by Douglas Young<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGuess who\u2019s coming to the campus coliseum?\u201d Zora greeted Zarius in the hall with a wide-eyed grin as he left the classroom. Zarius got ever more excited as his friend leaned in closer boasting a thoroughly pregnant smile about to birth a big laugh.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As he blinked and imagined a parade of their favorite bands, Zora exclaimed, \u201cNeil Young!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seeing his eyes expand and his mouth open, she bent over giggling.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s right. One of your long-time favorites,\u201d she confirmed. \u201cAnd it\u2019ll be a solo show, too, with just the \u2018Old Man\u2019 on guitar and piano. An intimate evening with Mr. \u2018Heart of Gold.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOh, man. Outstanding,\u201d Zarius replied.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI figured this might make your day.\u201d Zora beamed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYeah, but will tickets be really pricey?\u201d He suddenly frowned.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAs the Good Book says, \u2018Fear not,\u2019 \u2019cause I know how we can not only get in for free but even get paid<\/em> to attend,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWho do you know with that kind of pull?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA buddy of mine said they need students to do security for the show.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat drunk would hire you or me for security?\u201d He laughed.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe student union. Look, they only need beefy, no-neck jocks in front of the stage. No one else needs to be big at all. Shoot, they even hire chicks. You \u2018stand guard\u2019 wherever you like. Just look official with your security patch and enjoy the show,\u201d she assured him. \u201cSo sign up at the student union office and get to the coliseum two hours before showtime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re on, babe,\u201d he answered as they high-fived and went straight to the student union.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After an earlier coliseum concert, Zarius noticed the performers\u2019 dressing room was right by the stage. Now, as the weeks went by, he grew ever more hopeful he could guard that room. Visions of enjoying and photographing the performance from just yards away and maybe meeting or even getting a picture with Mr. Young increasingly thrilled him.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Late on the afternoon of the concert, Zora and Zarius went to the campus coliseum\u2019s security gate, checked off their names on the sign-up sheet, and walked to the area in front of the stage where about forty mostly male students would gather.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAll right. Listen up, y\u2019all,\u201d the security boss eventually announced from the stage. \u201cWe need the biggest fellows down here in front of the stage. Everybody else go and stand by any section of seats where there\u2019s not already another security person. Now our biggest problem tends to be unruly drunks. So if you see one, immediately get one of the many cops in the hall. Don\u2019t attempt to manhandle anybody yourself. Okay, thanks, stay alert, and man your spots.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSee,\u201d Zora elbowed Zarius with a satisfied smile. \u201cEasy peasy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As everyone went wherever he wanted, Zora grabbed an entrance in the lower deck just above the floor close to the stage.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Zarius raced to the dressing room where, to his major relief, the entire little hallway connecting the room to the stage stood vacant. He marveled at his good fortune and quickly stifled a smile. Other than stagehands walking to and from the stage tuning guitars and checking amplifiers, he had the place to himself.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slowly peaking into the empty dressing room, he saw a table full of snacks and soft drinks. Then, looking as official and uninterested as possible, he sauntered up to the side of the stage to stare in awe at the shiny guitars, piano, and thousands of fans filling the arena.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wow. I\u2019m going to have the best view in the whole place, he gushed to himself. This is incredible. Zarius recalled all the concerts he had seen and how far away from the stage he invariably was. But not tonight, he caught himself smiling again.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Later an older man walked up and introduced himself as the concert\u2019s promoter. Though their small talk proved to be utterly mundane, Zarius was elated to converse with a big-time rock music impresario on the edge of a concert stage and looked forward to bragging about it to Zora.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As showtime approached, Zarius figured he ought to stand near the dressing room for when Mr. Young arrived. To his relief, there were no fans around. What sweet \u201cwork\u201d indeed, he exulted, and to get paid for it too.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While Zarius listened spellbound to a roadie discuss concert tours, Neil Young and another man quickly walked into the dressing room and closed the door. To Zarius\u2019s disappointment, it all happened in a few seconds.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As the arena lights soon went dark and the crowd roared, Zarius tried to look like he knew what he was doing in the empty hall.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHello again.\u201d The promoter smiled at him.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then Zarius saw that Mr. Young was already walking on stage.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, man. I missed him again, Zarius regretted but consoled himself that he would at least still get the finest view in the house as he eagerly walked to the edge of the stage.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But a stagehand slowly proceeded to close two large doors connecting the stage to the hallway, totally blocking any view of the performance.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Zarius blinked repeatedly and soon realized his mouth was open. With the hallway lights still bright, the promoter observed his crestfallen face.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWell, just think,\u201d he remarked, holding back a laugh as he patted the young man\u2019s back. \u201cYou\u2019ll get to hear the show better than anyone.\u201d He winked and walked away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Douglas Young \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGuess who\u2019s coming to the campus coliseum?\u201d Zora greeted Zarius in the hall with a wide-eyed grin as he left the classroom. Zarius got ever more excited as his friend leaned in closer boasting a thoroughly pregnant smile about to birth a big laugh. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As he blinked and imagined a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1705,77],"tags":[1565,1706,1123],"class_list":["post-15319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-81","category-english","tag-douglas-young","tag-egophobia-81","tag-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-3Z5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15320,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions\/15320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}