“Why don’t we go over to Ed’s, and I’ll play a little piano, and scrounge up some gas money for the trip to LA tomorrow,” Peace suggested. “I’ll buy you a beer and you can take it into Ed’s little dance hall.”
“I’d love to hear you play, but what part does the money play in it?”
“People hang around after they eat if I’m playing in the bar. Ed wants to put me under contract to play; but I don’t get the same kick out of it if I can’t do it when I want. I have a tip cup on the piano, and I can make some decent money anytime I want to play. Ed has a regular jazz band play on Wednesday nights, but they won’t be there for a couple of hours. They’re the ones I sit in with if they’re short a man.”
Jill ran her hand up his arm. “That sounds great. I need to stop by the motel, and get changed. I kind of hoped you’d tuck me in tonight.”
When Peace was silent for a time, Jill waved a hand in front of his face. “Hey, you big goof, that was a proposition. It’s impolite to leave a girl hanging out in the breeze after she makes a statement like that.”
Peace laughed, as he took her hand and kissed it. “I couldn’t speak. My heart was in my throat.”
“So, can I take that as a yes, or do I need to strip here and give you a free sample?” Jill whispered, leaning against him. She pulled her halter top up, revealing her breasts, as Peace nearly drove off the road. Jill laughed, and quickly readjusted her top.
“You little minx,” Peace gasped. “You want to get us killed?”
Jill reached over and put her hand on the front of Peace’s pants. He tensed in his seat. “Is that a club in your pocket, big boy, or are you just glad to see me?” Jill asked, with a very competent Mae West lilt to her voice.
Peace pulled over, and took Jill into his arms, kissing her until they were both breathless. He drew back a little, cradling her face in his hands. “My God, you’re beautiful. You are something else, lady.”
Jill smiled up at him. “I have a request for when we get to Ed’s.”
“If I know it, I’ll play it for you.”
“Do you know My Funny Valentine?”
“I sure do,” Peace replied, steering the Buick back into traffic. “There are a few instances where a photographic memory can be a curse, such as my first twenty-two years on the planet, but with everything else it helps immeasurably. Music is one of those instances. Remembering your bared breasts is another.”
Jill burst into laughter.
Chapter Nine
Playing The Room
Nancy hurried over to the couple as soon as she saw them walk into the restaurant. “Peace, are you going to play tonight? Hi, Jill, nice seeing you again.”
“Hi, Nancy,” Jill gave her a little wave, as she smoothed the front of her blue dress. She saw the restaurant was much busier, with a broad range of people from the college crowd to older middle-aged couples.
“Yea,” Peace nodded. “I thought I’d play a little until Syl and the guys get here.”
Nancy took on a serious posture as Peace started to laugh before she could get a word out. “Play it again, Sam.”
“You could at least get the line right, Nanc,” Peace laughed. “As Time Goes By coming right up.”
“Thanks Peace,” Nancy grinned. “You haven’t played in over a month. I haven’t heard it since then. Are you going to do the rounds?
Everyone’s looking at you.”
It was only then Jill noticed many of the patrons were glancing at Peace, smiling, and trying to get his attention.
“I’ll say Hi, if Jill doesn’t mind,” Peace replied, looking questioningly at Jill.
“A lot of the regulars know Peace,” Nancy explained. “They come in to hear our jazz band, but they really like Peace to play, because he knows so many different kinds of tunes.”
“I’d love to go around with you,” Jill stated, surprised once more at a man she thought was a recluse.
For the next ten minutes, Peace said hello to all the familiar faces in the restaurant who called out to him. Jill still could not believe how easily Peace related to so many age groups. He joked around with the college group, and shifted immediately to a more reserved manner with the older people who talked to him. They were just heading into the bar area, when they heard his name called out. Jill felt Peace tense a little as he turned. Three young women were just walking through the entrance. They were all in tight fitting miniskirts, and were definitely part of the college crowd. The leader of the group, a stunning red haired young woman with an angular face, hurried over and put her hand on Peace’s forearm, ignoring Jill’s existence completely. Her two friends were already looking around the restaurant to see if they knew anyone; but they also joined their friend next to Peace. Both had dark hair, and were a little taller than Jill, as was their leader. They looked Jill over appraisingly.
