are no people to watch us play,” Nora snapped.
The town was so small there was only one traffic light. There were few street lights. All the store fronts, and there weren't very many, were adorned with a banner that had a picture of a peach on it. Isabella drove to the only hotel in the area, which was a locally owned place and also had a banner of a peach. “Peach Falls Inn. Well, let's get checked in and figure out where the gig is actually supposed to be.”
There was only one clerk, an elderly gentleman who clearly spent more time reading fishing magazines than taking care of customers. He shoved a flyer in MaryAnn's hand and returned to his magazines as soon as they had keys. They were the only ones checked in.
“So we've got what, about eight hours to kill in a town that clearly has nothing happening?” Nora said.
“There's this Peach Festival thing. We could go there,” MaryAnn suggested.
“Hell no.”
“Oh, it doesn't look like it starts until tonight's concert anyway,” she said, looking at the flyer she got from the desk clerk.
“Well, maybe we can go see the site of the gig tonight,” Isabella suggested. “Just to make sure it's the right kind of place.”
“Or if we have to explain our concept to Mr. Rafel, again,” Leah sighed.
After consulting with the clerk for directions, they headed to the site of the gig.
The site was called the Rock Hall and it appeared to be a fairly large auditorium.
“Maybe this won't be so bad after all,” Maryann said brightly.
They parked the van and went inside to try to find the manager. There was a nervous looking middle-aged man overseeing some activity on the stage.
“Excuse me; are you the manager of the Rock Hall?” Isabella asked.
“Yes, I'm Mr. Daniels,” he said with a pronounced southern drawl. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the girls. Nora was wearing a stylish summer ensemble of a light purple halter-top shirt and skinny denim capri pants, Maryann was wearing an orange t-shirt with a bumblebee and a knee-length red skirt with pink polka-dots in her usual eclectic style, Isabella was wearing a minimalist white baseball-style t-shirt with blue and orange trim and cargo shorts, and Leah was wearing a practical green tank top and brown corduroy shorts. “Y'all aren't what I expected. You sure you're a country band?” he asked.
Nora rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Mr. Rafel.”
“Wait, isn't this place called the Rock Hall?” Maryann asked.
“Of course. It was named for the Rock of Christ church next door,” Mr. Daniels said.
Leah smacked her hand against her forehead.
“So are you a country band?”
“Sure, sure,” Isabella said. “We just don't look like it right now because we don't want to mess up our stage clothes.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense.”
“We'll figure something out,” Isabella said in a low voice to the group.
“Well, come on, y'all be the last act of the evening. I'll show you where to set up.” They followed the nervous man to the back. “I didn't think y'all sounded like a country band, but Mr. Rafel said you was and well, I need people to play for the Peach Festival. Hard to get acts in these days.”
“I'm not surprised,” Nora said in a low voice, noting how run-down everything appeared to be.
“Oh, it ain't because the theater needs some fixin' up,” Mr. Daniels said.
She flushed slightly with embarrassment.
“Well, of course, when people don't come I don't get money to fix 'er up which makes the problem worse.”
“Why aren't people coming in?” Isabella asked politely.
“Well, they just aren't,” he answered, suddenly looking flustered. “Aw, heck, I'd better come clean. The others will tell you soon enough. The place is haunted and no one wants to play no more.”
“Haunted? Seriously?” Nora said.
“Yes ma'am, haunted by Billy Ray Nickel.”
The girls looked at each other in confusion. “I'm sorry, we've never heard of him.”
“Oh, Billy Ray was an up and comin' country singer in these parts some sixty years ago. Died, tragically, of course, right after he got his big break. The Rock Hall here used to be the Peach Falls Music Hall. Billy Ray haunted the Music Hall too, but mostly he just played his guitar in the middle of the night. Well, the Music Hall was in bad shape so we finally tore it down and built the Rock Hall a couple of years ago. I guess Billy Ray didn't much like the change and he started acting out, I guess. Started scarin' off bands at first, and then started scarin' off regulars. We ain't used the place much, but this is the Peach Festival. It's the biggest event in town!”
“Yes, that's obvious,” Nora said sarcastically.
