Chapter 4
After breakfast the next morning, the rain returned, more unmerciful and wild than the previous day. Janice, dressed in a Japanese morning robe, peeked through the florescent curtains and frowned.
“Bummer,” she said, disappointed. “I was hoping to do some shopping today!”
Zoot only hummed in response, polishing the neck of his saxophone with an old rag and watching a bit of TV. Or rather, he was listening to the audio as his eyes were more focused on the task at hand. From what he could hear, a strange character with an Eastern-European accent was counting to ten. Twice. The other end of the couch felt heavy as Janice sat down.
“Oh, well. So, did you sleep okay last night?” she asked, crossing a slender leg over the other. “I know the couch isn’t, like, totally comfy.” Zoot shrugged a little, briefly checking the inside of the bell.
“’S’okay,” he replied. “I can sleep anywhere.” He meant it. His experience as a down-on-his-luck musician taught him that anything could be a bed when the streets were the only ‘hotels’ to crash. Boxes, rocks, fish netting, dumpsters, you name it! He could sleep on it.
Satisfied that his sax was clean, he detached the parts and put them away in the case. He then turned to face Janice. “Hey, thanks for letting me stay here,” he said. “I didn’t have any money so-”
“Oh!” she said, surprised, but then waved her hand modestly. “Like, erm, think nothing of it!”
“No really, I mean it. I was going to-umm, do something and-”
“Really, it’s nothing! I, like, totally bring homeless folks in all the time-”
“But, my hat-”
“Oh yeah, that! Well, you’re totally welcome! I think…”
They were quiet for a while, with Zoot shifting uncomfortably and Janice looking away, her lips pursed. He noticed that the TV was still on, now showing an odd-looking frog with a star-pointed collar sitting neatly on a brick wall and explaining to the audience about the letter ‘B’, while a hairy monster slowly devoured it. He smirked.
“My niece is nuts about this show,” he said. “She forced me to watch it with her every morning when I was staying at my sister’s.”
At this, Janice smiled. “Aww, how cute! Is she the little girl with the blonde hair? Isn’t she, like, the sweetest thing ever?”
“Yeah. Weird little kid sometimes. The other day, she wanted to-” he stopped midsentence, realising what she just said. “Yeah, about that. What were you doing at the park that day?”
Flustered, she replied, “I was just sitting by the tree, that’s all rully. I like to go to parks on nice days sometimes, just to get away from it all! I was at Summerfield for a friend’s wedding shower, but I wanted time on my own and then they found me listening to you and…Again, I’m like so, so sorry about my friends bothering you like that! Bethany can be a so annoying when she, like, wants to be!”
“You apologise too much,” Zoot told her in a slightly amused tone.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I- Oh!” She covered her mouth and giggled at herself. “Like, never mind. Anyway, I think I’ve said enough about me to last, like, forever! What about you?”
Admittedly, he couldn’t remember half the stuff she told him during dinner last night (she was quite that fast talker) but he didn’t tell her that. Instead, he said, “Well, erm, okay. I’ve been playing the sax since I was about nine or ten. It’s kinda the only thing I know what to do without feeling like an idiot, which is why I flunked out of school early with the rest of the Pepper Crew.”
She looked at him quizzingly. “The Pepper Crew?”
“Yeah, that the name of the band I’m in.”
“You’re in a band?! Oh, that’s so cool!” Janice exclaimed. “Tell me all about it!”
He spent the next few minutes describing Floyd and Animal and explaining how he met them when they were kids.
“Yeah, I think you’d like Floyd, though. He mostly plays bass but he’s cool on the guitar too.”
“Oh, wow! You make them sound so groovy!” Janice said, dreamily. “And I’d love to meet Animal! He sounds like a rull character!”
Zoot grimaced. “Um, yeah, no you don’t. Trust me.”
“Why’s that?”
“Er, let me put it this way. When he sees a woman, he…” he hesitated, trying to think of the right and appropriate words. “…responds to his natural instincts.”
“Huh?”
“He’ll go nuts and attack you,” he answered, more plainly.
For a moment, Janice didn’t say anything. Zoot could see the wheels turning in her head, then click into place once she got it. “Oh, my…you mean…”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Eww! Gross!” She scrunched up her face in disgust. “That’s, like, a total violation against Women’s Rights, y’know! I mean, I’m no Candace Bergman, but still!”
Zoot wanted to point out that Animal was feral and never understood how society worked, but instead he said, “Mmm-hmm,” and nothing more on the subject.
Janice then sighed and gazed across the room. “Still, I would totally love to be in a band. It gets kinda lonely when it’s just you.”
“Hmm, true, but we’re struggling. Not a lot of people like us, not even the lowest places.” Zoot huffed, irritably. “It doesn’t help with Floyd’s song writing skills.”
“Huh? What’s wrong with that?”
“He doesn’t have any.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true!”
“It is. Even he knows that.” He paused, and then his mind wandered.
“Zoot?”
He shook his head. “Sorry. I keep having these weird…um, things in my head.”
“You mean like epiphanies?”
“Gesundeheit!”
“No, an epiphany! Y’know, like sudden realisation or something.”
“Um, I don’t really kn-”
However, just like that, a real epiphany stuck him.
“Hey, er, now that you mention the band and stuff, I’ve never really heard you play. Is it okay if-?”
Janice seemed to know where he was going with this. “You want us to jam together?”
“Er, yeah.”
She squealed with joy and threw his arms around him, embracing him rather tightly. “I would be, like, soo honoured, Zootie! Oh, I better put some clothes on and get my guitar.” She realised him and got up to switch the TV off. Zoot rubbed his neck where she nearly choked him. Zootie?!
Janice walked over to her room. When she was halfway there, she undid the rope around her waist and slid the garment off her body, letting it drop to the ground while not breaking her stride. Shocked, Zoot covered his eyes just in time. She defiantly wasn’t kidding about being comfortable in her own skin.
As soon as the door shut, he reached for his case. He was done reattaching his saxophone when Janice returned, fully dressed (or as fully dressed as she could be) and carrying a different guitar from the one he saw yesterday. It looked smaller, the body shaped more rounded and organic, coloured pink with a black and silver outline.
“Cool,” Zoot remarked, nodding to the instrument as she sat down, adjusting the straps.
“Thanks,” she replied, and began to play the first few bars of a slow, jazzy number. “You know this one, right?”
He did, as a matter of fact. “Who doesn’t?”
After the brief intro, Janice began to sing;
No one to talk with
All by myself
No one to walk with
But I'm happy on the shelf
Ain't misbehavin'
I'm savin' my love for you
Zoot joined in, playing a soft riff between the verses.
I know for certain
The one I love
I'm through with flirtin'
It's just you I'm thinkin' of
Ain't misbehavin'
I'm savin' my love for you
Throughout the morning, they played an assortment of jazz numbers and laidback R’n’B. Zoot was no longer surprised by how many of the songs she chose were his favourite. She really wasn’t bad at all.
They didn’t really finish, rather stop casually a few hours later. They were silent for a few moments, letting the atmosphere hang for a bit longer.
“Wow!” Janice said. “That was, like, totally, sooo fer sure.”
Zoot, just as spaced out, smiled goofily. “Yeah.”
“Y’know, maybe we can busk together tomorrow when the weather isn’t such a bummer. I kinda need to pay my rent.” She then leaned in and kissed his forehead. “Like, thanks so much, by the way! I’m sooo glad you asked.”
Zoot was grateful that he didn’t blush easily. “Thank you.”
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