Chapter 1: The Rainmakers
It was May 21st, 1963. By the time the van had reached the parking lot, it was already dark outside. After slowly opening each door, four young men wearing gray suits exited the van, one after the other.
“Is this the right place?” one of them asked.
“Gee, I don’t know, Jack,” another one sarcastically responded. “Say, Ryth,” he said to the third young man (who had just stepped out of the passenger seat) “is this where we’re supposed to be?”
The third young man reached back into the van and pulled out what appeared to be a schedule.
“What’s it say?” the first young man to step out of the van sarcastically asked.
The third young man read it aloud, “We are scheduled to perform at Wilson High School on Brock Avenue at exactly 7 o’clock PM.”
“What time is right now?” the first young man asked another one.
The fourth young man then help up his wrist and looked at his watch. “7:02,” he quickly announced.
“Well,” the first young man loudly (and somewhat aggressively) insisted, “we better hurry our asses up then!”
“You could at least say please!” the second young man responded, just before pulling his instrument out of the van. But he wasn’t the last one to do so, as at least two of the other band members quickly pulled out theirs right after him.
The third young man (the one who pulled out and read the schedule) wasn’t as lucky as them. He didn’t struggle, per-say, but he did take a while to pull out his drum set from the back of the van.
After making it to the door that led into the auditorium, one of the three band members attempted to open it. But unfortunately, he couldn’t.
“It’s locked, ya dolt,” the leader member said.
“Well, now you tell me!” the one who tried to open the door responded, shrugging in the process.
The leading member then turned and looked around. “Where’s Ryth?”
“I don’t know,” the second said, looking around briefly.
“I think he went to fetch his drum set,” the third member added.
“Well, hopefully he’ll hurry up.”
“Relax, Kev!” the second member responded, “It’s not like we’re gonna be on time, with or without Ryth!”
“Touche.”
Immediately then,the third member showed up, as he continued pushing his set.
“Took you long enough,” the leader said, giving him a hard time.
“I’m not late, am I?” the third member asked.
“No, man, relax” the second member calmly said, “the door hasn’t even opened yet.”
“Speaking of which,” the fourth member added while looking at the leader, “When will it open?”
“Are you asking me?” the leader asked. “If you are, then the hell if I know.”
Right then and there, the door finally opened.Behind the door was none other than the custodian.“Wow, you fellas made it.”
“You bet your ass we did,” the leader belched.
“I didn’t push these drums all the way here for nothing,” the third member added.
“We’ve been waiting to get in,” the second member calmly added.
“Well, what’re you fellas still standing around for?” the custodian rhetorically asked. “Come on in, the crowd’s waiting for you!”
Without even hesitating, each of the bandmates finally entered the building after the other; and weirdly enough, the third member’s drum set could fit right through the door like a cat. The latter was dark at first. But there was a loud chatter not too far away from them. About seven seconds later, they saw a bright light shining right between two curtains.
Knowing exactly where they were, the leader stood right in front of them and halted.“Wait,” he belched, “hold it.”
“What for?” the third member asked, glimpsing right over his set.
“They’re expecting a big entrance,” the leader clarified.
“Are you fellas ready?” another man, presumably the principal, asked them while peaking his head through the curtain.
“I was born ready,” Ryth confidently answered.
As the leading member gave Ryth a dirty look, the principal vanished from their sight and made the following announcement (loud and clear) through the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for …” but before he could finish, the principal poked his head through the curtain again. “What is the name of the band?”
“The Rainmakers,” the leading member clarified.
“Oh,” the principal belched before pulling his head out of the curtain again. He then loudly repeated, “Put your hands together for the Rainmakers.”
