Chapter 8

Saturday Oct 7, 1978

When Saturday morning rolled around, both Janneke and Doortje were waiting for Billy’s morning run. Doortje was more reserved than normal but Janneke took up the slack. Upon reaching the halfway point near the wharves, Doortje brought the group to a stop.

“I’ve got something I need to tell you and I don’t think Jan here knows.” Janneke’s eyebrow shot up in an inquisitive expression. “I have an older sister. Older than Jan.”

Jan laughed while giving the evil eye to her little sister. Billy replied, “You don’t say. Why has nobody mentioned her?”

“Her name is Karina and ... well, she’s really a half-sister, different dad, so we’re told. Anyways, and I know this sounds creepy, but she’s been camped out near your property keeping an eye on you for some reason.” Doortje cringed as she said the words, expecting Billy to lash out in anger.

“You mean the tall blonde out near the beach? Yeah, I know she’s there. I see her every night although I have to admit I didn’t know she was there because of me. If she’s trying to be stealthy, she needs a little more practice.”

Doortje sighed in relief. “I don’t like secrets and I thought you ought to know. She doesn’t mean you any harm but I’m not sure why she’s doing it.”

“No problem. I might give her a visit later today. I’m sure that will freak her out.”

Doortje warned him, “She’s kind of a real tough, bad-ass. Don’t antagonize her because she has quite the temper.”

On his way back to the house, Billy stayed close to the beach so as to be in a position to interact with Karina if she was still there and got his wish. Not far from the spot he would have to cross the street, he got a glimpse of her blonde hair through some leaves and headed off in her direction. Wanting to have a little bit of fun, he acted like he would jog right past her unnoticed to see what she would do. She did a really bad job of being nonchalant so Billy slowed down, waved and said “Hello Karina, how are you doing this morning? You’re welcome to join me so you don’t have to use binoculars.” She did a double take and stumbled backwards. Billy stopped and walked towards her.

“I talked with your sisters. They admitted you were here. Why are you watching me and why were you at my school last week?”

Karina was really uncomfortable and fumbled for the right words. “I ... uhh ... I heard about your accident and wanted to make sure you were ok. You know ... if you ever needed anything, I’d be here.”

Billy got within a few feet of her and started to look at her strangely. Oh crap, she thought I hope that spell worked like it was supposed to.

“Well, what would I need help from you for and how would I know you were here to ‘help me’ as you put it if I’m not supposed to know you’re here? Plus, you look and sound really familiar. Do I know you?”

“No. Not at all” she replied almost too quickly.

“Then why would you camp out on a beach of all places to make sure a perfect stranger is OK? One who obviously has enough money for security so it’s not like I really need it.”

Karina’s cheeks were turning beet red as she desperately tried to think of something. “I ... I saw how Cindy’s friends treated you at school and figured you might need someone to watch your back.”

“You were at my school and yet aren’t a student there ... Why were you there and why didn’t you ‘watch my back’ as you said you would do?”

Karina lowered her head. “I followed you.”

“This isn’t going well for you, you know. You thought I needed protection and yet you didn’t protect me when I needed it. I trust you’ll do a better job of making crap up in the future? You’ll be out of a job if you don’t.”

She meekly looked back up at Billy. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t close enough to do anything and then would’ve had to explain why I was on school grounds when I’m not a student. I promise I’ll do better.”

He could tell she was being honest and felt genuinely bad about the situation. “Tell you what, I’m going to head home to work out in the barn, would you like to help? You’d be close by if I need it. I’ll even provide lunch. Sound good?”

“I don’t know, why would a girl go to a secluded area with a total stranger?”

“You’ve watched me long enough that I’m no longer a total stranger and I hear you’re a real bad-ass. Surely you can handle yourself? I want a new security detail if you can’t defend yourself against me.”

Karina started to relax a bit as she realized he was giving her the business. “Ja. Sounds good.”

“You don’t have the same accent as your sisters, different country?”

“Ja. Norway.”

“I suspected as much” he said as they both headed towards his house. “You know, the pay for guarding me really sucks. You still sure?”

“I hear the perks are pretty good, tho.”

“Such as?”

“Free lunches.”

“Well, you can’t beat that. I hope they’re good lunches.”

