The Gift (24 page)

Maggie missed Zak terribly, but she tried to focus on
finishing up the tour with some good performances. She and Justin were still
avoiding each other. The rest of the band noticed, but just assumed that they
had had a fight or something. Spencer had his suspicions that something else
was going on, but respected their privacy and didn’t ask them about it.

Several hours before they were supposed to go on stage
at Sanders Theater, Spencer noticed Maggie and Justin talking heatedly in the
wings of the theater. Justin appeared to be apologizing to her, and then
suddenly he put his arms around her and kissed her for a moment. Maggie pulled
away and looked him in the face and then ran back to the dressing room. Spencer
could see that there were tears running down her face. Justin looked upset too,
and he disappeared out the side door of the theater into Harvard Square. An
hour before the show was supposed to start, Justin still hadn’t returned.
Maggie started looking more and more distressed.

“Spencer, what are we going to do if he doesn’t show up?”
she asked.

“Maggie, why wouldn’t he show up?”

“We had a fight about something. He was pretty upset.”

“Maggie, what’s going on between the two of you?”

She couldn’t look her friend in the eye.

“Spencer, we did something really wrong. We made love
one night when Justin was staying in my room. It was my fault, I was just so
lonely without Zak. It was all my fault. Justin thinks that he was responsible,
but he wasn’t.”

Spencer put his arm around Maggie.

“I’m sorry Maggie. You and Justin are only human,
sometimes things get complicated. I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Are
you guys going to be able to get past this?”

Maggie looked sad and said, “I don’t know, Spencer.”

Spencer gave Maggie a hug and told her that they should
finish their sound check, hoping that would take her mind off of things.

Maggie climbed up the long stairs to the back row of the
theater. She sat there forlornly while Spencer checked the mic for his guitar
and the vocal mic. He asked her how it sounded and she told him it was clear as
a bell. He told her to come down and check her mics too. She walked back down
the stairs and stood at the center of the stage and looked up at the back row.
She imagined the theater full of people to hear her band, but they didn’t have
a bass player. Suddenly the side door to the theater opened and Justin walked
in. He walked slowly down to the stage and checked his bass and mic without
looking at Maggie. Maggie walked over and whispered she was sorry in his ear.
She could smell that he had been drinking and she hoped that he would be able
to get through their performance. She asked him if he wanted some coffee or
something, and he told her o.k. He put his bass guitar down in its stand and
walked with her back stage to the dressing room.

Spencer joined them for some coffee. Jim and Carole were
already there anxiously waiting to go on stage. Maggie sat on the couch next to
Justin. He put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek. Everyone hoped
that they had made up and would be able to play without any bad feelings
hanging over their performance. Maggie was happy to see that Justin seemed to
be sobering up. This concert was especially important to her and Spencer
because their families and friends would be in the audience. They hadn’t played
in the area since their gig at Jimmie D’s and that seemed like eons ago. Maggie
wanted everyone to see how much they had improved.

Spencer could see that Maggie was looking increasingly
nervous as she was waiting to go on stage, so he decided to make her laugh to
relieve the tension. He caught her eye and started to play “Boogie Til You Puke”
on his acoustic guitar. She immediately started to laugh and feel better. They
both smiled at each other, remembering the bad gigs from their days in Lost Highway. They were glad that they had traveled this musical road together. After
everything they had been through, they were still best friends. Maggie walked
over and kissed Spencer on his cheek, and then they both picked up their
instruments and walked out of the room to wait in the wings of the stage. 
Justin, Jim and Carole joined them. Maggie wished everyone good luck. Then they
heard the band being introduced, “We are pleased to introduce Boston’s own
bluegrass superstars, Little Maggie.”

Spencer looked at Maggie and laughed as she rolled her
eyes. She would never get used to the band being named after her. Maggie patted
Justin on the back and then they all walked out on stage to thunderous
applause.

