"We don't share our men!" Sharon said to Willy.
Willy had just made a joke, saying that Sharon and her sister Rose looked so much alike, if he were to come over to their house in the dark he would have to kiss both of them to figure out who was who.
"We don't share our men!" Rose said, when Willy told her about the joke.
They both were right, they never shared their men. Until they did.
--
Willy and Utah had met while in college at a university in Virginia. They were both assigned to the same dorm as freshmen and struck up a friendship almost immediately. They both possessed the same twisted sense of humor and were both musicians and loved the same kinds of music. They roomed together for the whole four years and actually graduated together, on time.
Willy was a journalism major and Utah studied computer science, but it was the music that bonded them first and foremost. Willy played guitar and bass and Utah played keyboards and they sang and jammed together the very first night they met, and haven't stopped since. They knew many of the same tunes and wrote some of their own and could improvise together and play off of one another as if they'd been playing together for years. It was instant karma. It didn't take long before they started hustling gigs on and off campus for extra money.
Utah was not his real name; his real name was Ron, and that's what everybody called him at first. He was from New Orleans, and grew up on jazz and blues. But one night a bunch of guys from the dorm were in the lounge watching an NBA game on TV, Washington versus Utah. The guys were drinking heavily and then one of them found out that Ron was from New Orleans, and didn't the Utah Jazz used to be the New Orleans Jazz way back when before they moved to Utah? Everybody roared, yep, that's right, and everybody started calling him Utah after that, and the nickname had stuck. For the next four years he was introduced as Utah and many people he knew never even learned his real name.
In addition to having an incredible talent and aptitude for computers and music, Utah was a human encyclopedia of music trivia, especially rock and roll. There were several bars near campus that featured deejays playing music and they would hold trivia contests where the correct answers earned free beer. The guys would go to these trivia nights and Utah would know every single answer and they'd drink all night for free. It didn't take long before Utah was banned from the contests. But then he would just whisper the answers to his buddies and they would all take turns giving the correct answers and get the free drinks. Eventually Utah and anybody who knew him him were banned.
After college Willy and Utah continued playing music as a duo in restaurants, bars and clubs, and it provided a nice second income for both of them. Utah worked as a computer programmer in the city while Willy worked for a magazine in a town about an hour away. Being in two different towns gave them opportunities to book gigs over a wide area and be a little choosy about where they played, and they wouldn't have to play the same places too often. They liked their jobs, but they liked playing music evenings and weekends even better. The money was good and the fringe benefits were great: the women.
After a few years Utah got married and had kids, and Willy had drifted in and out of a couple extended relationships, so they had limited their gigs mostly to weekends. They were still gigging when they were in their late twenties.
One Saturday night they were playing at a place called Murph's, a pub in a small town about a fifteen minute drive from Willy's house. Willy had met the owner during his travels for his day job and had managed to book the gig. It was a small room with a long L-shaped bar covering two entire walls, a few tables, an area cleared for dancing and a tiny stage barely big enough for the two of them.
It had been raining when they were setting up but then the weather turned worse, with the rain pouring in torrents and scattered thunder and lightning. There were only seven or eight people in the joint and they weren't leaving and no one new was coming in. Willy and Utah played as they usually did and made wise cracks in between songs, joking about the weather and the crowd.
At the end of the bar closest to the stage were two young ladies who were enjoying the show. Willy was the wittier one on stage and he noticed that they laughed at all his jokes. Especially the slim brunette.
They walked over and talked to them during their first break. Their names were Sharon and Kim. Utah was married so he was just being friendly to Kim, and they exchanged business cards, but Willy was very attracted to Sharon.
Sharon had a model's body, long and lean, with long dark, teased hair and big brown eyes, a look Willy had always been attracted to. She was dressed completely in black, from her boots to her jeans to her skin-tight sweater. Her tits were modest, her ass was fine, and her nose was on the large side and a bit crooked, but Willy thought that just made her more interesting. She sat on the bar stool with her legs apart and as Willy played he stared at her delicious crotch from the stage.
Willy started talking to them from the stage, including them in his banter, and they laughed along. He sent them a round of drinks. During one of Utah's solo numbers he sat next to Sharon at the bar and they chatted as they listened. He spent his next break talking to her as well.
Sharon was friendly, but coy. She had a shy smile and a good sense of humor but was not extremely talkative, not quick to open up. She often answered questions with questions. But Willy did find out that she was twenty-five, had grown up on a nearby farm, was a college graduate and a registered nurse. She worked full time as a school nurse, and part time as a home health nurse.
Sometime during their last set the rain had stopped. Willy had gone to the restroom and then to the office to talk to the owner. When he returned to the bar Sharon and Kim were gone.
'Shit', Willy said to himself. He hadn't gotten Sharon's phone number. And he didn't even know her last name.
--
About an hour later Willy and Utah were chilling in Willy's living room drinking beer and listening to music. They talked about the gig, the lousy crowd and the two girls, and Willy lamented about missing the chance to get Sharon's phone number.
They were listening to a mix of classic blues-rock songs from the sixties and seventies when 'On The Road Again' by Canned Heat came out of the speakers. Just a week or so before Willy had been reading a rock and roll book he had on his shelf right there in his living room and had learned a small fact of trivia that he'd never known before.
"You know something that I never knew until recently, Utah?" Willy said. "That 'On The Road Again' was a top forty hit for Canned Heat before 'Going Up The Country'.
"No, it wasn't," Utah said, after a short period of thought.
"Yes, it was," Willy said, correcting him. "'Going Up The Country' was the bigger hit of the two, but 'On The Road Again' actually came out a couple months earlier in 1968."
There was a silence between them for a moment as they listened to the song.
"No, it didn't," Utah finally said.
"Yes, it did. I was surprised to learn it too, but it's true."
"No, it didn't," Utah said again.
This surprised Willy. Utah was the undisputed king of rock and roll trivia. Did he really think he would challenge him if he didn't know he was right?
"Wanna bet?" Willy said.
"Sure."
"How much?" Their pockets were full of cash from the gig.
"A hundred dollars," Utah said.
"Okay, let's get this straight," Willy said. "You are betting me one hundred dollars that 'Going Up The Country' was a a top forty hit for Canned Heat BEFORE 'On The Road Again'. And I am saying the opposite, that 'Going Up The Country' was a top forty hit AFTER 'On The Road Again'. Right?"
"Right."
"Okay, Utah, you are the trivia guru. The Big Cheese, The Big Kahuna, The Top Dog, The Top of the Heap, The Pick of the Pack, The Cream of the Crop, The Swami, The King. Before I take your money, you must know that I would never bet against you on trivia unless I knew I was right, right?"
