Tomas meets a great Icon!
The doorknob turned and the door opened. A man towered over me with deep almond eyes under his long shoulder-length hair. Under his nose, a long thick auburn mustache hung almost as long as his hair. I smiled, breaking the man's own serious mouth into a wide grin.
The man said in a sort of a country drawl, “Hey, I don't have many visitors these days. I know you. I've seen you with Derick Goddard on film footage playing at Madison Round Garden for that benefit concert. It' was...”
“For Bangladesh.”
“Well, come on in and take a load off yourself.”
“Tomas,” presenting me hand to the man.
The man said returning the greeting, “Hayden Dun, but you can call me Dwain, or Heaven Dog. I don't think we met. Life was too short. It seems the way you are looking at me, you know who I am but I don't think we ever met before did we?”
“Not that I can remember but we know someone in the same circles. You do know who I'm talking about, don't you?”
“You mean, we have something more in common?” Dwain asked, leading me into his rambling white framed ranch house passed the rustic brown furnishings to a bronze cushioned couch and sat down.
“Yeah, we both knew Shepperton, alias Smooth Hand Derick Goddard,” I replied.
“Oh, yes, Derick?” Dwain took a seat on a settee opposite of me.
“Yes, I worked with him on several projects and...”
Dwain leaned forward. “Hey, when did you come to Heaven? I came in 1971.”
“Me? I came in the early ‘80s.”
Dwain leaned back with his hands over the back of his head. “Woo, doggy! You must know much more than I hanker to know. Tell me, you said you were from...”
“Str8Up. Several reincarnations of the group.”
“Well, I'll be damned. Can I ask you this question, and I know it is a long shot, but would you know what happened to my brother, Jed? I don't know if he broke up the band after I died in that horrible motorcycle accident or...”
“They carried on. I can't tell you what happened after 1983, but they made it big.”
“Woo doggie,” Dwain said again. “Hey, would you like something to drink?”
“Sure, as long as it isn't alcoholic, I'm game.”
“Let's see what I have in the kitchen.” Dwain stood up. “I know I've got something called hard lemonade that a friend gave me one time when he came to visit my place. It's got quite a punch to it. I think that has liquor, though. How about just a nice iced tea?”