This is part 4/6 of "The Ballad of Flavia and Sarah".
Once more, many thanks to
DawnDuckie
for editing this story.
"Sarah? You need to keep time to the beat track."
"I know." Sarah pressed the headphones against her ears as she spoke into the mic. "But once I start singing, I can't hear it." Looking up, she saw the rest of the band watching her through the glass into the mouldy-smelling recording studio.
"OK." The sound engineer sounded bored. "Let's try you with the rest of the band turned up."
The opening keyboards of
Silent Tears
began playing, and beneath it the beeping of the beat track. Sarah launched into the vocals as she always did, and tried to give it her all. But somehow it wasn't right. Her singing, and the rest of the band's playing, didn't feel right. They had recorded their tracks individually, not bouncing off each other. There was something inorganic, antiseptic, about the music.
When the track ended, the engineer's voice came on again. "Yeah. Let's try that again."
🎤
Sarah was enjoying the spicy taste of her vegan noodles. Opposite her in the rustic pub were the Sallys, and beside her, holding her hand, was Flavia.
Tall Sally topped up their wine glasses from a bottle of Chardonnay. "So, how are you two finding living together?"
Flavia was chewing her food, so Sarah answered. "Amazing!"
Flavia swallowed and gazed at Sarah. "Yes, I've never been happier. Though this one insists on cleaning the house and cooking meals for Marie and me. Our maid has nothing to do when she comes over."
Sarah shrugged. "I can't help it if I like taking care of you."
Short Sally turned to Tall Sally. "Can't you see how loved up they are? I'm surprised they could drag themselves out of bed to meet us. How's your mum taking it, Sarah?"
"Not great. We're back on speaking terms, but I'm not moving back in, and she won't be meeting Flavia again any time soon."
"I'm sorry," said Tall Sally. "But at least I hear your band is doing well. Flavia mentioned you've got a single out."
"Yes. We've uploaded it everywhere we could think of: Spotify, TikTok, YouTube. With any luck, more people will hear about us."
Short Sally raised her arm in a toast. "Good luck. You should put it on Facebook too."
"What's Facebook?" asked Sarah.
To the Sallys' stunned look, Flavia said, "That's one disadvantage of dating someone so much younger: occasionally she'll say something and I'll be reminded we were born in different centuries."
Tall Sally chuckled. "Different millennia."
Flavia laughed. "Thanks, that makes it sound so much better. How's the festival coming along?"
Tall Sally said, "Very well, though we do have an empty slot in one of the small stages. It's a late afternoon shift, so it's not very prestigious. But do you think your band would want to play it, Sarah? We're always on the look out for more female performers."
Sarah's mouth hung open for a moment before her brain slid back into gear, even though Tall Sally had hinted at it before. "We'd love to. I'd have to check with the others, but they'll say 'yes'. I'm sure of it. Oh, unless it's the same weekend as Flavia's son's wedding."
Flavia squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, it's not."
Short Sally said, "She won't want to play your little pub once she's a festival star, Flavia."
"Fortunately, I've got planning permission for an extension. It won't quite be Madison Square Garden, but for a provincial pub, it'll be a respectable size."
🎤
The band sat about in the vast tent, listening to the muffled music from bigger bands on other stages.
"I don't know," said Daniella. "Some of those comments on
Silent Tears
were really mean. I'm not sure I can face playing a festival."
Georgina, sitting on a rickety sofa on the opposite side of the tent from Kira, said, "Of course you can. There's always gonna be haters, but this could be our big break. And anyway, we're here now."
"I dunno," said Bethany. "I think the comments had a point. We didn't sound very good. I don't know why not. Maybe we should just give up."
"Give up?" Sarah stood. "No, we promised to play this gig, and we will. There was something off about recording in a studio; maybe we need more practice, maybe we'll never get good at it. But we're good live; we're great live. Not that time my voice gave out, but the rest of the time we are. So we're playing today, and we're going to show this crowd what
The Unnamed Band
is really like. Dorothy's in the crowd, Daniella. You don't want to let her down, do you? And Flavia's out there too, so..."
Kira stood beside her. "I can't believe I'm agreeing with Georgina, but we've got to push on. We've had some setbacks. That doesn't mean we're finished."
The tent flap folded back and Tall Sally entered. "You girls ready? You're on in ten."
Daniella looked up and took a deep breath. "We're ready."
