Daylight

Pet’s POV

Shoshi managed to find us a tent where we could sit and cool off—like that was even possible. She waited till all of us sat down, and till Sal had stopped talking, which last part took some patience.

Viv had come along, but Shoshi had asked for her recorder so she could keep an eye on what was happening.
“Now ladies,” she began in her Long Island accent, “you all know that Warner’s has been making noise about wanting to sign you.”
We all nodded; we’d heard this from her a few times, and frankly, we were all too beat to talk much more (except for Sal, of course).
“So, any progress?” our statuesque bass player asked.
Shoshi looked around like she was afraid someone would hear us. Then she leaned forward to share.
“Well, yes. They’ve sort of”—she hesitated—"sent a gift.”
“What, like a fruit basket?” Tia interrupted.
Shoshi frowned slightly, but her eyes gave her away: they were twinkling. “Better than a fruit basket, girls. Come with me.”

Our manager got up and led us a few hundred feet away and around a corner, where a tour bus was parked.
Mo nodded up at the bus. “So, like, what,” she started, “is our gift on the bus?”
Shoshi blinked in wonder at our lead guitarist. “Honey, the bus IS the gift.”

“Holy shit!” Mo and Sal yelled together.

Tia’s jaw hit the ground. I felt like the world had tilted to one side.

Viv was laughing delightedly along with Shoshi, as if they’d been the ones to personally bring us this amazing transportation. We’d been ready to rent a van.

With a sudden “whoosh!” the bus door opened, and out stepped a big guy in his 30s. Shoshi walked over to him and took his arm, leading him to us.
“Ladies, this is your driver, Tito,” she introduced him. We told him our names, and he nodded at us in turn, smiling all the while.

Viv excused herself to return to the AP trailer. Tito led us on to the bus and showed us around to the bunks, the kitchen, and the lounge area. There were a couple of TVs and a game system.
“Sweet,” Sal said in awe, looking around at everything.
Tito spoke. “If you ladies need to make a stop somewhere, even if it’s short notice, I can do it for you. I’ll even get you some groceries if you need them.” He smiled again. “But I don’t shop for lady items. A man has to draw the line at a certain point.”
We laughed and thanked him. He walked off the bus to get a drink.

Shoshi flopped down on the nearest couch, and we all did the same. I studied her face: all of a sudden, she looked tired. I was going to ask her if she was okay, but Sal started talking again just then.
“So, Shoshi, you can tell us,” she began in a low, conspiratorial tone, “who did you have to kill—or sleep with—to get us this bus? Or is it so bad you can’t say?”
Shoshi swatted at Sal, and Sal cracked up to show that she’d been teasing.
“I did nothing of the sort,” our manager said primly, her eyes sparkling again with mischief, “I’m a married woman. However,” she continued, glancing at Mo, “I may have promised that certain band members might return, uh, favors.”
Mo took offense. “Hey, hey, I’m not that bad. Jesus! You all act like I’m the whore of Babylon or something.”

There was a pause as we all looked around to see who was going to say it.

“Well…” I finally said timidly, “sometimes—just sometimes—you do sort of tend to act like that. But not ALL the time.”
Mo stood up. “I didn’t come all this way to take this shit,” she snarled. “I happen to like boys, and some of them like me. Is that so wrong?”
Shoshi grabbed Mo’s hand. She pointed a long fingernail at the couch.
“Sit down, Maureen. I have something to say,” she ordered gently.
Mo sat.

Our manager gave us all a good once-over.
“Ladies, I’m not gonna ask you to make examples of yourselves. I know you’re still pretty young, and still capable of amazing shit of every kind,” she began. “But let’s not forget, so few women have been on Warped, among other tours. Why screw things up for them?”
Tia got worked up now. “What do you want, Shoshi? You want us to behave? We can do that. But except for Pet”—she looked pointedly at me—“we’re not exactly nuns. So what did you have in mind?”
Shoshi leaned back in her seat. “Just…take it easy, babies. Life doesn’t begin and end with this tour. But guys who can’t take care of themselves on long summer tours will sometimes not get asked back—or asked at all. I’m just saying, enjoy yourselves, but don’t do too much stupid shit. On a Saturday night in Chicago, you could do a bar show, have some fun with guys, get wasted and stay up late, knowing you had time to recover the next day. But here, you’ll do the show, get packed up, travel, then do another show miles away the next day. There aren’t a lot of days off, and you have to pace yourselves. You’re young, but trust me, you’re not indestructible. I know that’s hard to imagine, but it’s true.”

We all considered her words. Shoshi didn’t often give non-business advice to us, so when she did, we listened carefully.

Mo was the first to speak, for a change.

“Are you gonna let them all make fun of me because I like to have a good time?” she asked.
“Are you?” Shoshi countered. “Besides, you like to give Petula hell all the time because she doesn't date much. Play the field, Mo, as they used to say; but there’s nothing wrong with being a little picky now and again. It could save you a lot of heartache in the long run.”
Mo stuck her chin out. “I don’t get my heart broken. No problem.”
Shoshi nodded. “All right then. Anyone else have any issues?”
Sal did, of course. “How much hot water do we have?”
“Not much, I’m guessing,” Shoshi responded, “so I’d stagger the showering if at all possible. Petula, you still have that list of YMCA’s?”
I dug in my bag. “Right here,” I said cheerfully. Mo groaned.
“Then I suggest you ladies use it. Facilities on other buses may be less friendly, or even non-existent. Now, I have one last question for you all: can you live and act as harmoniously as you sing and play?”
“Yes,” we chorused. We knew the answer always had to be yes.
“And...what’s that thing Jack used to say all the time on ‘Lost’?” Shoshi prodded. “Lost” was her favorite show.
“Live together, or die alone,” we all replied.
“Good,” our manager said firmly. “Now, let’s go find some dinner, and then I gotta get back to New York.”
Tia jumped up. “But, Shoshi, aren’t you coming along with us? What about our first Warped show? It’s in two days!”
Shoshi waved off her concerns. “I have some appointments tomorrow, so I’ll go back late tonight, do my thing, then rack up those frequent flyer miles to come back for the first show. Please don’t worry.”
“What kind of appointments?” I asked, curious.
“Oh, just personal things, dentist, etc,” Shoshi said vaguely. “Nothing to worry about, babies. Let’s go eat, I’m starving.”