by SR Silcox
“Are you going to do it?” Andy asked.
“If I don’t, we lose the contract,” Maddie said simply. “Apparently, dad signed a deal without me a few months ago, and if I don’t leave the band at the end of the year to go out on my own, Three’s Company loses its recording contract.”
“But we lose it anyway,” Freya said. “We don’t exist without the three of us.”
Maddie nodded. “I know.”
Andy stretched and folded his hands behind his head. “So what are our choices?”
“We don’t have any,” Maddie said. “I'm not doing it.”
“Wait a minute,” Freya said. “So we just walk away from a million dollar deal?”
“Is it worth it to not sing our own stuff?” Maddie asked.
Andy rubbed his forehead. Business was not his strong point. Maddie knew that. She also knew that he’d play music for free if he had to, but Freya was a different story. Freya would be a harder sell.
“You know Freya’s written some more stuff?” Maddie said.
Andy looked over at Freya, who shrugged. “It’s not much,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Maddie said. “What matters is it's ours. Not someone else’s.”
“Maddie’s right,” Andy said. He got up and walked over to the window. He pulled back the curtain stood for a moment and then turned around. “We got ourselves that deal. We did all our own stuff before, and it was great. We had people who loved our first album. Why can’t we do more of that stuff?”
“Because the company doesn’t want us to,” Freya said. “And they're the ones paying us the money.”
“When did it become about the money?” Andy asked.
“When we started making it,” Freya replied.
“It shouldn’t be about money,” Maddie said.
“It’s okay for you to say,” Freya said. “Your parents are loaded anyway. Andy and I worked hard to get where we are.”
“We all did,” Maddie said. “That’s my point. Look. When I was in Chesterfield—”
“Chester-where?” Andy asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Maddie said, waving him away. “When I was away I met this girl, Lizzie. She was mad keen on us. Saw us before we signed the deal. She loved our stuff,” Maddie said. “That’s who we do it for. Not my dad and not some record company that thinks they know better than we do.”
“She’s right,” Andy said. “If you take the money out of it, we never really liked our last album anyway.”
“I guess,” Freya conceded. “I still don’t understand what we're going to do about it.”
Maddie leaned onto the edge of her chair. “We go out on our own.”
“What? Quit the company?” Freya shifted in her chair and Maddie knew she’d have a hard time convincing her to walk away.
“Why not? They’re threatening to do it to us no matter what we do,” Maddie said. “We should call their bluff.”
“What about your dad?” Andy asked. “Isn’t he going to be pissed?”
Maddie’s father was a whole other problem but he was one Maddie would deal with herself. “Do we really need a manager?” she asked. “We didn’t have one to start with.”
“So what, you’re going to sack him?” Andy said.
“Why not?” Maddie replied.
“So, if we do this,” Freya said. “Go out on our own, I mean. How do we even start?”
Before Maddie could answer, there was a soft knock on the door, and Jo entered. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said, handing Maddie a piece of paper. “I think you should read this.”
Maddie skimmed over it and then read it again. She smiled. “I know what we’re going to do,” she said. “I know exactly what we’re going to do.”
Andy and Freya asked in unison, “What?”
“We’re going back to our roots,” Maddie said.
Andy’s eyes lit up. “We’re going busking?” he asked.
“Not quite,” Maddie said. “But I think you’ll like it anyway.” She turned to Jo. “Can we make it back in time?”
Jo shrugged. “It’s doable,” she said. “But only if we get started now.”
Maddie turned to Andy and Freya. “Are you in?”
“Hell yeah,” Andy said. “I don’t know what it is, but I'm in.”
Maddie and Andy looked at Freya. Freya sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I’m in.”
“We’re back,” Andy said, grinning.
Maddie certainly hoped so.
TWENTY-FOUR
Tess was giving Bessie a brush over and consoling her on missing out on her big moment in the spotlight when Will came and leaned on the fence.
“How are you doing?” Will asked.
Tess shrugged. “Fine. Why?”
“I just thought… it doesn’t matter,” Will said.
“Just thought what?” Tess asked.
“Nothing,” Will said. He kicked at the dirt.
“Did you hear back about that job?” Tess asked.
“Yeah. There was a death in the family or something,” Will said. “They’re holding over the interviews until January.”
“So you still might be in with a chance?”
“I guess,” Will said. He scratched the back of his head. “They asked if I wanted to do some volunteer work over the holidays.”
“That’s great,” Tess said. “Are you going to do it?”
Will shook his head. “I told them I had commitments up here.”
“What commitments?”
“The festival,” Will said.
“What festival?” Tess said. “It’s cancelled, remember?”
“About that,” Will said. “I spoke to Pop about the festival.”
Tess moved around to Bessie’s other side, gave her a scratch on her head and started brushing her chest and front legs.
Will continued. “Lizzie’s probably going to kill me for telling you this, but I think you should know.”
“Know what?” Tess stopped brushing Bessie and looked up.
“I know you said you already spoke to Pop about turning the festival into a music festival and he said no, but Lizzie and I thought we could give it another shot.”
“You went to him without talking to me?”
