Elegy - Chapter 33

I made it back home very late Wednesday night, and Lyla was supposed to come over around lunchtime today to continue working on getting our songs ready without Marco’s part. Lyla had called around to some drummers she knew in Asheville, but so far we hadn’t had much luck. We weren’t in a huge hurry, since we at least had someone to back us up at the Blue Ridge, but summer was two months away, and we needed to make the most of our time until then.

Since Lyla never rolled out of bed before lunchtime, I’d hoped to get some sleep before she showed up, but my phone rang at nine, pulling me out of a dream I couldn’t remember but felt like I was enjoying.

“Yeah?” I mumbled, not even bothering to look at the screen.

“Charlie, it’s Arthur Eaves,” Mr. Eaves said. “I got a call from the school board about twenty minutes ago.”

“And?” I asked, now fully awake.

“They’ve agreed to lift your expulsion and say you can start back to school on Monday.”

“Monday? Why not today or tomorrow?”

I already had the week scheduled out, and Lyla and I really did have a lot of work to do to be able to play on Friday night, but I’d also missed a month and a half of schoolwork, and I was worried that I might not be able to catch up by the end of the year.

“Because of the second thing they told me. They’ve decided to suspend both the vice-principal and the principal pending an investigation into their actions, both with regards to you and also numerous other incidents at the school over the last year, including the whole SALT thing.”

“‘Pending an investigation’ sounds like they’re doing this to make us feel like something is happening without actually doing anything,” I pointed out.

“Normally, I’d agree with you, but not in this instance. The way educator unions and state rules work, it’s hard to outright fire anyone without at least nominally going through an official investigation process. That’s why that coach at your school, who was fired last year after attacking you, got his job back. What he did was a fireable offense, but the administration jumped the gun by firing him without doing an investigation, which broke their contract with him since every firing, regardless of the offense, must be fully investigated. The fact that they aren’t just naming actions that occurred against you but are pulling in a wide range of grievances going back multiple years, from the SALT test incident all the way to simple parental complaints about both men, tells me they’re taking it seriously. With this much ammo, they’re not doing it for show. They’re planning on firing both men. They’re just doing it in a way they are sure will stick.”

“Oh,” I said, actually surprised.

After Coach Bryant had been let back into his old job, I had just accepted that there was no chance of getting a fair result in anything to do with school. The world had shown me multiple times over the last year that fairness rarely had anything to do with the end result. The fact that this time there could be actual justice was actually surprising!

“Yes. I’m not saying it is guaranteed because it’s impossible to tell what will happen in the end, but I think it’s a strong signal that things might turn around at your school. They’ve put in a temporary administrator, for now, until they can get a new principal, which, considering how far along in the year it is now, probably won’t be until next year. The temporary administrator is going to talk to your teachers today and tomorrow and arrange a process to help you catch up on all of your missed assignments and classes. It will mean some more work on your part, however.”

“I’d rather that than to take the eleventh grade over again.”

“I assumed as much and already committed you to doing the tutoring and assignments they are preparing for you.”

“So, is there any indication as to who they might pick to replace Mr. Packer and Mr. Little?”

“No. As I said, it’s a process, most of which will happen over the summer. I’m sure at this point, they don’t know, and probably can’t even start to work on it until after they finish their investigation. They’ll want to keep things as cut and dried as possible, to make their firing of both men easier.”

“Okay,” I said.

I wouldn’t say I was thrilled, because who’s thrilled with more schooling, but I was very satisfied. It was nice to start having things go my way for once.

“That taken care of, there’s also movement on the other fronts. I’ve filed a lawsuit against the county for malicious prosecution. There is a preliminary hearing in two weeks, where the judge will almost certainly ask us to negotiate. That’s still very fast, but if we can’t come to an agreement, then we’ll have to go to trial, which is the part that can stretch out over time. Mr. Campbell will be there, since he’s still the county prosecutor, at least for now, as well as the county supervisor and the five members of the board of county commissioners.”

“I doubt they’ll negotiate, at least with Mr. Campbell there.”

