Page 6 of Doc Rock
Mai wasn’t surprised. Midnight Thunder was the biggest thing ever to come to town. Well, scratch that, Taylor Anderson, international movie star, came to town and somehow ended up marrying her friend Clara. That caused a lot of excitement around the hospital for a while.Fortunatelyfor Taylor and Clara, people settled downquickly, and they decided they liked him, treating him as if he had always lived in Burra Creek.
“You’ll be able to watch and listen to the show from the medical tent,”Hel wheedled.
“I don’t know,” Mai hesitated.
Come on, her brain shouted at her, just say yes. You’ll get to see Ford. She shushed it. She could see Ford on the internet. She didn’t need to be in a concert venue with him.
“Please,” Hel begged.
Mai was only half surprised with herself when she said,“Sure. I’ll do it.”
“You are amazing,”Hel bellowed into the phone, then apologised.“Sorry, too loud. Thanks, Mai, I super appreciate it.”
“No problem,”Mai said, even as she was thinking.Shit, shit, shit, shit.
Hel gave her all the details she needed and thanked her a thousand times before she hung up, leaving Mai to her memories of the time when she was a rockstar standing on the stage with Midnight Thunder.
When she showed her work ID to the security guard at the staff entrance, she half hoped that she wouldn’t be on the list and could walk away. As he checked, she listened to the speakers, outside what wasnormallythe town’s football stadium, blasting music that was written on her soul, as it was all from the first Midnight Thunder album.
She left the band before the second one was released, but she wrote so much music with Ford that she continued to hear her lyrics and melodies appear on every album over the last sixteen years.
“Have you been here before?”the gruff security guard asked her.
“Yeah.”She had been to the stadium a few times to watch the football.
“Great. The medical tent is where the south goalusuallyis,”the guard told her, as if she should know which way round the stadium was oriented.
“Ummm.”Mai pushed her glasses up her nose and shruggedapologetically.
“It’s at this end,”he harrumphed.
“Thanks.”Mai gave him a nod and made her way into the stadium.
She averted her eyes when she walked past a merchandise stall. She didn’t want to see Ford’s face plastered all over t-shirts. Despite her best efforts, she peeked at the stand and saw underwear!
Wow, that was a new one.
Donnie must have made one hell of a deal for them to agree to have their faces on people’s groins!
Mai laughed to herself when she thought about Donnie. He was their manager back when she was a member of the band, and he was a huge part of the reason for their gigantic success.
When he met them, he was looking for his big break in the music industry. When he heard them play, he claimed they had‘it’, and he would take them‘all the way’.
And he did.
He fought tooth and nail for them. Getting them intograduallybigger and bigger venues. Getting their singles played on all the radio stations. Creating buzz around them. He wasincrediblysmart and loyal to a fault. If he put the band’s faces on underwear, there must have been a lot of cash on the table.
She stopped and stared at the stall, unable to prevent herself from looking now that she’d started.
Ford’s face was everywhere. Older, with some grey hairs starting to appear, and lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there when she knew him. Even with all the changes, he was still Ford.
Her Ford.
No—she corrected herself—he hadn’t been hers for a long time, and that was her choice. She walked away from him.
She would never admit it to anyone, but she always kept an eye on the news for stories about Ford. Waiting for the one she dreaded, the one about his engagement to a supermodel or actress or someoneequallyglamorous.
But it never came. His name was linked to woman after woman, but they didn’t seem to stick around very long.
