(Next morning)
I awoke to find myself on the ground. Not on the floor, but on the ground. I was covered with dirt and leaves. I opened one eye to see that I was still in the "forest" that I'd been in last night. I was freezing cold, and when I looked at myself I realized why. I wasn't wearing any clothes. The leaves were enough to provide me with privacy, but did nothing for warmth. I looked and noticed Micky off to my left, and Peter to my right. They were also lying on the ground, still unconscious. There was no sign of Mike.
I laid back again, and thought. Eventually, memories came flowing back, and I remembered last night. I wondered where Mike had gone.
I must have laid there for about ten minutes when I heard a noise coming from the road. I heard two voices talking, and I kept perfectly silent so they wouldn't notice me. I wondered what they were doing here in the middle of the highway. I couldn't understand what they were saying. After a minute, the car they'd come in started up and drove away. I guessed that they'd only stopped to change drivers or something, and had driven away. But then, I noticed the sound of footsteps crunching on the leaves and twigs that were on the floor. I wondered if it was a policeman. But a policeman wouldn't have come into the woods alone after telling his partner to split. So it had to be an average citizen. The footsteps came closer. And closer.
Something in my head clicked. I knew this person. But before I could do anything about it, I felt something soft and heavy land on my head. Then something else landed next to me. It was a blanket (that landed on my head). I was grateful for the warmth. I wrapped it around me (thankfully it was large enough to cover all of me) and sat up. I looked around for Micky and Peter and saw that they had blankets thrown over them also. Next to me was some clothes. I put them on, thankful for the cover, and headed out towards the road.
"Hey Davy," Mike called from under the hood of the car without looking up.
"Just a hunch," he said. "I noticed you weren't all the way asleep."
"How'd you get here?" I asked.
"Ah..I asked for a ride," he said, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand as he heaved his head out from under the hood. He slammed it shut with a bang. "Wanna gimme a hand with the tire?" he asked, and I nodded. Together we completed the tire change.
A few minutes after we'd finished, a noise came from the trees and Peter entered the clearing, brushing the leaves out of his hair and rubbing his eyes, still sleepy.
"How you feelin' Pete?" Mike asked, tentatively. Peter yawned, stretching his arms, and rubbed his eyes again.
"A lot better," he said, yawning again. Mike smiled and relief showed in his voice.
"That's good, Pete," he said.
"Yeah, but why couldn't you have felt better while we were home so I wouldn't have to carry you?" Mike, Peter and I all looked toward the trees where the voice was coming from.
"That was the main reason," Peter said, giving Micky a Look. "I wanted you to get stuck carrying me." This produced a laugh from everybody, and though he looked indignant and upset for a minute, even Micky was forced to laugh. We all piled into the car and headed home, eager to get back to life now that everyone was okay.
When we got home, we discovered that there wasn't much to do. The house was relatively clean, the cabinets were full for a change, and the laundry had been done. So Mike (I think it was him) suggested that we practice for awhile.
"Why don't we rehearse a little?" he asked. Everyone regarded him with quizzical looks.
"Rehearse?" Peter asked, tentatively.
"Yeah, man. We haven't done it in a while. We need to practice or the cabinets are gonna go bare again," Mike said.
Everyone else agreed, though somewhat unsure, and we all climbed up to the bandstand, blowing the dust off our instruments and checking to make sure they were still in tune. Then, we all stood, waiting for a song to play. Finally, someone made a suggestion. We went through a couple of easy songs and began to get the hang of it again.
Sometime in the middle of "Mary, Mary," I thought I detected a knocking at the door, but dismissed it as my imagination. Not wanting to break my concentration, I ignored the knocking, but just then, Mike abruptly stopped playing. I turned to look at him, and I saw why. The front door had just opened......
