“Let me guess,” Bernie was momentarily interrupted as they struck a pothole dead on and he was bounced in his seat, his head brushing the ceiling. “You started rebelling, getting into trouble.”
“I took off with a band for a while, Aunt Susan nearly cracked me over the head and chained me to the radiator when she caught up with me four months later, but I was out of high school, I didn’t see the problem,” Miranda said.
“How old were you?”
“Seventeen, I just graduated,” Miranda replied.
Bernie could see that she honestly didn’t see the issue with a seventeen-year-old girl running around the New York area with a band without telling her guardians where she was. The parallels – Max spending his college fund on their old school bus, road money and a demo around the same time, acts which infuriated Bernie’s dad, but there was little he could do. The only real differences were that Max was eighteen when he ran off, and that Bernie went with him.
“What?” Miranda asked after a stretch of silence.
“You’re perfect for each other,” Bernie said.
“I didn’t want a boyfriend, I’m here to figure out the next act,” Miranda said. “Can’t think about that though, not since that ride. The Gathering was all I came for, I love nature, and connecting with the universe the way we do, so I couldn’t skip this. I was looking forward to reuniting with you and Scott too, and it’s good to see you both after so long. Max has stolen the scene though.”
“Stolen the scene?” Bernie asked.
“I was in a few plays in New York, mostly background stuff, it means…”
“I get it,” Bernie said.
“But if he’s going to be all broody and quiet the whole time, I don’t know,” Miranda said. “I’ll hang out until he cracks, if he cracks.”
“He will,” Bernie said. “I think if anyone can connect with him, you know, aside from me and Scott, you can.”
“Cool, but what’s with his British accent? It’s even thicker than before.”
“He spent four months in England with his Great Uncle before he died,” Bernie replied. “Must have been three years ago now. He brought back a small library and that accent.”
“Oh,” Miranda said. “At least I can understand him, most of the time.”
“So, instead of proving your aunts wrong, you made sure you were one of the first things he saw when he came into town?” Bernie said.
“No,” Miranda said, shaking her head. “They both had a vision, and they told me, where he’d be and when,” Miranda confirmed.
“Then you go there,”
“To prove them wrong,” Miranda said. “I wanted to get right up to him and take a good look, so I could go back to my Aunts and say; ‘nope, I checked him out and didn’t even get a buzz.’”
“Then-“ Bernie started to reply.
“Then I’m asking him for a ride out of no where, I didn’t plan it, I didn’t even think about how it would look to my Aunts, who are gloating,”
“I heard that the first time,” Bernie said, patiently. He was glad there would be dozens of people to talk to once they got back to the farm. People other than the love-stunned Max and Miranda.
“Yeah, so I just forget everything and ride with him, like we’re tucked into that blanket together all over again, and time passes so fast, and we’re at the farm and I remember – shit! I was supposed to turn my nose up at this British-Canadian hick, not throw myself at him! Then he says; ‘take it easy!’”
“Do you want advice? Or are you just talking to blow off steam?”
“Oh, suck an egg!” Miranda shot at him.
“That’s what I thought,” Bernie said. They were finally getting close to the farm, and he wondered what trouble awaited him there. He was the peace keeper between Maxwell and Zackary, the lead guitarist and lead singer, but sometimes, especially when Zack had gotten into a terrible substance and was on a bad trip, Max was the only one who could calm him down. He had a way with the inebriated and insane.
“Sorry,” Miranda said, slowing the car down to a reasonable speed, probably for appearances sake.
“Don’t worry, I like eggs.”
“Max,” Miranda said. “Did he forget me? Is he all right with women? I mean, I saw a lot in New York, people treating girls like they were nothing, guys who just did their business when they got an opening, wiped it off on the sheets and left the door open on their way out.”
“Damn, who did you hang out with?” Bernie asked, taken aback by the mental image.
