...little drummer girl

1. Write about a drummer going to a holiday party for musicians.

Lee wasn’t your typical drummer. A talented singer and dancer, her abilities were more suited for Broadway in musical theatre than heavy metal. So, she became more of a Karen Carpenter type drummer rather than Neil Peart; slim, graceful, with a velvety rich voice. The fact that she played drums at all was a bit of a lark. She had met Lyle in college, who was much older and a rock musician; she sang and needed to pick up an instrument, and her dancers training made her have natural rhythm...she simply picked up the drumsticks and played like she had all her life. This created  her teenage runaway marriage that greatly changed the course of her destiny, nice girl Lee married bad boy Lyle. It lasted for a while and produced two beautiful children, but his drug and emotional abuse of her made her quickly realize this was not how she wanted to raise her children. She got out young, and worked hard to make a home and life for them. Still, she was wanting more in life, particularly love...This was even hardy at the holidays, when the kids were off for visitation and she had nothing else to do but sit alone and cry, and watch the Sound of Music all alone. She was determined to make it different this year…

The years had passed since her divorce, although her kids were still very young. She strung together a series of part time jobs to make ends meet. She still taught dance and performed in her productions, and since she loved to sing, kept her name on 3” x 5” cards at local music shops, in case anyone needed a girl singer or drummer. Sometimes she begrudgingly agreed to play with her ex husband in his recording studio, although using her after their split seemed unfair...she preferred to play with others. And frankly, his old 60’s music and 70’s metal was not her cup of tea; she preferred ballads and old songs or more modern stuff than that. So she kept a hand in her performing talents, if nothing else to put some food on the table and play dress up for the night. It was the 80’s, and a slender, dancer’s body Lee opted to dress more like Princess Diana rather than Stevie Nicks. Still, she had some cute performance  outfits; a great green silk Chinese pajama set she got at a music shop for $10, some glitzy tops [no miniskirts despite the trend, as they’re not practical when drumming], and these great scrunchy ivory chained boots her ex used to call her “drumming boots''; perfect for the bass pedal. With more make-up and bigger hair, her classic look transformed into what her ex husband used to say looked just like Madonna, with similar features if not that iconic style. No wonder while still underage the bars would serve her with the rest of the band! Lee preferred tinted hosiery and kitten-heeled court shoes over biker boots, but it was fun to dress up and get out there. 

It was in this sweeter style that Lee met Mick, at church of all places. In a floral Laura Ashley dress with lace and giant shoulder pads, with her kids dressed in their Sunday best, Mick had been eyeing her from the pews for weeks. She had been in a relationship with a much older man, but realized the differences were just too many, so they had recently broken up. Mick was keeping an eye on this one, but it took him a while to work out that she was free, and finally got up the nerve to ask her out in December, shortly before Christmas. 

They hit it off right away. He had children slightly older, and was only recently separated from his wife. Lee knew her; the cookie lady at the bakery who would dole out  fresh treats to pacify her kids when shopping at the grocery store. She was a nice lady, by all accounts...Lee never asked what went wrong, and just enjoyed the passion and attention. Mick was a typical businessman; worked hard, had nice friends and money, and a clever sense of humor. In the few short weeks before Christmas, he had Lee completely remodel his house! He wanted to get rid of the old, and said “I have a new girlfriend in my life, I want to make it how she likes it”. So Lee, with an artistic bent, painted the entire house and chose carefully all the colours. The only thing is she chose things pretty similar, which means it didn’t really transform at all, so different was more the same. But it was fresh. She met his friends; older and more sophisticated than herself, at holiday parties. She had no clue about fine wines or good food, but she would lovingly bake and bring cookies to their houses and enjoy adult witty repartee’ and dress like a grown-up when the kids were on visitation. It was a lovely change, and things certainly seemed to be moving forward relationship wise. 

Lee kept to a tradition of an open mic at a deli nearby to play at for Christmas time. Her ex husband and she used to be the regulars there with their band, and since she was long done with that, she agreed to the open mic with loads of others coming on for a set...that seemed more stress-free. If they needed a drummer, she could jump in when things got organic. Her mother watched the kids for the night and she was only staying for a few sets so as not to be gone very long. They did classic Beatles tunes and 60’s stuff her ex always played, along with his originals. Lee had created harmonies and percussion for these that no one else could match, so for half an hour she could tolerate him...barely. Rockers weren’t really her scene, so there weren't many people to talk to, but this was a mixed bag of musicians. Some were classical, and some did Christmas music. Since she was with Mick, she mostly talked with the women in the bands of their wives and girlfriends. She made sure to leave her business card for gigs and picked up fliers about upcoming events, and one was even an open holiday party invitation. Mick beamed with pride when he saw her perform; this was a whole different side of her. She wore a red sweater-knit dress that was both sexy and tasteful, black sparkly hose and patent leather pumps that pinched her toes a bit but looked great. Truth be told, she did love the limelight. 

