Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Midvalley's Serenade ❯ Graduation Night--Part One ( Chapter 21 )

Graduation Night--Part One

Oscar, the cook, had outdone himself again, overseeing all the preparations for the graduation feast. All the salads and side dishes looked and smelled wonderful. The tomas was roasted to perfection and Oscar himself had carved it into succulent slices. Some liked the meat served hot with gravy and mashed potatoes. Others preferred it chilled in sandwiches made of achingly fresh sourdough bread. Nick preferred his hot. I like variety, so I had it both ways.

There were about eight of Leonof's puppets at work in the food tent. Some dished up the cold potato and pasta salads, tossed crisp greens in oversized salad bowls, and cut and cubed chilled melons. Others sliced bread and spread it with soft butter. Two puppets manned the beverage lines, one filled glasses with ice water, lemonade, fruit punch, the other brewed coffee in a large urn. Nick's sparkled when he saw it, picked the largest mug he could find and filled it to the brim. Legato, the only person I know who started his meal with sweets was already in dessert heaven. He would, doubtless, have his fill of roast later. For the moment, his picnic plate held several small slivers of pie, cheesecake, brownie bites and one rather larger slice of banana cream pie, piled high with whipped cream and topped with a cherry. As he took a forkful of it, his eyes closed in bliss.

He drifted over to where Nicholas and I were sitting with the rest of my band mates on folding chairs near the stage. As he neared, I noticed that Lenny, with a sudden case of nerves, stood up with his nearly full plate and walked back in a circuitous route towards the refreshment tent.

Legato chuckled mildly when he saw the effect he had on the drummer.

`Have you been spreading tales about me, Midvalley," he asked. "Or is that my reputation precedes me again?"

"The story about Skip Walker's disappearance has had an impact. You have a certain reputation in music circles now."

"You are always the diplomat, Midvalley, and what is a diplomat but a master of the half-truth, a man who understands the fine art of the compromise. I can see by your plate that you're a man after my own heart. I have to love a man who wants to have it both ways at once."

My heart and shoulders sank. Legato and his innuendoes again. The worst part was that now I could feel both Nick and Legato through my link at the same time.

"Oscar has outdone himself again. The pie is sublime."

"It's all good," said Nick as he lit up a cigarette and exhaled with contentment. He had already finished his dinner and would probably pass on dessert, until later.

"You've had a good day, Chapel. You'll probably have an even better one tomorrow when you check the state of your bank balance. And with the schedule of missions that Knives and I have put together for you, you won't have enough free time to spend it. In a couple of months, you'll be such a rich man, you can pay off that debt once and for all. Then maybe you can go back to regular assignments when Midvalley gets this music tour out of his system. And of course, we'll want both back here next year as guest instructors."

Legato drifted back to the buffet for seconds.

After the meal, I bummed a cigarette from Nick. I usually don't smoke before a gig, but somehow, it just felt good. I looked around me, saw the tables around the dance floor filling up with townspeople arriving for the dance. It was a pleasure to see so many couples and families enjoying the day, and realized that I felt pretty good myself.

I feel a stirring of anticipation when I'm getting "up" to play and I felt some of it now as I looked at the audience arriving and recognized some of them. I smiled at the red-headed teller who handled my accounts at the Epril Town Bank. I waved at Miss Adelaide who arrived with one of the barmaids, who'd served us the other day, Josie, her name was. I don't know who Miss Adelaide left minding the White Cat Saloon on a Saturday night, but it must have been someone she trusted, because that's the night all hell breaks loose in town, but all was peaceful here on the academy grounds.

The nicotine kicked in and I felt my shoulders relax and I looked around lazily again and recognized the man from the printing office with a woman who had to be his wife and two energetic boys who were throwing around a ball.

I leaned back in my chair and watched the people go by.

I smiled when I saw Grey Nine-Lives trailing along in Dominique's wake like a love-sick puppy. Ben Evans and Jake Berkis were arm-wrestling clerks and stock boys who worked in the town shops. Caine and Pitts walked slowly, arms round each others shoulders, each clutching a long-necked beer bottle in the free hand. Every now and then, one or the other would take a swallow as they watched the first sun sinking towards the horizon.

Dixie, I noticed idly had moved over to the piano bench and was checking the tuning. Randy was bent over her left shoulder whispering something in her ear that made her giggle. Sunny and Jason brought all the stringed instruments over and started to tune them to Dixie's piano. When Sunny finished with his acoustic guitar, he started to flat-pick a fast old hell-raiser of a blue-grass tune. Jason fell in right behind him with a fiddle break so lively that picnickers who heard it broke into spontaneous applause.

