Friday September 23rd
The
following morning, as should be expected, the band slept until
atleast past noon before there were any signs of life beyond snoring,
occasional slurred 'talking in your sleep' speech and a random fart
or two...
The streets of the city were already bustling with cars constantly rushing by leaving a small clank everytime one of their wheels passes over a manhole, or honking at slow drivers at every traffic junction. There's people shouting and talking while a jackhammer is heard working in the distance over the slow hum of a cruise ship waiting for the last passenger to come on board again before departure to more southern waters.. If only the band could have afforded to go on a cruise, that would've been something, but here they are crashing at a fellow musicians house while he is away in another town to promote his own music...
Kajsa and Merete was a little grumpy this morning, with Merete not saying anything as she crawled down from her bunk bed to go take a shower. Kajsa only muttered something about breakfast before she followed suit and walked out of the bedroom to open the refridgerator to check for anything to eat.. It was only Gerda who was in a pristine mood this morning, as she decided to take out her guitar and play another tune..
"Give me a break" Kajsa said as she passed her by "I need quiet...", but Gerda didn't understand what she meant.. she was still elated and on top of the world from yesterdays concert and night out...
Sam wasn't feeling to bad either and a quick shower did wonders for Meretes mood as well, so she went back to join the little bedroom party to have a dance with Sam to Gerdas music, while Kajsa after having finished eating, went to occupy the shower for a while..
Their musician friend, of course, had no coffee machine in his house, so she hoped the shower could wake her up enough until they could find some café or coffee house on their way to their next stop...
Kajsa was disappointed to still
hear guitar music and laughter from the bedroom when she come out of
the shower.. she had to hold her band in the reigns now.. she was
getting a little worried they wouldn't make it in time if they kept
dancing and playing guitar like that, so she had to walk in there
again to let them now that they would be leaving in five minutes...
which ended up being more like half an hour, but if she hadn't said
anything who knows how long it would've taken...
Also, Kajsa thought it was best to drive the first stretch until she thought Gerda had sobered up just enough to be able to legally operate a motorized vehicle... just in case.. They had no time for trouble now, one way or another...
There was no discussion, they had to go now to reach the next concert venue in time.. and Sam had to go down through an elevator again..
Map showing how far they've gotten and who was/is driving.
Cyme Ixotic was now left behind and they were on their way to Bridgewood1), one of many typical small west coast towns on the way, surrounded by redwood forests and mountains...
"If the next place has bunk beds, I want to sleep in the top bunk..." Sam said as they approached their next destination after several hours of driving and bickering over what music to play in the car.... "Yeah, sure.." Gerda said, "but I think we need to find a gas station. We're running low..."
"We're approaching the town now, so there should be one in there.. just make a right here and I think you'll find one" Kajsa said from the backseat from the backseat after having checked her phone. Their car was, of course, just old enough to not have pre-installed GPS telling them about sights and things to be found along the road...
"Yep, I can see it now.. we'll make a quick stop here before driving into town and finding our motel..."
The motel they were staying at was the cheapest lodging in town that they could find. It was an old run down building that once used to serve as an overnight stop for truckers in the 1950s and 60s on the coastal route between Cyme Ixotic and Wad Nahadau before the railway was built and more goods could be transported by train.
It was then closed in the early 1970s and remained closed until it was bought and reopened by an elderly woman after she lost her husband in a car accident and became a widow. Nothing had been done with the motel since it closed, apart from some sporadic cleaning whenever the old lady felt like it. Everything in an outside was the same as it was some 50 years ago, and it both looked and smelled like it, too...
Gerda thought it would probably be better for them to just go directly to the pub where they would be playing to have a meal. She didn't really feel like even going inside the motel.. it's derelict facade was more than enough for now..
"Yeah, maybe.. do you know how to fix it?" Sam asked, hoping she knew more about cars than he did.
"Not really, but I've seen dad fix cars in his garage..."
"Ok... well I'll leave you
to it.. I'll be inside checking out the rooms..." he said before getting up and making his way around the car and past Gerda and Kajsa who now found themselves in a discussion about the mix on their album....
The rooms of the motel were all
on the second floor, and Sam felt he had to tread a little carefully
as he walked towards the door of his room. The wooden planks felt a
little 'soft' in places, and definately had the appearance of having
seen better days..
