She's the One

June 1993 London

The Hammersmith Apollo Theatre

'She's the one, she's the one,

she's one that I want,

She's the one, she's the one

The one that I need,

She's the one, she's the one

The one that I choose

She's the one, she's the one

Baby come with me.'

Our song was roaring along. I was on the right of the stage playing my heart out. My candy apple red custom Fender Stratocaster seemed like a part of me as the music flowed from it. Nigel on the drums was laying out the now familiar beat to our hit song. Mick on the left of the stage was playing his bass in the measured way he always did, controlling the direction of our music. Pat was out front, singing the tune we wrote together some 20 months earlier in his parent's garage.

The crowd were singing along and the place was rocking. Even though we were just the support act to the extremely famous, very notorious LA 'hair metal' rockers, our music had started to get some traction over here. We were finishing our set with our song 'She's the One'. This song was our second hit back home in Australia, and was starting to rise up the charts here. Even though the crowd weren't there to 'see us', they were rocking along to our mixture of Aussie Pub rock sounds (think AC/DC, The Angels, Cold Chisel) and good times hair metal vibes.

I looked back at Nigel and he was starting to wrap the song up. I continued playing along, moving towards the centre of the stage. Nigel was now standing up behind the drums, playing slower, exaggerated beats bringing our music to a rapturous conclusion. As we hit the final chord, flash pots at the sides of the stage went off with a loud bang. The crowd roared their approval, clapping and cheering. Smoke moved across the stage as Mick picked up the microphone from Pat. Even though Pat was our front man, Mick did our onstage talking.

"Thank You London. You have been a great audience. The big boys will be out shortly. We are 'Highly Zen'. Thank You. Good Night."

We all waved to the crowd, accepting their cheers and headed off stage, with our roadies collecting our guitars off us to be packed away for the long trip back home. Tonight was the last night of the tour and we were having a couple of months off to recharge a little before getting back in the studio to do our second album.

Waiting near our dressing room were Nikki and Tommy from the headliners. They congratulated us on a great show and getting the crowd warmed up for them.

"We are having a party tonight at a club in town. You should come and hang out with us." Nikki said to me.

"Yeah mate, we'd love too." I replied still buzzing from our own performance.

"Just go and see Doc and he will organise to get you all in. Good show tonight guys. See you later on." Tommy said, as he and Nikki headed back to their dressing room to get ready to go on stage shortly.

We were all still on the adrenaline high from our show as we got changed out of our sweat saturated stage clothes. Nige, Mick and I were talking excitedly, wondering if the parties our headliners had were as good as they were said to be. Pat was changing and he turned on our ghetto blaster. He was playing Nirvana's 'Nevermind'. AGAIN!

"Turn that shit off Pat. It's fucking depressing." Mick shouted over the noise of Kurt Cobain living out his angst.

"You guys don't know good music." Pat shouted back. "This is genius. This is the future."

"Doesn't sound like he is having a good time to me. Unlike us tonight. How good was that crowd?" Nigel piped up.

"I have never heard a crowd go off like that, particular for an opening act. We really rocked tonight." I said.

"Yes we did play well. In a couple of days we will be back home to normality." Pat said, bringing everyone back to Earth slightly.

Mick grinned and grabbed a beer from the ice tub. "Well we have to make the most of tonight then." He said popping the top off the bottle and proceeding to spray us all with his beer. Somehow we all managed to get beers and were doing the same to each other, having the time of our lives.

After the shenanigans, I quickly showered and got changed. I headed out backstage to see the headliners go on stage and play their opening few numbers. I was at the side of the stage when their manager, Doc, came over to me.

"You boys did a hell of a show tonight. Keep doing that and you won't be an opening act for very long."

"You think so Doc?"

"Hell yes. Keep doing what you are doing, you will be huge."

Just then the curtain rose and the headliners began pounding out the first of their many hit songs. The roar of the crowd was incredible. You could feel it in your chest. The roar...

*************

January 2018

The noise of the waves crashing on the shore reminded me of something. What was it? Oh yes, that's what it is. The roar of the crowd.