“I hear they’re the best.”

“What if it’s only a Happy Meal?”

“Do I get to pick the toy?”

“No, you get what you get.”

“Oh, then you’ll be needing someone to protect you from me.”

“Zoinks! I guess I’ll let you pick the toy.”

“That is a wise choice, boss.”

October 28, 1978

Several weeks later, Billy and Carl climbed the stairs to the stage and made their way towards the back where the drum riser was. Carl was so excited, he knocked him out of the way trying to get there first. This was the first time Carl had seen the mostly completed stage and was a little over exuberant.

“Geez dude, these are top of the line. Where did you get the dinero, you know your parents hated your music? I know they didn’t fork it over for this.”

Billy smiled, “I have my ways. Scoot over for a minute, I want to see if you can play some of these rhythms...” He then set out playing the opening to ‘Painkiller’ and Carl nearly fell off the riser.

“DUDE!! That was killer, what do you need me for? I’ve never heard anything like that before!”

A female voice from the dark softly said “I taught him that, he’s nothing without me.”

Carls head nearly spun of his neck as turned to see where the voice was coming from and ended up eye to eye with a tall, slender blonde with a very big grin on her face.

“Oh,” exclaimed Billy, “Did I tell you I hired some help? Meet Karina, she’s my stagehand, bodyguard and whatever else I need help with. She’s a quick wit and has faster reflexes so you’d better do what she says or you’ll be eating your words for sure.”

Carl’s throat went dry, he wasn’t used to engaging in conversation with pretty girls much less one that was exotic and graceful. His prior experience had always been to be ignored or scorned upon.

“I’m C-C-Carl, how do you do?” he said extending his hand not knowing if that was the proper social protocol.

Karina’s smile got even bigger as she extended her hand to reciprocate. “Nice to meet you C-C-Carl.”

“Now that the niceties are over” exclaimed Billy who was by then getting impatient. “If you can turn your attention back over here, I’ll show you more of what Miss Drum Meister over there has taught me.”

“Trommemester” she corrected him.

“You really taught him that?” Carl asked her in wonder as he cocked his head her way.

Karina laughed. “Not a lick of it. Put some sticks in my hand and there is a 50% chance I’ll miss the drums altogether.”

Carl let out a humph as he realized he had been had.

Billy got his attention again, “Anyways, these are some typical bass drum patterns you’ll have to learn.” He then went into some heavy double kick rhythms prevalent in symphonic metal and Carl cocked his head. “I don’t know about that, it sounded like a lot of noise to me. Are you prone to epileptic seizures or something?” Now it was his turn to deadpan and they both had a good laugh.

Karina butted in, “hmm. ‘Seizure Man’ ... I like the ring to that. This may stick with him.”

“Really tho, that sounded odd ... I’m not so sure about it, but I see what you mean about how a person could get tired doing that.”

Billy gave him the deluxe tour of the facility showing him where the mixing board would be along with two sound proofed rooms for recording. “There will be a rudimentary light system, too” he continued. These were primitive times where you can’t just grab a bunch of cheap LED cans for lighting. “Just some basic spots and maybe a few colored lights, but the trusses and anchor points need to be reworked. Interested in helping out? Just wait until you hear the killer sound system. I’ve got some speakers on order and have a few ideas I want to try. “ Billy looked at his watch and nearly panicked as he quickly departed to meet the three Dutch sisters out front. “Hey Carl, grab some sticks and start getting used to the trap set while I get the rest of the band.”

Billy’s worries were for naught as he cleared the grove of trees and saw three girls milling about the front gate. He yelled and waved as he made his way towards them so they wouldn’t give up and leave. After apologizing for being a few minutes late, he opened the gate and corralled them towards the barn in the back. It wasn’t long before the group could hear Carl banging away on the drums as they neared the barn. The girls elicited a few ooh’s and ahh’s as they entered and got a look at the setup. Carl looked up and abruptly stopped as he saw the three sisters. It completely slipped Billy’s mind to fill Carl in on the full plan beforehand so this was totally unexpected for him. The girls twittered amongst themselves for a moment in Dutch before switching back to English.

“Girls, this is Carl. I know you’ve seen him around school, but this is the official introduction.”

