Free Featherless Bipeds by Richard Scarsbrook

stars! This band has what it takes! And your guitar playing is the heart and soul of it all!”
    He looks each of us in the eyes.
    â€œTristan, your bass playing is amazing! Dak, your drumming is rock-solid! Lola’s got killer pipes! And I’ve got the connections and business sense to make it all work. Don’t you see? We’re bigger than the sum of our parts! We’re the real thing! We’re a friggin’ band !”
    Akim sits back down with a grunt. Jimmy T perches on the edge of the love seat, leaning forward like a castle gargoyle.
    â€œLook boys, I’ve got trust fund money to invest, and I can probably talk my father into donating money to the cause himself — he can write it off as supporting the arts or something. I’ll buy us a new PA system, and a van to carry our equipment from gig to gig. If you need new gear or whatever, I’ll take care of it. I’ll book the gigs, and I’ll make the contacts in the recording business. All you guys have to do is write songs and play them.”
    â€œOh, is that all?” Akim says.
    â€œAnd you’ll do all of this for free?” I ask.
    â€œWell, the money we make playing gigs will be divided into six parts — one share for each musician, and one extra share to pay me back for my investment. That seems fair, doesn’t it?”
    Akim has to admit that it does.
    â€œCome on, boys, whadda you say? Our gig last night was magic.
    Can you say that you wouldn’t like to be playing rock ‘n’ roll full time? Dak? Can you honestly tell me that” He stares at me. I look at the floor.
    â€œTristan?” he says.
    Tristan’s response is the same as mine.
    â€œCome on, guys! Akim? What about you? Come on, guys! Come on!” Jimmy T begins coughing. “Uh. I need a smoke. I’m going out to the balcony. You guys talk it over among yourselves.”
    Lola follows Jimmy T outside.
    â€œWell?” Tristan says to Akim.
    Akim passes it on to me. “Well?”
    â€œWell,” I muse, “We seem to be at the proverbial crossroads.”
    â€œDoesn’t legend have it that Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and wound up selling his soul to the devil for musical success?” Akim says.
    â€œJimmy T seems to have thought this through pretty well,” Tristan says. Then he stands up, hooks his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. “What the hell, I’m willing to give it a year. It’s not like the university is suddenly going to disappear or anything. We can all go back the next year if the band doesn’t work out.”
    â€œWell, I’m still not sure I like Jimmy T much, but I love playing with you guys,” Akim says, smiling slightly. “If you both want to do it, I guess I’m in, too. What do you say, Dak?”
    â€œGive me a day to think about it,” is all I can say.
    â€œWhy? What’s wrong?” Tristan says. “Is your scar hurting you? Are you worried about school? How your parents are going to react? What? What is it?”
    Any of these would be good reasons to think Jimmy T’s proposal over, but it’s something else that’s holding me back, something I’m not sure the rest of them can really understand. Being at the same university has brought Zoe and me closer together. Every day is a day closer to her being mine again. Will taking a year off from school tear down all that we’ve built over the past year? Or will Zoe like the idea of dating an up-and-coming musician?
    I suppose there’s only one way to find out for sure.
    It’s later in the evening, when I meet Zoe at Jafo’s. We are halfway through our usual hockey-puck sized hamburgers when she finally speaks. “So, what’s the big issue that you needed to talk to me about?”
    I put down my burger and stop eating. She knows I’m serious when this happens.
    â€œZoe,” I say, “When we were back in