The weather was warm, the sun was shining and the beach was very inviting. It was summertime in Australia. As it was late in January most regular people had finished their holidays and were back to work. Some of us though were still on holidays. Being a primary school music teacher I was one of the lucky ones still enjoying my time off.

Even though I had lived only 15 minutes away from many beautiful beaches for nearly all my adult life, I didn't go there very often. However, after I made a few 'New Year's Resolutions' this year I decided to do a few things I normally didn't do.

So I found myself this beautiful Tuesday morning floating in the cooling blue waters for the first time in a long time. It was so relaxing I couldn't believe that I hadn't done this more often. I was feeling very calm, very philosophical as the motion of the waves seemed to relax my soul. As I floated around memories of my life came into my mind; my son Andrew graduating high school and now in his second year at University, my daughter Gemma growing up and in her final year of school, the gradual decline of my marriage and our subsequent divorce, some of the classes and students I had taught while being the music teacher at the school. Thoughts about the band and our fast rise and even faster demise raced through my mind. Being in a band felt like a lifetime ago.

I stepped out of the surf feeling great. I felt refreshed, I felt relaxed, I felt revitalised, I felt... I felt sand in my crack. I laughed to myself as I headed up the beach to my towel.

As I dried myself I noticed that I was starting to get a bit of a 'Dad-bod.' Not surprising given that I was 45 years old and a Dad of 2 wonderful kids. Well ... actually a part time Dad given that I had been divorced from my ex for just over 2 years now. Apart from a bit of extra 'insulation' around my middle I wasn't in too bad shape. 5'9" tall, blue eyes, I still had my hair, and it was mostly dark, and I did have some added 'character' lines on my face. Not too bad I thought to myself. It might be time to get out there and start dating again. Hmmm...

Walking up the beach back to where I had parked the car, I felt great. This year was going to be good. Work was starting back in a few weeks and I still had some time to myself. Life was looking up...

**************

The first day of school is always a shock. Having to get up with the alarm, getting ready and heading to school for the first day of the year should be something I'm used to, particularly given that I have had 13 years practice as a student and now another 21 years as a teacher.

It was actually good returning to school, seeing my colleagues and friends, sharing stories of our holiday adventures. I was regarded as one of the 'senior' teachers as I had been teaching for 15 years at Smith Street Primary School, which is about 2 hours south of Sydney. As usual at the beginning of the year there were new teachers to meet and to get to know. Every year we seemed to get at least a couple of new teachers and they all seemed to be getting younger.

While catching up and meeting everyone in the staff room, there was an air of anticipation. The school was getting a new Principal as our previous principal retired at the end of last year. None of us had met the new Principal yet. Word around the traps was that she had come from one of the Sydney schools and this was her first time being Principal.

As usual in these situations, everyone was a little worried as to how this change would impact on their role at the school. I had concerns as a music program could be seen as a luxury for a school, and some overzealous 'bean-counter' types don't always see the value in teaching 'creative' subjects.

I was chatting to a couple of my colleagues when the door to the staff room opened. The first thing that struck me was the way she walked into the room. She held her head high, smiling with a look of quiet confidence. She had stunning red hair that looked to be quite long, but she had it tied up. She was wearing a very smart blouse, which didn't disguise that she was busty, and a black skirt which also didn't hide that she was a curvy woman. She wasn't tall, probably 5'4" without the modest heels she had on.

Looking around at all of us she smiled. "Hello everyone, I'm Donna Silk and I'm the new Principal." She said.

A round of applause came spontaneously from me and my colleagues. Donna blushed slightly as we did this.

"Thank you so much everyone. What a nice welcome."

Donna had an English accent, from the south of England I thought. It wasn't a posh accent, but you could tell she was a teacher from the way she spoke.

"I should let you all know a little about myself. I came from Bradford Primary in Sydney, where I was Vice Principal for the past 3 years. When the opportunity to become Principal here at Smith Street, a school with such a fine reputation, and a great standing in the community, well I jumped at the chance to come here.

