Previously on A Maddisun Tale...
June 6th, 2024
A little before Midnight
Toronto, Canada
The Dakota Tavern
Maddisun was still experiencing the usual post-show crazies after her performance and decided to slip away for a moment before midnight.
She went into a bathroom stall to flip through some of the pictures of her night at the diner after she’d returned from visiting Running Wolf. One, in particular, made her smile. Charlie had taken it while she sang “Rhiannon” with the girls.
When she saw the picture of Chainsaw Larry with Samantha’s underwear on his nose, she thought about the moment she rhetorically asked Running Wolf if Larry was God, so she put Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” on and closed her eyes, remembering that night.
The Diner
As Charlie, a now clothed Samantha, and Maddisun walked towards the barn to meet the girls in the studio upstairs they heard the horses begin to make a little stir.
When they walked into the barn they understood why.
At first, they could only see Danny and Miss Jackson, sitting in the aisle between the stalls, staring into the last empty one at the end.
Jessie and Bella had also come downstairs from the studio up above in the loft to investigate.
“What are you two looking at?” -Bella
Danny and Miss Jackson turned to look at Bella, then back to the stall.
Larry had made himself at home and was already asleep.
Everyone came over quietly to peek.
“What if God was one of us?” Maddisun, singing softly while recalling the ridiculous eye-roll-inducing question she’d randomly posed to Running Wolf earlier.
“Just a slob like one of us.” Samantha, singing along.
“Just a stranger on the bus.” Bella.
“Tryin' to make his way home?” Jessie.
“Probably, probably…” Charlie.
“Oh my go…” Maddisun, lowering her whisper.
“That’s what Running Wolf said when I asked her if Larry was God.” Maddisun was starting to piece it together. “Oh, I made this happen, didn’t I?”
Sheriff Joey Strongbull had come down, watching from the bottom of the stairs.
“Uh-huh.”
No one could stop the laughter that caught fire, which only got louder when Larry opened one eye, snorted, and then closed that open eye and went to sleep again.
When it quieted down everyone headed upstairs. Jenny was sitting in a chair with a guitar and a mic in front of her. There was an empty chair to her left.
Samantha’s Ibanez Talman Intercity was leaning against the chair, but that’s not who it was for. Charlie walked over, sat down, adjusted the mic, and put the guitar strap over his shoulder. Then Jenny counted off with “And. Here. We. Go.”
No one could have imagined how good a Charlie and Jenny harmony would sound.
Charlie looked at Maddisun while he sang the first verse, then turned his gaze to Samantha for the chorus. It was just hitting him as he sang. Everyone had made peace with Abbey’s death. Penny was happy she got to kind of experience her “very non-immaculate” conception, Samantha got a timeless souvenir, and Charlie, well, Charlie was starting to believe that everything was going to be perfectly fine, for maybe the first time in his life.
Toronto, Ontario Canada
January 1st.
2007
Charlie and Abbey had taken a cab back to the hotel on the Toronto Harbourfront, and after she fell asleep, he snuck out just like she had in Chicago the first time they parted. He knew he’d never see Abbey Lane again, and that was okay. He did hope he’d one day get to meet the soon-to-be Miss Penny Lane. He’d walked down to the shore of Lake Ontario and found himself wandering along the Martin Goodman trail. As the snow started to fall, he turned into the Toronto Music Garden, pulled his iPod out of his pocket, and put Blue Rodeo on shuffle.
Hey, hey, I guess it hasn't hit me yet
I fell through this crack and I kinda lost my head
I stand transfixed before this streetlight
Watching the snow fall on this cold December night
Back at the barn in 2024…
Charlie smiled looking out towards Samantha. She stood behind everyone else, her right thumb hooked in her jeans pocket, pulling them down low enough to see the blue silk of Abbey’s underwear. Samantha’s own were visible in the left pocket. The smile she wore was as beautiful as any he’d ever seen.
When Jenny and Charlie stopped playing, Charlie got up and Penny, Mouse, and Jessie joined Jenny. Charlie sat down at the Neve console, and just before he put on his headphones he looked at the crowd. “The fridge is stocked. Help yourselves.”
It certainly was.
