Becoming

Twilight Zone

The next several weeks passed quietly. Ade took advantage of having his days free once he'd quit his job and took a couple of half-day fishing excursions with Clive, the rapidly approaching winter not being conducive to long hours of hanging about on riverbanks. Dave's brother-in-law Pete had been promoted to a supervisory position at his workplace – a promotion which put him into a position in which he was expected to attend certain charity events on behalf of the company. One of these was a golf tournament in which each man and a partner of his choice played to raise funds for an area women's shelter. As Pete had no brothers, and also liked the idea of tweaking the noses of his stuffier co-workers by bringing along someone whose looks were the complete antithesis of a businessman, he invited Dave to be his partner. To his own surprise, Dave ended up enjoying the game, enough that he picked up a set of secondhand clubs of his own.

Iron Maiden headed into the studio during the last week of November, wrapping up their final tracks just a few days before Christmas. Rod Smallwood and producer Martin Birch sent them home with the stipulation that each of them could be reached by phone in case any of them needed to re-do any of the tracks during the mixing process. Dave didn't have a phone, but Ade said they could reach Dave through him, as Dave lived close enough to the Smith family that he could run over to his fellow guitarist's place with a message if necessary.

Maiden performed at the Cart and Horses on New Year's Eve; this would be their last performance until the middle of February when they would start touring once again following the release of their second album. The band would have almost three weeks to rehearse the new set list while Martin Birch and the sound engineers wrapped up production, then Steve and Lorraine's wedding would be on 19 January. Their honeymoon would last a week, then Maiden would have another three weeks of rehearsals before starting the tour shortly after Valentine's Day. Steve took a bit of stick from the rest of the band due to his insistence that the tour not start before then, but he simply pointed out the old adage: Happy Wife, Happy Life and left it at that.

Lorraine came to the New Year's Eve show along with Monica, Julie, and Olivia. Steve, Dave, Ade, and Clive joined the ladies after their set. Steve bought the first round, while Clive got a couple of baskets of chips for everyone to share.

Once everyone had time to take a drink and grab some chips, Monica brought up something the men hadn't considered. "Dave, what does your suit look like?" she asked. "I'm not so worried about the two of us matching at the wedding, but I'd rather not clash, y'know?"

"Suit?" Dave repeated blankly. "Erm... nonexistent? Seriously, I've never owned one since I was about twelve."

Ade and Clive nodded. "Yeah, me either," Clive put in.

"Same here," Ade said.

"Past time you all got one, then," Monica said. "So, next question, would you blokes like help shopping? Or would you rather try to come up with something decent on your own?"

"I'll take the help," Dave said promptly. "I wouldn't have a clue what to look for, y'know?"

"Me too," Ade agreed. "Besides which, I'd much rather have you lot helping, than my mum."

Clive laughed. "Count me in, then," he said. "When's the shopping trip gonna happen?"

"We're all three off Tuesday next," Olivia put in shyly. "Maybe then?"

"Works for us, if it's good with you," Dave said. "Maiden don't rehearse on Tuesdays, so even if the trip runs long for some reason, we won't need to rush back here."

Monica looked at his unenthusiastic expression and grinned. "You hate shopping, don't you?" she asked.

"It's not my favourite pastime," Dave allowed.