Nick was sitting next to me, smoking with a smile of contentment when he saw his father Chapel the Evergreen beckon him. Nick excused himself and drifted over to see what was on his father's mind.

I carried my dirty dishes over to the food tent and watched with delight as the Evergreen said a few words and then pulled his son into a hug and released him. Nick wore a pleased smile of surprise. The Evergreen spoke some more and Nick's smile grew strained, then finally gave way to defensiveness, irritation and finally exasperation. He held it in pretty well, I thought. He didn't explode at least. The funny thing about those eye implants, for a man who didn't miss much, Chapel the Evergreen was somehow completely oblivious to the emotional state he had put his son in. I didn't need empathy to see that Nick's temper had come close to boiling over.

After his father left, Nick stayed in the same spot, leaning up against a fence and scraping the ground with the toe of his soft desert boot. I walked up behind him and slid an arm around his shoulder. He shrugged away with irritation, then let loose a heavy sigh when he saw it was me.

"I thought it was my dad again," he said.

"It looked like you two had a nice moment there."

"Moment is right," said Nick as he fumbled with his matches.

"He congratulated you on `Instructor of the Year', right?"

"Yeah, and it was all downhill from there. He was completely surprised that I got it at all considering all the deficiencies he noticed in my conduct."

"Then what?"

"Well, he told me not to screw up on my new assignments, to take better care of my motorcycle, not to expect a free ride on assignments just because I'm his son--as if I ever had," said Nick with some bitterness.

"I know," I said softly. "I know, Nick."

"Plus it seems that Master Knives is looking for an agent for a special assignment and Dominique and I will be under scrutiny, so I'd better start submitting some in-depth field reports. He's supposedly been catching flak because of their sloppiness, which is tomas shit because the only field report I filed in the past six months is the one I submitted when you got the concussion."

He quieted and exhaled a breath of smoke and I slid my arm around his back again.

"You could take better care of your motorcycle. He just worries about you. Like I will. It's just your dad's way of telling you he loves you."

I felt him relax. His mood lightened. He slid his arm around me and time stood still and all that existed was the smoke of his cigarette drifting and spiraling, our hearts beating in peaceful unison, and our arms locked as the first sun slid below the horizon. When the next moment finally came, we walked back to the bandstand together without exchanging another word.

When we arrived, I took Silvia from her case, licked my lips, tossed off a blues-y riff and checked my tuning against Sonny's.

"Oh, yeah, just right. I could tune to you in my sleep," said the guitarist. "Did you know, I hear your sax in my dreams. For real."

Lenny had managed to ease his way back without drawing Legato's attention and sat at his drums, checking to see if the bass drum needed less mute with Dave, tightening the head of his snare drum and tapping lightly on his cymbals. From the perimeter of the picnic area, Dave gave him a thumbs up. "Sounds good, Lenny."

The dance hadn't officially started. We were still warming up.

Dixie launched into a piano rag that had us all jamming along. She tried out her voice on some vocals. Her voice was a little tight with pre-gig jitters.

"Can I get you a cup of the spiked punch, Dixie?" I asked.

"That'd warm up my vocal cords, Midvalley. Thanks for thinking of it," she said.

"I'll get it," said Nick, "and some more beers for the band?"

"Thanks, Chapel. You got our number," piped up Toby and Jason.

After Nick got back, Lenny was antsy to begin, so without preamble he gave us the word and the word was, "No Way Left but Up". This tune rocked with high-spirits and soon had the office girls and stock boys jitterbugging and gyrating in time to the infectious beat that Lenny laid down. Cheers and whistles rewarded our efforts, then we played another fast one to burn up a little more of their pent-up energy, and prepare them for the slower fox-trot that followed.

When the foxtrot was over but before they could leave the dance floor, we followed with "Low-down Hoe-down". This was an old Texas swing tune turned inside out with rock guitar, jazz fiddle and me along for the ride on sax. The rhythms were so catchy, it had all of us musicians tapping our feet to it. Jason's fiddling was so inspired, it acted like a fountain of youth for the older dancers, who kicked up their heels like youngsters.

It seemed like everyone and his grandmother was dancing along on this one. I even saw Nick stepping around the floor with a delighted smile on his face clasping the small hands of a beaming brown-haired young girl in a purple polka dot dress who looked just as happy to be dancing with the handsome priest. He was careful to steer her out of the paths of careless dancers. A warm feeling of love flowed over me as I watched him with a smile in my heart and with that feeling I closed my eyes and played.