Everyone went and grabbed either a PBR or poured a whiskey. When everyone got settled, Penny looked at her Dad.
“We have a song we’d like to play for you, it’s also going to be our first single, written by Jenny. Whatever ends up being recorded right now is how we’ll release it. I think Steve Albini would have liked this. It’s called “Money & Heart”
Charlie hit record on the 1968 Bridgeport Scully 284-12 reel to reel.
A small crackle through the Meyer Sound HD-1s made everyone smile.
Then they noticed Jenny holding a Casio VL-1
Everyone was silent until the clack of the reel deck signaling the recording had stopped.
“The first ones are always easy. After this, it’s gotta be banger after banger after banger.” Charlie hit rewind to play it back.
While it rewound, Maddisun asked a question. “So, how am I getting home?
“You’ll be home before Midnight.” -Charlie, with that Jones Family grin.
“Midnight when?” -Maddisun, clearly not having learned her lesson about questions.
“I’ll let the actual happening of the event explain itself. Sometimes you have to experience the moment to understand it." -Charlie
“Oh, like getting my head spun like Reagan MacNeil by a werewolf while wearing a monk robe and high heels?” -Jenny
“Oh come on Jenny, that was an AWESOME death scene!” -Penny, having trouble speaking because of the laughing she was holding back.
“Don’t you dare laugh, you punk, it was YOUR fault for wanting to experience Halloween!”
“But, but…” Penny is barely able to open her mouth in fear of cackling. “It was AWESOME!” -Penny
“Okay, I’d officially like an invitation to Halloween.” -Maddisun.
“Invited.” -Charlie, pressing play on the reel deck remote. Everyone listened.
“Print it.” -Penny.
“Let’s head to the diner. Still got that dime?” -Charlie, to Maddisun
She dug in her pocket and smiled. “Hey ladies, I have some things for you.”
Maddisun placed the gold nugget, the silver bullet, and Jenny’s pick from Mary Chapin Carpenter.
“Oh my goodness I’d forgotten about that. I take it you won your hand then?” -Jenny
“With a pair of twos.” -Maddisun
Everyone headed to the diner, and Penny asked if anyone was hungry.
They were. Charlie and Samantha turned on the lights, while Bella and Joey headed behind the counter to brew coffee. Jenny joined Penny in the kitchen. “What’re we gonna make?”
“Whatever they want.” Penny then yelled out. “Hey Jessie could you take…”
That’s when Jessie’s arms wrapped around Penny from behind and said “Whatever I want?”
Penny spun around in Jessie’s arms, much like Samantha had to Charlie last year, and said “How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?” A Jones-level caesura ensued as Penny smiled and said:
“Bacon or Sausage.”
Which Jenny Portnoy thought was the cutest fucking thing and busted out laughing.
Maddisun sat at the counter and watched everyone go about the diner. They were family. It was beautiful to see. Jessie came out and took everyone’s orders and then they all sat in the booths and ate.
It was probably close to 2 AM when Penny and Charlie started clearing plates.
Maddisun got up and walked over to the jukebox. She was holding the grimy dime from 1989 in her hand.
She sighed and dropped the dime in the jukebox. At the crackle of the speaker, she started counting. At 10, Maddisun closed her eyes and said:
“And.”
“Here.”
“I.”
“Go.”
Someone was laughing in the adjacent bathroom stall.
“Hey, what’d you take?” -Girl in stall #2.
“Oh, I was just singing my new song, sorry. It’s about to drop in a minute.” -Maddisun
“Ah, I wanted whatever got you flying on the ground.” -Girl in stall #2
At the diner, as the song started, the diner’s lights dimmed, and the LED lights pointed at the disco ball above the jukebox showered the walls with gold and red diamonds, everyone sat and listened to Maddisun’s new single “Feelin’ It Again” on the jukebox. Penny and Jessie were in the kitchen, Jenny was at the counter with Bella and Joey, Miss Jackson on her lap. Samantha and Charlie were in their usual booth with Mouse, with Danny next to her, his head on her leg, eyes closed, tail wagging in rhythm against the booth seat.
A song by The Nails ft. the Casio VL-1 =j