You In?

I got the call at 7 am. It was Q. I hadn’t heard from him or anyone like him for years. I had been living a normal life with no drama, no anxiety, no craziness. Now I was being pulled back in to a life of no sleep, limited nutrition and a schedule that would kill most men. Q had a job and he wanted to get the band back together.

By the way, my name is Mansfield Grey, but the band calls me Manny. I had gotten a job driving truck delivering beer to local bars and liquor stores. I would leave in the morning and be back home every night, to eat dinner with the wife and kids. Things were good, at least that’s what I thought, or tried to convince myself. My head would always go back to the intensity of it all. There where times when I loved it, being the center of attention, just soaking it in, …and times when I hated it. There were always times when one minute you would be riding a huge wave of energy and be on the top of the world, and other times when it was over, you came down from the rush and you would long for that feeling again. The feeling that everything was right at that one particular point in time. That everything in the universe was where it was suppose to be. That was the feeling I had been missing! That was the rush I was lacking now.

Now Q called and wanted to get the band back together. The six of us had all gone our separate ways and now Q had a job for us.

Q says “Sticks had moved to Colorado to open up a chain of pizza joints to make a million in the weed state. Sticks always liked a slice when we where working, probably because he liked his smoke so as much.

Bronco took off up north and married a girl from the mail. I think she was from China. When she got here she set up house and took over. She soaked him for half, left him with her kids, and he hasn’t seen her since.

Axe is now a life guard in California. Sun and fun were always his motto, and man could he play! Sometimes I think he was the best ever when he got in his groove.

Then there’s Pogo. A real man’s man. No bullshit, just tells it like it is. No pussy footin around. If a job needed to be done in a hole of a place. He was the guy that rallied the troops to get our heads in it. Because of him, I think he was the guy that kept us together and alive, for so long.

Now Q, the man with all the words of wisdom, wanted us to get back together and do one more gig.

“It would be the gig to end all gigs” Q says. “So we could all retire and sail off into the sunset.”

Shit!!  How many times have I heard that come out of his mouth? My head is saying run! Don’t do it! Live to live another day! I  know how we get, when we all get together. We six guys have a chemistry that works well together to get each job done efficiently ,smoothly and like a work of art, but the tole it takes on our bodies and minds could end up destroying us.

Just then the phone rang. Right on que, it was  Q. “This is a secure line Manny, Whats your answer, are you in?”

“Yea, I am…I am in if all the others are in” I said.

Q replied “Alright alright, just like old times, Right on Manny, everyone else is a go. Usual protocol. Get some sleep old buddy, it’s gonna be a blast! We are gonna make a boat load of cash! …woohoo! Colonel wants the band to report to Fort Bragg in 2 days at 0600 hours. See you then good buddy. Bye.”

“Later Q”

PFT!…Here we go again. I thought.

Written by: Stephen Brown; Mansfield Grey