"It will take me a little while to get used to how things work at a school outside the city, so please be patient with me as I 'learn the ropes' here." She said with a smile. All my colleagues seemed to relax a little as she said this, realising that Donna was not going to tear the place apart.

"Over the next couple of days I will meet with you individually so I can get to know you all a little. You all know your room allocations for the year, so please keep an eye out on your emails today as I will send you a timetable of the meeting schedule. Please bring your planning for the year with you so I can have an idea of what is going to happen this year." With that she called the vice principals in so they could have a meeting.

I headed out of the staff room, across the quad, to the music room. My room was away from the other class rooms, on the far side of the school hall. This was strategic so my classes could make noise and not disrupt the other classes, and it also allowed ease of transportation of instruments to the hall for performances.

Opening the room, I opened the windows to air it out and proceeded to do some checks of the instruments, making sure they were all still in working order. I was doing this when my computer 'binged' with an email. It was from Donna, with the timetable for the meetings. I was to meet her tomorrow after lunch.

Even when there are no students at school, every one still sticks to the routine of having recess and lunch breaks at the same time. Talking over lunch, some of my colleagues who had met with Donna all said how nice she was. They also stressed that she was very switched on, and wanted to know everything that was happening in the school.

**********

I met with Donna for the first time the following day. At my allotted time I arrived at her office. Her door was open and as I was about to knock she looked up from her computer and smiled at me.

"Please come in Jack. It is nice to finally meet you." She said as she got up from behind her desk. Her smile was very genuine and she looked me in the eye as she shook my hand. I was smiling too. It was there that I noticed her eyes were a captivating greyish green colour and she had dimples when she smiled. As we sat down and exchanged pleasantries, Donna looked at me in a curious way.

"Jack have we met before? I get this feeling I know you from somewhere?"

Out of nowhere I replied "I don't think so. I would definitely remember meeting you." Smiling as I said this. This was entirely unlike me to be so 'confident' around someone new. There was just something about Donna that had struck something in me.

Donna giggled and smiled at my comment, before we got about the work at hand. I showed her my lesson plans for the year. As I taught all of the children at the school, seeing the classes once a week, my plans were specific to each year; from teaching basic rhythms and songs to the Kindergarten class's right through to teaching recorder and ukulele for the year 6 classes. I also looked after the 2 school bands, did the music for the school musical that we did each year, privately taught some kids at the school, as well as all the other regular teacher activities like playground duty, helping on sports days etc., etc.

My colleagues were right. Donna did pay attention and wanted to know all the details. She had heard good things about my music program and definitely wanted it to continue to grow and flourish. I asked if she played an instrument and she didn't but she said she really liked music.

As our meeting was coming to an end I noticed a picture on her desk of her and a girl. "Is that your daughter?" I asked.

Donna smiled as she looked at the picture. "Yes. That's my daughter Mackenzie. She's 13 and in Year 8 at Ravensfield, boarding there. She will be here every second weekend."

"My daughter is in Year 12, doing the HSC this year."

"You have a daughter?" Donna asked.

"Yes and a son who is going into his second year at University, studying Mechanical Engineering. He gets his brains from his mother." I replied with a laugh.

"Is your wife an engineer?"

"No. My

ex-wife

is a school teacher, not a 'creative arts' teacher like me." I said with a little self-deprecating humour. "We have been divorced for just over 2 years now. I have my daughter 3 weekends out of 4..."

Donna was looking at me with an empathetic smile, before she said quietly. "It is tough being a single parent..."

"Are you divorced too?" I asked, trying not to sound like I was prying.

Donna looked me straight in the eye. "No. My husband passed away 3 years ago. Cancer."

"Oh Donna. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry or anything..."

She smiled and said "It's ok Jack. It was a while ago now. But it was another reason why I wanted to take a job away from the city."

"I can understand that." I replied sympathetically.

We were looking at each other, when Donna's office phone rang. She offered me her hand and we shook. "Thank you Jack. It was wonderful to meet you properly."

"My sentiments exactly. Great to meet you too."

She was smiling and I was smiling too, not really wanting to let go of her hand. I did eventually let go as Donna did have to answer the phone. I left her office as she took the call. Looking back as I left the room Donna looked at me and smiled too.

