The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) (16 page)

BOOK: The Sweetest Gift (The Gift)
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“That’s why it’s always so great when we are finally
alone,” Maggie replied.

Justin went to let his parents in the house and the
children came in from the back patio.

“Thanks again for agreeing to watch the kids while we’re
on stage,” Justin said.

“No problem dear,” Justin’s mother replied. “We’re
looking forward to the concert. We haven’t seen you play with your band in a
year or two. And we’re especially looking forward to hearing Maggie sing.”

Maggie smiled at Justin’s mother and thanked her.

“O.k., let’s have a quick lunch and then head out to Oakland. We should probably get there a couple hours before the concert starts,” Justin
said.

Justin drove Maggie and the children to the Coliseum in
his van, and his parents followed them in their car. They figured if they took
the two cars, then Justin’s parents could take the children home early if they
got bored. They pulled into the special parking lot and checked in with the
security guards. Justin led them through a side door to the area in back of the
stage where the band usually hung out before the show. Justin’s band had played
at the Coliseum dozens of times over the years, so this gig wasn’t a big deal
to them.

The security guard nodded at Justin as he led everyone
to the band’s dressing room. Justin knocked on the door, and a voice called out
from inside the room, “Wait a minute.” They waited for a couple minutes and
then finally Ray said, “O.k. you can come inside now.”

Maggie could tell by the pungent smell that they had at
least been smoking a joint. As they walked in the room, Belle wrinkled her nose
at the smell.

“Hey Justin, hey Maggie,” Ray said. He smiled at the
children. “Are you excited about the show?” They all nodded yes. “Hi, Mr. and
Mrs. Boudreau. We haven’t seen you at a show in a while. It’s good to see you.”

Justin’s parents smiled back.

Ray turned towards Justin again.

“So where do your parents and kids want to watch the
show? They can either watch from the side of the stage or we have some extra
seats up in one of the boxes. They might be able to see better from up there.
Denise and the kids are going to sit up in the box.”

Justin looked at Maggie and thought for a second.

“Maybe my parents should take the kids up to the box.
The music won’t be so loud up there, it gets pretty loud on stage. “

“I’d like to watch from the side of the stage so I can
see the band play,” Gabriel said.

“Me too, Daddy,” Jake chimed in.

“What do you think Maggie?” Justin asked.

“Well, I think it would be o.k. so long as no one gets
underfoot.”

She turned towards the children and said, “And you
should let the band have some privacy in the dressing room, as they need to
warm up for the show.”

Maggie saw a half-smile on Gabriel’s face. She had a
feeling that he knew exactly what warming up for the show meant.

One of the members of the sound crew on the side of the
stage cleared his throat loudly. Justin turned to his parents and said, “Maybe
you can watch the kids for a while so Maggie and I can do the sound check.”

The children and Justin’s parents sat in some chairs at
the rear of the stage, while Maggie and Justin went to the front of the stage
to check out their microphones. Justin had Maggie sing into her mic and he
helped adjust the stand until the microphone was the exact right height for
her. A member of the sound crew explained to Maggie that they didn’t have any
monitors on stage and that all the musicians had to wear a small receiver and
stereo ear monitors. He held out the ear monitors to her which looked like
hearing aids. Then he asked Maggie and Justin to sing into their mics so he
could check the levels. The rest of the musicians also checked their mics and
tried playing their instruments. Next the sound man requested that they play a
song so that he could check the mix. Ray looked at the band and started to play
the “Hesitation Blues”. When they were done with that number, then Ray
suggested that Maggie sing “Me and Bobby McGee”.

“I don’t think I practiced that with you guys,” Maggie
said.

“I know,” Ray said. “I’m sure you must know it though.”

Maggie looked over at Justin and laughed briefly. They
had played this song many times together in the Bayou Blasters.

“Yeah, I know it. Key of A.”

