Donny and Jolly sat on the floor backstage, getting the guitars ready to hand to the guys as needed throughout the show. Donny handed Jolly a black doubleneck. Jolly tightened the strings and tuned it using an electronic tuner.
"You don't tune by ear?" Donny asked him, nodding to the little gizmo.
"Ah, when Ah'm tunin' from loose strings Ah'll use the box, but Ah fine tune by ear."
"Really? Wow! Because, Brill hates those electronic tuners, and he'll have a fit if he sees you using that. That's his doubleneck you've got there."
"Ah, it's okay", Jolly smiled, "Brill and me go back a long way."
Donny studied Jolly's face a moment. "Have we worked together before, Jolly? You look familiar."
Jolly looked down and thought a minute. "Well, Ah've always worked for Jury, and when they split up, Ah came over to drive for Elysia. But that was when DiDi ran the band. Ah s'pose Ah've been around and seen it all!" He went back to tightening the strings, then, out of the blue, "Hey, Donny, I hear you've got the Sight. My brother does too: Tommy; Tommy Green. 'TG' for short."
Donny smiled. "I know your brother's name, although I've never met him. I read Rain's book."
"Uh, yeah! 'Wish of Pentacles' is Rain's autobiography; all true. Wild, huh?" Jolly smiled.
"No, not wild to me. I admire Rain's courage in making it public. Lots of us are still in the broom closet." He smiled and sighed. "So, what's Tommy doing these days? Is he back in music?"
Jolly smiled. "He was real messed up for about three years; eye troubles, mostly. Moved in with Wish and Rain at their wildlife sanctuary in Florida. They eventually got the band back together. Named it 'The Rain Sanders League'."
Donny nodded vigorously. "I have the album they released in '99: 'Psyche'. So, Tommy was on that?" He pulled out another guitar and started the initial inspection for any damage from the trip.
Jolly smiled, proud of his kid brother. "You bet! He sang lead on one of the singles, 'Dragon's Breath'! Yep, TG played guitar (lead, natch), ole Razor on bass, Rain lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Wish on keyboards, and they even talked our brother Lysander into playin' drums! Yeah, maybe TG'll turn up around here. He's a dead ringer for Shawn. That'd be a hoot, seein' them two face to face!" Jolly laughed. He set the doubleneck in its stand, all ready for Brill at 10:00.
"Did you see Wren's face when Shawn told her about Joe?" asked Donny. "I knew she'd take it hard!"
"Yeah, it's rough. Why was Joe fired?" Jolly set aside the guitar he had finished tuning and reached for another.
"Well," sighed Donny, "I heard it was because he was dealing!"
"Aw, man! How stupid is that?"
"Really!!" Donny shook his head and set the guitar Jolly had just finished in the stand, ready for Elmer. "They made it absolutely clear to us from the outset that this is a drug free tour!! Did you get sent a copy of that videotape from Mr Gawd's office?"
"Ah sure did, plus the form that had to be signed and notarized and mailed back, sayin' we had watched and understood that video! Ah guess Joe totally ignored that!" He shook his head.
"Yeah, but, Jolly, he must've sent back the form or else they wouldn't have let him into the Hangar! Remember on the first day how Jossie was checking our paperwork? Did you see her turn away a couple of people she didn't have that form for?"
"No, did she? Ah missed that."
"Oh, yeah, they were adamant about having that form from everybody signed, sealed and delivered!"
Jolly sat back. "Okay, so Joe signed the form without watching the video tape. There's no way they can monitor who actually watches the tape. They shoulda sent us all to a trainin' class instead."
"You mean, all of us in a little room, watching it together?"
"Right! Call it orientation, man! Then, make everybody sign that form!"
Donny nodded. "That probably would have been a much better idea. Looks like Gawd screwed up."
"Who IS Gawd, anyway? Is he a manager, or an owner, or what?"
"Hey, Jolly, I thought you said you were in the trenches for years, and you knew all this stuff!"
"Naw, Ah've been around for years DRIVIN'; Ah don't know much about the politics of the industry. Ah'm just a driver and a roadie."
"Not like I know much about the politics of the industry, but I HAVE heard of Mr Gawd. He's the alpha male around here: Andrew Gawd. Used to be a teen idol in the 70s. He disappeared in the 80s, reappeared in the 90s with tons of cash and power. He runs this tour from his bigwig office. He makes the decisions, then hands them down to the tour managers and they pass along the pertinent ones to us little people, like the No Drugs program. There's gossip that he's buddies with Voz; GOOD buddies." Donny set another completed guitar in its stand and pulled an Ovation acoustic out of the packing case.
"Mr Gawd, huh? That's a big, scary name, right enough!" Jolly laughed. "Ever met him?"
"Who, me? A mere peon?" Donny snorted derisively. "Hey, back to Voz a minute...did Shawn tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Well, word has come down that Wren will be riding in Voz's bus for the rest of the tour!" Donny grimaced and looked at Jolly, anxious to see his reaction.
"Ah beg your pardon???" he said loudly "What the fk!"
Donny nodded vigorously, "I know! I know! It's crazy!!"
"Well now, Ah would like to know whose lame brain idea that is! How are we supposed to get our work done when we only got us two to do the set up AND the strike??"
"Shawn didn't explain to me why, or who requested this. But personally, I think it's Voz. He's the only one who could pull it off. He's buddies with Gawd, like I told you!"
Jolly pulled hard on a guitar string. It broke, snapped back and whipped his face, leaving a small scratch on his cheek. "Ow! Damn!" He slammed the guitar onto the floor, then got up. "Ah'm taking a smoke break" he muttered, then stormed out.
Donny sighed and continued tuning the Ovation. Yeah, what's the deal with Miss Princess Wren? Voz got a thing for her? I *told* her, he was the one! Now she's got special treatment because of it! And everybody's gonna resent her for it, too. Wish I knew whether or not she'll have a happy ending with this! He sighed and shook his head.