Forrestt wakes up and readies for his day. There’s a jazz gig on the books for 11:30, a suit and tie affair. It pays $100 and he needs the money.
Upon realizing that he can’t find his only descent tie, he has a bit of a crisis. A rush down to Gotschalks.
“Can I ring you up?”
“Yeah, I’ll take this”
Scan… Beep… Beep…..
“That’ll be $32.54.”
“What?! I thought that tie was on the sale rack.”
“Yeah, the 29.99 sale rack.”
“Jeesus. Well let me go find another.”
All the ties on the 19.99 sale rack pale in comparison to the one that he had so meticulously chosen. A glance at the watch and a quick decision is made.
“Fine I’ll take it.”
___
At the gig he caught a glance of himself in the mirror. “Damn, I look sharp.” It’s a recently purchased suit, worn maybe 6 times and a brand new maroon tie.
He tunes up his upright bass and watches the rich people file into this little chef’s lunch event. At $75 a plate, he knew for sure he wouldn’t see anyone he knew in the crowd. Darryl, the vibraphone player and the guy who called him for this show turns to him just before they’re supposed to start.
“Here’s your pay for today, before I forget.”, And hands him a crisp benjamin. Not wanting to set down his bass to get out his wallet, he folds it in half and puts it in his pocket next to his wallet.
“Nice! Not bad for 2 hours of work. Plus they’re going to feed us!”
It’s a classy duo, Upright and Vibes. It has a certain sonic appeal to it, both intsruments being pleasant on the ear and complimentary of each other. The bass was sounding particularly good in the room as well, which was not always the case.
“Bass sounds the best I’ve heard it”
“Yeah, I got to spend some time dialing in the tone yesterday. It’s doing well today, but she can be finnicky sometimes.”
“Well what do we have here? Looks like some talent just entered the building.”
A few well-to-do and looking good females stroll in through the double doors, making their entrance known.
“Ahh. I think they’re out of my price range.”
They play some jazz standards, and go almost entirely unnoticed by a majority of the crowd. Which they don’t mind. They supposed that they would be resigned to background music status.
The song ‘Nature Boy’ is performed, and both of their solos impressed one another. They ended it dramatically and with a grin. To silence.
“Thank you ladies and gentlemen, you are too kind!”, Darryl says, a little too loud.
They end the set and Darryl works the crowd. He has always been quite the professional.
“Oh, thank you. Yes, indeed. Does it sound good? I’m glad. Great.” etc. etc.
The second set goes on without a hitch. No one pays attention and they got to look good while practicing their chops. Known amongst jazz circles as a ‘practice gig’.
They wrap things up and settle on a table to enjoy the fine lunch. Darryl’s chef friend, Andre, cooked up quite the plate. And the Lamb was delicious.
After a cup of coffee they decide to pack up the equipment. Always the least enjoyable part of a gig. Forrestt walks to his car to move it closer to the door for loading up and checks his wallet to put the hundred dollar bill in, and finds it not there.