“Hello Holly,” Peace greeted the red haired woman. “Nice seeing you.”
“You’re playing tonight, aren’t you?” Holly asked. “I brought my two friends in to hear you play. I was disappointed not seeing you here the last few Wednesdays.”
“I’ve had some other things to take care of,” Peace smiled. “Holly, this is my friend Jill Gregory. Jill, this is Holly Martinson.”
“Glad to meet you,” Jill stuck out her hand, and Holly shook it politely, as she indicated her two friends.
“This is Connie Wilkins, and Deirdre Sampson, DeeDee for short.”
Peace and Jill shook hands with each of the young women, exchanging pleasantries.
“Are you all having dinner first,” Peace asked.
Holly nodded. “Want to join us?”
“No, but thanks, we’ve already eaten,” Peace answered. “I guess we’ll see you inside.
“See you inside,” Holly said, leaning in to give Peace a quick kiss, which Jill could see surprised him.
As Jill and Peace walked into the bar, they saw Ed Polasky had been watching the little greeting session, and now stood with his arms folded over his chest. The bar was almost at capacity, and there were two other bartenders working behind the bar. Two waitresses served drinks at the booths in the bar, and the tables out in the restaurant. They all greeted Peace warmly, while hurrying about their business. Peace again said hello to the customers in the bar he knew on sight, before he and Jill took seats at the bar in front of Ed.
“Hi Jill,” Polasky said, shaking hands with her. “Anyone we need to track down tonight?”
Jill blushed. “I… I really appreciate your help today.”
“Forget it,” Polasky laughed at her discomfiture. “I needed to see the guys anyway.”
“I heard what you needed to see them about too,” Peace sighed. “Of course you know they’ll be all over me tomorrow like bad deodorant.”
“I’m counting on it,” Polasky stated smugly. “Hey, I see your groupies found you. That Holly is hot. She’s been looking for you the last few weeks.”
“Holly, and any of her girlfriends she wants to bring over will be good for business,” Peace reasoned. “College girls here, mean college boys here.”
Polasky winked at Jill. “I bet you didn’t know you were hunting down a star of Peace’s caliber, did you?”
“I have to admit when he started singing at the place we had coffee at last night near my motel, I was a little surprised,” Jill admitted with a laugh. “Seeing he also has a retinue waiting for his performances makes me a little in awe of him. The thought he would deign to bring me here to…”
“Okayyyyyyyyy…” Peace cut her off as Polasky laughed in appreciation. “I want to buy Jill a dark draft Ed, if you can take a break from ragging me to get one for her.”
“Syl asked about you when he called in,” Polasky told Peace while he poured Jill’s beer. “I told him I didn’t know if you’d be in tonight or not. He’ll be happy to see you.”
“I’ve worked up a new routine to show him,” Peace said enthusiastically. “He and the guys will get a kick out of it.”
“I
saw Nancy nail you when you walked in with the Casablanca routine,” Polasky chuckled, putting the draft in front of Jill. “Man, she loves it when you sing that.”
“Before I say yes to the request, do you have any songs I might get asked for, you’d rather tear your teeth out with pliers than hear again?” Peace asked.
Polasky shook his head, laughing. “Play anything you like.”
“I thought I saw you cringe when I played the Piano Man last time I was in.”
“Once is great,” Polasky sighed. “Five times is too much.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. I only took the requests because they were from different people at different times, and I knew it would bug you.”
“Of course,” Polasky nodded. “If I could get you to come in here on the weekends, Nancy and I could retire in a year.”
“You’ll never retire,” Peace retorted. “Nancy might hang it up; but you’ll drop over behind the bar one night, and we’ll just dig a hole and put in a monument to mark the spot.”