“Maybe, but maybe not. An ethics complaint has already been opened against him with the state bar, and the state investigation agency has also opened a case file for misuse of government resources. The judge that dismissed your case, personally submitted complaints to both, just as she said she would, which is going to help expedite the process. Those will both take a long time to complete, but they’re enough for the county board to remove him from his position.”

“I thought he was elected,” I said.

“He is, but the board has the power to remove him, sheriffs, clerks, and a few others if they see fit. Checks and balances and whatnot.”

“Ohh. So, do you think we have a good chance of negotiating a settlement soon, or is this going to drag out forever?”

“It depends on what we ask for. The board will want this to go away and isn’t going to want the bad press, so they’ll be willing to give up a lot to get it to go away. They’d probably go as high as a million dollars.”

“What about requiring them to remove Mr. Campbell as part of the negotiation?”

“We can ask for anything we want, but he isn’t without friends. The decision to remove him will include calculating what it will mean in the political fight for them down the road.”

“And what could we get if we just went all the way with this lawsuit?”

“Honestly, between ten and twenty million, but you would eat a lot of that up in costs because they’re going to fight it tooth and nail, which means lots of appeals. It would probably take four to five years before it actually happens.”

“What if we asked for something close to that but then offered to take something a lot less than a million dollars, as long as they fired Mr. Campbell as part of the deal? I only have a year left here, and then I’m off to college, and without Mom around, there’s little reason to come back except to visit Chef and Mrs. Philips. If I’m really going to pursue music, I can’t imagine I’m going to want to stay in such a small town. Half the things I need to do now I have to drive to Asheville for, and even it’s too small for things like recording. I have to go out to Raleigh for that. I don’t want to be halfway across the country still fighting with Buncombe County. The thing I really want is for him to never be in a position of power again, not just to protect myself, since once I’m out of here I won’t be in his jurisdiction anymore, but for anyone else. I’d rather he be gone than for me to get a ton of money.”

“While I’d normally disagree with that, since my fee is partially based on how much you make, I get it. And I agree. Anyone who pulls the stuff he has this year needs to never be a lawyer again, let alone a prosecutor.”

“Good. Well, please think about that and see if you can come up with a deal they’ll take. You know these kinds of guys better than I do, and I trust you to figure it out.”

“All right, I’ll think about it. Lastly, I’ve set up a meeting with MAC and their lawyers to discuss breach of contract. I wasn’t specific about what I meant, and I think they believe that I want to talk about your breach of contract, maybe appeal the decision or whatever, for breaking the moral turpitude section, which means we have a bombshell to drop on them when we point out that they were the ones to breach the contract. My concern is that this is only a preliminary meeting. As soon as we make our demands, they’re going to try to circle the wagons, slowing everything down. Thank God it’s not one of the major labels owned by a mega-corporation, or they’d try to bleed us white with legal fees. As it is, even for a regional company like MAC, their best alternative is to make it as expensive as possible for us, in an attempt to force us to go away.”

“So what do we do?”

“The same thing we’re doing with the county and the school district. They are unequivocally in the wrong here, so we have that stick. It helps us that they wrote in a fairly large penalty for breaking the contract because their biggest concern was that you would try to pull out of the contract. They wrote in all sorts of ways for them to get out of it, from missing sales targets to something as vague as immoral behavior. Had they chosen one of those, or at least not put their explicit reason in writing, they could probably have wiggled out of this, but the letter they sent you is a weight around their necks, and it’s going to cause them a lot of problems.”

“If they can’t find an out, how much would they be on the hook for?” I asked.

“A million. They wanted a big enough number to scare you, even if you suddenly broke out and had options for better deals elsewhere, which is good for us. All we need is a carrot to offer them. Something that ultimately doesn’t cost them a lot and is much cheaper than losing or just fighting us.”

“So something like a little bit of money and the rights to my record?”

“We might be able to get that. We’re going to have to go at them very hard, though, to make it happen. If they take it, great, but it could put us in a bad position at trial.”