The band kicked off the song and Maggie started singing
the lead. She noticed that she was having a hard time hearing herself in the
tinny-sounding ear monitor. She looked at the sound man and pointed at her ear,
and he adjusted the sound so that she could hear herself a little better. When
they finished that song, Ray asked her to sing a little of “Piece of My Heart”.
She blasted out the first verse, and the sound man sitting at the console in
the arena gave her a thumbs-up. The band then proceeded to briefly run through
a couple more songs until they were completely satisfied with the sound.

“Of course it will sound different once you get 50,000
bodies packed in here,” Justin said. “So they’ll have to adjust it again, but I
think that’s the best we can do for now.”

Maggie and Justin went to the back of the stage where
his parents and the children were waiting.

“That was cool Mom,” Gabe said. “You sound great with
the band.”

“Yeah, that was cool,” Jake echoed and he reached for
Justin’s hand.

“Let’s go to the dressing room. They’ll probably have
some food back there. We can hang out and relax for a while before the show
starts,” Justin suggested.

When they got to the dressing room, they found there
were platters of cold cuts for sandwiches and chafing dishes with lasagna and
chicken parmesan. The rest of the band had already started helping themselves to
the food and the various beverages. Maggie and Justin filled the children’s
plates with food and they sat down at a table next to Ray and Denise and their
children.

“I love your outfit, Maggie,” Denise exclaimed.

“Thanks,” said Maggie.

“Yeah, me too,” said Ray trying unsuccessfully to not
stare at Maggie’s breasts.

“It gets awfully hot under the lights, don’t you have
problems with the leather pants sticking to your skin?” Denise asked.

“I just use a little talcum powder,” Maggie laughed.

“Well, they certainly look great on you,” Ray said
appreciatively.

Maggie smiled at him and took a sip from her bottle of
Coke. Denise suddenly caught the flash of Maggie’s engagement ring.

“Are you and Justin engaged?” she asked.

“Yes.” Maggie looked over at Justin and smiled.

“There are going to be a lot of disappointed women out
there,” Denise said to Justin and laughed.

Maggie noticed Susan who was talking to Dave at another
table. She had obviously heard their conversation and indeed, looked a little
disappointed.

“I imagine there will be a lot of disappointed men too,”
Ray said much to Denise’s annoyance.

“So have the two of you set a date yet?” Denise
continued.

“No, we haven’t gotten that far yet. I don’t think we
will wait too long though. We should have gotten married a long time ago,”
Justin said looking lovingly at Maggie.

“So are you going to move to California, Maggie?” Ray
asked.

“I don’t know yet. I still own a house in Louisiana with Zak, it’s next door to Justin’s house.”

Jake looked alarmed at this talk of moving.

“No, we’re going home so I can see my other Daddy and go
to school,” he said decisively.

Maggie and Justin exchanged looks.

“I guess we’re going to have to figure that out,” Justin
said.

 

The time finally came for the show to start. At the
children’s urging, Maggie and Justin decided that the kids could sit with
Justin’s parents at the side of the stage. Denise had some extra ear plugs in
her handbag that she gave to them before she left with her kids for the safety
of the box. As the band hit the first few chords of their opening song, Maggie
decided that the ear plugs had been a wise precaution. She found the drums to
be especially loud on the stage.

After they finished playing the first song, Maggie
looked out over the roaring crowd. She realized it was just a sea of tiny faces.
The stage was about twelve feet above the ground and Maggie felt completely
removed from the audience. She started to feel a little panicky and looked over
at Justin for some reassurance. He walked over and asked her if she was o.k.

“I guess so, it just all seems pretty weird. It’s making
me incredibly uncomfortable.”

“Try not to think about it, Maggie. Just focus on me and
the music. Try to pretend we’re at Ray’s, playing in the studio.”

She took a deep breath and then smiled at him.

“O.k., I think I’ll be fine.”

The band played a couple more songs with Maggie singing
harmonies and then Ray decided to introduce her to the crowd.

“Some of you might recognize our guest vocalist, Maggie
Mae Williams. We are honored to have her sing with us today. The next song was
written by Kris Kristofferson and features Maggie on lead vocal.”

