Sit Down – Wayne 16

[For back story go here: Story so far at 27 July 2020 and more recent Wayne posts.]

"Well," said Cath, "This is nice."

She said it as it was really just something nice to say about the cafe they were sitting in and she was almost right. The PPE clad staff were friendly, even stylish and trendy, the menu was on their phones, as were the payment details, the tables were impressively far apart given the space, and that meant that even with the appropriate barriers in place the venue still achieved a relaxed ambience.

"Do you come here often?” she asked, instantly regretting the trite expression, so clarifying it as if it would make any difference: "Did you used to come here often?”

She still felt bad about the comment so stopped any possible answer before it could be made. “The food is impressive. I’m glad we never got to the point of there being rations or anything. That would have been so bad, can you imagine? And at one point I remember them saying it might be up to the army to start handing stuff out. Like toilet paper, God do you remember what everyone was like with toilet paper?”

“I’ve been here before,” said Wayne, relaxed and comfortable. “A couple of times. It’s a special place though. Was before and is now.”

“Absolutely, absolutely, so what do you recommend?”

Cath was a little bit on edge. Her world had always been on the insecure side with the need to make sure you were always chasing down the right talent for that particular time. Sometimes for that particular week. And now it was pretty much that particular day and hour.

She thought she was doing fine with the BarnStormerz. What with one thing and another these guys seemed to be the safe bet and even the exciting bet, the people who would come out with some inspiring sounds and more for the population. Rough and ready, but always with an eye on the commercial, these guys had a way of encapsulating the times, the scene and the vibe that everyone wanted.

Until one of them entirely messed up by going and tweeting an offensive statement and then exacerbating the situation by not only failing to retract and apologise but by noting how this statement reflected what BarnStormerz were all about. For half a second Cath thought the agenda could be shifted to free speech, but that was for only half a second before it was made explicitly clear that this was not what that particular BarnStormerz was thinking about. 

To their credit the other members of BarnStormerz more than socially distanced themselves from him, apart from one who was clearly trying to sit on the fence in the hope everything would blow over after a day or so. Nothing blew over. The band was finished and their back catalogue crashed impressive out of the hearing range of every animal on the face of the planet. Finished didn’t cover it. Never existed came close.

Cath dropped the band and ran for cover before she was caught in the turmoil and whirlpool which threatened to swamp everything and everyone around the group. If BarnStormerz had been a shining star, they were now a black hole and there would be no hiding from the gravity of their implosion.

“I recommend everything,” smiled Wayne. “It’s all good. It’s all exceptional.”

Wayne had already made up his mind before the firestorm hit. The fact that everything had fallen down for other people hadn’t changed his opinion of what he should do next, but it had meant that there were now considerably fewer obstacles to overcome than had been the case even 24 hours before. He’d been resolute in what he wanted to do, and now it was all anyone would want him to do. Having Cath was sat opposite him was a little uncomfortable, since she hadn’t exactly been sensitive and caring about him previously, but he also knew she would know how to play the next stage in his game, the moves that would get him right back on top, doing what he wanted to do.

Having stabbed their orders into the appropriate app the two relaxed with their iced water.

“So,” said Cath. “How’s the guitar coming on?”

“It’s good,” said Wayne. “I’ve sampled and distorted it. Repeated a couple of phrases and looped it a couple of time. It’s sounding really good.”

“And is there a tune coming?”

“Oh yeah,” said Wayne. “Loads. First one's about a walk, well, actually a run I did recently with my boyfriend.”

“Right,” said Cath, hoping her smile didn’t look too fixed.

“I’m calling it ‘Stoned’,” Wayne continued. “Because we were.”

He was daring Cath to make the wrong move, but she was in the zone now and automatically knew when not to challenge or enquire further. This was a time to just nod the head and go with everything, because that was where her future lay.

“I’m holding on to that title by the way,” said Wayne. “Don’t care how controversial you might think it is.”

“I think it’s fine, fine.”

“And I’m holding on to something else too,” he said.

“Oh yes?” asked Cath and Wayne nodded towards the PPE clad person who was now standing, holding their food.

“This is Dave, he owns this place. Dave – Cath, Cath – Dave.”

Dave put the food in front of them with a smile.

Cath had the roulade. Wayne had his cake. And he ate it.