“That’s another conversation, focus,” Miranda said as she parked the car at the back of a long line of vehicles along the farm roadsides. “Should I just suck it up and enjoy the Gathering then go back to my Mom’s house, or is he worth my time? I know you’re his friend but, you’re mine too.”
There she was, the young girl Bernie remembered from when they were thirteen, right before she had to leave. Those brown eyes may have been decorated by a little mascara since then, but he could still see innocence, and a person who didn’t want to be hurt. That’s why he told her the truth. “Max has done well with his strong, silent, exotic British routine on the road,” Bernie said. “But he’s not a pickup artist, he picked and chose from what came to him, maybe nine times since we started touring three years ago.”
“Nine times?” she asked, her expression unreadable.
“Well, he could have had ten times that, I mean, sometimes they really threw themselves at him, I’m not even exaggerating. Look at Zack, his night isn’t finished if he hasn’t dragged some girl into a bathroom stall.”
“Nine is low,” Miranda said. “I had two boyfriends in Spain, then there were three guys in New York.”
“I don’t need to know,” Bernie said, getting out of the car.
Miranda laughed, “I don’t get that. Guys can talk about who they get it on with, where, how and how many but the moment a woman says she’s had a bit of fun, she’s a slut, and no one wants to hear it.”
“I didn’t say that,” Bernie replied. “I just don’t think of you like that, I always pictured a little girl when I read your letters, all eleven of them.”
“Well, me and my last Spanish boy went through condoms like tissues in a flu epidemic,” Miranda said, taunting Bernie. “He worshipped me like a Goddess, and followed me around like a puppy, and he had just as much energy. It was amazing.”
The sound of a car door slamming behind them made them both jump. Bernie watched as a couple old enough to be their parents walked past, the woman staring daggers at Miranda. “Hello, Miss Parillo,” he said, forcing a smile.
“Good day,” she said as she shuffled past with a small cooler in one hand and her purse tightly clutched under her arm.
“You know her?” Miranda asked.
“Lives down the street from you,” Bernie replied. “She’s probably just visiting for the barbeque tonight, seeing how her daughters are settling in. You’ll be seeing her around.”
“Wonderful,” Miranda said. “They probably think Max is an angel on two wheels too, while I’ll be known as the harlot of Chelmsford. Just pin a scarlet letter on me.”
“Oh no, Max is not what you’d call a community favorite. That bike of his and stubborn streak have gotten him into a few fights, one with a councilman’s son. He didn’t start that one though. Actually, Max has never swung first.”
“Does he know what’s going on with him? That he’s going to wake up to the brighter world whether he likes it or not?”
“Yes, I think he’s starting to realize that he’s opening up to the spirit world, mostly thanks to those things he picked up. Why?”
“I can’t be with someone who doesn’t believe,” Miranda said quietly. “I’ve known him for less than a day, and I want him to be one of us, I want to know him,” she stopped voicing her thought and for a few minutes they just walked down the drive between the parked cars. Most of the cars would be gone that evening. They belonged to the parents who had come from across North Ame
rica, all people who knew of the Circle, all people that Bernie had heard of through the letters to his father preceding their coming. This was the festival that celebrated the deepest kind of connection to nature and the spirit world. An earlier Gathering brought Maxwell and his father to their shores. Practitioners everywhere agreed that the world needed more healing, and the few festivals that celebrated nature were becoming larger and larger.
“I think he wants the same thing, Miranda,” Bernie said.
“Good,” she replied. She stepped in front of him then, barely giving him enough time to stop, and looked at him, deadly serious. “I’ve been having visions too, just a couple.”
“About you and Max?”
“No, I can’t see Max, I can’t see myself,” she replied. “About you. I want you to promise me something.”
“Sure, what?”
“Seriously,” she said. “You promise me that you be careful if you see something that’s too good to be true. Remember the rule: if it seems too good, it’s rarely true.”
“You’re unforgettable, babe,” Bernie said with a wink.
“Seriously!” She pounded his chest.
“Fine, I’ll be careful.”