“You get that kind of talk from her,” Polasky accused him, pointing out towards the restaurant as Peace and Jill both laughed.
“Deny it then,” Peace told him.
“I can’t,” Polasky admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I have to get the needle about it.”
“You brought up retirement, not me. Since you will be working the bar anyway until you pass on into the next life, I guess it doesn’t really matter if I come in on the weekends.”
“No, but maybe I could get a new car or something,” Polasky replied. “You have to stop thinking of yourself all the time, PP. It seems like lately, every time I see you, it’s always me, me, me, me.”
Peace dropped his head to the bar comically, much to the amusement of Polasky and Jill. Jill patted his back sympathetically.
“It’s okay, baby, I love selfish men,” Jill informed him.
“Do me a favor, Jill,” Peace said turning to look at her from atop the bar. “Don’t help me.”
Peace stood up, and took Jill’s hand. “Come on. Bring your beer and I’ll show you the Polasky dance hall and jazz festival site. I think we’ve entertained this ingrate enough for now.
Peace led her through the narrow entranceway into the area Polasky and Peace had made into a band and dance area. After Peace had been with the Polaskys for two years, he had suggested using this extra storage area for entertaining. He had sold them on renting it out to parties, while catering the food, drink, and music. Jill looked around in awe.
An elevated bandstand, complete with baby grand piano, was set up in the left hand front corner of the room. Embedded decorative light fixtures built into the walls provided the room with ample but subdued lighting. A single, sparkling ball type chandelier hovered over the dance floor, and provided glittering light effects. Tables and chairs ringed the centerpiece dance floor. An auxiliary bar, opposite of the bandstand, made it unnecessary for waitresses serving customers to leave the room. A thin young man with longish brown hair, behind the auxiliary bar waved at them as they walked in.
“Hey Peace, you made it.”
“Hi Pete,” Peace waved back as he walked towards the tables nearest the bandstand. “This is my friend Jill Gregory. Jill, I want to introduce you to Pete Malkovitch. He fills in for Ed, and works the auxiliary bar when we have something going in here.
Jill waved. “Nice meeting you, Pete.”
“Ditto,” Pete smiled back. “If you need anything just let me know.”
“Have a seat, Jill, and I’ll warm up a little. Will it bother you to sit here and get hit on? I’ll just play a couple of tunes. If you get bored, we’ll take off.”
“Are you kidding? Play as long as you can. I’ll have a great time. Will you be playing with the band when they come?”
“I don’t think so,” Peace replied. “I only do that if they’re short a guy. We’ll stick around so you can hear them play though. I searched all over the area for a group like theirs. They were so good, I talked Ed into giving them a house cut of the action, with a guaranteed minimum. We’ve never come close to losing money. Syl has a singer, named Laura, you will not believe.”
“I bet on the weekends this place is packed,” Jill commented.
“It’s usually at capacity, but the brand of music thins out the herd a bit,” Peace explained. “Ed and I agreed to keep it to the old standards, jazz, and some contemporary pieces. Sit back, and relax. Jenny will be in to work the room, so if you want another beer, you won’t have to cane your way to the bar.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jill laughed.
Peace bent down and kissed her gently. “See you in a bit.”
Jill watched Peace shake hands with some older couples, who were just entering the room with their drinks. After he reached the piano and sat down, Peace positioned the microphone where he wanted it and then called out to the bartender.
“How’s this, Pete?”
The bartender looked up and gave him a thumbs-up.
Peace played what Jill recognized as the base melody for My Funny Valentine; but broadened it into a complex expansion of the tune, before retreating smoothly back to the basic notes. When he began singing the melody, Jill felt a shiver race up her spine as he looked directly at her. People, who heard Peace start singing, were hurrying in to get a table, carefully trying to be as quiet as possible. Peace ended the tune quietly with a final fingering of the haunting tune. The applause startled Jill, who had been listening so intently, she had not realized the room had filled around her during the tune.