“Worst case is I don’t get a payout or the rights to my album, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then do it. I trust your judgment, and I really don’t want this to drag out anyway. I want to get any obstacles that might keep me from restarting my touring this summer out of the way.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of it,” he said and hung up.

Actually, that was all really good news. I would be back in school, and Mr. Packer would be gone, probably forever. There was a good chance Mr. Campbell was going to be out of a job, and I had a chance to get the rights to my record.

Things really were starting to look like they might be going my way.

***

“I’ve missed this,” I said to Lyla as we hung out in back of the Blue Ridge, killing time before we went on stage.

We’d practiced with Arnie Samson, Willie’s drummer, that afternoon. Everything seemed to be on track. It was good he was the one who was available. An old pro like him didn’t need a lot of lead time, so it really only took one practice for him to be good to go. Of course, there would be rough patches, but after a show or two, it should all be worked out.

I had to admit, I was a little nervous. After the dinner rush, the Blue Ridge started filling up, and already I could hear the noise from the crowd through the door to the kitchen and over the noise of the kitchen staff. It looked like my first show back was going to be standing room only, which was exciting, knowing that many people were here to support me, but also kind of terrifying. I might have played on stage a lot now, but there was an extra level of pressure after more than a month of not playing for anyone.

I’d had one of those ‘wake up naked in school’ dreams the night before, but it was me forgetting how to play my guitar in front of an audience and getting booed. I didn’t think that was going to happen, of course, but I couldn’t help thinking about it.

“Me too. I guess you don’t realize how much you miss something until it’s gone for a little while. Nervous?”

“No,” I lied. “I think we’ve got everything worked out, and the practice set this afternoon went well. Besides, these people like us. We’ve got ‘home field advantage.’”

“I know we weren’t together all that long, but it feels weird to be just the two of us, no Seth or Marco.”

“I know, but they made their choice. I think that after a few days, everything will feel normal again. It’s one of those things that you adapt to.”

“Yeah, I hate having to adapt. Change terrifies me,” she said.

I just shrugged, “Yeah, but what are you going to do, right? Stop playing?”

“Not likely.”

“See. So let’s just get in there and have a good show, and make the best of it.”

We’d both been leaning against either side of the door into the kitchen, looking out towards the woods behind the Blue Ridge, so we hadn’t noticed anyone coming into the doorway until Seth knocked on the doorjamb, surprising us both.

“Can we talk for a few minutes?” Seth asked.

“You’re joking?” I said, half as a question and half as an accusation.

“Sure,” Lyla said, giving me a look that said we should hear him out.

“I get you’re pissed at me Charlie, and you have every right to be. If you want me to take off and not come back, I’ll understand.”

I was about to agree with that but stopped at Lyla’s look with the words only half-formed. I couldn’t imagine anything Seth might say that would change anything, but she clearly wanted to hear him out, so I bit them back. She’d agreed to a lot of demands from me the last couple of weeks and stuck by me. The least I could do was listen to Seth for her before I told him to get lost.

“Go ahead,” I said, crossing my arms.

I wasn’t, however, going to make it easy for him.

“I mostly wanted to come by and apologize. I was hurt and angry when you told me that everything we’d planned was falling apart, and I reacted badly. I think I let Marco’s reaction kind of decide mine. I shouldn’t have. I know he flies off the handle and I know he … he’s not always the best about thinking about other people. So I guess that’s first. I wanted to apologize.”

“Fine, apology accepted,” I said, still staring at him hard.

That wasn’t what he came to talk about. That was him trying to lead into it without seeming like a jerk and dealing with his own guilt.

“Umm,” he said, swallowing nervously. “So yeah, I’m sorry. I guess what I really wanted to ask is … is there any way you might take me back? If not, I get it, but besides playing with you two being the most successful thing I’ve ever done, I miss it; and I miss you guys, too. Marco … he just doesn’t get it. He’s so mad all the time, and he’s just gotten worse since we toured last summer. If I had to pick someone, I’d pick you guys.”

I waited a beat for him to say anything else and then said, “Done?”

When he nodded, I said, “Great. No.”

“Ohh,” he said.