*********

The school year got under way and I was very busy with all the classes. Donna was warmly welcomed into the school community and her presence had a really positive effect on everyone. She was involved with everything and would often come into class and see what was going on. I found it very easy to talk with Donna, and we often chatted about many things, mostly about school, but also about our own kids and how they were going. She also encouraged everyone at the school and it wasn't a surprise to see an email from her thanking you for your efforts with a particular happening at the school.

One Monday evening as I was preparing my dinner at home I had the radio on. Out of the blue 'She's the One' came out of the speakers. I hadn't heard our song in ages and I found myself singing along. It still sounded fresh and alive. My already good mood was only improved hearing our song from all those years ago. Pat's lyrics about the girl he was chasing and my music made me smile.

After dinner, I went into my office. My office was the only room in the house that indicated that I played music and was in a band previously. My gold record was on the wall for our album, there were a few pictures of us playing on stage, and a couple of old gig posters. My bookshelf was filled with tapes, CD's and DVD's of our performances, as well as a few demos of songs that never saw the light of day. I got my old Fender Strat out of its case. I hadn't played it in ages but it felt good in my hands. I tuned it up and started to play 'She's the One'. It rocked along just like I wrote it.

It was then that I just started to just play. When I usually played now it was always to work out things for musicals or for the school bands to play, but this was different. This was playing for me. I was just noodling, playing along when I began to play something. It sounded good. The chord patterns began to flow. My fingers felt alive.

Quickly I fired up my computer and started 'AudioScore', plugged my guitar in and started to play. After a couple of hours I had the bones of a song, the first song I had written in 25 years. I added a rudimentary drum track before swapping my guitar for a bass, and playing this to fill out the song. I was buzzing, feeling the excitement of creating something completely new for the first time in ages. I looked across at the clock and seeing it was 2:16am, I realised I had to go to bed.

I took the file with me to work the next day, and in breaks between classes I worked on the song. As I did, ideas for other songs started to flow, so I got these down as well. I was so busy but so happy. I had playground duty that lunchtime and it was difficult to concentrate with song ideas racing through my head. I kept thinking how the songs needed lyrics, but I had never been a lyricist.

As the bell went to go back into class, I stayed back a little, making sure all the stragglers headed back to their classes. I looked across the quad and I saw Donna talking to some students. She saw me and she smiled her gorgeous smile at me. She looked amazing, the sun beaming down turning her red hair an almost flaming red, her dark skirt blowing slightly in the breeze. She was smiling her full smile, dimples and all. I smiled back and waved, and she did the same.

Back in my classroom I began to write words to my song. The words initially didn't really fit the song, but I liked them and I knew I could use them later. I did come up with some more lyrics, about rocking again after a long time away. Being a novice lyricist I could only write about what I knew.

By the end of the week I had 3 songs with lyrics and 3 further music tracks. My daughter Gemma was with me for the weekend and that Friday night I played her the songs. She was taken aback that I had written the songs and she liked them.

"Dad those sound great. A bit like your old band songs, but different. A bit more modern."

"Thanks Gemma. I haven't written anything for years."

"You should play them for 'Uncle' Mick and 'Uncle' Nige when they come over on Sunday."

I had forgotten all about that. I was still great friends with Mick and Nigel, even all these years later. We all grew up together in this area, went and played our music together, went through the breakup of the band, and still remained the closest of friends.

Mick had taken over his family's car dealership and Nigel went back to University and became a successful Lawyer. Our families were all very good friends and we caught up regularly. It was my turn to host a Barbeque this weekend.

The barbeque on Sunday was great and it was wonderful to catch up with my oldest and closest friends and their families. We hadn't seen each other since before Christmas so we caught up with all of what was happening. Our kids had all grown up together and they all got along really well. Mick and Nige were happily married. I was the only one who was single. Their wives, Brooke and Cara, were both lovely, great friends and a great support to me during difficult times. During the afternoon they could apparently see a change in me and they started plotting to find a single friend for me to date.