FOUR

“Nobody ever listens to MY ideas!” Liz was screaming but nobody was particularly listening to her. Jacko and Dan were trying to work out the shape for F#9 with an G# bass and Freddy, who wasn’t even a guitarist thought he would offer his suppositions.

“Am I talking to myself here?!” she was going on but they were all so busy.
Hecks came back in the room with a cup of tea,

“that bastard charged me for this tea even though HE was the one who made me spill my last one by making me have to have fucking gloved hands. Why doesn’t he put some fucking heating on in this building instead of breaking all our strings and fingers this winter with the bitter cold that sleeps in these sodding walls?”

Nobody really said anything. Liz was slumped at Freddy’s keyboard sulking and the other three were still trying to find a better inversion of the chord that actually had the G# on the bottom.

“What’s the matter with you?” he said to Liz, taking his seat behind his drum kit.But just as he asked this, a loud tone alert sounded on her phone and she buried her head into the business of reading and sending text messages. Hecks sat there, looking at the others crowded around a guitar.

“Whatchya doing?” and without looking at him, Jacko said

“It’s a chord thing, Hecks. You know, music? Ever heard of the fucking thing?!”

and Dean nudged Jacko and said “I think there’s a better way of doing this don’t you?”

and Freddy said “ Hang on! If you just slide your pinky up two frets...”

and Hecks said “What? Better way of doing fucking what?!”

and Freddy said "no no, your PINKY finger..."

and Dean said "Look, Hecks, this isn't how it should happen..."

and Hecks was shouting now "HOW WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN!? BETTER WAY OF DOING FUCKING WHAT??!!"

and Liz looked up, thunder-face, “Of sacking you, Hecks. They want to sack you.”

and Freddy said “That’s it! You’ve got it.”