🎤
The "crowd" outside the small stage was tiny, not quite a dozen people. And since Dorothy, Flavia and Marie had come to see people they knew, the bored-looking strangers were almost outnumbered by the band. There were more people walking past, puddling through the mud left by the previous day's storm. The wet, unwashed bodies, warmed by the fierce sun, were giving off some interesting smells, most of them unpleasant.
They launched into their first song. And it all came back together. Daniella and Bethany set up a solid grove, playing off each other. Georgina played a driving, pulsing guitar part, and Kira filled in the gaps in the music with magical-sounding riffs and arpeggios. Audiences had absolute power, and could uncaringly destroy a band's chances. But even if people no longer liked their music, the band would end on a high. When it came to Sarah's turn, she found she could effortlessly put her soul into the lyrics, tossing them out to the crowd, an offering to an unrepentant god.
But the crowd did repent, warming up to the music, dancing and cheering as each song ended. And swelling. Passersby, with no intention of listening to an unknown band, found themselves tarrying to listen to just one more song, then another and another. The reaction buoyed up the band, pushing them to try harder. Soon people came to see them, whether drawn by the growing crowd or phoned by their friends.
By the time they came back on for an encore, there were several hundred people watching and listening. Sarah had lost track of where Flavia and the others were, swallowed up by the mass of festival-goers. As they walked off, Sarah took one last look back at their cheering audience. This was what music was about; her band mates were all grinning.
The band members were ecstatic when they had celebratory drinks in the tent afterwards. Georgina and Kira were deep in conversation in one corner of the tent, and Dorothy and Daniella were sharing a bottle while they sat on the floor, while Flavia and Sarah cuddled up on plastic seats. Bethany left to look for, in her words, "someone with an actual dick". Part way through a snog with Flavia, Sarah noticed several famous musicians enter the tent, and she spent the rest of the afternoon listening to their tales in wide-eyed wonder, before listening to their sets later in the evening.
🎤
Sarah got out of the Audi and stretched. It had been a long drive, but it reminded her of the journey to their Valentine's Day retreat. This time they travelled as lovers, at ease with each other as Sarah had never been with another person. Her only concern was in meeting Flavia's family, and it had been eating away at her for weeks.
They wheeled their luggage through to the hotel reception, Flavia holding the dress bags in one hand. Behind the desk was an elderly woman, smart but unsmiling. Flavia gave her name and said they were with the wedding party.
The receptionist tapped away at her keyboard for a moment. "Ah, here we are: Flavia Pagano, room 214." She looked up. "And what's your daughter's name? I'll look up her room too."
Sarah felt herself blush, but Flavia didn't miss a beat. "My daughter's making her own way to the hotel. This is my girlfriend. She'll share my room."
The receptionist looked like she was sucking on a lemon. "Girlfriend? But she's..." Wordlessly, she handed a key card over. "Floor two. The lifts are behind you."
Flavia placed the card in her handbag, then put her arm around Sarah and guided her towards the lifts. "Come along, Sarah, let's go to the room, where I can show you the night of your life." She pressed the lift button, then looked over her shoulder at reception. Loudly, she said, "But you're not the one who could really do with a good night of passion."
Sarah giggled, but couldn't bring herself to look back at the receptionist. Instead, she hugged Flavia.
🎤
The church was a small, stone, medieval building, beautiful among green lawns. The sun was dazzling, and Flavia led Sarah by the hand, both wearing long dresses. Inside was cool and dark, and Flavia took Sarah to the front pew, since she was the groom's mother. There were few others there, so they waited for the other guests to arrive. Soon Marie joined them, hugging them both. The groom entered, looking handsome in a top hat and tails, and Flavia introduced him as Jonathan. The four chatted for a while as the pews around them filled. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.
As the time for the service neared, Jonathan began talking to his best man, nervously fingering his hat. Beside her, Sarah felt Flavia tense. Looking around, she saw a short middle-aged man walking down the aisle with a much younger woman on his arm. Sarah judged the woman to be in her mid-twenties.
"Look at them," hissed Flavia. "She must be half his age."
"That's Dad," whispered Marie. "And his new girlfriend."
Sarah turned to face her. "And your mum thinks she's too young for him?"
Marie shrugged. "I guess she's skipping self-reflection today. But the break-up was hard on her, so today will be hard."
Sarah took Flavia's hand. "Hey. Remember who you're with now?"
Flavia turned back and hugged her (no kisses after taking so long doing each other's make-up). "Sorry,
innamorata
."
