Page 105 of Losing the Rhythm

I didn’t think so, but I also wasn’t a big steak fan.

We hung out, listening to the music, using it as a learning opportunity as we talked about the songs and the set they were doing. Maybe music analysis class was rubbing off on us too much. But it was fun, light hearted, and melted away all the stress.

“Did you ever want to be in a band?” I asked.

“No.”

“Singing and the guitar. Normally people try to form a band.”

Toby shrugged as he took a drink. Once he put his cup back down, he answered. “No interest really. I like being solo and just messing around. I love the rawness in music. I’m not really into performing, trying to harass bars and events to take in my band. I don’t even want to have to deal with the practice behind it or trying to manage others. Trying to find a sound that works for all of us. It’s more work than I want.”

“Whoa. You have had a lot of excuses there.”

“So many people think that just because a person knows how to strum a guitar and has a good voice that we automatically want to create a band. I just want to play my music and have fun with it. Perform here and there for fun if the opportunity arises, but other than that, I’m content sitting at home strumming my guitar and forcing my friends and family to listen to me.”

“It does sound like a fun time,” I said.

“I know you did competitions when you were younger and you’re more familiar with the stage. Did you want to be part of a band.”

“I feel the same way as you. The competitions were fun when I was young because I did them with my dad. I don’t take part in them anymore, not since he left. Lindie tried to get me into them, but I’d purposely mess up, and she quickly gave up to avoid more embarrassment.”

Toby frowned. “That must have been a big risk?” He asked it so cautiously, thinking he was going to step on a landmine.

“It was worth getting in trouble. And I still did performances as needed, but I had been able to lessen those and now that I’m in control of my work, I’m only doing the ones that matter to me.”

“Like that Hope’s Embrace charity event?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Good.” Toby grinned. “I’m glad.”

I smiled back at him. “Me too.”

We kept talking about music in general and what it meant for us. Slowly the sun disappeared behind the surrounding trees. Once the fairy lights came on, lighting up the area more, Toby jumped to his feet. “Time to be spooked.”

“Are you easily scared?” I asked in a challenging tone.

Toby scoffed. “Of course not.”

“Uh huh.”

“I bet you’ll scream before I do.”

I snickered as we headed toward the maze. There were a ton of people getting ready to go in, flashlights dancing all around. The maze itself was only shadows as the last of the sunlight disappeared.

“So this is a separate maze from the other one since we’ll be chased by the bad guys. The goal is to go inside, find a station that has a flag set up, grab it and then get back out safely,” Toby told me. “There are four monsters we need to avoid. Each are in their own quadrants if you cut the maze into fourths. So while we can avoid one monster, we have to watch out for the other. We have three lives.”

"Is that what these are?” I motioned to the large band around our waists with three little flags attached to them with Velcro. They had been handed out to the first few people who got in line.

“Yeah. The monsters will chase us and try to collect them all. Like touch football. If they grab them all before we get the flag and find our way out, we lose. Obviously no cutting through the corn. We have to stay on the path. If we’re caught, we’re disqualified and banned for the rest of the season.” He raised his wrist to show the bands that we were given. “These get taken away by the monsters who catch us cheating. And they will too. People always try, but these monsters are very, very good at their jobs. They have years of experience.”

“Do you know them?” I asked.

“I’ve met them, but don’t know them too well. Just enough to know they’ve been doing this for a while and they know the maze the best. I have a feeling they’re the owners, but no one will tell me.”

I laughed at that. A puzzle put in front of Toby. He’d find out soon enough, I imagined.

They let people in slowly, waiting a few minutes before releasing the next group. The screams started pretty quickly after that. We were near the front and the closer we got, the more my nerves spiked.

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