Peace waved his thanks. He saw Nancy enter the room, and launched into a long fingering intro to As Time Goes By, slowing the song as he began to sing. The surround sound system enabled Peace to reduce his rendering to a whisper and still be heard anywhere in the room. When he drew out the last phrase of the song to its final phase out, the applause was loud and long. Nancy gave Peace a little wave, before returning to the restaurant.
“Thank you all,” Peace said softly into his microphone. “Here’s one some of you will remember.”
After a blistering paced, riveting use of the base melody, Peace launched into a deep throated blues rendition of House of the Rising Sun, which even caused Polasky to duck in through the entryway to hear it. Jill looked around, and could see the excitement Peace generated. Holly and her two girlfriends eased into the other three chairs at Jill’s table with a little wave. Jill smiled at them. A standing ovation greeted the end of the song, which seemed to even surprise Peace. Holly looked right at Jill, and leaned over towards her in the midst of the applause.
“Are you dating Peace?” she asked.
Jill nodded, rather than try to be heard.
Holly looked at her for a moment, and then smiled, turning back to face the bandstand. People came up to the bandstand and began filling the tip bowl on the piano with money. Some called out requests, which Peace nodded at, or shrugged off, which caused the person who made the request to laugh. Over the next forty minutes, Peace held the crowd spellbound with an uncanny varying of old favorites from the swing era to early rock and roll.
As Peace rocked into a rendition of Fats Domino’s Blue Monday, a group of five men, and an oriental woman eased into the area near the stage. Peace nodded at them happily, extending the riff he had begun, to allow them to slip into the piece with him. Two long-haired, older looking white men took up the base and drums already set up near the piano, blending right into the tune. It took only a moment longer for the three black men in the group to join in with their instruments: tenor saxophone, clarinet, and alto saxophone. The young oriental woman slipped in next to Peace. They did a duet of the remaining song, which brought the house down at the finish. After Peace hugged the oriental woman, and stood up to embrace the older black man with the clarinet, he shook and slapped hands with the rest of the group.
The older black man put an arm around Peace’s shoulders, and spoke to him for a moment. Peace looked back at Jill for a moment, and then nodded hi
s head. Peace left the stage and went out of the room, waving his thanks at the crowd, who called out to him, indicating he would be right back. The band, who wore varying designs of black dress outfits filled in a light rhythm as the black man Peace had embraced spoke into the main microphone.
“Thanks folks. I see Peace’s been warming up the room for us.”
He paused as loud cheering and applause erupted. Peace had walked back into the room with an instrument case, as the man had finished his announcement.
“Peace has graciously agreed to fill in at trumpet for us tonight.
I…”
Another round of applause interrupted the man before he continued. “We need him to stay at the piano for a tune we’ve been working on though. He was the one who suggested we adopt it into our gig.” He smiled at Peace, who had come up on stage with trumpet in hand, and a puzzled look on his face.
“He doesn’t know he’ll be doing it yet. Any of you folks familiar with that Meatloaf tune, I Would Do Anything For Love?”
Applause rippled loudly through the crowd as Peace nodded his understanding. He went back over to the piano. The young oriental woman whispered something to him and kissed Peace on the cheek, before walking to the other microphone at the part of the stage furthest away from the piano. Peace set his trumpet down gently. Positioning himself behind the piano, he nodded to the group’s leader.
The lights in the bar dimmed perceptively, and Peace fingered the opening strains of the rolling introduction to the tune in the darkness. A spotlight illuminated the piano area. As Peace sang the opening line: ‘I would do anything for love’, the crowd hushed. As Peace and the band brought the song to a crescendo, another spotlight shone on the oriental singer named Laura. Jill shivered as she heard Laura sing the line ‘one day you’ll be screwin’ around’, and Peace with a clenched fist, sang the refrain: ‘I won’t do that’. The enthralled crowd hung on every word, as Peace sang the ending. When he fingered the light final notes of the tune, everyone in the room stood up. They applauded until the lights were brought up, and all in the band took bows. Laura took her place behind the piano; but not before she hugged Peace again, and whispered something in his ear. He laughed and nodded.
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