Maggie stepped up to the microphone. She looked out over
the audience and saw her parents sitting with Spencer’s parents in the front
row. Abbie and Jerry were there too. “It’s great to be back in Boston, and you all know that I mean that. Hi mom and dad. Hi Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. Hi
Abbie and Jerry. “

She waved at her parents and everyone laughed.

“We’d especially like to thank Abbie and Jerry for
giving us the opportunity to record for them. If it weren’t for them we
wouldn’t be here.”

The crowd applauded enthusiastically.

“O.k. we’re going to try to put on a good show for you
tonight. I hope you enjoy our music.”

Maggie and the band played a solid two hours of non-stop
bluegrass music featuring the tunes from their album.  When it was time for
Spencer to sing “I Still Miss Someone”, Maggie decided to give him a special
introduction.

“You all know our guitarist Spencer,” she said. “Spencer
has been with me every step of the way. He gave me my first mandolin and taught
me almost everything I know about playing bluegrass music. There is no way that
I will ever be able to express my appreciation to him for how he has changed my
life.”

Tears flooded Maggie’s eyes. She walked over to Spencer
and kissed him as everyone applauded.

“Spencer is now going to sing “I Still Miss Someone”
which is the first song that he ever taught me.”

Then Maggie whispered in his ear, “Now don’t screw it
up,” and they both laughed.

After Spencer finished his song, Maggie introduced
Justin to the audience.

“This is our bass player, Justin Boudreau. As some of
you know, I stole him from my husband’s band the Bayou Blasters. I wouldn’t
have been able to get through this tour without him, so I’d like to thank him
for that. Justin has a great voice, so we’d like to feature him tonight on a
bluegrass version of a New Riders song, ‘Louisiana Lady’.”

Maggie went over and kissed Justin too. He squeezed her
hand tightly. He was a little choked up and had to clear his throat a couple of
times before he could sing. Maggie sang harmony with him on the chorus, and
many people in the audience were surprised that they sounded so good together.

Maggie exchanged her mandolin for a fiddle for the next
tune. She introduced Carole to the crowd and they played twin fiddles on “Elzic’s
Farewell”. It was a showstopper and people were stomping their feet by the end
of the tune.

Then Maggie introduced Jim. “Many of you might remember
Jim from when he played banjo with his bluegrass group Southern Grass. He’s
going to favor us tonight with an original tune that he wrote.” The tune showed
off Jim’s prowess on the banjo and was a big hit with the audience too.

Then Spencer stepped up to the mic and said, “I’m sure
you all know Maggie Mae Williams, our inspiration and fearless leader. Some of
you may have seen us play around the Boston area with our band Lost Highway. It’s a great pleasure for us to play tonight at Sanders Theater. Maggie is now
going to sing an original song that she wrote with her husband Zak on the
morning they were married. It’s called ‘Light in the Darkness’.”

Spencer could see that there were tears in Maggie’s eyes
as she sang the song. When she was done, she said “I just want to thank my
husband for his love and support. He’s home tonight with our two children in Louisiana. I couldn’t do this without him.”

Maggie and the band finished with her radio hit “Truck
Stop Girl” to tumultuous applause. The crowd demanded three encores until
finally Maggie had to tell them good night. She went up to the mic one last
time and said, “I’d like to thank you for coming out tonight. In case you
haven’t gotten enough, we are playing our last gig of the tour tomorrow
afternoon at the Grey Falcon Bluegrass festival. It’s only a couple hours from
here, so y’all come.”

She went back stage and hugged all the members of her
band. It had been a great night, one that she would always remember.

Spencer and Justin went back to Spencer’s apartment to
spend the night. Carole and Jim returned to their hotel rooms. Maggie was happy
to go home with her parents and spend the night in her old bedroom. She found
it strange that the room was still the same, but she felt so different. She was
a wife and a mother of two children and a professional musician. She would
never have dreamed that this would be her life many years ago when she used to
sing herself to sleep in that room. It took her a while to fall asleep after
the exhilaration of playing in the large concert hall. She had to get up early
the next morning and drive with her band out to Grey Falcon. They would be
performing in front of thousands of bluegrass fans and Maggie was looking
forward to putting on a good show to end their tour.

