Instinction - Bit part 1 - Wayne 62

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[Old back story is here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and read more recent Wayne episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

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If Cath led her life by one thing it was instinct. There was very little in the way of analysis with her – the future was only a day away and sometimes it was only an hour. There was no real planning so far as she was concerned, you just did what you had to do to do the best thing you could do and be the best person you could be.

Which might seem strange given that she was managing music talent that generally wanted the assurance that they would be ferociously famous in the near future and a long time more. It was a bit tricky to play this instinct alongside the need to oversee bookings, organise interviews and more. Because if you weren’t thinking the future existed then how were you supposed to make sure the talent you were promoting would be present in that future?

Instinct. It had served her and her clients well. It had brought awards, contracts, deals and good times. Going with the flow, taking chances as they came, responding to events it all worked better than trying to form a coherent argument about what was going to happen.

And so when BarnStormerz got in touch to say they’d changed their ways, revamped their image and were ready to go again, instinct told her it was the right thing to do.

“I’m an independent now,” she pointed out. “No single label, no single outlet or whatever. You do what I say and I tell you the best option.”

And so they agreed.

“I’m gonna run you alongside ManzDown cos he’s got a hell of a lot of good stuff happening at the moment and there’s no way I’m dropping him. Also there’s no way you lot are going to take chunks out of each other. We’re in this together and you have nothing but respect for each other.”

And of course they agreed.

Getting Wayne onboard with this idea would be a little more problematic she admitted, but she knew she could do it. Instinctively. Besides, there was a front room gig for him to do so he couldn’t dump her straight away.

And so with her instinct telling her it was all going to be alright she decided to distract herself from the task in hand by calling up her brother.

“Hey Linus, how’s the brick trade?”

Linus, working for a construction company, did not really appreciate being called a brickie but as far as he was concerned it was his younger sister’s way of keeping him in his place.

“Constructive as ever,” he said. “What nonsense are you pedalling from those talentless cretins you help make noise?”

Such was the banter that had kept the two in touch and in some sort of sanity for the past year and more.

“If you had the chance to go back and change one thing about how you’ve handled this, what would it be?” asked Cath.

“Oh right,” said Linus, “one of those calls.”

“Sorry,” said Cath. “Just popped into my head.”

Linus thought for sometime. Then he asked for more time to think and noted that they would have to talk about something else in the meantime while his answer percolated to the top of his thoughts. So they shot the breeze about Linus’ workplace (Cath not really having one) how Cath’s husband was doing and they talked about Linus’ wife and the job she had which wasn’t coming back now, and whether she could or would find something else, but that any new job would be such a wrench now that…

They’d been over this ground week in week out. Change had been incremental but at least it was change. Perhaps this was as with other years - nothing ever changed immediately, you just seemed to wake up one day with a more clear view of how far you had come and how different everything was now.

“The answer is I’d have paid more attention,” said Linus. “I mean it’s sort of hard to tell how, but this has been - still is - historical, right? I mean, no one’s gonna care what I think or thought about it, but I’d like to think I’ve got a few stories people would want to listen to.”

“We’ve all got stories,” said Cath.

“Yeah, but mine would be better if I’d paid more attention,” explained Linus. “I think I’ve spent so long trying to make everything ‘normal’ that I haven’t looked at how entirely un-normal everything is and continues to be.”

Cath complimented him on his answer. It was at once simple but also thought-provoking, she thought. And as she hung up the phone and got on with the rest of the day she realised this was probably why her instinct was still working for her. Normal or un-normal, you just had to know the right thing to do.