Jem… Chapter 154

*Before…

Davey gets up and walks outside with his coffee and he lights a smoke once he’s outside. “Time to either mess with them and hope it doesn’t turn into a war or time enough to squeeze Randy and Danny and find out where the cookhouse is at and destroy it.”

“And that’ll protect Mike?”

“Mike’s already protected so yeah, it’s only if these guys get such a big deal like this with the club up and going that they’ll have enough sway to get Mike back on the chopping block as it were.”

I sigh…dammit…we really need to find those two now or something.

I mean this is Starlight Butterfly not Teller-Morrow.

*And Now…

It’s actually hard not to be nervous as the guys actually just sort of sit and they eat some breakfast and they’re doing that tough guy drink coffee and silently brood as they’re all thinking stuff that I’m actually really, really sure isn’t stuff that I’d get.

I’ve seen them all fight recently remember.

I can only take it so long before I get another coffee and I get a pair of Dad’s work boots on and I’m wearing them without the laces and I head off across the yard to the garage where the van is parked.

I look it over and the paint’s really mulched on the fender and it’s all bent in with a long stress tear and as I kneel under it I see the tie-rod is bent but good. I grab a wheelie board to get a better look and the frame actually looks okay but the axle looks off.

This is going to cost us and set us back some.

An older hunk of junk van and a likely questionable hit and run after the police file their reports and stuff and if the insurance covers it at all then it’ll be in their own sweet time.

(Sigh…) Yeah it’s all going to depend on what the cops are going to do.

We all pulled in there just as pissed as anything and I’m sure the guys at the garage are going to say stuff to the cops since they did call them on all of us and everything.

I don’t have a lot of faith in these cops here in town at the best of times but after everything that’s gone on since Adam and everything well it’s really tarnished any good feeling that I have of them.

And all of this isn’t including the lights and just…wow.

I’m pissed off.

And honestly it’s kind of hard to get me there since my pissed and hurt seems to have been graded on the Adam scale of things but yeah.

This on top of everything that’s happened with these guys and with Brooklyn.

This is all stuff we really didn’t need.

I slide myself out with the wheelie board and I see Dad there and he’s looking at me. “How bad is it?”

“Bad, the tie-rod and the axle plus the lights and the fender.”

“The frame?”

“It looks okay but honestly Dad it’s an old van and you’re not going to know until you get in there.”

“What if we don’t get in there?”

“Okay…what?”

“We get a new van.”

“A new van?”

“Literally a work van. Get it leased through your girl’s company.”

“But Rayne drives the van as her vehicle.”

“Oh and I don’t suppose that she’ll want three vehicles in the yard.”

“Or more, we have Carmen and heck even Kim or I might need or get wheels sometime.”

Dad nods. “You could see about getting the driveway fixed when you talk to the landlord about doing the work for the office garage.”

I think about it and we really don’t have that much room honestly in our driveway. Well we could but that would be really tight and there’d definitely have the guys parking on the side of the street in front of the house.

I mean that’s okay too but come winter it’ll be a whole other thing really.

But a big utility van would take a nice paint job and I have visions of the things that we could actually do and set up and carry with that actually.

“I’ll honestly have to talk to the girls

Dad nods and I head back inside pausing to hug him and I’m kind of quiet as Billy and Davie are in the living room sort of sacked out in the big chairs as Canada AM is playing as sort of background noise and I find everyone out back in the back porch and laundry room area or at least just the girls and Brooklyn’s actually playing her guitar all hooked up and stuff but just the instrumentals for *Hotel California* By The Eagles.

It’s a song that actually sort of fits the mood right now in the house this sort of grim day after fight hangover sort of music that you want to sooth you as much as it like digs deep.

I just sit and listen and we’re by no means like ready for the day or anything since we’re all mostly in varying states of semi dressed and there’s leftovers from Dad’s breakfast stuff and coffees.

I drink some more of mine and I take a quarter of a slice of toast that Rayne hands to me and I smile and I eat it. She’s wearing my Hamilton Steelheads jersey and underwear and that actually kind of makes me feel better in a little sexy personal yayness way.

And I don’t care if it’s like me liking this in a guy way because I’m actually pretty sure that it’s not in a guy way but it a lesbian way.

I mean that girlfriend in the shirt thing has to be sort of universal right?

Brooklyn finishes playing and she looks at me. “How’s the van?”

“Fooched." The axle and the tie-rod end are done in and we could fix them and we will be fighting with the insurance company or Dad thinks that we could get a new or newer van for the band and class it as a work vehicle for Starlight Music and Entertainment.”

I look at her. “How about you, do you want to lay off tonight?” I was asking her but I look at all of the girls.

Brooklyn shakes her head. “Screw that Ange I’m okay and actually playing will help me shove the fact I’m not stuck there anymore down they’re throats.”

“You know they might not be there.”