The rest of the set was pure musical joy.

"Really nice set, Midvalley," said Lenny when we were done and he brushed his hand across my shoulders as he stepped down to find another beer.

My eyes scanned the crowd for Nick. He was easy enough to find, tall as he is. He was engaged in an impromptu soccer game with the printer's sons. He killed himself laughing when the littlest boy slipped the ball past him through his legs. He did a double take and looked so comical that it made me laugh. I swear, sometimes he acted just like a big kid. There was a lot of sweetness in Nick, but nothing brought it out in him like the presence of children.

I went over to the refreshment tent and got a cup of coffee and cream, spiked it with a shot of bourbon and sipped it as I watched the second sun go down, painting the sky with bands of orange, pink and violet.

Leonof had taken responsibility for the lighting and had overseen the hanging of strings of small bulbs from the open rafters above the dance floor. As if to help out, fireflies flitted and fluttered adding their random glimmers and exciting the active children who chased them with delight.

Dixie sat down at the piano and softly played with her eyes closed. Randy sat down beside her on the piano bench, put his arm around her waist, and kissed her cheek tenderly. He wore a look of wonder in his eyes as he watched her. She opened her eyes and smiled back at him with a sexy promise of what lay in store for him back at the hotel when the gig was over.

That put me in mind of my tall and tender priest and my heart began to beat fast with anticipation of the pleasure of his body on this last night before we parted. He wouldn't be gone so long, I thought. A month at most. Two would be the outside limit. Anything beyond that I couldn't imagine. And my thoughts went back to thinking up ways to give him pleasure.

And there he was suddenly in front of me.

"That's quite a smile on your face," he said. "What are you thinking about?"

"You."

He sat down on the chair next to mine, sprawled back on it with his eyes closed. His left hand found my right and he squeezed it affectionately. I felt such a glow of happiness from him. I sighed in contentment and looked around me. Caine and Pitts were kissing again with a rapturous intensity that was down-right inspiring. Husbands and wives were whispering sweet nothings. Dave and Lenny shared a tender moment as they both contemplated his drum set, arms crisscrossed on each others backs. A beautiful summer evening.

Dixie, Sunny and Randy started the set by playing "Sound Life". Then the rest of us one by one went up to the bandshell, picked up our instruments, and joined in with them. Dixie could belt out a raunchy blues with the best of them, but now she just sang like the purest of angels, her beautiful alto, full and strong. She soon had the audience singing along even Sunny, Toby, Jason, and Randy and Lenny. As for me, I let Silvia do my singing.

I nodded my head at Pitts as he swung Caine around waltzing to the old song. When the song was over, Dixie played the opening chords of "Under a Pale Moon" and she started to sing.

The band tunes up,

A pale moon's up,

Slow dancing begins.

Our hearts beating,

Our eyes meeting,

"May I have this dance?"

And the mood flows and

The man knows I'm in love,

He knows I'm in love.

The song had a lilting melody and the dance floor filled with couples slow-waltzing and embracing.

Sometimes I'm restless,

My soul cries out, "Let me be free."

Sometimes I'm lonely,

My heart cries out, "Baby, love me."

The band did instrumental breaks, Jason and I took turns with solos and then Dixie added some nice piano work just before she started the second verse.

The dance ending,

Now he's bending ,

To talk soft in my ear.

His lips seeking,

His eyes speaking,

Oh, love me tonight.

And the mood flows and

The man knows I'm in love,

He knows I'm in love.

Jason's violin sang the chorus, then Silvia sang it again, and then Dixie.

Sometimes I'm restless,

My soul cries out, "Let me be free."

Sometimes I'm lonely,

My heart cries out, "Baby, love me."

Caine and Pitts kissed as they danced, clinging tenderly to each other. I think the song meant a lot to them. It meant a lot to me. When I composed it, the image I held in my mind as the notes flowed through me was the sweetness of Nick's innocence on the night I kissed him for the first time.

We took another round of solos. Silvia was inspired. I saw Nick smoking with his eyes closed. He seemed at peace.

Legato in a chair nearby tapped his fingers in time with the music. Rai-dei leaned over his left shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Legato didn't look at him once, but dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

We played through the song one more time and finished to warm applause from the dancers.

Then Dixie sang my other song "Breathless". Guitar, fiddle and bass started the song.

Watching the suns set,

On a slow summer night,

Your hand in my hand,

We're holding on tight.

We're holding on tight.

I remembered the evening walks, Nick and I used to take after a gig. The scrape of the bow on Jason's fiddle as he soloed reawakened memories of the passionate yearning I felt for my partner before he became my lover.