Now, Lee’s own family was a bit dysfunctional; in fact, at this stage she had only gleaned it, but later on in life she realized they were basically bat-crap crazy. Still being young, she knew something was just “off”. Working several jobs at Christmas time with two small children is daunting at best. She always chose to work an early shift on Christmas Eve, so she could go with her parents to old friends of the family that night; a typical tradition. The only thing is, now that she worked all the time and was a mother, it was exhausting. She sat there the whole night, thinking about the preparations she would have been doing at home, and then fell asleep at their house from sheer exhaustion! By the time she drove the long drive home, her babies were asleep and she had to carry them off to bed and then stay up almost all night playing Santa. Stockings had to be hung, food prepared, packages wrapped and brought out, the works. She got a little sleep before tiny fingers were poking her eyes to see if she was awake...Santa had come! 

The tradition for Christmas was this; she got a little time with the kids in the morning, so they could open their presents from Santa. But unrelenting demands from her family and ex made it such that no one considered Lee of the kids needs first. Her mother always insisted on a Christmas dinner that she cooked. She wouldn’t allow Lee or her sister in law to help or bring anything, although they did anyway. Lately, her mother had gotten so she didn’t even remember to turn the oven on for the turkey! It was stressful, and Lee was not looking forward to it. After that, she had to drop the kids off for their father’s visitation, so it was a lot for little kids to go through. Generally, after that she was all alone on Christmas; why have a family if you end up alone on a holiday, even when you have done all the preparation? 

This year was a little different, since she met Mick and actually had a relationship and could do something together. She had cherished the few parties they had attended, and of course her work situation was so demanding, so time was tight. What they decided to do was, have the kids open presents early, then go to his sisters for breakfast, then what her mother called ‘dinner’ at 1pm. There was a flier that Lee had picked up the night of the open mic with the musicians, so that was a back-burner invitation. They didn’t know the people well; Mick actually worked with one guy in another department, so he was a weekend musician that actually was doing well, not the hand-to-mouth musician like Lee’s ex husband who lives and starves for his art. So that was a possibility of a party to go to, with all musicians and their friends and family. 

After the 6:00 am present opening at her own bungalow she shared with her children, Mick picked them all up to go to his sister’s for breakfast celebration around 8:00 am. She was a high-achiever and the breadwinner like her brother, but they considered her husband “lazy” because he was “only”  bartender...their words, not hers. They had a lovely, amazing dome home, on a stream in the woods. It turned out Mick’s brother in law had hand-built the place to show them wrong in the laziness department! It was so chic, and Lee was getting decorating ideas, like using vintage glass blocks for coffee table legs as well as room dividers, large-scale real art on the lofty walls that had triangular windows generously dotted to let the might in. The Christmas decorations were amazing, with a magnificent tree from their property near the windows that showed the stream flowing by. The food was fabulous, with fresh things grown from their garden that the bartender hubby maintained and prepared as treats. Everything was fine, until the husband and wife got into a huge fight! Lee, still being young and naive in a lot of ways, couldn’t understand it. Being the very preppy, upwardly mobile 80’s, it seemed money and power reigned king in the house, and as the king of the castle was a lowly bartender; it didn’t matter what an amazing palace he created as a home for them, at least in his wife’s eyes. Mick and Lee grabbed the kids and got out of there as fast as possible!