She shakes her head no. “Naw it’s like not about that it’s about them not getting the better of me and stuff. Like even if they never are around me again the fact that I’m out and I’m still doing gig’s with you all and actually doing what I want and getting paid and all is what I mean. I hope they think about it and choke on it.’

Y’know normally I’d be thinking all of the anger and things going on with Brooklyn might not be a good thing but honestly like I said I’m mad too at them and it’s like good for her.

Sometimes you have to get mad at the stuff that you’re supposed to get mad at.

So yeah I’m just nodding.

Then I ask. “So Dad had the idea of us maybe talking to the landlord and seeing about us actually fixing the driveway and making it bigger since we’re going to try and build an office in the garage anyway.”

Rayne nods. “Worth a shot and I’m all in favor of a new van especially for work.”

I look at her. “So what about you getting back and forth to work?”

Brooklyn says. “She can use my car and drive it to work as long as she like picks us up for school and everything.”

Rayne nods. “We can’t really afford for a new van and me getting a new car even if it’s an older car really.”

Kimmie asks. “What about the insurance, I mean we got it all on tape?”

I sigh and shake my head. “Not really an option with this bunch of cops we don’t even like know what they’re going to say or what the guys at the gas station that called them told them and everything.”

Kimmie’s like… “What? They’re not going to pay!?”

I shrug. “We’ll have to see honestly they might not or they might drag their heels on it anyways just because they’re insurance companies and they’ll want to try and hold out as long as they can.”

Rayne sighs and she gets up. “Well there’s actually no time like the present to get the ball rolling on this and see where we’re standing with the insurance and stuff. If we’re going to have a hard time I’d like to know right off from the start and then we can actually plan better.”

I nod. “Okay and I’ll get in contact with our landlord and see what they think. Hopefully there won’t be a problem either.”

I look at the girls and Carmen says. “We’re just going to chill out here and not do a whole heck of a lot right now.”

I smile at them. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll be back later.”

I take one of the laptops and I go out and upstairs and I use Mom’s room and there’s plenty of signal from our wireless so getting online is easy and I go online and check the file that I’ve been keeping to pay the bills and link to their e-mail address and I’m actually relieved since it’s Dixon-Booth Properties which I’ve never heard of before but their address in in North Bay and I’m pretty sure that it’s not hooked up with the Marshall family.

That’d be a nightmare, really Adam’s family as our landlord…I faux-retch a little at the though.

No this is likely one of the CN/CP rail landlord types. Like way back in the day the railroad actually worked. I mean we still have it but way back it really was something in a lot of places with all the mining and forestry here and the mills the train was one of the best ways to handle all of that. And that meant jobs and the railway workers had families and stuff so a lot of places like ours were built just for like that whole thing.

I’m actually in luck too with it being early enough on a Friday morning there’s people in the office and I talk to them and I tell them about the whole situation and what we want to do.

I get an e-mail from Danny Dixon. [ Miss Benton, believe it or not I’m a casual fan as my granddaughter follows Starlight Butterfly on her computer and since I think you have joined the band things have turned around since you’re three months’ rent ahead with us. If I was only this lucky with all of my renters lol.]

I reply with… [Thank you sir, honestly we’re really trying to just do our best and with us actually having a professional label or semi-professional label an office would be key for our growth and our next steps.]

[I’ll tell you what you send us some of that stuff you sell for the band and sign it To Lindy then as long as you have the right permits and send me copies you can do the things that you need to do.]

I send… [Thank you sir that’s very generous of you honestly and I’ll send out that stuff today even.]

[You’re a very nice young lady, it’s been a pleasure.]

I sign off and I lean back and fall onto the bed. Well at least we have that much accomplished really.

Now it’ll actually be getting the permits to do all of these things and here with us in this town that might be a whole other matter.

Hopefully not.

And hopefully the boys can get some of this stuff resolved with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum and we can somehow mess with their whole drug thing and if we can link that with Adam that’ll be even better.

Sigh.

Breathe…Breathe it’s not that bad as it feels or it sounds.

Lots of people get into trouble like this and there’s crappy insurance guys and then there’s towns that have rich asshole families in them like all the time.

I stare at the ceiling though and sort of just look at it and smile because Mom always wanted a four poster bed and dad sort of wheeled and dealt with people until he could bet posts which I think a friend of his made since the real deal is actually really expensive and stuff and he hooked all of it up and she made the cloth top and curtains and drape stuff herself.

It’s been here forever though and for some reason just looking at something mom made is actually making me feel better, fell happy or well happier and I stare at it for a while and it’s just sort of one of those things that just gets your head in the right space for no particular reason.

I’m seeing my and Rayne’s own bed but with a new sort of cover-tent-drape thing over head but with like this sort of quilty thing only it’s not like a quilty thing instead it’s like a band tee shirt kind of thing from like all these old and vintage bands and then there’s a few more ideas and a few more ideas and then…

Then I’ve got a notepad out and I’m writing again.

And somehow writing leads to grinning and I think that this will be another good song.

And something fun too.