“Okay.” She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. “So, what is Max like now? What’s the one thing I have to know?”
“Well,” Bernie said as they started walking again. The school bus was just in sight, painted black, parked on the lawn just inside the farm fencing. “He has no idea, but sensitive people can feel him coming. It’s like there’s a low rumble only a few people can hear. He’s really all heart underneath all that leather and British, more of a gentleman than he wants anyone to know. Doesn’t like swimming much, sorry,” Bernie said, glancing at her swimsuit.
“Okay,” Miranda said. “I’m sure I can lure him into the water if I want to.”
“Maybe, but the cardinal sin with Max is trying to talk about his father. He’ll talk about him on his own when he wants to, but he saw all those lessons in mysticism and history and the occult as a kind of torture. Maybe that’ll change, but he’s still going to resent his dad for it for a long time. I was there, I was interested most of the time, and the way his father shoved it into our heads, it wasn’t good. Then he’d leave for weeks, or months and come back with something that just didn’t matter to Max. Even the money his dad made, a lot sometimes, didn’t impress him. He wanted a dad, and I think that’s why he’s a brother to me, because my father took care of most of that, even before Charles died.”
“Okay, groovy,” Miranda said. “I mean, I’m curious, I’ve read everything Max’s dad published, but I won’t bring it up.”
“Other than that, I don’t know, just watch him. My father told me to stay close because he knows Max is about to hit a wall, he’s refused to believe in spiritualism all his life, now there’s no way he’ll get around it. He’s going to need us.” He looked at Miranda, realizing that he’d just said ‘us’ instead of ‘me.’ “You are going to help me watch him, right?”
“You think he’d take help from someone he barely knows? It’s been years.”
“From you? Sure,” Bernie said. “I mean, does it feel like you’ve been gone for years? I mean, other than a few obvious changes-“ he was interrupted by the sight of his Scott running out from the bus, slamming the rear door shut, then pushing the motorcycle ramp up over it and trying to secure the hooks that were meant to keep it there.
“I see the agenda of our system! Corrupt! Corruption!” they could hear someone shout from the inside. “Idolatry! The man with the brightest eyes rules the day, and we are dazzled!”
“That’s Zack, he’s gone off the deep end,” Bernie said, breaking into a run towards the bus. He was surprised to see Miranda pass him.
“Man, oh man,” Scott said. “I’m glad to see you!”
Bernie helped him finish closing the latch to the motorcycle ramp that Max used to store his bike in the back of the bus. It also kept the back door closed tight. People were starting to gather, to witness whatever bad trip was taking place inside the black bus.
“Max chased him onto the bus,” the drummer said. “They’re in there now.”
“How much LSD is he on?” Miranda asked.
“Well, the fuzz stopped us this morning,” Bernie started.
“More like noon,” Scott added. “They searched us, thank god we finished smoking my weed last night, so they didn’t find anything on me, but Zack bought a whole vial of LSD from some bikers outside of Ottawa, and it was almost full. He told the cops it was eye drops, and then he puts a drop into each eye, I think one took two drops, but I wasn’t close enough.”
“Yup, one eye took two,” Bernie confirmed.
“Black leather heathen!” Zack shouted from inside the bus. “You have me cornered, but you come with envy in your heart, and so your lies may as well be told to fish! No ears! They go pwah, pwah, pwah!”
“Yes, you’re the greatest lead singer the world has ever seen,” Maxwell could be heard saying through the open windows on the side of the bus.
“Flatterer! Pimp! Ennnglishmaaannnnn!” Zack screamed as the sounds of bottles and other random articles were heard being jostled and tipped.
Bernie came around the side of the bus in time to see Max stride all the way to the front, then through the folding doors. He pulled them closed behind him and put a broom handle through the loop on the front so they stayed that way. “Git!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Does anyone have a cigarette? I’m not calm enough for this,” he said, pulling his leather jacket off. Bernie took it and hung it over a nearby lawn chair.
