to dream about those things. I've dreamt about making it big for the past ten years of my life. And I'm sure Davey has too. That's why he travelled to L.A. in the first place, and though I'd be absolutely ecstatic if The Bandits got signed by an actual record label, I think Davey would be the happiest of us all. He has been waiting so long for a chance. Perhaps this band is his ticket to freedom from all the things eating away at him. I realize he's not as content as I thought he was when I first saw him again.

Almost every night, before I fall asleep, I take the time to recognize where it all went wrong. First, there was my father's tragic death. His life was taken away from him in a flukey car accident when I was six and my brother, eleven. Life for us and our mother was very hard between then and her death. We jumped from house to house, school to school within Ohio until we settled in Helena, where she ultimately died of Leukemia. But I shouldn't think of that now, while I celebrate with friends. It's a part of the past. This band will determine my future.

The rest of the night is spent in a drunken haze. I practically drown myself in Jack Daniels, and Davey, Rex and Brian all feed themselves an oversupply of booze. The hours tick by as we party. Alexandra joins us, baring good news that I forget already.

Outside, everyone spills onto the streets. I openly ask a guy if he has anything on him. And he tells me all he has is weed. Davey and Brian buy some from him. Rex is broke. I move on to another guy.

"Hey, you have any pills?"

"I have a coke, man, that's it."

"Hey, you have any pills?"

"Just weed, dude."

"You got any pills?"

"Yeah, I have some Valium and Opium."

Finally. I order my medicine, "I'll take both."