I sat at the bar re-reading Lainie's note over and over again. I could not believe what I saw neatly printed on the soft pink page that I held in my trembling hand.
"What's wrong, Bird?" Geno asked.
I handed him the note and watched his face as he read it.
"Get the fuck out of here!" He exclaimed, returning the note to me.
"Weird, huh?" I commented.
"Weird ain't putting it quite far enough out there, Big Guy," Geno said.
"'Sup, Dude?" Ice asked, motioning for Sally to bring us another round before we went back up on stage.
I showed him the note. He shook his head and smiled.
"Shit like this never happens to me," He said. "I always end up with some old drunk that falls asleep on me before I can get it up."
"Ya, but she says she's my kid!" I howled. "This is freaky. Who goes around screwing his own daughter?"
"Sounds to me like she screwed you, Bird," Geno laughed. "It also sounds to me like she wants you to keep in touch."
"Man! What am I gonna do!" I sighed.
"We're gonna play some music for another set and then you'll probably get tanked, if I know you." Ice said. Then he and Geno both laughed at me.
I found no humor in their obvious amusement. I had no idea in the world that I even had a daughter. And what was even worse, I couldn't even remember what her mother's name was. I only remember that I had spent a crazy night fucking this older girl all night long up in Minnesota, over forty years ago. And now this babe comes along, hauls my ashes up the beach, and then disappears, leaving a note thanking me for the great fuck and telling me she's my kid. And if I'm interested, she leaves her phone number.
Marvelous!
The last set seemed to go on for hours. I kept replaying the night with Lainie's mother over and over in my mind. Then, one of the regulars asked Chuck if we could play Misty. BINGO! Her name was Mitsy. Go figure, it took the music to jar my old tired brains.
It was seeping back from so long ago. I was on my first road gig, playing a series of state fairs across the Upper Midwest, with Royal American Shows. We backed up various headliners and it had been a blast.
We would roll into town in the middle of the night, catch a few winks and be ready to play a matinee show that afternoon and an evening show that night. It was exciting because we were all underage but, the carnival is a world of it's own. The band was usually set up on a long flatbed semi-trailer, which was pulled out onto the racetrack in front of the grandstand. We would all run out and jump up and play fifteen songs or so and then they would pull the trailer aside and the races would commence.
In the afternoons, you could see the thousands of people in the grandstand, but at night, the really bright spotlights blinded you so all you could see was the inside of your sunglasses. We'd play for the run of the fair, and then pack up our stuff and head for the next fair, in the next town.
Six of us lived in a converted 72-passenger school bus, without air-conditioning, for six or seven months and then head back to Florida for the winter. We were hot, cramped, dirty and tired, but the money was great and the fringes were huge. Namely, there were always groupies hanging around to while away the spare time. And for us younger guys, it was a trip. And, being a musician was the best part.
I don't remember too much about her, just that she and another girl came around the bus after the last show and we went with them to an apartment somewhere away from the fairgrounds and spent the night getting laid, repeatedly!
I saw her that one time and forgot all about her until Lainie strolled into the club last night. What a blast from the past.
"You ready?" I heard Chuck ask.
"Huh?" I said.
"We're done," He said. "You can go home now."
Man, I was lost in it for a minute there. I packed up my axe and mic, rolled up the cords and helped load the amps in the trailer. Chuck told me we had to play up in Jax Beach the following weekend, but we had the rest of the week off. I decided to hang out in St. Augustine until Monday so I followed Ice back to his place.
"This is all very strange," I said.
"I can just imagine," He said. "You had no idea?"
"None," I answered. "I still don't believe it happened."
"You gonna call her?" He asked.
"I don't know," I said.
I was beat, so I excused myself and turned in. I had a really hard time getting to sleep. I kept seeing Lainie's face when I closed my eyes. I figured she was married from the rings she was wearing. And she obviously had some bread, because she dressed to the nines and drove the rented Jag. But who fucks her own father just for fun? I guessed she did.
When I woke up, Ice was gone. I had a fat head from the beer from the night before, but I felt all right. I looked out the window at my old car. The '86 Caprice was a stalwart old bus. I'd kept her up meticulously over all the years I'd had her and she was in the finest of condition. The tires were good and I had just had her tuned up and detailed a couple of days earlier. My mind was twirling like a top, but I made it up in a split second.
I scribbled a quick note for Ice to tell Chuck that I was going up north for a few days and if I wasn't back for next Friday night to call my brother to play bass. I headed up the coast to Mayport, where I live, to pack a few clothes and pick up a guitar and an amplifier, just in case anything should come up where I needed to make a buck. I got the neighbor lady to look after the old house and feed the goldfish and Mike, my little Pekinese. Then I climbed into the car and headed for I-10 west.
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The mileage on the map told me I had fifteen hundred and change to the Twin Cities. I threaded a couple of CDs into the changer and set the cruise control on 75 and snuggled down into the soft velvet of the old Chevy. The dual pipes were crooning smoothly and I listened to almost every track on every disc I had in the car and finally, I crossed The St. Croix River into Minnesota and saw the sign that read St. Paul, 21 miles. To say I was wiped out was the understatement of the century. It had taken twenty-seven hours to make the drive. I had no clue where to start looking to find Lainie, only the phone number on the note.
I stopped to top off the tank and plugged some coins into a payphone.
The phone rang four times before I heard a young male voice say, "Yeah?"
"Is Lainie there, please?" I asked.
"Who's askin'?" The voice said.
"I'm an old friend from Florida," I answered.
"Ma just got home from Florida yesterday," He stated.
I heard the phone clunk down and the voice holler "Ma! It's some old guy from Florida."