Tacita shakily sat down, her head spinning. The past few weeks had been hectic, but now… now, she knew what she had to do. She uncapped the bottle of whiskey and took a deep gulp of it. Ignoring the burning sensation in her throat, she rummaged through the desk, seeking out the paperwork that she had been given so many years ago.

“Where?” she muttered to herself, chewing on her lower lip. “Where did I put that stupid thing?”

Finally, at the very back of the very last drawer, she found the small stack of paperwork. With a sigh, she looked it over, nodding to herself. “It has to be done,” she muttered to herself. “There’s no way I can handle this.”

She dropped the papers onto the desk, then picked up her phone. She rapidly dialed a phone number and waited for a response. One finally came.

“Hey, this is Tacita. Yeah… yeah, it’s been a while, I know. Look, I have some paperwork I want you to look over. It’s really important, so… maybe today? Yeah? That’s just fine, then. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

She shut the phone and pocketed it, sighing. If I had only known… she thought to herself. But that thing… that’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. This is the only solution I can think of…


Several weeks earlier…

Kevin stared throughthe bathroom door at the vomiting woman, then looked over at Tom, Andrew, and Graham. With a sigh, he murmured to them, “I don’t think she’ll be in any shape for the show, guys.”

“So, what do you think we should do?” Tom asked worriedly.

“I don’t know about you,” Andrew responded, making sure he spoke loudly enough to be heard by Tacita, “but I think we should enroll Little Miss Binge Drinker here into AA.”

“Shut up, Carrot Top!” Tacita snapped, raising her head up just long enough to respond. “I don’t have a problem!”

“So, it’s normal to pray to the porcelain god on an almost daily basis?”


“Cool it,” Kevin interrupted them. Looking over at Graham, he asked, “So, what are we going to do? The show’s in six hours, and Tacita’s going to still be plastered or hung over. Do you really think she’ll be in any shape to perform?”

“Of course she won’t,” Graham replied, frowning. “And we owe it to our fans to give them a good show.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Tom asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Graham asked. “We already have someone who can fill in for Tacita.”

“You mean…?” Kevin replied slowly.

“I’ll call her up,” Tom volunteered. Hesitantly, he added, “But you know Tacita’s going to be ticked when she finds out.”

“Let her be ticked, then,” Graham replied. “If she doesn’t want Ophelia standing in for her, she shouldn’t do stupid stuff.”

“Are you sure Ophelia’s going to be willing to do it on such short notice?” Andrew asked.

“Of course she will!” Kevin replied. “She always enjoys jamming with us when we’re in town. Plus, she’s always done at least one track on our albums. She knows our material just as well as the rest of us. For all intents and purposes, she’s the best person to stand in for pretty much any of us.”

“I’ll call her, then,” Tom agreed. “Tacita won’t like this, though…”

“I’ll break the news to her, then,” Andrew volunteered. “She doesn’t like me anyway.”