Peter had said there was no work for the guys, this turned out to be wrong. At the last possible minute the arrangers of a summer festival called them up and offered them a job. The band they had booked had broken up. One musician quit, and one of the others had secretly gotten married. Whatever the circumstances, the guys were happy for the work, no matter how last minute.
Peter was glad for it too, both his fiancee Sofie and new gal friend Meagan were out of town. Peter missed Sofie more obviously but Meagan he was just starting to get to know. He was still embarressed about the way he stared at her in her medieval barmaid costume. Its not something he did, but more a thing that Davy or Micky would have done. Mike wouldnt have done that either. He was having trouble talking to girls lately. Everytime he started talking to a girl, he would go off on a weird tangent that scared her off. Lately hes been telling girls about the weather in Nepal.
"You need a new topic Mike." Davy advised. "Just tell a girl she looks pretty. Works every time."
"It even works better when the girl tells him he looks pretty." Micky laughed.
Davy glared at him. "So I like being clean and well kept. Leave me alone."
Peter was now standing at a bright blue and white bandstand decorated with ribbons. He looked around as the instruments were being unloaded from the Monkeemobile. There were small booths littering the street. They sold food, housed games where you could win a small prize and other assorted stuff. Davy had gotten a fried dough earlier.
"Petah." Davy called out from the car. "Do ya mind helping out?" He called out.
"Be right there." Peter said. He got there in time to help pull Mickys drum kit out of the backseat. "This is gonna be fun."
"Our concert is right after the parade so we got lots of spare time to hang out." Mike said. "We have like an hour or so to hang out. We got a little money to blow." Mike said giving all the guys ten bucks each. "So dont spend it all in one place."
"Groovy." Micky said pocketing the cash. Davy went off in search of an another fried dough seller and Peter put his in his pocket.
"Don't you want to spend it on a game or something?" Mike asked.
"I will, as soon as I see something I like." Peter said with a smile.
Mike nodded and went off in search of Micky who was also buying himself some food.
For roughly half an hour Peter wandered around the street, looking at what the venders had to offer, but ultimately finding nothing he wanted. He sighed and sat down on a bench. He watched the people go by, people with families or girlfriends or best friends. Right now he had none of that. His fiancee was far away and so was Meagan. Funny how he managed to miss Meagan more than the woman he was about to marry. Peter shook his head. It couldn't mean anything.
Peters ears perked up as he heard someone calling his name. He turned in his seat to look down one way then the other. Suddenly something fell in front of his face. It was a pair of hands, a pair of very feminine hands.
"Guess who?" The voice said.
"Davy?"
"Davy?" The voice scoffed. "You think I'm a guy?"
"Davy has very girly hands, but dont tell him I said that!" Peter said pointing his hand up.
"Two more guesses hotshot." The voice laughed. "And no more guys names! I'm a girl!"
"Sofie?"
"You couldnt be more wrong." The voice sighed. "And you forgot me already? Shame shame, you know your name, but you oughta know mine. Let's end this game." The hands started to move.
"Wait I have one more chance." Peter said putting his hands on the other set of hands.
"Oh thats right. It wouldn't be fair." The voice said softly.
"Meagan?" Peter asked. Both hands moved. He looked up and Meagan stood before him.
"You got it!" Meagan said. "Good job!"
"How are you?" Peter said standing up. Meagan gave him a tight squeeze. He returned the gesture hesistantly.
"I'm back in town. I love this fair. I am here every year." Meagan said as she strolled down the street. Peter moved to catch up."How about you? What are you here for?"
"A gig. I thought we had no jobs lined up but we got this very last second. And it pays well too." Peter observed as they got to a game section.
"Good, then you will be able to win me a prize." Meagan smiled as they got into the game section of the festival.
"Wha? A game? I'm no good at any of this stuff." Peter said looking around.
"I'm sure you are if you try." Meagan said. "What bout this one?"
"A shooting game? Theres a gun, I don't like guns." Peter pointed out.
"Right." Meagan said. "You dont have it in ya to hold a gun." She smiled. "What about this one, a hoop toss."
"Those games are rigged." Micky said appearing at Meagans side.
"Yeah, they nevah want you to win Petah." Davy concurred.
"Now you guys don't rain on Peters parade, at least not before he has an umbrella." Mike looked at Peter.