He didn't know much about
wood either, but it wasn't hard to tell that these planks were almost
literally screaming out for a coating of stain paint or two.. or
three... and had been doing so for decades.. probably...
The room was.. not much to speak of. Grey-brownish walls that may have been white at one point, and sparsely furnished with a single bed, a chair, a dresser and a mirror. The brown stains in the ceiling also implied that there had been a water leak at one point, one that hopefully had been fixed, as well as a certain sweet, but pungent half-rotten smell of.. something.. Best not to think about what it was! It was probably best to sleep with the windows open in this one... but hey, atleast it had a mirror to play with, so it wasn't half bad..
After a while Merete gave up on
tinkering with the car to instead admire some of the, in her opinion,
very elegant pink flamingos the elderly woman had placed out among
the wild weeds and rusty trash to welcome any guests she might have,
which, in all honesty weren't all that many.. Most people shunned the
place and then some after checking in with its reviews on
TripSimAdvisor....
It was nice to get a slight break from being on the road, but they couldn't hang around there outside the motel for to long.. they had to head over to locate the bar they were set to play at, do a soundcheck and play through a couple of their songs to warm up before the concert..
This was their first meeting with this bar they were playing at for tonights show. It was simply called Waldemanns, named after a fictional character, Røder Waldemann, featuring in a series books by local crime novel writer Joe Capefarm.2) It looked like a decent enough place from the outside, but what about inside?
Both Sam and Kajsa were excited about the bars interior – it had just the right amount of that countryside watering hole atmosphere that they hoped for, with it's wooden walls decorated with old license plates and typical good old pub couches with a fabric stenched with plenty of old bar history...
Then it was time for the warm-up. Some local creepy dude had already showed up to stand and stare at Merete while she played her keyboard, and this time even a paparazzi or two was present to take notes and pictures. Word must have gotten ahead of them already since their first concert in Cyme Ixotic just the night before...
The bartender was definately pleased about what he heard, and with the paparazzis there taking notes and pictures, this looked like it could another good stepping stone for the band towards fame and fortune... now they just needed the locals in town to find their way into the bar to enjoy their show for the night...
Gerda as the frontwoman was sure
enjoying her new found fame as she basked in the flashing lights from
the paparazzis camera...
Then the band had time for a meal and a few drinks to boost their spirits a little more before the concert would start. After all, it's not a good idea to go to work on an empty stomach..
Sam knew when they summed everything up by the end of the tour that they probably wouldn't be making big bucks just yet, but he still hoped they would do so one day in the future..
While the rest of the band
enjoyed some slightly below average typical bar food, Kajsa was over
by the dance floor and warming up by having a little dance party
there all on her own..
Though eventually hunger got to her as well, but as she approached the bar to wait in line she was accused of cutting in line by the same creepy local that had been stalking Merete during their rehearsal...
"What's my problem?"
the creepy dude shouted "What's YOUR problem!? You out of town
people just barge in here and think you can do whatever you want!
Well I'll show you!" he said before jumping on to her,
instigating a fight..
"Oh no, don't you dare, I've
fought bigger guys than you!" Kajsa said as he grabbed onto his
neck and put him in a chokehold. "Give up?`"
This wasn't looking to good now, just moments before they were about to hold a concert! Playing in these small countryside towns on the mainland might just be a little tougher than they had anticipated...
As it looks like Kajsa is about to win the fight, Merete decides to go for a bar to have another drink when the man then manages to get out of her choke hold and get the upper hand..
"No, never! A true Bridgewooder never surrenders!" the man said, before tackling her to the ground and giving her one last whooping, leaving her defeated and sore...
..and of course, the paparazzi was there too, having taking pictures of the entire event.. Kajsa could picture the embarassing headlines already "Drummer of out of town band took a real beating by local hero at Waldemanns!" This was much to embarassing..
..but then, in spite of feeling like she wanted to disappear behind the curtains instead of performing, she had to head over to the drumkit, count to four to establish the rhythm and get the band playing, because that was their job now, that was the promise they had made to the bar owner, that's what they came here for, and the money they would make here would be necessary to get them to the next town to further spread their music..
Her hands were a little sore and something felt not quite right with her elbow, but she was still able to produce a steady beat, and just like on their last concert the rest of the band atleast gave it their all...