“Nothing to see here!” Maxwell shouted to the two dozen people beginning to gather. “Man’s diabetic, just needs his shot, and someone’s coming with it now.”
“Diabolical!” Zack shouted, poking his head and one shoulder through an open window. His eyes were wild, his long hair was disheveled to the point of looking like three sparrows’ nests. “He’ll castrate all of you!”
“Very bad reaction,” Max countered.
Miranda’s Aunt Susanna added; “Please, go for a swim, it’s too hot to stand around in the grass. Shoo,” and to Bernie’s surprise, they listened. She carried an open tin with cheese, crackers and sandwiches inside. The bottom had a separate compartment for ice. “Is it peyote?” she asked, her Italian accent in full evidence.
Their drummer lit a cigarette and handed it to Max, who took a long draw and let it out slowly. “Worse,” he said as he finished. “About half an ounce of LSD. May I?”
Susanna brought the large tin container forward and raised it as it swung a little on its handle. “You must be hungry.”
“Famished,” Max said. “Not just for me though.” He took a slice of cheese and a half sandwich and stuffed half of both in his mouth.
“Can you really calm him down from this?” Miranda asked.
“I am the model of calm!” Zachary barked. “Clouds and naked babies singing harps!”
“He can,” Scott replied. “But he can’t if he’s high strung. Man, you gotta loosen up, what’s got you tense?”
Bernie barely caught Max’s glance towards Miranda, and silently wondered what could be so wrong about her that his best friend would see her as a source of stress. She didn’t say anything but walked away, towards the main house.
“Ooh, who’s the new girl?” Zack asked from the window. “Sad to see her leave, love to watch her walk away!”
Maxwell stabbed two pointing fingers towards Zackary with a murderous look. “Git!”
“Retreat!” howled Zachary as he fell back into the bus.
Maxwell put the second half of the sandwich back and hurried the rest of his chewing as he walked after Miranda in a hurry. She turned towards him when he’d crossed half the distance. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. Not the greatest thing he could have said in that circumstance, as far as Bernie was concerned. “Best thing about coming home is meeting you again.”
“I enjo
yed our ride,” Bernie barely heard her say. It wasn’t in her nature to look nervous, it didn’t seem like something that happened to her often, but she definitely seemed like it then, even though she had turned around and was closing the distance between them.
“When did Max get a new girlfriend? She’s right and tight,” Scott said.
“Thank you,” Susanne said. “Isn’t my niece lovely?”
“Um, sorry, ma’am,” he replied sheepishly.
Maxwell and Miranda came back down to the bus’s side door. Both of them looked more contented than he’d seen either of them all day. “Feeling better,” Max said, taking another pull on his cigarette. “I’m afraid mental boy inside is going to get the rest of those sandwiches,” he told Susanne. “It’ll give him something to do once he calms down. Mind if I take that peeler too?”
“If I can have it back when you’re finished?” Susanne said uncertainly. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Don’t worry, I’m the sane one, you’ll get it back,” he reassured her. “Might be tomorrow though, but we have a few in the main house.” He finished the second half of his sandwich, then his cigarette and took the orange peeler out of the bottom of the tin. He looked to Bernie and nodded. “Get that ciggy and follow me.”
Bernie snatched Scott’s freshly lit cigarette out of his mouth and followed Maxwell onto the bus with Miranda in tow. Scott closed the folding doors behind.
There were two slim bunks in the middle of the bus with a narrow bed behind. Zack was sitting cross-legged on the bottom left bunk in his underwear. “The heat frees me,” he said, wiping sweat off his chest with a tattered sheet. “I shed my sins and inhibitions simultaneously. I will be pure.”
Max put the tin on one of the front seats, sliding the orange peeler into his back pocket. “How’re you feeling now?”
“Like I’m pure-ing,” Zachary said before breathing deeply.
“Good, I’ve got a story to tell you,” Maxwell said. He picked a cup up and drew water from a barrel strapped into one of the rearmost long seats. “Feeling like some water?”
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