Mr. Daniels didn't notice or didn't react. “So none of the local bands wanted to play and I had to look for folks who wasn't from around here. So that's how I got y'all.”
“Well, it's nice to know our musical talent is so appreciated,” Leah said, equally sarcastically.
“Tell me, Mr. Daniels, when does Billy Ray Nickel usually appear?” Isabella asked.
“Well, I don't know. It's been awhile since people keep avoidin' the place. I think if he's gonna bother anyone, he'll do it durin' the show, which is the worst time of course.”
“Of course,” Nora sighed.
“Y'all probably think that's nothin' but a load of country bull,” he said with a nervous laugh.
“Oh, no, we take these things very seriously,” Isabella said.
“But you're not scared?”
“We'll see what happens during the show.”
“Oh, good. Well, it's nice to know at least one band will be playin',” he said. “Well, I've got some other stuff to do, so I'll leave y'all for now.”
“Thanks!” Maryann said brightly.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Nora turned to Isabella. “Look, I know a gig's a gig and all that, but we've all seen The Blues Brothers and that stage is a lot bigger and there's no chicken-wire!”
“I've got a plan. Leah, take the laptop and find an internet connection. I don't care if you have to bribe the librarian to use their land-line connection. We need sheet music and fast.”
“I don't know anything about country music! And we don't have a lot of time to rehearse,” Leah replied.
“Do a web search for country music hits from the '50s and '60s and get some titles that way. That sort of thing should be easier for us to play. Find something by Patsy Cline or the Outlaws.”
“I'm going to assume that will make sense when I do the search,” Leah replied. “I hate it when we're stuck playing nothing but covers.”
“Well, maybe we'll write a country song if we survive this gig. Maryann, find out everything you can about Billy Ray Nickel.”
“But if Leah's got the laptop, how am I supposed to search?”
“I'm sure the library has newspaper archives and maybe microfiche. Search that,” Isabella said.
“What's microfiche?”
“Oh, come on,” Leah sighed, and pulled Maryann out of the room.
“Nora, I need you to get us some costumes for tonight. There's a general store in town that should have something.”
“I am not wearing gingham and a cowboy hat,” she retorted.
“I'm not asking you to wear this all the time. It's just a costume. And remember, there's no chicken-wire between us and the audience.”
“Right. I'm sure I'll find something I can live with,” she sighed. “What are you going to do?”
“Get the gear ready while you guys take care of everything else.”
“That's it?”
“Look, just trust me.”
Nora gave Isabella a skeptical look, but headed out.
The band reunited in about two hours.
“You would not believe the trouble I had getting a decent connection,” Leah said. “Or the fees.”
“It's fine. Let me se
e what you got,” Isabella said, taking the slightly smudged photocopies.
“I got some copies too,” Maryann said. “This is everything about Billy Ray Nickel.”
Isabella grabbed the smudged papers and read through them quickly.
“And I got us some costumes,” Nora said. “No cowboy boots though. You wouldn't believe how much those cost.”
“Is that gingham?” Maryann asked. “This is very Laura Ingalls Wilder.”
“I didn't have a lot of options,” Nora replied with a frosty sigh.
“It's fine. We have a lot to do before we go on. I talked with Mr. Daniels and he says we're going to probably be the closing act for the night,” Isabella said.
“What if that ghost shows up?” Maryann asked.
“Then we go on sooner,” Leah answered.
The band rehearsed as well as they could in the cramped green room. They could hear the show had started and hear the music from the other bands. They spent so much time rehearsing they barely left themselves enough time to get into costumes. They all had gingham skirts and blouses that were matching in style if not color and everyone except Nora had their hair braided in two pigtails. All of them had large straw hats with a black feather stuck in the hat bands.
The band before them was just finishing up when the lights in the green room started flickering. They heard the music dissolve into confusion.
“Is that part of the show?” Maryann asked.
They heard the other band running past their door in a panicked fashion.
“I'm guessing not,” Nora said acidly.
“Then it's show time!” Leah said.
The band made their way through the confused backstage to find Mr. Daniels standing near the stage entrance.
“Oh, y'all cain't go on now! It's Billy Ray! He scared off Slim and the Pickens