After Cash and Lyra returned from the bathroom and headed to the picnic tables, Penny and Jessie walked over to Charlie and Maddisun.
“Jessie and I have something we’d like to play for you, but I know Charlie needs a few minutes, right Dad?” -Penny, studying her father. Something was brewing inside him but she couldn’t figure it out.
“Just going to show her the art walk and a magic trick, is that okay? Fifteen minutes. Entertain my fiancee so she doesn’t worry, would you?”
Penny and Jessie rolled their eyes and then looked at their watches.
“15 minutes. Then have her back on the stage.” -Penny.
Mouse walks up to the group. "Charlie, you might want to warn our guest about our unique transportation options available tonight, we’ll be refueling after the bus leaves. Hi Maddisun, it’s so good to see you again. We’ll catch up shortly. Captain oh Captain, where’s my Captain ‘mandapants?” -Mouse, looking around for Amanda.
That’s when they heard an acoustic guitar from the stage. They all looked out and saw Jenny and Amanda sitting on stage.
“What is my girlfriend doing on stage Penny?” -Mouse, hella confused.
“Fuck if I know girlfriend, maybe we should go find out!” -Penny, grabbing Jessie’s left hand with her right, and then grabbing Mouse’s right hand with her left and leading them outside.
“I have no idea what’s happening, I guess we should go see.” -Charlie, to Maddisun.
Ed, Monique, Joey, and Bella all came out as well.
Jenny strummed a D and then nodded to Amanda.
“Just a little more time is all we’re asking for…” -Amanda
Penny, Jessie, Samantha, Monique, and Mouse all gasped, and then Mouse smiled in a way she probably only ever smiled for her lovers.
Penny noticed and elbowed her lightly in the ribs. “She can sing a little.”
“A little.” -Mouse
Jenny slowly strummed another D,
“Cause just a little more time could open closing doors…” -Amanda
Maddisun looked at Charlie, who didn’t look even the tiniest surprised. “So people just bust out in song around here?”
“We all sound a little more in tune here than elsewhere, but yes. We’re all pretty musical, or at the least, a little theatrical.”
Jenny strummed another D
“Just a little uncertainty can bring you down…” -Amanda, and Mouse who started singing with her, and then smacked Penny on the ass and said “Flight check.”
Jenny strummed a G
“And nobody wants to know you now…” -Amanda, joined by Mouse, Penny, Jessie, and Samantha
After Jenny strummed a second G, everyone in the crowd who knew the song joined in.
“AND NOBODY WANTS TO SHOW YOU HOW!”
Everyone at the diner singing the chorus to “Never Surrender” echoed into the valley and stirred the horses.
After the end of the chorus, Amanda addressed the crowd.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce you tonight to the greatest band in the world. Gummy Bear Crucifix!”
“I guess that’s our cue!” -Penny, taking the stage and hugging Amanda.
Mouse and Jessie came up. Jenny stayed on stage with her acoustic guitar and Penny picked up Samantha’s Ibanez and sat in Amanda’s chair. Jessie brought up a chair and sat between Jenny and Penny with her bass.
Jenny played an acoustic intro that sounded a little like the guitar intros Maddisun’s guitarists have been playing for her song “Running”.
“Sound familiar?” -Charlie, to Maddisun who nods.
Then Penny looks at Jessie while Jenny is playing and says:
“If I place my bets on you, I want you to show me something true, ‘cause you’re all that I run to…”
Jessie smiles and says “There’s that feeling again.”
Then Penny, Jessie, Mouse, and Jenny play Maddisun’s song “Something True.”
After the song, Mouse takes the stage as Maddisun comes to the stage to thank you.
“I loved your intro, maybe I’ll pitch that to Tenise!” -Maddisun.
Charlie comes up to Maddisun. “I know you think you’re pressed for time, but you are not, I promise. Girls, I’m going to take Maddisun on the art walk, let’s meet at the loft in the barn after the bus leaves.”
The girls nod and Charlie motions away from the stage. As Maddisun and Charlie walk around the corner, Penny screams out:
“ON YOUR FEET, OR ON YOUR KNEES!”
Then the whole band howls like wolves so the audience joins in. Charlie and Maddisun pass a howling Cash and Lyra, while their mother Frankie looks on with a level of happiness only a mother can have when her two children are enjoying themselves without phones in their faces.
As Maddisun and Charlie round the corner, Charlie points over to Flo.
“I’ve had that truck since before Mouse was born. I shared a smoke with Samantha on that tailgate last summer, told her the cheesiest fucking pickup line, and she still came back. Charlie pats the passenger side of the truck bed and then reaches into the passenger side and pulls out a basketball.
“Hoop much?” -Charlie, showing off by sinking a 25-footer.
Maddisun doesn’t say anything so Charlie walks, over to the breaker box for the art walk.
“Fireflies.” -Charlie, as he flips the breaker and the invasion lights up the treeline
That’s when the jukebox speaker out back crackled.
Charlie pointed over to the east side of the property where the treeline of firefly lights began.
As they reached the yellow brick path, Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote” played over the jukebox speaker out back as Gummy Bear Crucifix wound down “Born To Be Wild” on the stage.
“The sound from the stage doesn’t carry back here, it feels almost too quiet that I can hear that speaker playing Joni more than I can hear the band.” -Maddisun
“Had a few dreams lately?” -Charlie
“Yes, since last December…Woah.” -Maddisun, staring up at a painted plywood cut out in the trees while standing at the wishing well of silver dimes. “Is that Max, King of The Wild Things?”
“Have a seat for a minute.” -Charlie, pointing to the deck chairs on the outside of the roundabout circling the wishing well.
Charlie sits down and pulls out his phone.
Charlie hands Maddisun his phone. “That’s a photo from 1923, taken in Kimberly, B.C. The woman at the poker table is…”
Maddisun cuts off Charlie. “Running Wolf.”
“When the girls put the story all together, they realized you were a part of it, but we got interrupted by my father showing up. Now that that’s settled, they’d like to show you how they figured it all out.” -Charlie, pausing.
“It’s also how we’re gonna get you back to Toronto. Let me show you one last thing. We call it “The Veil.” -Charlie, pausing again.
“The man at the poker table, the one she calls “Coyote The Trickster” in her journal? That’s my Grandfather.”
It was 10:30 PM