My boyfriend Micky came down from the bandstand where he had been playing drums for his band, The Monkees. He came over and sat at the table where I was sitting. His bandmates Mike, Peter, and Davy each took off with a different girl. "Man am I tired!" Micky said. "You about ready to go home?"
      "Sure. I guess we don't have to wait for the guys," I added wryly. All three of them shared a beach house with him.
      "Yeah, but I guess we have to ask them, anyway. You round up Peter, and I'll take Davy and Mike." We met back up a few minutes later. "They're both staying," Micky said, "but Mike gave me the keys to the Monkeemobile."
      "Peter didn't want to leave, either. I guess it's just us." Just then, we were interrupted by a big, short man.
      "Mr. Dolenz?" Micky got up and shook his hand.
      "Yes. Can I help you?" The man gave Micky a business card.
      "Hello. The name's John Granger. I must say I loved your performance."
      "Thank you," Micky replied. Then he repeated, "Can I help you?"
      "I am the casting director for RIC Productions. We are casting a pilot for a movie about college life. And I think you would be just perfect for it!"
      "Wha-? Me, an actor? Man, I'm a musician!"
      "Well, the part I have in mind for you is a drummer, also."
      "But, I don't know how to act!"
      "Have you ever tried?"
      "Uhm, no."
      "Then how do you know you don't know how?"
      "I don't know."
      "There you go. Why don't you at least go out for an audition?"
      "What about my friends?"
      "They can try out for other parts, too. But they just don't have "the look" we want."
      "And I do?"
      "Yes, you do."
      Micky turned to me. "This is my girl, M.G., Mr. Granger. M.G., what do you think?"
      "Oh, wow. I don't know. The decision has got to be yours. But I think you should really think about this."
      "You've got one smart lady there, son," Mr. Granger said. "She's right. Take your time. The auditions last for another month. My number's on that card. Call me when you make up your mind."
      "Yes, sir," Micky said. "Thank you." Mr. Granger then left.
      We were both quiet for a while. Then Micky said, "Can you believe this?"
      "This is unbelievable!" I answered. "If you do this, you could become rich and famous!"
      "But what about the guys? This could really affect gigs."
      "This won't be an easy decision," I told him. "Go home and sleep on it."
      Just then, Mike walked up. "Hey, who were you talking to?"
      "A casting director," Micky said.
      "What did HE want?"
      "Me."
      "Just hold on there a minute, old buddy. What are you talking about?"
      "He asked me to audition for this movie."
      "You?"
      "Yes," Micky answered defensively. "He said I had the look he wanted."
      "But, you're not an actor!"
      "Well, how do you know? I never tried before. I might be good."
      "Of course. I didn't mean nothing. But what about the band?"
      Micky frowned. "I don't know. I gotta think."
      "Well, I know you'll make the right decision. And we'll all be behind you, no matter what."
      "Thanks Mike. We're gonna go home now. Sure you don't wanna come?"
      "Might as well. That girl I was talking to took off."
      The three of us headed home. The guys dropped me of at my house then drove the three blocks to their pad.

      Micky was just getting up when I got to the pad early the next morning. "Hey! Good morning. Did you think about the movie any more?"
      "'Morning," he replied. He fixed himself a bowl of cereal and put orange juice in it. I turned my head. After a year of dating Micky, I still could not watch him eat this concoction. "I thought a lot about it. It is such a great opprotunity, and we sure could use the money. But I can't leave the guys. Oh, I still don't know what to do."
      "How about writing down the good and bad things about the movie?" I asked him.
      "Great idea!" he said. He got a piece of paper and a pen and sat down at the kitchen table. "Let's see. Under 'Good', I'll put 'fame and fortune'. Under "Bad", I'll put 'band may suffer'. He did this and then paused for a minute. "Well," he said, "I guess it's a much simpler choice than I thought."
      "It is?" I asked?
      "Sure. What is money compared to friendship?"
      I smiled. "That's so sweet," I said.
      "I'll go to Mr. Granger's office tomorrow. If this movie would get in the way of the band, I'll tell him no deal."
      "Do you wan me to go with you?" I asked him.
      "Would you?"
      "Sure."

      We walked into Mr. Granger's office the next morning. "I'm so glad you called," he said as he shook Micky's hand and then mine.
      "Thank you. Now, Mr. Granger, I--"
      "John, please." Granger interrupted.
      "John, I just need to know how much this will affect my band. How long would this take?"
      "Well, we'd start shooting in two months on our Hollywood studios. The shoot would last about six months. You would have weekends off for your band."
      Micky got a sad look on his face. "That wouldn't leave any time to practice or learn new songs or spend any time with my friends or M.G." He sighed. "I just can't do it. I can't leave my best friends like that."
      "I'm sorry about that. But, I wish you the best of luck. Let me know if you ever do want to get into the business."
      "Thank you, sir. I appreciate that." We left soon after.

      When we walked into the pad, we saw Mike coming out of his room and down the stairs. "Hey, guys. Where've you been?"
      "At that director's office," Micky replied.
      "Well," Mike said, "What happened?"
      "I told him I couldn't do it."
      "Really?"
      "Yeah. I told him how important the band was to me. I couldn't let anything get in the way of that."
      "Wow. I'm really glad to hear that."

      Several months later, the guys and I were sitting around the pad one morning. Mike was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. "Hey, Mick, you remember that movie you told me about a while back?"
      "Yeah. What about it?"
      "What was its name again?"
      "College Life," Micky replied.
      "That's what I figured. It's number one at the box office and is breaking all kinds of records."
      "Really?" Micky got up from the sofa and went over and took the paper from Mike. "Huh. You think I can still change my mind?" he teased.

by M. G.

Next