Walking together in the dark,

One by one the stars appear,

A moon comes up to gently light the fire of love.

Dixie's warm vibrant voice infused the words with feeling, as I remembered how hot Nick and I had been for each other and the unashamed joy we took in each others bodies.

Softly a breeze falls like your touch on my skin,

Whispering to tell me it's time to begin.

It's time to begin.

I shivered in remembrance of the pleasure he took in stroking my skin and my feelings of being loved when he touched me so.

I was so lonesome and so blue,

Now my life is filled with sun,

Cause, honey, that's what I've begun

To see in you.

I realized how much he had given me since he came into my life. All the one-night stands had only increased my feelings of loneliness. But Nick's love had given me joy and I realized that I had been living a kind of half-life until he came along.

Watching the suns rise on

A new summer day,

Oh, honey, you take my breath away,

Oh, honey, you take my breath away.

It was all true. And after Dixie finished, Silvia and I swung into our solo, a pure outpouring of musical emotion. I held onto to those feelings and let the breath flow through me while Silvia sang the notes and embraced each phrase. My eyes closed and the music flowed like the sound of wind and water, the play of each instrument like a thread interwoven in a beautiful tapestry . The song ended too soon, but I came to myself and the band took bows as the audience gave us warm applause.

I went over to Dixie at the piano.

"Thanks," I said to her. "You sang them both beautifully."

"Anytime, Midvalley," she said. "That was one hell of a solo you coaxed out of Silvia."

"I'll say," said Lenny, "but it's time for a change of pace. Now that they're feeling all gooey and lovey-dovey, we should play some hell-raisers so they have the energy to do something about it later tonight."

I know my grin got goofy when I thought about what I wanted to do with Nick later, and we swung into "Cocksure" and damned if the dancers didn't get closer than I would have dreamed possible. Modest shop girls with bold hands cupped the asses of wide-eyed stock boys, who responded in kind. The dancers shimmied and bumped to the torrid beat and the hot urgent moans of Silvia. They turned, twirled and cried out from sheer animal spirits and the cheers and wolf whistles when we finished were intense. The way the couples sagged against each other after the dance was finished, I knew they'd had a good time all right. Rai-dei was one who had been wolf-whistling. He loved that tune and wore a broad smile on his face. He caught my eye and gave me a thumbs up.

"I think we can sneak in another break on the basis of what we've done so far," said Lenny. "That beer went straight to my bladder. Anyone else need to go to the can?"

Toby and Jason raised their hands. Lenny grinned and announced to the crowd, "The band will be taking a short break, but don't go away, we've got lots more music in store for you."

When I got back from the rest room, I looked around for Nick but didn't see him anywhere. I saw Leonof and Chapel the Evergreen deep in one of their serious conversations.

Rai-dei was conferring with Legato again and appeared to be asking a question. Rai-dei listened respectfully to the response, then bowed and excused himself and strode off in the direction of the student apartments. I wondered what was going on in that quarter. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of Zazie all evening, but if Legato had raked me over the coals the way he had Zazie, I would have laid low and stayed out of his sight too.

I was trying to remember something about Legato, a nagging something at the edge of my consciousness, like the snatch of a dream and voices whispering, but I couldn't catch hold of it. I caught the smell of tobacco and felt an arm curl comfortably around my waist.

"Damn, Midvalley" said Nick with an admiring tone, "that last song was something else. Dave and Lenny have slipped off somewhere and can't be found. Caine and Pitts have dropped out of sight and there are at least two couples making love under the bleachers. I don't know how it happened but this almost doesn't seem like Planet Gunsmoke tonight. The moon, the music, the lights, all these happy couples…It's as if love is in the air. Hard to believe what we do for a living or that somewhere in town right now, there are about ten murders and fifty rapes being committed."

He fell silent as the heaviness of the last thought sank in. He felt in his jacket for his cigarettes, but I took his hands and put them around my neck and pulled him into an embrace, found his lips with mine and savored them. Kissing him was like balm poured on my heart, pure comfort.

I heard Dixie call me from nearby. It was quite dark where Nick and I were embracing. I don't think she saw us.

"Midvalley, Lenny and Dave finally made it back and we're all ready when you are to start the next set or did you need a few more minutes?"

I released Nick's lips reluctantly.

"I'm coming now," I called back to her.

"Good for you, boys," she giggled and I heard her voice receding.

It only took us a few steps to catch up with her.

"Hey, we weren't doing anything," said Nick.

"You will," she chuckled.