Memories of Her

Chapter 11: Getting Gigs

  It's Saturday. Mrs. Charles Has invited Andre and I for lunch at the diner. Mr. Charles is playing golf at the country club. Margaret is working at the diner. We'll join Margaret on her lunch break. At first I thought Mrs. Charles' invitation was unusual but it probably does get boring having lunch by yourself when everyone else is gone. She's been wanting to do different things lately.
Andre and I walk into Pete's Diner. I introduce him to Pete before we sit down with Mrs. Charles who puts down her issue of Ms. when she sees us. I notice she's had about six inches cut off her hair. It now goes to her collarbone shows off how youthful her face is. Definitely could pass for Margaret's older sister. "I like the haircut." I admit 

"Daddy, wasn't into it. Hates change." says Margaret, "Thinks Mom is having a midlife crisis"
Pete takes our orders. Margaret whispers after Pete leaves"I'm glad he ordered new uniforms-my old one had a few too many set in stains."

"You could've asked,Dear." says Mrs. Charles.

"I know but I was shy about it."

"That's silly. How is the band coming, boys?"

"Good. We're performing at the junior high spring dance next weekend" Andre says.

"Prince convinced the staff in charge to let me be a chaperone so I could come watch." Margaret says.

"Hmm...Got shows planned the weekend after that?" Mrs. Charles asks.

"No." I reply.

"One of my friends owns a boutique and is having a fashion show. She would love to have a young, fun group to perform. I can ask her if you want." 

"That would be cool!" Andre exclaims. I'm sure his alterior motive is looking at chicks, that's fun but I've got a girl and my focus is music.

"Then I'll call her and recommend you guys right away." Mrs. Charles says. She means it too- she gets up and calls her friend! Not one to play around, she puts me on the phone and we set up a time for her to listen to us tomorrow. 

"Thank you, Mrs Charles." I say.

"My pleasure."

"Nikki is having a birthday bunch at the country club next month. Maybe you can perform there?" Suggests Margaret.

"Isn't that place racist?With just a few token black families so the club looks good?" asks Andre. This is embarrassing to hear him say out loud even though I agree with him.

Mrs. Charles looks a bit surprised. "I'm sure those families are there for other reasons." she assures him. "You can get in touch with Nikki, I'm sure she'll be open to the idea of you guys performing. "

"That would be nice. We're just starting to book our spring and summer gigs. "

"Prince, why didn't you tell me! We do a lot of socializing. I can put in more good words for you." Mrs Charles smiles

"Asking to be our booking agent or something?" I laugh.

"Why not?"

"What do booking agents get paid?" asks Andre.

"Who cares? I'll do it for free." 

Mr. Charles comes in and greets us. Margaret gets some college brochures she had in her bag. "Daddy look! I was considering applying to these schools." she says

He goes over the brochures. "These look like decent schools. Where are they?" He asks

"New York City."

"Not happening. You need to be closer to home."

"But the internships I could get while being out there would rival anything around here."

"Being a student is probably the safest way for Margaret to experience New York." Mrs Charles interrupts. "She should apply and see if she gets accepted then we can discuss it"

"Fine" Mr. Charles grumbles.

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Margaret meets me at the junior high the night of the dance.Mmm... someone might have to chaperone me. She's perfected that "innocent sexy" look.

"You'll be great." Margaret tells me before kissing me and going to chat with the other chaperones who are all teachers. She keeps an eye on me as she watches out for misbehavior from the students.There's a boy being a wallflower and Margaret walks over to him with a smile. They talk a bit and she leads him out on the dance floor. The wallflower is grinning from ear to ear, probably dancing with the stunning older girl did it for him. He gets the courage afterward to dance with a shy girl. 

By the time the dance is over, it's still a little early so we take a walk around the school. "That was nice of you to dance with that boy." I say.

"Thank you. It was the least I could do. Did you see he had a really good time after that?" Margaret replies.

"Yeah, I saw him hanging out with the girl."

"They exchanged numbers" Margaret giggles

"Cool."

."About that fashion show you're performing at..."

"What?"

"I'm going to be in it. I didn't tell you because you'd have come and I'd have gotten nervous."
I kiss her. Musicians and models go together perfectly.