Chapter 10: The Posse

"I can't! I keep messing up my breathing!"

Leslie was close to tears. This was her baby, her song. She had written it and she wanted to sing it, but somehow she never timed her breathing right to draw out the last line of the refrain. Add to that that the idol of her teenage years was sitting under the stage, and young Leslie Cramer wanted to stomp out of the barn.

"Listen, Les, why don't we try a different tempo?" Janet suggested.

"It won't sound right," Leslie answered a little petulantly.

"It don't sound right anyway," Luke said under his breath, but Leslie heard him.

"It's your breathing," Kylie McAdam announced.

'Well, duh!' Leslie wanted to answer but she bit back the reply. Kylie was her idol.

"Listen, guys and you, Janet. Can you take a short break? Let me try something with Les." Kylie came up on the stage and switched off Leslie's mic. "Let's try a duet on the refrain, but slowly. I'll stand in front of you, and you put your hand on my tummy. I'll sing it and you can feel how I breathe. Try to breathe in sync with me and hum along. Let's try."

Kylie started the refrain a capella and Leslie felt awe again. Kylie stopped.

"Don't let this fluster you, Les. You can do it. Now, together!"

Leslie tried. Feeling Kylie's breathing rhythm, she breathed along and hummed the melody with Kylie. Then, again. After the fifth or fourth repetition, Leslie got the hang of it, and by the seventh repeat she was singing along with Kylie in a duet. Beaming, Kylie disengaged herself.

"See? I told you. Now, once again without you feeling me up," she quipped.

That was it! With the adjusted breathing Leslie was able to hold the tune just fine. God, it felt good! In her exuberance she hugged Kylie with feeling. Separating, they saw their friends gaping at them.

"What?" Leslie snapped. "It was a hug. Girls do that. Get your mind outta the gutter!"

Three men blushed and mumbled their protests but Janet grinned.

"Les, Kyles, don't you know why those boneheads gape at you? That duet was so god-damned awesome, we got the shivers. Can you try again? Kyles, you can do that a half octave higher, can't you? Come on, guys, let's give them some music!"

Thirty minutes later they sat around listening to the playback. Even Kylie was impressed at how well she and Leslie harmonized. Leslie just felt lightheaded. She was a small town girl, a rookie deputy, and now she had cut a recording with a professional singer!

"Damn!" Kylie swore, and everybody looked at her. "Oh, I was just thinking of stealing Leslie for one of my recording sessions. Stupid contract!"

They looked at her without comprehension and Kylie elaborated.

"It's in my contract that I may only use back-up musicians who are union members and under label contract."

Leslie made big eyes. "You're kidding me, right?"

Kylie smiled and shook her head. "I'm not saying you're the up and coming attraction, but our voices mesh. It's just a wild hair idea. You're better off doing your thing here and singing for fun."

"Still, Kylie, would you like to join Leslie for that song?" Janet asked, her head tilted. "Then you pick one of yours and Les can back you up. What do you say, Posse?"

They all looked at Cliff and he held up both hands.

"Hey, whatever the boss says," he grinned. "Honestly, no problem from my side. I've put up with Kylie pestering me for weeks, what's a few more minutes on stage? Besides, they really harmonize."

Peter and Luke nodded their assent and Janet grinned at Kylie.

"So, Miss Superstar, you've got a song to dazzle Clearwater?"

Leslie could see that Kylie swallowed nervously before she answered.

"A few. I don't know how they will sound; I only played them on the acoustic. There this one piece which I think may work. Let me try it once."

"How do you call it?" Luke asked.

"The punch line is You're Not It," Kylie answered giving Cliff a nervous look.

She picked up her acoustic guitar and started a short intro. It was a rather complicated piece with constant changes, but Janet picked up on the beat halfway through the second verse. Then Cliff let his guitar play around the tune, lending some bite to the song. Luke and Peter were hesitant and did not join before Kylie was done.

It was clear to everyone in the barn whom this song was about.

It was a bitter song, a derision of Hugh Dumont. The emotions gave Kylie an edge to her voice, and she did not sound sweet at all.

Cliff made a grimace. "You've got any songs about me?" he asked warily.

"No, I wrote this one to vent my anger. I think it has potential though."

Janet laughed. "Did Dumont really keep on his tighty-whities when he..." She stopped and blushed looking at Cliff.

Cliff shrugged. "Stop the pussy-footing around me, will you! Kylie was gone for four years. She was with Dumont for over a year and they had sex. See, I can say it. So please stop pretending it didn't happen."

Leslie's eyes ping-ponged between Cliff and Kylie. Kylie swallowed hard, but then she straightened and nodded.

"Cliff is right. He and I spoke about that and other things. It's not my favorite memory, but I brought it up myself with the song. Yes, Hugh was very hung up about being naked. And that's the last thing you'll ever hear from me about him."

They worked on the song for a little longer and agreed to give it a test run during their New Year's Eve gig. Later, Cliff and Kylie left together in his black-and-white and Leslie was left standing with Luke and Karen.