Janneke replied “We’ve seen him around school but have never talked.” She stepped forward and faced Carl, “Hello, my name is Janneke but you can call me Jan and these are my sisters Liesbeth and Doortje. Pleased to meet you!”

Liesbeth extended her hand to shake, “You can call me Beth.”

“And I believe you girls know me” said Karina as she stepped out from behind some equipment.

The three sisters acknowledged her presence, but the icy reaction they gave her was not easily missed as they had a brief exchange in Dutch.

Billy asked everyone to sit in the front row by the stage. Carl whispered “Does Cindy know you’re hanging out with them outside school?” In an exasperated manner he whispered back “I don’t answer to her, we are no longer a couple.” Carl made an interesting face and replied “I’m down with that but you might want to let her know that, dude. Even after the lunch blowup and several weeks of ignoring her, she still tells everyone you’re together.” Message delivered and received. That will most assuredly escalate at the worst possible moment.

Sitting on the edge of the stage with his legs hanging off, Billy faced his new friends and started in with the spiel: “First of all, and I know I’ve said this before, but whatever you knew about me before the accident, you can forget. I have no memory whatsoever of what happened up until that time and according to everyone I’ve talked to, I’m not the same person.”

“You can say that again!” Janneke interrupted uncontrollably. Karina shot her a dirty look from across the stage.

Enough of that. I’ve asked ya’ll here because I’d like to make music and I was hoping maybe you guys would, too. Carl, my mom told me you played drums with me before so I’d like that to happen once again. Girls, Janneke is hands down the best singer I’ve ever heard and if you other two are half as good, you’ll be ten times better than anyone else. As a bonus, we have your older sister Karina to act as our roadie and soundboard technician.” The girls smiled at the complement and Carl was just looking back and forth trying to put it all together when Karina walked around the corner and walked up next to Billy.

“Wow, You really were serious about confronting her, I see” said Doortje. “What type of music did you have in mind?”

Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Billy replied “I never thought you’d ask! A little bit of rock, maybe a pop song, some post-hardcore and a whole lot of symphonic metal.” That didn’t get an immediate response so he kept going: “Keep in mind that whatever happened while I was ‘out’, my consciousness came back with a lot of different kind of songs and genre’s from what is current today.” Janneke caught herself rolling her eyes in amusement so she closed them.

It would be a lot easier for people to accept the explanation of ethereal inspiration as opposed to time travel and it doesn’t put anyone in a lab or under a microscope somewhere, well; at least in his mind it didn’t.

Beth cocked her head and asked “What the heck is post-hardcore and symphonic metal? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Trying to think of current day bands, I asked “Have you ever heard of Judas Priest?”

-Silence- with a bunch of head nodding.

“OK, what about Black Sabbath?”

That got a rise out of Carl “Aren’t they that devil worshiping band? I don’t want to do that.”

“No, no” I replied. “Black Sabbath is an early form of Heavy Metal with highly distorted guitars playing in minor keys at loud volumes. It’s about the sound and the musical nuances, not the content. Symphonic is similar, but add keyboards, strings, sound effects and choirs. It works best with a female singer who has a large range and even better if there a male voice that can harmonize and maybe do some call and response, too. Think of something like a gothic drama ... Check it out for yourself, I’ve prepared a rudimentary backing track of two songs so you can hear what I’m talking about.”

Doortje interrupted. “What’s a backing track?”

Billy stood there a minute with his mind blank until he realized not everyone knew his terminology. “Think of a song where they leave out the vocals so someone can sing along with it. Maybe they leave the guitars out for a guitar player to play along with.”

The girls nodded their heads in understanding but Janneke just sat there staring at him which was a bit unnerving.

Billy walked over and picked up a guitar and began tuning it. “I created a crude backing track to play with. The songs are really meant to have a female vocalist, preferably a soprano but there are parts for everyone to take part in. Now, keep in mind I’ll be singing with my own voice and it will be a million times better with Jan and the girls singing instead.”