“I did talk to you, Tess, but you’ve been so distracted by Maddie—”
“I have not!”
“Yes. You have.” Will eye-balled Tess and she eventually had to look away.
“Yeah, okay. So what? What’s that got to do with the festival?” Tess asked.
“Nothing. Except you just didn’t seem like you wanted to come up with a solution. That’s all. And Lizzie and I talked about it and Lizzie said there wasn't a small music festival between Brisbane and Cairns, at least not like we want to do, so we were a prime place to have one.”
“They take a lot of organising,” Tess said. “That’s why Pop said no last time I asked. And bands, good ones, want to be paid.”
“See, that’s the thing,” Will said, walking through the gate and standing in front of Tess. He gave Bessie a scratch on her nose. “All the bands I asked are new ones trying to break into the scene. They all said they’d do this gig for free so they could put it on their website. Get a bit of cred.”
Tess didn’t say anything and Will continued. “And the other thing is, when was the last time Gran and Pop, any of us really, were able to sit back and enjoy the festival? It seems like every year there’s more stuff for us all to do to save money. We’re so busy working the stalls or on the gate, that we don’t get a chance to sit back and just enjoy ourselves.”
Tess knew Will was right. She’d actually felt like that last year if she was really honest with herself, but she’d never admit it to anyone else.
“How’s a music festival going to let us enjoy ourselves?”
Will shrugged. “We dial back on the rides and stalls and stuff and concentrate on food vans and bands. Once we do all the setup, there’s not much else to do except sit back and make sure it all just runs smoothly.”
“So, how did you talk Pop into having it this year?”
“I just asked him to give me one year to prove my point and if it bombed, I’d never ask again.”
“And if it works?”
“Then you and Lizzie and I are starting our own music festival.” He smiled hopefully, but Tess shook her head.
“I just don’t know,” she said.
“Look,” Will said. “Just see what happens, okay? See how it goes tomorrow and then on Sunday, we’ll decide whether we want to do it all again next year.”
Tess wished she could be as confident as Will was, but Pop had been right about crowd numbers dropping over the past few years. She had no idea how Will and Lizzie could have organised anything at such short notice but if she believed what Will was telling her, they’d managed it. She sighed. “Fine.”
“Great.” Will grinned. “But you have to act surprised tomorrow, or Lizzie’s going to know I told you. And that could be dangerous for both of us.”
“How am I going to act surprised when there are still people setting up?”
“You saw all that?”
“They’re in the Big Yard, dope. How can I miss the chip van and the stage trucks?”
“Yeah. Good point,” Will said. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and said, “Just pretend I told you that they wanted another night's free camping before they moved on.”
Tess had to laugh. “Whatever.”
Will gave Bessie a rub on the nose and said, “I should get back to the band. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Tess followed Will out of Bessie’s pen and said, “I should go talk to Pop. I haven’t spoken to him in nearly two days.”
“Hey, don’t let on you know,” he said. “Pop thinks it's a surprise for you too.”
“Fine,” Tess said and headed to the sheds. Even though Will had revealed the secret, it would still be surprise to Tess if they managed to pull it off.
TWENTY-FIVE
Tess pulled open the wooden door of the main shed and spotted Pop’s feet sticking out from under Chitty. “Pop?”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“What are you doing with Chitty?”
“Putting in a spotlight. So you don’t have to use that torch anymore.”
Tess walked over to the benches lining the side of the shed. They were covered in grease and oil and red dust, but they were tidy. Pop never left anything on the benches and anyone who worked in there was expected to do the same. If he’d been working on something, an old motor, or bike part, he wrapped it in an old tarp or rag and put it under the bench until he could get to it next time.
Pop said, “Can you see the switch on the dashboard?”
Tess leaned over the steering wheel and spotted the switch Pop was talking about. “Yeah.”
“Turn it on, will you?”
Tess flicked the switch and the spotlight lit up the door in a blinding stream of white light. “You might want to adjust the angle,” Tess said. “It looks like it's a bit high.”
She watched as the light dropped lower on the door. “How’s that?” Pop asked.
“Perfect,” Tess replied. She flicked the switch off and Pop pulled himself from under the car and stood up.
“Your grandmother can’t complain about you not being safe at night now.” He wiped his hands on the front of his coveralls and walked over to the bench to put his tools away in the toolbox. “I cleaned out the filter too, which is something you should do more often if you’re going to start driving it again.” He pointed at Tess with a spanner before he dropped it in the toolbox.
“Thanks,” Tess said. “I’ll try to remember.”
“I taught you to service it so I wouldn’t have to do it myself,” he grumbled. He closed the toolbox, shoved it to the back of the bench and turned back to Tess. He leaned back onto the bench and folded his arms across his chest. “Your grandmother send you out here?”
“Kind of,” Tess said.
Pop nodded. Obviously not wanting to talk about what Gran might’ve said, Pop asked, “Have you been talking to Will?”
“About what?” Tess remembered what Will said and decided to feign innocence.
“The festival.”
“I was just talking to him. Why?”
“He came to see me with some harebrained scheme of his.”
“Oh?” she said. “And?”