I don’t think that’s what he expected. He’d seen me bend over backward for a year trying to placate Marco and make sure no one was unhappy. He hadn’t really seen this side of me, but I’d decided I wasn’t going to let anyone walk all over me anymore, and he’d had his shot.

“Uhh, can I ask why?”

“Why? You’re joking? You and Marco betrayed me. Took a knife and stuck it right in my back. I get it was disappointing to hear our shows were getting canceled. But you have to remember I had just had the absolute worst moment of my life. I watched my father kill my mother and I was thrown in jail for it, accused of killing both of them. I was attacked in there and spent almost two days in a tiny cell by myself. When I got out, I was kicked out of school, told I couldn’t play anymore, and my girlfriend broke up with me. This is all over like four days. I come to see you guys and you treat me like I’ddone something wrong when all I’d done was try to defend my mother from my drunk father. That was it. I’ve done everything … everything I could, to try and make you guys feel like equal members. I bent over backward for Marco and his tantrums. Yet the moment we hit a rough patch, the two of you spit in my face. And then, Marco calls the label and tells them how terrible everything is and how the band is falling apart, and I lose my record deal. And now you want to know if we’ll take you back?”

“You’re right. It was an incredibly shitty thing to do, and I regretted the decision almost immediately, but I didn’t know how to take it back. I was just scared. Terrified, really. I’m not saying that as an excuse, I just want to explain why I did it. I was so afraid of losing everything and having to go back to playing one-off gigs, barely able to pay my one-fourth share of rent on a shitty one-bedroom apartment shared with three other guys because none of us could scrape together enough money to live like people. I was now out here, living in a place with my own bedroom, playing shows in front of a thousand people or more, sometimes tens of thousands. I was contributing. One of my songs was on an album that people were streaming, for Christ’s sake. And hearing the news, I saw it all going away. I know it was shitty to walk out on you like that; but to be honest, I couldn’t see past how scared I was that I was about to have to go back to all of that and lose all of this. I really couldn’t see past it.

“Marco stormed out, and it sounded like he had a plan, so I followed him. I shouldn’t have. I know Marco’s an egocentric ass who only thinks about himself, but we’d been together for so long, and he’d been the one to book everything for us, so I was used to following him. Hell, that gig we first played together, Marco got it for us. I was so much in my own head that I just followed Marco out of habit and didn’t really think through the implications of what it might mean or what it would do to you.”

I could see his point. Seth had always kind of automatically deferred to Marco for everything. I’d actually used that to my advantage several times in trying to deal with Marco’s outbursts since Seth disagreeing with him was unusual enough that it was one of the few things that would break through Marco’s narcissistic shell. And I could imagine how terrifying hearing that we were about to lose all the gigs we had planned was, because I’d already gone through those same feelings.

I also didn’t feel like it was enough to forgive him. Maybe I was taking it too personally, but I just couldn’t accept what he actually did, which was abandon me. I was about to say something to that effect when Lyla spoke up.

“I actually had the same feelings,” Lyla said, “which is why I didn’t support you right away. I didn’t tell you I was out, but remember I didn’t back you up either. I’d like to say that was because I was trying to get a handle on my position, but really I was just more stunned than either of the other two, and storming out wasn’t even an option at that moment. Seth’s right. You had a terrible week and were hit the hardest, no one’s denying it, but we had a lot to lose, too. Imagine what that call from the record label was like when they told you they were pulling your contract. That is exactly what we felt when you told us we were going to have to skip all the shows we had coming up. We didn’t blame you … or I guess Marco did, but Seth didn’t, really. He was mad, but that’s a reasonable reaction in the moment. You forgave me, and I didn’t come to you for days after that. Seth’s a little slower, but is what he’s saying any different than what I said?”

I thought about it for a second, and she had a point. There was, however, a major difference in what they did, as well.

“Did you have any part in calling Kent or the label, and telling them about my restrictions before I could, or trying to get the contract moved to you and Marco?” I asked.

