The Devil on Kazoo

9: The New Plan

Finally, Syl nodded a final time and scooted her chair to sit beside Bash.

"The bridge," she said, "needs some work, but the chorus is brilliant."

Bash smiled in spite of himself. "Thank you."

He picked up his guitar, expecting Syl to count them off.

"Bash?" she said instead.

Her voice was soft, which scared him. He could only imagine her next words: what if the Mad Teddy's run them out of business? What happens to them? Where will they go?

What she actually said was, "I am sorry."

The words didn't register at first. Syl rarely apologized because she was rarely ever in the wrong.

"Why?" he asked, adjusting his guitar strap uncomfortably.

Instead of avoiding his gaze guiltily, Syl locked eyes with him as if this confession was as serious as a blood pact. "I tried to sneak behind your back because I knew you wouldn't approve and I ended up making it all worse."

Bash shrugged a shoulder. "I should apologize as well–"

"No," Syl said sharply. "You would have gotten away with your plan if it hadn't been for mine. Because now we've made an enemy, Sebastian–not just rivals. Do you realize this?"

Bash bit the inside of his cheek. He hadn't considered the weight of their debacle. Or the stupidity of either plan. He'd been trying to play it off as a mere hiccup in their career in front of Smiley and Kathy since they were already at their wits' ends, both with each other and the events of the day.

But this was Syl. And as he looked at her, he saw reality.

"What do we do?" he murmured, allowing his shoulders to finally sag. "If the Teddy's take Manchester...we're out."

His own words echoed through his heart.

"We're out," he repeated, true fear in his voice.

Syl gulped and finally broke her gaze.

She put her guitar to the side and drew her knees to her chest. She was silent for a long time and Bash was too deep in thought to make conversation.

When Syl did speak, however, her voice sounded as if it were on the brink of tears, though Bash didn't think that could be true.

"I am worried, Sebastian. Very worried. I don't...I can't lose you and Smiley and Kathy. I just..." She pursed her lips and dropped her gaze to her lap.

That was the first time she'd ever admitted her feelings to Bash without him prying her to the brink of insanity.

He gently nudged her knee. "Why'd we call ourselves The Crumbs?"

"You know why."

"Remind me."

"Of that long speech you made up?"

"Yes."

Syl shrugged. "Fine. It's because we're growing up in the sixties. Everyone's healed from the war and–what's the word? Oh, surged forward in society. Everything is new and moving ahead quickly in pursuit of greatness, I guess. But like when a vacuum runs too fast over carpet, there's always crumbs left over. That's who we are–the crumbs of society. The ones that greatness forgot."

Bash nodded slowly. "Right. So, we have to do what we've always done–survive. Those Teddy's might have better technology and a better boat, but none of them have gone hungry. They haven't lost everything before. They probably don't even tie their own shoes."