Ravenous Libido was playing their nineth gig fronted by Ravenna when there was an incident. With her smaller frame, Ravenna tended to carry smaller items from the van to the setup area. Stig and Scott pulled the base drum out and set it aside so Stig and Steph could get to their instruments. Ravenna was watching the van when she jumped up and was waving her arms at another vehicle. She had to jump out of the way as the SUV sped into the next parking space. There was a loud crash as it stopped.

The man jumped out of the vehicle and shouted, “What wrong with you lady? You can't take up two spaces.”

“Didn't you see me waving? Look what you did?” She point to the mangled drum case that contained the probably destroyed bass drum.

“Sorry, I didn't see it.”

“What the fuck,” Scott yelled as he came out of the venue to see what happened.

“This gentleman didn't watch where he was driving.”

“Hey, you can't take up two spaces.”

“I'm going to get the booking manager,” Ravenna said.

Stig and Steph were walking out as she went in. More yelling was heard as she went inside. “Hey, Bill, we've got a problem with one of your customers in the parking lot,” she said. Ravenna returned a few minutes later with the manager and a bouncer.

Outside Stig was holding Scott back from the other driver who was jumping in his SUV and driving away.

“How am I going to play without a bass drum?”

“You can work around it can't you?” Steph asked.

“Not really, the toms sit on the bass. Without the bass they have nothing to latch on to.”

“I have an idea,” Ravenna said. “Get everything else out of the van then we're going on a quick road trip. There's a Venn machine in that mall down the street, right Bill?”

“Yes, there is,” Bill said. “We ain't libel for your equipment.”

“Yeah, yeah, we figured that,” Stig said.

As they finished unloading the van, Scott and Ravenna got in and drove to the mall. Ravenna grabbed her boots from the back and they went to the Venn machine. She tossed the boots in and waited from the door to cycle. Megan stepped out of the booth. “What happened to playing the gig?”

“Hasn't happened yet,” Ravenna said. “Would you mind if Scott turned you into a bass drum? Ours got crushed half an hour ago and the music stores are all closed.”

“Cool. I'd love to be a bass drum.”

“I'm going to turn her into a bass drum?” Scott asked.

“Well, you know more about what makes a bass drum kick than I do.”

“Funny. I suppose this could work.”

Ravenna put a coin in the machine and Megan insisted on it being set for three days. There was a gig tomorrow so she wanted to do two gigs.

It took Scott twenty minutes before he was satisfied that she would turn into a working drum and that it would have the right hardware. But when they inspected the drum afterward, he did not think his toms would connect to the hardware. It was off somehow, like how writing never works in the machine. So he went in again and turned her into two toms and a bass drum.

“Thooom, Duut.”

“Megan makes a good sounding drum.”

“I'm sure she's enjoying this.”

* * *

I'm big. Squat, but big. I feel like I should be moving but I can't. There's a gear and chain but I can't make it move. Someone is speaking. He says I look right. I guess that's Scott.

THOOOOM!!

Whoa, was that me?

TOK, TOK, THOOM.

Shudder. Wow, that's awesome.

I'm moving. I'm use to being worn but being handled like this is strange. We're in the van again. And moving.

Being handled again and then it stops. Time passes. I can hear everyone talking as they set me up on the stage. I can hear the people in the audience. Every sound in the room reverberates off my skins.

Give a hand to Ravenous Libido.

The audience makes a lot of noise. THOOOOM!!! I make more. I can feel a shoe on my pedal. THOOM..... THA-THOOM..... THOOM..... THA-TOKKATOKKATOKKATOKKA THOOM. Oh God. THOOM..... THA-THOOM..... Yes, THOOM..... THA-THOOM..... Yes. YESSS....

* * *

They raced back to the venue and it time to setup their stuff. Megan was first piece of gear on stage and shortly they were playing their songs. Ravenna felt a little short during the performance and someone in the audience shouted out, “Where are your boots?”

It was between songs and Ravenna looked down at the man who had asked and said, “They're helping out with the drums tonight.”

As they were loading up the truck, Scott said to Ravenna, “I gotta see about getting a whole set of living drums. Megan was very lively tonight. She must have had a blast.”

“I'm sure she'll talk about it in a steady beat a couple days from now.”

“Oh, that was a stretch.” Scott said. “Ya'know like a drum head is...”

“If you have to explain it...”