The band started playing “Me and Bobby McGee”. Maggie
had played this with Justin many times and felt more comfortable now that she
was on familiar territory. They looked into each other’s eyes as they sang
together on the chorus. They were almost done with the song when suddenly Jake
ran out on stage and threw his arms around Maggie’s knees. He looked out at the
people in the audience who were cheering loudly. Maggie and Justin and the rest
of the band started to laugh. They finished the song and Justin took his son by
the hand.

“I guess my son Jake wants to say hi to everyone,” he
said into his mic.

The audience roared in appreciation.

“Maggie is Jake’s mother and she and I are getting
married soon.”

Justin leaned over and kissed Maggie. There were more
cheers and deafening applause. Justin’s parents came out on stage and retrieved
Jake.

“Maybe you should take the kids to the box. They can sit
with Denise and her children,” Justin advised.

“Sorry, son. He just took off before we could catch
him.”

“That’s o.k. Dad, don’t worry about it, he just likes
being part of the music.”

After Justin’s parents and Jake left the stage, Maggie
stepped up to the microphone to address the audience.

 “Well, as you just heard, I have an in with the band
and that’s why they’re allowing me to sing with them today,” Maggie said and
laughed.

“O.k. Maggie, now you’re going to have to prove
yourself,” Ray said and he turned to the band and said “Ball and Chain”.

Maggie grabbed the microphone and tried to center
herself as the band played the introduction and then she blasted into the
chorus. She pulled back a little and sang the first verse with as much emotion
as she could muster. The sound crew was stunned by her vocal ferocity, and a
silence fell over the crowd as they listened to her gut-wrenching blues. When
she was done singing, the crowd went completely wild. Maggie waited patiently
for the noise to subside and then she said into the microphone, “Thank you. I
wanted to sing that song for Janis. I’ve been thinking about her a lot since
I’ve been in the Bay area. She has always been an incredible inspiration to
me.”

She looked over at Justin as she finished speaking and
he could see that she had tears in her eyes. She turned around and faced the
back of the stage for a moment so she could regain her composure. She caught
Ray’s eye, and he started to lead the band in one of their well-known
instrumentals. This gave Maggie some time to recover so that she could sing
harmony with them on their next tune.

The next two hours went by in a blur. The band played
many of their hit songs, but also played some of their more obscure songs as
well. They seemed determined to test Maggie, but fortunately she had an
encyclopedic knowledge of rock and roll, so she didn’t have any trouble
following them. Ray finally asked Maggie what she wanted to play.

“I’d like to do a song for you, Ray,” Maggie said with a
smile. “Do you guys know the Townes Van Zandt song ‘White Freightliner Blues’?”

Justin and Dave looked at Ray and laughed.

“Oh yeah, we know that one.”

They kicked off the song and Maggie started to sing.

 

“I’m going out on the highway,

Listen to them big trucks whine.

I’m going out on the highway,

Listen to them big trucks whine.

White Freightliner,

Gonna steal away my mind.”

 

Maggie had decided to tweak Ray a bit for his cocaine
use. When she got to the next verse, she changed the words from New Mexico to California.

 

“California ain’t bad,

The women there they treat you fine.

California ain’t bad,

The women there they treat you fine.

White Freightliner,

Won’t you steal away my mind.”

 

Maggie looked pointedly at Ray as she sang the next
verse.

 


There’s bad news from Houston,

Half of my friends are dying.

There’s bad news from Houston,

Half of my friends are dying.

White Freightliner,

Won’t you steal away my mind.”

 

By the time she finished the song, Ray was looking a
little bit chastened. They stepped away from their microphones and Ray said to
her, “That was a little bit harsh, wasn’t it?”

“I’m worried about you Ray, you’re going to have
problems if you keep using coke the way you do. I’ve seen it do a lot of bad
things to people that I love.”

Maggie then leaned over and kissed Ray on the cheek.

“O.k. enough lectures, no hard feelings?” she asked.

BOOK: The Sweetest Gift (The Gift)
13.13Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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