While Charlie and Samantha were in Spokane having lunch with Earnest and Monique, Charlie got a text from an unknown number.
“Sorry to switch venues last minute on you but the band is playing at Boomer’s Garden in Lewiston tonight instead of in Spokane. Hope to see you there, doors at 7, show at 8.”
Charlie looked at his phone momentarily, then handed it to Samantha.
Earnest’s years as a cop read Charlie pretty quickly. “Everything okay?”
“Just a change of venue, we’ll have to head out now, however. We’ll swing by on our way back and have dinner and you can meet the newest family member.” -Charlie, getting up and taking out his wallet. He put two 100-dollar bills on the table.
Samantha looked up from Charlie’s phone. “Should we call someone?”
“Not yet. Earnest, Monique, see you in a few days.”
As Charlie and Samantha walked out of Bark, A Rescue Pub to the truck, Samantha stopped and put down Flo’s tailgate. “Explain that text, Charlie.”
“We were supposed to meet Amanda here in Spokane, and now we’re meeting her in Lewiston. I don’t know why. She was “on assignment”. She didn’t tell me any more than she told Mouse.” -Charlie, taking out his cigarette case.
After offering one to Samantha, he took a drag and looked at Samantha with that Jones Family grin.
“You know, one of these days, I’m going to have someone make me an adult-sized pair of those “Return of The Jedi” Underoos I mentioned the day we met.”
Samantha, having just been with former Sheriff Earnest Presley, no relation just slowly rolled an “Uh…huh.”
Back at the diner, Penny, Jessie, Mouse, and Jenny were talking about the Gummy Bear Crucifix mix of Maddisun’s new song they were working on for Charlie.
“Well, it’s not coming out ‘till August 2nd, so we have a little time, but I’m really glad you caught that before we showed it to Charlie, he would have started calling us “Ghost Echo” instead of “Gummy Bear Crucifix”. -Penny, having discovered she’d hidden Maddisun’s lead vocal for the verses and was mixing the track with a delayed vocal effect channel instead.
“Well, I don’t know why you guys decided to mix it on the laptop screen and not use the very large monitor sitting there. Props for even trying though.” -Jenny was amused at the gaffe, but honestly the mix was pretty good if not a complete fucking mess. “Now that we know what you’re shooting for, let’s start from scratch again and see what we can find, like where that small pop is coming from at the end of the second verse.”
They were all sitting in the diner after the lunch rush, having cleaned up and prepped for the next day.
“So what should we put…” -Jenny, stopped as she saw Mouse’s face. “Oh, I suppose it’s fine the way is.” Jenny looked out the window from the end booth, where Charlie normally sits, and stared at the “Today’s Specials” sign.
“I’m calling an audible.” -Penny
“Oh look at you, QB1.” -Jessie
Penny and Jessie slid out from the booth and stood facing each other.
Penny playfully pushes Jessie and says “Jessie! Get the table!”
Jenny and Mouse are just staring at the two of them.
Jessie looks at Jenny and Mouse. “She means the picnic table. The folding one she brought from Chicago. It’s so cute.”
Later that afternoon, while the four of them sat at Penny’s folding picnic table, Mouse finally heard from Amanda.
7 PM, Boomer’s Garden. Lewiston Idaho.
Samantha walked in first, Charlie was talking to Mouse on the phone. She heard them before she saw them, and they were as drunk as they sounded when she got to the table.
When Charlie walked in, he thankfully had finished talking to Mouse.
Brodie had a bandage around his head, Moksa had crutches sitting next to her, and Amanda’s left arm was in a sling.
“Do we still have a helicopter?” -Charlie, deadpanning.
Laughter, very loud laughter, caught fire around the table.
“She wasn’t gonna make it to Spokane, Charlie. She’ll be fine. She needs a paint job and a few holes properly repaired but that’s about it.” -Amanda
“So how are we getting to Vancouver Island? None of you are in shape to fly.” -Charlie, causing another firestorm of laughter.
“I bought a boat.” -Amanda
Back at the diner, Bumblee fired up. It takes 13 seconds from the warm crackling sound of the amplifier powering up to the moment the tone arm lowers the needle onto the vinyl.
At the picnic at the falls, just as the sun was setting, Mouse got a video from Samantha. As The Lonely Island began to play to no one in the diner, Mouse jumped up and screamed like a fan girl.
Then Mouse pressed play. Amanda (because she could take her arm out of the sling), Samantha, and Charlie parodied the Lonely Island video for “I’m On A Boat” singing “I Bought A Boat”. They must have played it a hundred times that night in the barn’s studio working on the mix of Maddisun’s new song. They couldn’t wait to share it with Charlie when he got back, but it was going to be awhile. They were taking a boat down the Snake River, to the Columbia River, to the Pacific, and up the west coast of Washington to Vancouver Island. Mouse finally felt better.
“Everything is gonna be perfectly fine.”
For the most part, it would be. However, it would also be a few weeks before Charlie and Samantha returned with Amanda, and, of course, the newest member of the Jones Family. Mayhem Millicent Jones.
The Jukebox at The Diner will return sometime after August 2nd.
Penny’s picnic table. You can have your own. There’s one just like it on eBay right now… Oops, did I forget to link it? Maybe I want it myself. =j