Chapter 7: Angel
From Montgomery
Neither Spike or Faye had any idea how long they were in the van, which was one of the many blessings of marijuana in these situations. The group was so laid back and easy going there were times that Spike was convinced they weren't going anywhere at all, but he appreciated it. It was a nice change of pace from his usual lifestyle. Spike wasn't exactly a tense individual but everyone else around him always was, which gave him a weird feeling most of the time he couldn't explain. He kinda felt like a hamster in a wheel but he wasn't running so he just kind of flopped around inside it, banging his head all the time on the way down. God, he was high.
He snapped out of his stoner introspection long enough to notice April tuning her own guitar. "I dunno," she giggled. She giggled a lot. But it was cute. "What do you want to hear?"
"Oh I dunno," Faye sighed. "I'm sure whatever you play will be nice."
"You want to hear some of our original stuff?" she asked in such a way that you would have to be a heartless prick to say no.
"Sure," Faye said cheerily. Faye was many things, but she was not heartless. Not really, anyway.
Spike leaned back in a comforting haze as the guitar chords filled the air inside the van, her voice cutting through all of it. And she sang too. Julia sang. Not professionally, just to herself sometimes when she was doing other things. Julia didn't smoke pot though. And she wore shoes. And she wouldn't eat a grilled cheese that had just fallen on the floor of a van. But hell, you know. Nobody's perfect.
"Ok, ok," Rac perked up. "I wanna run through Angel a few more times. I think I almost got it." Rac then turned to his audience and clarified a bit. "It's this real old folk song we picked up on the road. I like folk songs cause they don't have too many chords."
Spike and Faye nodded as they retuned. The group sputtered and started on the song about four times before they finally got it. And it seemed shaky to say the least until April opened her mouth and it suddenly all seemed to tie together. April did have a much nicer voice than Julia, though Spike would never admit that out loud. "I am an old woman," April sang, which seemed silly yet oddly beautiful at the same time. "Named after my mother. My old man is another child who's grown old."
A change suddenly came over Faye as she sang. An expression of recognition washed over her face, or maybe just empathy. "If dreams were thunder," April went on, her voice deep and bluesy and full of this raw, unexplainable something. "And lightning desire, this house would have burned down a long time ago."
"Make me an angel," Faye suddenly chimed in, taking the entire van by surprise. "That flies from Montgomery..."
Make me a poster
from an old rodeo
Just give me something that I can hold on to
To believe in this living
Is just a hard way to go
The focus had shifted entirely to Faye, and even April seemed to be surprised and slightly moved by her sudden sing along. Spike was not only shocked that she knew this song, as songs just didn't seem like something Faye would bother to commit to memory, but her expression as she sang it kind of took him by surprise too. It was sad and happy and nostalgic and sort of haunted looking all at the same time. It wasn't even her own words that she was singing, but Spike had the strangest feeling that this was the closest thing to the real Faye he had ever witnessed.
There's flies
in the kitchen
I can hear them buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today
How the hell can a person
Go to work in the morning
To come home in the evening
With nothing to say
They all finished the chorus together, no one really sure about the words except for April and Faye, but they were enough to carry it home. Spike just watched all of this. He knew that this was a moment a guy like him could never be a part of, but it was cool to watch just the same. "Hey," Rac spoke up suddenly. "We're here."
Faye smiled as she gazed out the window, the lights of the city dancing merrily in her eyes. "You know, running into you guys was probably the luckiest thing to happen to us this whole trip," Faye smiled. "And wouldn't it just happen that we hit a lucky streak in Las Vegas," she said in a flirtatious way. Faye flirted with ideas more than she ever did with people.
"Thanks guys," Spike shook Rac's hand. "You saved our asses."
"It's cool," Fletch shrugged. "You guys were a trip to save."
Spike turned and found himself staring straight into April's aqua eyes. "Yeah, so um...thanks and uh...stuff," he stammered. The combination of being high and slightly smitten did not do wonders for his articulation.
"You're welcome," she smiled warmly and Spike decided he should probably move away from her now before he made a total jackass of himself. "Hey, you have a pretty good voice, Faye," April said as she began unloading the truck. "Have you ever considered a gig in the music business?"
Faye smiled. "Nah. Right now, I'm just...considering."
April smiled back and it became apparent that something just passed between them that no one else understood. Must be a woman thing. "Thanks again," Faye said cheerily. "Maybe we'll catch your show."
And with that, the band scurried off to their gig, leaving the bounty hunters on their own again. Faye, however, did not seem too concerned. "Come on," she jerked her head towards the city. "I'm in charge of the funds tonight. I am going to hook us up."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"You'll see," she said seductively and then skipped off ahead of him.
"Faye?" Spike called behind her.
"Yes?"
"You were off key."
She gave him a "ha-ha" expression before grabbing his arm and swinging him around so that his back was to her. She peeled back the collar of his jacket and observed his suit size.
"What are you doing?" he asked her.
"I told you. I'm going to hook us up."