excerpt from Where Nothing Ever Happens

A single spotlight appears over me, the rest of the stage lost in the darkness. Instantly my free fingers start dancing along the strings and for the first time in thirty five years, there is no pain, there are no choppy notes. Donnie’s flute begins resonating within the darkness. I lean in towards the microphone. I’m hesitant at first but then I realize there is no need for hesitation. Everything always works out in this place.
“There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.”
The perfect pitch. I could swear I robbed Mick Jagger’s voice for the night. The words flow naturally and it feels so right, like I’ve had this voice all along.
“Woe oh oh oh oh oh,
and she's buying a stairway to heaven.”
As the song proceeds, the stage begins to slowly illuminate itself. A screen displays a golden staircase rising up into the heavens, where angels frolic through a field of blossoms. A spot light over Ernie, over Donnie, then Gabe slams on the drums as the song makes its ascent into glory. Roses rain down over us, as Judith and I work our magic. Gabe takes off his shirt and tosses it backstage, before pounding the cans with all he has, showering them with his own sweat. Donnie’s got my back, unleashing fiery guitar rifts that ignite the crowd. Ernie puts on his jam face, his tongue sticking out of his lips, small eyes transfixed in concentration and as for me, I unleash what I’d been building up inside of myself for almost thirty five years and the result is an explosion of a solo that rocks the foundations of this whole place. I glare at Ernie, who nods his head, followed by a call of ecstasy. I’d always wondered what rock stars like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page felt like on stage, the raw adrenaline and sheer intensity of blasting out all you have, all your worries and troubles released in the form of a high pitched bellow. The audience flashes us with white lights, they crowd surf and flail their arms high into the air, singing along to the heaven song, mesmerized in the perfection of my voice.
I find my mind drifting to the past. I see Ernie and the guys rocking out in his garage. I see myself showing up late to band practice. We were performing at a party that night, but I received a letter in the mail. My mom told me it was from the government. I didn’t open the letter until I got to Ernie’s garage. I wanted to open it in the presence of my friends but at the same time, I didn’t, ashamed at what may be inside.
“And as we wind on down the road! Our shadows taller than our soul!”
Life is unpredictable. One day you’re living for your music, dreaming of becoming a rockstar with your friends, the next you’re being shipped off to a foreign country where a burning piece of shrapnel waits to rob you of your eyes. I’d never even left Ohio before. I was nineteen.
“There walks a lady we all know! Who shines white light and wants to show!”
Ernie was there for me the whole way. My best friend, my wing man. Even when that godforsaken bus arrived in my lonely hometown, Ernie was there, quickly stashing a few Playboys and cigarettes in my luggage before my mom turned around. We all have that one best friend. You look back at your life and can’t picture it without this person. This is the person you struggled through grade school with, the person who broke you out of your shell and made you who you are now. This is your best friend. This is Ernie. I wouldn’t share this stage with anyone else.
“And she's buying a stairway to heaven!”
The stage is illuminated once again and the last rose hits the stage but the watchers and listeners of the world crave more music and we give them just that. All of our favorite hits, the songs of our childhood, the songs that give us life. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door to Light My Fire, my voice changing according to each song. Corporal Donnie moves from the organ, to the keyboard, his Aviator specs motionless on his face. Fireworks crackle above us, bathing the stage in red white and blue as we jam to Born in the USA. Tonight we dominate the stage. We conquer Madison Square Garden in the name of Rock and Roll. Tonight, there are no holocausts, no hunger, not one hippie protesting a pointless war. Tonight, we are all friends, our musical ears intertwined as one and when it is all over, after our encore performance has reached its climax, I pull Angela up on stage and kiss her in front of everyone I know, the screen displaying our passionate kiss for all the world to see.