So, the next on the agenda was Lee’s parents' large 1902 saltbox house; all done Victorian-on-a-string. It would be a chance to introduce her new boyfriend to them and make an impression. He was lovely; charming, well-dressed, made a good living...everything they should want in a prospective mate for their daughter after marrying the disappointing rock musician druggy guy she had before. What could go wrong? Well, it was soon to be seen that everything could go wrong! Her dad yelled at them from the wrap-around porch, throwing his coffee into the bushes for a violent effect. Her aunt immediately screamed at them upon arrival; it seemed that her ancient grandmother had waited too long and was too exhausted. Dinner was at 1 pm, they were only 15 minutes late, but it seemed that meant they were supposed to have been there all day and then have dinner….well that was not Lee’s agenda in trying to please so many people as well as herself. Hadn’t she already given up time for family just last night on Christmas Eve? So, now her grandmother was too agitated to stay and eat, her daughter would have to take her home, and how could Lee do that when she waited so long to see the great-grandchildren? No one ever took into account the kids, age two and three, and their needs for naps and meals; it was all about the adults. 

The fighting didn’t end there. After the kerfuffle with the grandmother’s departure, they all sat down for a very tense dinner at 2:30 pm. In truth, the meal would not have been done in time anyway, as Lee’s mother had forgotten to turn the oven on and the bird wasn’t ready. All the bland, tasteless, watery over-cooked food had to wait and was lukewarm. But, as all the senior grown-ups had decided, it was all Lee’s fault, since she was dating again...how dare she? It didn’t matter about her happiness, it was about their agenda! They sat there and made pot-shots at Mick, a successful businessman, throughout the meal,  as if he was a pimply-faced teenage suitor. One of the reasons for the disdain in her marriage was that her ex hadn’t been properly introduced to them, so she was trying to do it right, and it was going horribly wrong! Mick took most of the snipes in stride during the haranguing meal, but when they hit too close to home, he politely stood up, dropped his napkin, shook their hands and left with Lee. Since the day was running so awful, she had asked her ex to come pick up the kids at her parents, and he had...dressed in fringed suede boots and the obligatory Hendrix perm; a stark contrast to Mick’s navy blazer and tan slacks. Yet the parents wanted to put blame on Lee for having a life. The kids had been shuttled off to their dad’s for what was to be certainly more sugar and junk food and no naps, but that was his right for visitation. Lee left in tears…

It was early, and Lee was trying to avoid the crying Christmas, but there it was. They had the flier from the open mic for the holiday party in the car. Should they give it a go? They hadn’t gotten to enjoy any bit of Christmas at all, and this was their first. It was only 4:00 and still a little bit light out, and there was nothing open and no place to go. Since Lee worked all the time, it wasn’t like she had a back-up Christmas dinner prepared. The party was in the old neighborhood Lee had grown up in, with modern houses and lots of festively decorated homes. It was an open house, so people could pop in and out when they could, which was very convenient. Lee was wearing a green silk peplum dress with pearls, so she figured she was all dressed up with no place to go but up. Surely, this couldn't be any worse than the so-called “family” parties…

They pulled up and the host Mick knew was outside talking to some musician friends. He shook Mick’s hand warmly, after only just seeing him at their office holiday party last week. He hugged Lee and they already felt more welcome than they had by their blood families. Mick took Lee’s coat to show her off, and the place was packed. This was one of those new 80’s homes; very beige and yuppified, with high ceilings and a pink wash stain on the furniture and walls. Hungry from the knot in her stomach from not eating the other parties, Lee spotted this wonderful built-in bar that held chips and homemade onion dip; her favourite. Always on a diet and never one to be into booze or drugs, this was Lee’s ‘drug’ or addiction; savory snacks. The house was large, and the host had a recording studio in the garage. The musicians were in their jamming, and it wasn’t long before Lee was asked to join in. The wives circulated refreshments in the living room, and the musicians held fort keeping the tunes going. They brought a white elephant gift just in case they went to the party, and glad they did, as rather really nice gifts were distributed. Since they hadn’t gotten a chance to open gifts to each other, they took the moment to open theirs that were still in the car. He gave her a beautiful designer bottle of perfume, and she gave him a lovely silk neck tie that matched his blue eyes. The card on hers said “all my love at Christmas, xx Mick''. She finally was feeling some love. This party was wonderful, and the best thing they could have done to celebrate their first Christmas together. They stayed until late and fell into bed happy. Lee enjoyed the holiday season, and soon New Years was upon them, They went to another grown-up party early, and then had all the kids at his house for a sleepover; life was bliss. They went to bed early, but a sudden knocking started at the door at 3:00 am, then persistent to banging and ringing. Mick checked it out, and Lee asked angrily, “who the hell was that?”. It was to be the last time Lee would see Mick, and it took her years to figure out that it was the wife that came back. Faced with antagonizing future in-laws and the mother of his children, he chose the latter...