This was even worse than their first concert, but thanks to the paparazzis they atleast got some publicity out of it anyway.. Their love for playing music was strong and they really enjoyed what they did, but it couldn't continue like this if they wanted to make it big enough to actually make a living...
As usual Kajsa, who was now taking care of the bands finances too, went over to the bartender to get paid for the gig, and the from the coverage they received from the paparazzis the band climbed as little higher up on the celebrity ladder... somewhat bruised and beaten, but not defeated, the band had to soldier on...
Well, Gerda loved playing so much she couldn't put the guitar down, and Kajsa felt she could need a drink or three to deal with her wounded pride and drown out the sorrow and shame of being beaten up in public like that...
Sam and Merete was in a splendid mood and went back to dancing with each other, just like they did this morning.. It was still a rainy day for Kajsa and the drinks she just had weren't helping to much yet, as she went for Gerda to seek some comfort and consolation...
Then after a while the drinks must have kicked in, as she went to dance all by herself again, while Gerda went to practice pool and Sam and Merete went to the bar to have a few more drinks.. they still had the bar to themselves, so it was a little questionale how lucrative this deal really was for the bar owner.. but the band didn't care anymore.. they had gotten paid and done their job, fair and square... It wasn't their fault the locals proved to be a bunch of uncontrolled belligerents!
They stayed at the bar having drinks and conversations in between one another about everything, nothing and anything at all until the bar was about to close.. Gerda remembered the state of the motel and ordered a meal for herself... she wasn't to keen on cooking in that kitchen there, she didn't want to get sick..
The rest of the band kept drinking until closing time until they realized they were hungry too, but then it was just to late to order a meal... but Merete had a solution, because she was sure she had seen a food truck somewhere out there earlier and told everyone to follow her lead to where she thought it was..
..and of course, she was right, luckily, or she might have ended up with a bunch of sour band members, but instead they all got to order their big fat delicious juicy burger to satisfy their hunger..
Well, everyone except Gerda who
had already eaten and decided to go look for some treasure or lucky
charms in the nearest dumpster that was just around the corner
instead..
While they were eating Kajsa noticed that there was a swimming pool nearby and thought she didn't want to leave this backwater of a town without breaking the law a little bit and suggested to the gang to go skinny dipping....
Merete was very enthusiastic
about this idea, so she quickly followed suit to go for a swim in her
birthday suit. Gerda would follow them soon enough too, once she
could get her nose out of the trash, since she figured she would
probably need a bath anyway.. and skinny dipping is always exciting,
so why not? ;)
It was only Sam, being the more formal and appropriate band member, who was a little reluctant to to the idea, but peer pressure always wins in the end, so he went along to get his feet a little wet too...
Splish, splash, splosh, into the water they go. The girls all jumped in from the side of the pool, but Sam took it a little more easy, deciding to go into the water using the ladder, and everyone but Sam got their wish fulfilled to go for a late night swim with nothing on. ;)
When Gerda felt she was clean enough from the chlorine in the pool, she decided to get up and called for the others to head back to the hotel. Merete and Sam followed to quickly get dressed again. The autumn air was getting a little chilly at night and it didn't help that the town also lowered the pool temperature outside of the regular opening hours.. but Kajsa still felt a little hardy and wanted to swim around for a few more rounds before returning to the motel...
This town wasn't going to get the best of her, and she wasn't going to quit that easily... she was still a little pissed off from getting her ass kicked earlier, and this only made her more determined to go on her own way.. she wasn't going to let anyone beat her down or tell her what to do.. she had made a vow to herself already a long time ago to never give in and to go against the grain... and the harder the grain tried to push, the harder she would push back.. getting beat up was only adding fuel to an already burning fire...
Back to the filthy old motel again to
get some rest, sleeping until early morning and probably then some..
It had been another interesting day for the band.. It was clear that
the road to success was going to be long and hard, and one can only
hope that the rest of the band now will be as eager to see success as
Kajsa now appears to be... and hopefully their rest will be good,
because tomorrow it's time to hit the road again to travel away from
the coast and up into the mountains for their next destination...
Good night.. ;)
------
1) Bridgewood at The Sims Catalog. I have done some changes to the town before playing, such as editing the gas station, adding the motel and the bar they played at.
2) Totally not a reference to Norwegian author Jo Nesbø and his Harry Hole book series.
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