"This is Meagan." Peter said to the guys. "This is Mike, Micky with the curly hair and Davy."
"Hello." Davy said greeting her with a smile. "But the games are still rigged."
"Are not!" Peter protested.
"Are too." Davy crossed his arms.
"They are not rigged and I'm gonna win that big panda for Meagan to prove it." Peter said pointing to a big black and white panda on the wall of the hoop toss.
"Prove it." Davy said.
"Yeah, and hurry, the parade can start any minute." Mike warned. "Our gig is after the parade."
"Cool, I'll be able to watch it then." Meagan said as they stood in front of the hoop game.
Peter paid 25 cents for four hoops. The shelves in front of them had various objects to throw the hoops around them. Smaller prizes like plastic toys and gag watches were tied to a stick. Bigger prizes were represented by a slip of paper. The panda in question belonged to a stick in the back of the booth marked "Pansy Panda."
"You can do it Peter." Meagans said as a man in a striped outfit gave him his hoops.
Peter looked at the stick in back and concentrated. He took one hoop and threw it at the stick. It bounced off of it and landed on a smalls stick near the front. It was for a small doll mirror. The man who ran the booth put the mirror in front of them. Micky grabbed it.
"Hey its the perfect size for Davy!" He cracked. "And look, the glass won't break." He said referring to a thin coat of reflective plastic that was where the mirror glass would be.
"Oh shut up." Davy said. "I need some lifts in my shoes, see if you can win one of those."
Peter prepared for his next shot, he focused on the bear and threw it. It went right over the top of it and bounced to the floor.
"Aww." The man said.
"Hes got two more tries!" Meagan said giving him a look. The man smirked and shook his head.
"That won't quite win it." The man laughed.
"One more shot!" Meagan and Peters friends chorused. They had done it so suddenly he threw the ring and it landed on the stick the Pandas name was taped to. Peter let out a jubilant shout, but then the man who ran the booth not so subtly knocked it off the stick.
"Oops. I guess he didnt win anything." The man said with a fake sad expression.
"He did win." Mike said. "The panda."
"It has to stay on there for 30 seconds."
"You knocked it off." Meagan said. "You have five witnesses here who can prove that."
"Yes, but its still five to one, and that one runs the booth." The man snarled. "Now move along."
"Make that six." A man said from behind. "We can happily sue you for this, rigging a game so someone who cleanly won can lose. Do you want that or do you want to give up the panda?"
Everyone turned to see who was talking. The man has short brown hair and was wearing a very casual white t-shirt. He had a pair of red shorts on.
"Fine, have it your way." The man growled as he got the panda off the wall. He handed it to Peter who gave it to Meagan who hugged it. "We're closed." He angrily declared while pulling a lever that closed the front of it. The now small crowd walked away from the booth.
"I think I will call it Jonesy." Meagan smiled.
"Great, a panda has me name." Davy said. "Well I am known for being cuddly."
"Thank you." Peter said as he turned attention to Meagan who was kissing the man on the lips. "I don't know if I can be THAT thankful."
"Oh I'm sorry." Meagan said. "This is Roger Evans. That man I told you about."
Peter nodded. "I remember." He shook Rogers hand. "You are a lucky guy."
"I know I am." He smiled. "I am never gonna let her go again." He kissed her on the cheek.
"We gotta go Peter." Micky said. "They want us all set to play by the time the parade is over."
"All right." Peter said. "Are you a lawyer or something?"
"Nah." Roger said. "Though there are some people you can intimidate just by using legal lingo."
"Hes a student." Meagan said poking her guy in the ribs. "In the fall hes going to Berkeley."
"Cool." Peter said. "I gotta run."
"We'll be at the concert." Meagan said.
"I'm looking forward to hearing you guys play." Roger said. "I've heard so much about you."
Peter nodded with interest. What had she told him about, she didnt know that much about him. It didn't matter now, he thought as he waved to them. He ran over to the guys who were sitting with their instruments. Ironically the bandstand gave them a great seat to view the parade from. Peter walked up onto the bandstand by Mike who seemed a little different now for some reason.
"He seems a nice fellow." Mike said.
"Yeah." Peter said. "He's all right." He sat down. "She looks happy, and thats important."
Mike nodded and moved to tune his bass guitar. A thought struck Peter as the parade started, a marching band started to drown out his thoughts but he knew what he was thinking about.
"If shes happy, then why arent I?"
