I closed my eyes as if I were communicating with Joey’s spirit.
“True. Let’s just approach it this way now,” I said. “We’re extremely lucky. We can come in here anytime we want and fill ourselves up with Joey.”
“Yeah, it’ll be the Zagarino Chamber,” Eddie chuckled. “The line between this world and the next is probably just a shot away.”
I sat on the red carpet, happy with my decision and glad the room didn’t freak me out the way I thought it might.
“So, on the phone you said you had a great idea that you wanted to run by me. What’s this new idea you’ve hatched? And is it going to make us millions?”
“Yep!” Eddie said and sat on a chair. “And the beauty of what I’m going to propose is it takes care of two birds with one stone.”
“Hit me, daddy, eight to the bar! I’m ready.”
Eddie started to explain: “After you split, I started hiring out my van for moving things for extra money. Then someone suggested I talk to this auctioneer guy, Ed Jenkings. I did, and he’s tied in with The Antique Guild in West Los Angeles. They have this large antique auction every Tuesday night in North Hollywood at Cahuenga and Burbank, The Hollywood Women’s Club. They have truckloads of antiques from all over the world. Jenkings introduced me to the crowd as being the person who can move their newly purchased antiques home.”
“That’s great. Just one night a week? What’s the take?” I mocked my own last words. “‘What’s the take?’ I sound like friggin’ Al Capone.”
Eddie laughed. “Primo. I walk out with a couple of hundred for myself. But we should have cards made up with a business name. I’ve already got a few accounts beside Jenkings, but the two of us could cover the Valley and rake it in. It’s a gold mine. Antique buying has gone through the roof. Trendy L.A. thing, you dig? And with a full-time partner who’s not afraid of working—you’re not—we can make a good living. It’s our business and we split all profits fifty-fifty, all expenses fifty-fifty. And the beauty is, we can take off for anything we want: rehearsals, gigs. Heck! I’ve been getting into this acting thing. We could even go to a few auditions and casting calls!”
I started laughing, shaking my head from side to side as the humor overcame me, clearing the air. “Yes, Zorro, let’s throw acting parts into the mix! Here we go again!” I stood up like a carnival barker. “Ladies and gentlemen, you see before you, the high wire act of Olmos and Johnson. These two death-defying madmen detoured from all logical approaches to life. After a decade of rock and roll mania that ended in defeat, they still persisted. Now, ladies and germs, if all that wasn’t enough, these idiots want to be actors! Can you dig it? Nothing ordinary for our boys.”
We laughed the good laugh.
I finally calmed down. “What is it about you, Olmos, that always convinces me I can have the big dream?”
Eddie crossed his legs and mused, “We’re just lucky, I guess.” He spoofed, “Ya gotta have high hopes.”
I said, “Yeah, we should start doing theater, television, and film.”
We shook hands. I ran my hands through my hair as we stepped from the studio.
“Eddie, I thought we’d be a lot further up the ladder than we are now.”
Eddie thought for a moment as the valley wind blew over his shoulder.
“We’ve been to the top of the mountain, but by contrast, we’ve also seen our share of hell.”
We both looked back at the studio, back at years of memories, both glorious and painful. I was frozen as we said goodbye to our past. Part of us still lived there, just out of reach, and I knew we would never grasp those joyful moments again.
Eddie must have sensed what I was feeling. He stood quietly, allowing me to get lost back in time. After several moments, he reached past me and turned out the light.
IV
Coda
Outro
Our music and the freedom it gave us had always been the basis of all things in our lives. Maybe on some level, since the veil between this life and the next is so thin, all of us are playing the same music at the same time. This thing we call life—maybe it could just be a fifteen-minute break between musical worlds and we’ll all be together again in one breathless heartbeat.
At times we will feel isolated, much like those tiny spaces that stand all alone between musical notes. Instinctively we wait like impatient children for the lush, life-healing harmony of the bridge to the song to bring us all home again—smothered, protected, and empowered within the music of life, eternally.
I believe in my heart that Joey isn’t gone. He’s simply gone on ahead. And you could not possibly comprehend how beautiful and magnificent the music that plays where Joey is now.
About the Author
Steven Jae Johnson (“Rusty”) has enjoyed life as a musician, an actor, a screenwriter—and now as an author. Steven has worked in many films and television shows over the decades, including working with Michael Landon Productions for eight years, after which he worked as the music director for Edward James Olmos Productions.
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The Soundtrack
Available free!
www.WalkDontRunTheBook.com
Get the complete album that The Pacific Ocean recorded in 1968! Go wild with Edward “James” Olmos’s insane scream. Get in the groove with Rusty’s pounding drums. Experience the music that dreams are made of. Each and every track has been beautifully digitally remastered so that you can relive the dream time and time again. It’s available free to you because you bought the book!
Track Listing: “16 Tons” • “Road to Hell” • “My Shrink” • “Subterranean Homesick Blues” • “Track of My Tears” • “I Can’t Stand It” • “I Wanna Testify” • “99 ½” • “Mickey’s Monkey”
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