Becoming

Stranger In A Strange Land

"Fuck, what if Davey don't come back?" Steve fretted, pacing in front of the barn. "What if I lost 'em both?"

"At least give it until tonight before you start panicking, Harry," Nicko said. "He might be seeing Ade off at the airport, and who knows what time his flight might be. He might be stopping for lunch on the way back. He might be stuck in traffic, seeing as the airport's on the far side of London from here. And you said yourself, Davey left his guitars and his luggage, so he's gotta come back."

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. He'll be back soon enough."

"Where's Bruce at?" Nicko asked. "I've not seen him since breakfast."

"He and Rod holed up in my office, trying to convince Janick Gers to come audition for us," Steve said. "I gather that since Bruce is an old friend, Janick's half-convinced himself that us asking him to audition is some kind of charity on Bruce's part, especially since word's not yet out that Ade's left. You know I ain't the best with words when I ain't writing lyrics, so I'm letting Rod do the talking for me, y'know?"

"That's a first, you letting someone else talk for you," Nicko said with a grin.

Steve flipped two fingers at the drummer. "Fuck off, you wanker," he said with a grin. "Why don't we..." he broke off as the sound of a car engine approached.

Dave pulled up alongside the two cars already parked by the barn and sighed when Steve and Nicko strolled in his direction. He gave silent thanks that Essex had been blessed with cloudless skies today, giving him an excuse to have his sunglasses on, disguising the red eyes left by his roadside crying jag of an hour or so earlier. He sighed and got out of the car. "Steve, Nicko," he greeted his bandmates.

"Everything okay on your trip, then?" Steve asked awkwardly.

"It went smoothly enough," Dave said. "As well as could be expected, given the reason for it."

Steve winced a bit at that but accepted the mild jab as only to be expected considering that Dave and Ade's friendship pre-dated the existence of Iron Maiden. Regardless of where blame might lay in Ade's quitting – and Steve still thought he was right – he knew that Dave would likely be upset at losing his best mate's presence within the band. But more to the point, Dave had come back and didn't appear ready to gather his gear and leave again, so Steve decided he'd accept a few digs from his longest-tenured bandmate as long as it didn't get out of hand. Knowing Dave, he didn't think it would.

"That's good, then," Steve replied. "Erm, have you had lunch? We were just thinking about making up some sandwiches or something."

Dave shook his head. "No, I've not eaten yet," he said. "S'pose I should, though. Where's Bruce?"

"Off with Rod, in hopes of getting his mate Janick Gers to audition for us," Nicko blurted out, then turned red. "Erm... sorry, mate. Didn't mean to sound so unfeeling."

"It's okay, Nick," Dave said with a sigh. "Yeah, I'll miss Ade. We only been best mates for about twenty years and all. But Maiden needs a second guitarist, I know that, so it's not like we can avoid auditioning one. I remember seeing Janick perform years ago, at Reading when we asked Bruce to audition for us. Bloke was playing for Gillan at the time; he's good. Entertaining to watch, too, the way he dances about and tosses his guitar and all."

"That'll be different," Nicko commented. "Usually it's just Harry and Bruce chasing each other 'round the stage."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the most graceful bloke in the band," Dave said. "I manage to move about a bit, but if I was to run 'round like Steve, I'd be sure to end up breaking something by tripping on someone's cords. Only question would be, what would I break, the neck of my guitar, or my own leg?"