“No. I told him that was a bad idea. After I calmed down and had time to think, I realized I’d made a mistake and told Marco it wasn’t too late to go back and try to fix things. I told him I didn’t think they’d give us a contract, and all he was going to end up doing was hurting you, and we’d still be in the same place. He said he didn’t care. Honestly, I should have come to you right then. I’d always known how selfish Marco was, but he was doing something that he was ninety percent sure was only going to hurt you with no upside for himself, and he was still willing to do it. I knew I couldn’t play with Marco anymore after that, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to say I was sorry, I guess.”

“Then why are you here now? You got up the courage today.”

“’Cause I saw you were playing again. I knew once you went on stage without me, that was it. I was out for good. I knew this was my last chance, so I took it. I also saw Lyla was playing with you. I figured if she apologized and you took her back, you might take me back.”

I almost said too bad and sent him packing, but he wasn’t wrong. Lyla had just said she’d basically done the same thing as Seth. She hadn’t walked out, but she hadn’t come to my defense either. Everyone had been shocked and was dealing with their own issues. I believed him when he said he wasn’t trying to hurt me or even thinking about me, and that he told Marco not to call Kent. I guess that last part was the thing I was most worried about.

“What about Marco? If he comes back and asks you to play with him again, are you just going to ditch us and go? Like you said, you two have been together the longest, so what’s going to keep you loyal to us and not to him, considering that history?”

“If he comes back, I’ll tell him ‘no’. Actually, I already told him we were done, yesterday. Even if you don’t take me back, I just can’t work with him anymore. Calling the label was the last straw. He just did it to hurt you, and I know that the minute I finally disagree with him, he’ll do the same to me. I can’t play with someone like that. I’m done with Marco. You’re also right that you’ve gone out of your way to be fair. If you take me back, I’ll be loyal to you the same way I was to him, only more so.”

He took a deep breath, like he was readying himself to lift something really heavy, and said, “Look, I know what kind of person I am, Charlie. I’m not a leader. Never will be. I’m a follower. I find someone stronger than me, and I latch on to them. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life and I’m not going to change now. Hell, I don’t honestly think I’d even know how to change. What I do bring to the table is my loyalty. I think you’ve seen how hard it is for me to find a new person to follow, to my detriment sometimes. What I’m saying is that if you take me back, I’m your guy. I know you’re going to do what’s best for us and I trust you to make the right moves. More than I ever trusted Marco.”

He sounded almost sad to admit all that. I guess it would be hard, not only recognizing that you’ll never be the front man and saying it out loud but saying it as a way to sell yourself to someone else. In a weird way, that took more courage than actually trying to be the frontman.

“You know things aren’t going to be the same?” I said, before I’d even really made my mind up to take him back. “I already talked to Lyla, and she agreed to this. We’re going to be playing under my name from now on. You guys won’t just be session players, but I’m not going to pretend we’re all equal anymore. You two are going to back me up, which means my name on merch and my name on the marquee. In exchange, I’ll guarantee, in writing, that you’ll be taken care of and will make sure you get the appropriate performance and co-writing credits as warranted. And, if you bring a song to the table, you get the actual writing credit and the residuals that come with it. I’m going to be fair, but I’m not going to pretend we’re all the same anymore.”

Lyla looked at Seth, hard. The terms sounded harsh, saying them out loud again. I’d padded them more when I’d given them to Lyla, but I wanted Seth to understand unequivocally what I was offering. Lyla didn’t blink, though. She’d made her choice, and Lyla was the kind of girl that, once a decision was made she didn’t second-guess it.

Seth didn’t even hesitate.

“I’m in. Everything you’re saying is fair. I think we all knew the ‘we’re all equal’ thing was just a line from the start. Okay, Marco probably believed it, but you were the only reason we ever made it, so it’s fair that this is your show. I trust you to take care of us and make sure we get the pay and the appropriate credit for everything. And this doesn’t make us even. I still owe you for what I did, and I’m going to keep trying to make it up to you.”

I held his gaze for almost twenty seconds, neither of us looking away, trying to gauge his words.

“All right, you’re in. Let’s go tell Arnie he’s off the hook,” I said.