After a few turns of the amplifier knobs, he signaled to Karina to hit ‘play’ on the tape deck and waited for the click lead in. “Dark Chest of Wonders” was the first song with the intent of trying to recreate the magic of the Wacken Open Air 2013 Nightwish performance. The Marshall stacks were turned up a little louder than needed, but Billy wanted them to have the sensory experience of what an audience would feel. After the fourth click, Billy went into the intro guitar riff and the rest of the “band” on the tape joined in. Emotion overcame Billy driving him to move around the stage as if it were a real performance. It felt really good to have an audience even if it was a small one. The singing was marginal as advertised, but it got the point across. Other than an initial jump at the beginning, their reaction was hard to tell because they were somewhat stunned at what they were hearing and their minds were probably still processing it. Carl was the first to come around if his body movement was any indication, his hands were trying to keep the beat on his legs. When it came time for the heavy bridge, Billy began banging his head to the beat as the music carried him away. Carl, out of curiosity, began mimicking Billy’s movements and even the girls joined in albeit not as fervently.

The girls began to come around by the end of the song and then the tape went into another 4 beat count and Billy was praying he’d hit the timing correctly as ‘I Wish I Had an Angel’ started out. Before the first chorus was finished, all four were standing and moving in some form to the beat. Billy’s neck was a little sore due to his over exuberant head banging so he had to back it off a bit, but his audience seemed to be taking to the new music. As the last chord echoed to silence, Billy looked expectantly at his peers and asked “Well, what do you think?”

Carl beat them to the punch “Dude, when did you learn to play a guitar and sing like that? Those tunes were killer. I’ve never heard anything like that before, the sound of the guitar along with the keyboards was so ... unnaturally natural. I see what you mean about the double kicks when placed into the context of the music, I think you might be on to something there.”

Karina stuck her head out of the control room and taunted Carl in a playful voice, “I taught him those songs!”

Carl laughed, “Stuff it, Barbie” which had both of them laughing while the other three sisters looked at each other in confusion. Doortje whispered under her breath “Where did this cutesy girly-girl personality come from?” to no one in particular.

Turning to the girls, Billy asked what they thought about it. Janneke just smiled but the others weren’t quite sure how to express their thoughts. Putting down his guitar and picking up an acoustic, Billy asked Janneke and her sisters to come on-stage and motioned for Karina to sit on the stool he’d just pulled out for her. Janneke shot her a jealous glance.

“This is a little something Karina and I have worked on, it’s called ‘The Silence’. Here are some lyric sheets since you don’t know the song.” Turning to the others, “OK, guys, this song is mainly to spotlight the singer, Karina in this case. Girls, do what you think the song needs. The 3rd verse is where I need everyone to come in with energy.” Carl piped up: “Anything I can do?”

“Climb into the trap set and give us some ambient percussion, but wait for the 3rd verse to come in.”

Nobody noticed Billy’s mom wondering into the barn wondering what all the noise was about. She kept in the shadows and silently observed what they were doing. Carl did a four count on the sticks and they were off. Karina was a natural on the mic and Billy had a hard time focusing because he wanted to listen to her and hear what the other girls would do. Her voice was absolutely phenomenal. Beth and Doortje did a good job of winging the chorus on the second try which proved how adept there were at dynamically adapting. By the third verse, they had something going and the harmonies became harmonized.

The clapping from the back of the barn took the group by surprise as Tiffany walked up to the stage. It was obvious she had been crying. “Kids, that was the prettiest song I’ve ever heard. Karina, you really brought out the emotion and made me believe you were feeling what you were singing. How long have you guys been playing together?”

“Uh mom...” Billy replied. “This is the first time we ever tried. I’m trying to convince them to join me in this craziness and start a band” he said with a smirk.

“Honest? That was your first time? I’d hate to hear what you sounded like with practice. Oh, hi there Carl, I didn’t see you up there. How have you been? And your mother? Give her my regards.”

“Hello Mrs. Rivers, nice to see you again. It’s been awhile. It’s nice to be hanging out over here again. Everything has been upgraded, especially the company!”

“Anyways, It would be criminal if you kids didn’t let people hear your talents. Do you mind if I hang out for awhile? I’ll make myself scarce back here in the shadows.”

“Sure mom. You’re not our target audience but it will be interesting to hear what you think about things.”

Billy pulled some lyrics out and handed them to Janneke. “This song will put you on everyone’s radar. How well do you sing opera?”