"You think they'll get back together?" Luke asked watching the car drive off.

"Cliff doesn't know it yet, but yes," Janet sighed. "I sure hope Kylie's straight this time. She learned her lesson. I hope it'll keep, or I may have to strangle my best friend."

"You ever talked about her producer, you know, that Brentano slime ball?"

"A little. Kylie has a suspicion that he may have drugged her, but there's no way to prove that after so many years."

Luke wagged his head. "I wouldn't put it past that perv. She was sure acting out of character. I'd love to ask him about it, you know, privately where nobody would butt in."

Janet shook her head. "Kylie says even if he did she was still the one drinking the drinks he put before her, and I agree with her. She can't just blame it all on Brentano. But yeah, I'd like such a one-on-one with him, too."

Leslie was shaking her head. "Why doesn't anybody stop that man?"

Janet looked at her younger friend. "Les, he's making money for the networks and the labels. If he's drugging up some country bumpkin singer-wannabe to get into her pants, so what? They all boink the naive young girls who try to make in in the biz. He may be a bigger slime ball than most, but not by much."

Leslie shook herself. "Yuk! I hope Kylie doesn't get mixed up with those folks again."

°°°

The high school gym was packed with Clearwater's younger crowd and the noise level was increasing by the minute. Janet peeked through the fire escape door and turned back to the Posse.

"You guys ready?" she asked. Leslie, Cliff, Luke, and Peter nodded. Janet smiled grimly. "Let's rock and roll, Posse!"

They stepped out on the stage while Kylie gave them a thumbs-up. She would stay backstage and only join them for the first duet with Leslie. The Posse took their places and Janet did a brief drum intro before she grabbed for her mic.

"Howdy, Clearwater! Thanks for having us as your band tonight. I give you Leslie Cramer, vocals, Luke Patterson, bass, Peter Loring, rhythm guitar, and Cliff Henson, lead guitar! I'm Janet Running Elk, and I'm working the donkey skins. We're doing Rock music, and if you don't like that, too bad. Let's get started with a classic. Come on, Posse! Let's Rock This Joint!"

And that's what they started with, Rock This Joint, a classic from the fifties, but in a version similar to Alannah Myles's 1989 recording. Leslie nailed it just fine, and the crowd loved it. They followed up with another ten pieces from their twenty-six-song set list before they went into the first break an hour later. The crowd gave them whistles and catcalls along with a friendly applause.

For the next half hour canned music was piped into the system, and then they set up the stage for the second half of their gig. Again, Kylie stayed behind when the Posse took their positions on the stage. After a brief drum roll to get the attention of the crowd, Janet took the mic again.

"Folks, we're beginning this set with an original song written by Leslie, Suit and Tie. Go rock, Leslie!"

Leslie nodded nervously and stepped up to the mic. Cliff started the soft intro, playing the basic tune solo at first. Then Luke added his bass for the second repeat. For the third, Janet joined them, and then Leslie and Peter added vocals and rhythm guitar.

A second voice began to mesh with Leslie's, higher, clearer, and yet oddly complementing the young redhead. From the side of the stage Kylie stepped into the lights holding a mic. For the second verse she already stood at Leslie's side, and the two of them grew into the powerful duet. People in the crowd recognized Kylie and began to clap, and when the two singers wound down the last refrain the gym was exploding with applause. The girls hugged each other and bowed to the shouting and stomping crowd.

Finally, Janet was able to get the crowd's attention

"Now, y'all know how Cliff here got shot at the diner six weeks ago and how Kylie McAdam saved his sorry ass. She's joining us for a few songs tonight, songs that she wrote herself as the rocker and roller she is at heart. Folks, the Clearwater Posse featuring Kylie McAdam and her new song, You're Not It!"

Kylie grinned into the crowd. "Six months ago when I sang at our high school reunion I felt like a stranger. Now, on this stage and with the Posse, I finally feel like I'm home again. I love those guys, and they're a seriously cool band. I'm going to try out three or four songs that I wrote this last fall. It's the first time I'll perform them in front of an audience, so I'll be thankful for your honest opinion. Okay, let's do this! Guys, can you give me the intro?"

The Posse started the gritty blues intro and Kylie snarled the first verse into her mic. This was not her trademark clear soprano voice; she surprised the crowd with a powerful timbre to go along with the biting lyrics. This was a Kylie McAdam nobody except the Posse had ever heard, and at first the crowd was surprised and even shocked. Two thirds into the song Kylie stepped back and Cliff moved to the front. He let his Stratocaster sing in Kylie's place and with his staccato picking he conveyed the same angry mood as Kylie. People picked up on it now, and then Kylie stepped forward again with her violin under her chin to take over from Cliff. She knew that her technique was still lacking, but she was able to deliver the main tune in the angry staccato she was aiming for. Taking the violin down, she stepped up to the mic again. For the final two verses, the crowd was with her. Leslie backed up the refrain, and when they wound down the song the gymnasium was properly rocked.