Pop shrugged. “I told him he was dreaming.”
Oh, he’s good, Tess thought. She decided to test how far Pop would take the lie. “So, all the trucks that are still in the yard. How come they’re still here?”
“Buggered if I know. Probably too stingy to pay for a motel I suppose.”
“So they’ll be gone in the morning?”
“I bloody hope so. They’re killing my grass.”
Tess tried not to laugh out loud. “So, what are we going to do tomorrow night then, since we haven’t got any other plans?” she asked.
Pop shrugged. “Hadn’t thought about it to be honest,” he said. “Might give your Gran the night off from cooking. Take her out for dinner maybe.”
“Right,” Tess said.
“Speaking of dinner, you’re Gran’ll probably have it ready by now. You should get inside and see if she needs a hand.”
Afraid that she might let on that she knew what was happening, Tess decided to head inside. As she pulled open the door Pop said, “Tess?”
“Yeah?”
“You know you’re my favourite?” Pop smiled.
Tess smiled back. He used to say that to her all the time until she realised that she was his only grandchild. “I know,” Tess said.
The sky had gone completely dark and as she walked down the dirt road back to the house, a pair of headlights turned into the Big Yard driveway. Whoever that was, they were late if they were wanting to set up now. Tess wasn’t sure why they wouldn’t just come earlier tomorrow.
∞
Tess found Gran in the lounge room, knitting. “Dinner’s in the oven,” she said, not missing a beat with her knitting needles.
“Thanks,” Tess said. As she turned to walk out to the kitchen, there was a knock on the front door. It was unusual because everyone knew to use the back door. Tess opened it and was blinded by a flash of white light. Before she could recover a man said, “Where’s Indiana Rose?”
“What?” Tess scrunched her eyes to try to relieve her temporary blindness. The man held out a piece of paper. It took her eyes a minute to adjust but she was horrified to see that it was a copy of the photo that was in the paper that morning.
“Can you confirm that Indiana Rose was staying out here?”
Before Tess could say anything, Gran had appeared at her side. “Go away,” she hissed.
“We just want to ask some questions,” the man said. He had a pen poised over a notebook.
There was another flash from the camera and Gran stepped forward, threatening the men with her knitting needles. “If you don’t get going right this instant, I’ll set the dogs onto you.”
“But—”
“Go let the dogs off,” she said to Tess.
“Okay, okay.” The man put his hands up in front of him and backed down the stairs. “We’re going.”
“And don’t come back!” Gran slammed the door and locked it behind her.
“We don’t have any dogs,” Tess said.
“They don’t know that,” Gran replied. She pulled Tess into the kitchen and ordered her to sit at the bench. Tess sat on a stool, and Gran pulled a dinner plate from the oven, unwrapped the foil covering and placed it down in front of Tess along with a knife and fork. “Eat,” she said.
Tess was a little worried about what Gran might do if she were to protest, so she did as she was told.
“There’ll be more tomorrow, no doubt,” Gran said, wandering around the kitchen, putting dishes and cutlery away. She pointed at Tess with a butter knife and said, “Don’t you tell them anything.”
“I won’t,” Tess replied through a
mouthful of corned meat and mashed potato. She didn’t know what she’d tell them anyway.
“I’ll get your grandfather to call Sergeant Collins when he gets in. He’ll clear them off quick smart.”
“Clear who off?” Pop called from the laundry.
The smell of grease remover drifted into the kitchen and Gran said, “You know I hate it when you wash off inside, Jack.”
“The bulb’s out downstairs,” Pop replied. He sidled up beside Tess and pinched a piece of corned meat from Tess’s plate. She swiped at him with her fork and he laughed.
“Gran just fought off some reporters with knitting needles,” Tess said through mouthfuls of food.
Pop laughed. Gran huffed and said, “I told them I’d set the dogs onto them if they didn’t get going quick smart.”
“We don’t have dogs,” Pop said.
“They don’t know that,” Gran said and Tess laughed.
“Crafty one, your Gran,” Pop said, stirring the cup of tea Gran placed down in front of him.
“Don’t you start,” Gran said, swatting at him with a tea towel.
TWENTY-SIX
Tess lay in bed Saturday morning, listening to the activity going on outside in the Big Yard. She wasn’t sure why Lizzie thought she wouldn’t work out something was going on, but she’d keep her word to Will and pretend like she didn’t know a thing. She was wondering when would be a good time to get out of bed to see her ‘surprise’ when she got a text from Will.
Heads up Pretend ur asleep Lizzie wants to wake u up for the surprise See u in 5
Tess lay back and pulled her pillow over her head. She smiled when she heard scuffling outside her bedroom and when the door opened, she resisted the urge to jump up and surprise them.
Instead of the violent shaking that had woken her the day before, Lizzie quietly called Tess’s name and gently shook her shoulder. Tess groaned and pretended she was annoyed at being woken up. “What?” she grunted. She opened one eye and looked up at Lizzie who was sitting on the bed. Will was standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a large piece of paper.
“Wake up,” Lizzie said. “We’ve got something to show you.”
Tess decided to play it for all it was worth. She rolled over and said, “Go away.”
