Max Collins - Scratch Fever

First order of business at the end of a performance was getting paid, and since Jon was listed as leader on the union contract Bob Hale had signed, it was Jon who followed Bob back behind the bar again, through a hallway and into a small office. Bob paid Jon in cash, shook his hand, reminded him to keep in touch if he and Toni put another band together, and went back to the table out in the club where a short-haired brunette waitress with a slender figure and a tired, pretty face waited to be the queen of Bob’s waterbed this winter night.

Usually Jon waited till later to pay off the band members, but tonight he gathered them in the stage-right cubbyhole and gave them their shares, holding back his one-and-a-half shares (he owned the PA equipment and van and so got an extra half-share) as well as the agent’s commission. These five people had worked and lived together for some seven months, and despite their differences, this was an awkward if not exactly poignant moment.

Roc scratched the side of his narrow, faintly pockmarked face; he had some eye makeup on, which had always looked silly to Jon before. Now, for some unknown reason, Jon felt touched by the guitarist’s show-bizzy affectation, out here in the Iowa sticks.

Roc extended his hand, and he and Jon — the two strong ones in the group, whose conflicting tastes had made this split inevitable — shook hands in a sideways, “soul” shake.

“It’s been real,” Roc (whose real name was Arnold) said, with a small, embarrassed smile.

“It’s been real,” Jon agreed, giving him back the same kind of smile.

There was a brief round of handshakes; the boys, except for Jon, each gave Toni a hug. Mick advised her to “watch the sauce — it’ll catch up with you someday,” and she advised him to “watch that dope you smoke or you’ll wake up even dumber some morning,” and they all laughed.

“We’re not going to tear our stuff down tonight,” Roc told Jon. “Bob said we could come back tomorrow and do it.”

“I figured as much,” Jon said. He knew that they planned to rent a trailer to haul their amps and guitars away. Usually the band traveled in two vehicles: Jon’s van, with all the major equipment and room for two riders (invariably, Jon and Toni) and Roc’s station wagon, which held the other band members and a few odds and ends of equipment

“We’ll help take the PA and mikes down, of course,” Mick added. “Help you load your organ and stuff, if you want.”

“I appreciate it,” Jon said, and everyone left the little cubbyhole and wandered out onto the dance floor, where the lights had just come up, bringing the usual groans and moans from the crowd, who, like a mole caught in the headlights of a car, preferred the dark.

“What now?” Toni asked Jon.

“I think I’ll see if the phone’s free.”

“You already left your message, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. But I’d like to see if I can get through to Nolan, and not his machine. I’d also like to see if Julie and the Incredible Hulk are still around.”

They walked toward the outer bar.

“What if they are?” Toni asked.

“If Julie’s here, I want to talk to her. Like I said, maybe I can defuse this thing. If that guy’s still around and she isn’t, I’m curious to see if he’ll let me use the phone.”

“And if he won’t?”

“I’ll talk to Bob. He’s got a dog and a shotgun.”

They entered the bar; people were getting one last drink, but the booths on either side were empty — nothing but moisture rings and ashtrays full of peanut shells.

No Julie.

No Hulk.

“Let’s look around some more,” Jon said.

“Like outside?”

“Like outside.”

They went out on the wooden sidewalk that ran in front of the building. The night was cold; they could see their breath. It was November and it hadn’t snowed yet. People were getting into their frost-frosted cars, most of the couples hanging onto each other, some because they were drunk, others because they were horny, and in a lot of cases both. No sign of Julie or her Hulk.

“Let’s go back in,” Jon suggested, and they did.

They took a booth.

“I don’t know what to make of this,” he said. “I know she spotted me. Shit.”

“You got word through to your friend,” Toni said, sounding as though she were trying to convince herself as much as Jon. “Why worry about it?”

“What, me worry? Look, let’s go tear down the stuff and get the van loaded; the guys’ll help us, and maybe Bob and his people’ll pitch in, and we can get it done fast and head for Nolan’s.”

“Maybe he’s already on his way here.”

“You got a point. I’ll try him again.”

He went to the phone. He had a dime poised to drop in the slot when a hand rested on his shoulder. Not a big hand this time, but a smaller, softer one.

He turned and looked at Darlene, whom he suddenly remembered very well. Her long brown hair was in a sixties shag, and she did have lots of eye makeup (even more than Roc); she reminded him of Chrissie Hynde, of the Pretenders. A smiling, skinny girl, taller than he was, with pert little breasts bobbling under a Nodes T-shirt; he couldn’t remember that logo of his looking better.

She stroked his bare arm; he was wearing only a T- shirt, now, himself, also a Nodes T-shirt. She poked at the design on his chest, traced it with her finger.

“We look like twins,” she said.

“Not quite,” Jon said. “Hiya Darlene.”

An image of that shaggy brunette hair buried in his lap flashed through his mind; the van back behind the Ramp. Oh yes.

“I’m sorry you guys are splitting up,” she said. “You got a good band.”

“We had a good band. It’s over now.”

“I’m sad.”

“No big deal.”

“I need a shoulder to cry on.”

Your makeup’ll run , he thought, annoyed with her and with himself, because she was making his jeans tight.

“You still got your van?”

“Sure, but right now I gotta help tear down, Darlene.”

“This won’t take long.”

She had a whory mouth, but in a nice way, and though her teeth were faintly yellow, from smoking no doubt, they were nice teeth, and her tongue peeking out between the parted teeth was nice, too.

“How about another time?” Jon said. Polite smile.

“No time like the present.” She had hold of his arm, hugging it, tugging at him.

He glanced back at Toni, in her booth; she was smiling at him, amused. But then she mouthed something at him. He couldn’t make it out and squinted and Toni tried again: What about the dyke? she was silently saying.

Jon turned back to Darlene, said, “What about your friend?”

She was still tugging him along, toward the door. “You’re my friend, Jon boy.”

“Please don’t call me Jon boy. This is not ‘The Waltons.’ This is definitely not ‘The Waltons.’”

She laughed, as if she understood him. “Come on. I got a present for you.”

Jon didn’t smoke. Jon didn’t drink. Jon didn’t do dope. But Jon did have a weakness. And Darlene was definitely part of that weakness.

He went outside with her.

“I said, what about that girlfriend of yours?” he said, pulling loose from her, getting an arm’s length between them.

“She’s not here.”

“Well she was here,” he said. “I saw her.” He hadn’t, really, but Toni had.

“So she was here,” she said, “so what? She’s gone now.”

“Well, isn’t she your...”

“She’s just another guy to me.”

“So I gathered.”

“Come on, I got something for you,” she said, tugging him toward the van, which was parked way down at the end of the tin shed that was the club portion of the Barn. The Nodes logo on their T-shirts was also on the side of the van, painted there, frosted over at the moment. Hugging his arm, she pushed herself against him, snuggled against him. As they walked, their footsteps sounded hollow on the wooden sidewalk. When they spoke, their cold breath hung briefly in the air, as though the words themselves were hanging there.