.

Chapter 26

The next morning, Spencer and Justin showed up
at Maggie’s house in the U-Haul van. Jim and Carole were going to drive to Grey
Falcon in their rental car and would meet them behind the stage. Maggie
stretched out in the back of the van with the equipment. She was exhausted. She
hadn’t slept well the night before because it was hot and uncomfortably humid.
They turned on the radio on their way to the festival, only to hear that the
weather forecast was for possible thunderstorms.

“I thought we left this weather back in Louisiana,” Justin said.

“It’s always like this in New England in August, Justin,”
Maggie said. “It’s not as cool up here as people think.”

“Well, I hope the rain holds off until after our set,”
Spencer said. “It’s a pain to move equipment when it’s pouring.”

He didn’t sound too hopeful though. The cloud cover was
getting heavier and darker as they drove into the approaching storm front. By
the time they arrived at the festival grounds, it had started to rain lightly.

Fortunately, the stage was located at the bottom of a
hill. Maggie knew that in the past the festival goers often had problems when
it rained driving their cars up to the camping area at the top of the hill.
They didn’t have any problems though parking in the area for performers behind
the stage. They checked in with the organizers and found that the bands were
running late. So while they waited to perform, they decided to have some lunch
and watch the other bands. They were happy to see that a tarp had been erected
over the stage so that the performers and their equipment could stay dry.

Maggie’s band was scheduled for the middle of the
afternoon after several local bluegrass bands. They were one of the headliners,
but as a new band they played before the more established bands like Peter
Rowan and the New Grass Revival. Maggie had gotten to know some of these
musicians from the previous bluegrass festivals where they had performed. She
always enjoyed talking to her heroes backstage and sometimes they would jam
while they were waiting to play.

The rain started coming down more heavily as the
afternoon progressed. Occasionally strong wind gusts would blow some rain under
the tarp over the stage, so Maggie and her band kept their instruments in their
cases as long as they could.

Finally, they were the next band to perform. Everyone
pulled out their instruments and tuned up. They noticed that the humidity was
making it hard for the instruments to stay in tune. The progressive bluegrass
band from Amherst exited the stage, so Maggie and her band took their places.
They checked their mics and after a short introduction they launched off into a
rousing version of “Elzic’s Farewell”. Maggie noticed while they were playing
that the clouds were getting darker and the rain was starting to come down
harder. As they finished the tune, one of the organizers came over to them and
said that they might have to cut their set short. A lot of the fans were getting
soaked and had started making their way back to their cars.

Maggie shrugged and said to her band, “We can probably
only play a couple more numbers. Not a great way to end our tour, but what are
you going to do.”

Spencer suggested that they play a couple of their hit
songs from the album and then call it a day. Maggie agreed, and suggested they
play “Light in the Darkness”. As she picked up her mandolin and stepped up to
the microphone to begin the song, she saw a flash of light in the distance and
guessed that this might have to be their final number. They began playing the
tune, and suddenly there was an extremely bright flash of lightning followed by
a loud crack that seemed to come from the large tree behind the stage. Justin
and Spencer looked over at Maggie who was holding the microphone stand as she
was singing, and saw her crumple suddenly and fall to the stage. They put down
their guitars and ran over to her. Her face was white and she was completely
unresponsive. Spencer yelled into the microphone, “We need a doctor and an
ambulance,” as Justin knelt next to her and tried to check her pulse. He
couldn’t find one and started to panic.

“Maggie, don’t die, I love you,” he said hoarsely.

Just at that moment, a young man ran out on the stage
with a medical bag.

“I’m Dr. Bibey,” he said. “Let me get in here, she needs
CPR.”