Even though my heart raced every time I saw Elsie I knew that he was a fantasy. I wondered if he had all the parade members names in a bowl and he just picked one everyday. Or maybe he had us on a rotation of some sort that only he understood. It was always awful when he showed up at one of the family of friends gatherings with another lady on his arm. This bothered him not in the least.
Two or three weeks after I met Oops he called and said they were going to THE LEAD SINGER's house and he wanted me to go with them. Let me think, yes. Hell yes. THE LEAD SINGER, squeal. He advised me that they would pick me up in a couple of hours. I was so excited and nervous. I decided not to take my guitar. It was truly pathetic compared to what Oops and his calibre of guitarists had. For years I had made a Christmas list for my parents, not that they asked for one, that always had the following items:
Martin D-28 or D-35
Precious Gems
Precious Metals
Money
It was my idea of a joke. No way I was every receiving any of the above from Money Bags and Pollyanna.
When Oops got to my house "they" turned out to be Oops and his son. I was expecting his wife. Oops's little boy was just adorable, my biological clock ticked loudly. Seemed odd that he would bring his son and not his wife but I was going to sing with THE LEAD SINGER and that's all that mattered. When we arrived there were other players there from the band of yore and I became one of them that day. I was singing with people whose names I had spoken with such reverence 10 years earlier. It was an amazing day for me.
We went to Oops place on the way back. "You have a place over here and thought you and Mrs. Oops lived in the mid cities?" We're separated he said. My stomach tightened just a little. The Beast, quiet for a long time said, "get him now, he will make you famous". I expressed my sympathy for what he must be going through while his adorable little boy slept in my lap. "When I met you, I knew my marriage was over", he said. Brain explosion, disbelief, eerie stomach. I laughed that comment off a bit with some smart ass retort. "No, really" he said, "we belong together, just give me time I'll prove it".
Then he said to me, "that guitar you play, it's like a toy, here I want you to use this". "I can't use that", I said looking at the Martin D-35 he was taking out of it's case. "Yes, you need to learn to play a real guitar. This one may be a little to large bodied for you but we can get you a 28 later". I didn't know universe he lived in but that made me laugh. "Do you pull these out of your butt?". "No, I just got my handmade fancy named acoustic guitar and I don't play the 35 much so you use it". He then went on to explain his plan. We were going to rehearse, get damn good and go kick every acoustic groups ass in public. The Beast whispered, "nothing is this easy, this never happens to you because you don't deserve it". The Beast was correct.
This was weird, my dream had just been dropped in my lap but it seemed to have a wedding band attached to it. He wanted to marry me and have more adorable children and be singers and make records and be famous. There had to be something wrong.
I told him that I had not really enjoyed my first marriage experience and I wasn't sure that we should say that word, however, more than anything I wanted to sing with him and get to know him better. He would settle for that...for now.
I saw Elsie and told him all about meeting Oops, THE LEAD SINGER and getting prepared to play in public. YOU'RE GOING TO SING WITH OOPS?, said Elsie with great excitement. He went on and on about how great we would be. I said, "yeah, it's a real opportunity for me but he wants more than music"." Far out said Elsie, "you two would make a great couple".
No, please, please stop with the jealousy. I thought Elsie just might be willing to walk me down the aisle, hand me over to Oops and merely remove me from the parade. Poor thing, he was so upset.
That fame thing sounded real fun, I mean small fame here, local fame, the thought of national fame was silly. I just wanted to be a singer a damn good singer but I really wanted to sing 3 part harmony. Maybe we could get LEAD SINGER that would be wonderful.
I decided I'd talk to Oops. Oops thought this might work but didn't think LEAD SINGER would really be interested. "Let's just you and me get ready, have 3 full sets and then we can bring someone in". He knew better than I did. I never stood on the same stage as Jimi Hendrix. "OK, we'll do it your way", I said.
That would not be the last time I said that sentence.
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