S-Duality: A Marauders Novella by Lina Andersson Page A

better parents than their parents had been, but he really thought he and Trudy could be great parents.
    “One thing,” she said and turned around. “We stop selling pot when I get pregnant.”
    “Yeah. Means we're gonna have to try to get regular jobs. Or... I need to get a regular job or just more hours at the garage.”
    “Maybe you could be a roadie for some of the bands? You'd like that.”
    “Honey, have you seen the guys?” he laughed. “They can't even afford a decent pair of jeans, let alone pay for people carrying their equipment. I get paid in beer and a t-shirt with a silkscreen print if I'm lucky. They pay for the pot, but that's about it.”
    “We have time, we could try to save.”
    “I am saving. We live in a shack, what the fuck do you think I'm doing with the money?”
    “You need to try to turn some of it legal. Launder the money. We should start looking at that soon.”
    “What?” he said and looked at her as if she was an alien and not the woman he'd been living with for years. “You know about that shit?”
    “Yes I do,” she smiled, and threw her arms around his neck. “And since I love you, I'll teach you.”
     
    Then something happened in Seattle. Something few of them saw coming, at least not Sisco. If someone had told him a year before that it would happen, he would’ve asked them if they could share some of whatever drug they were doing with him, since it was obviously top notch.
    The music scene in Seattle started to become a thing. Riot Act had just recorded an album, and was going to do a short US tour just before its release. They'd asked him to be their tour manager. Sisco wasn't an idiot; he knew that when it came to bands like Riot Act, being a tour manager meant he'd be more of a roadie, merch seller, and the one who got to yell at promoters who hadn't done their job. He didn't care, it was just for a month and meant he'd be paid for hanging out with his friends. That sounded like a sweet deal to him.
    They were cool guys, not among the needle junkies, and since their first singer had O.D.'d, he was fairly sure they wouldn't become needle junkies either. They just wanted someone they actually knew and trusted with them on the road.
    They took turns driving, which was a bit surprising to Sisco. On more than one occasion while on tour with someone he'd ended up driving most of the time, but these guys were actually clean enough to drive.
    “You what?” he said and looked at Jonah through the rearview mirror. “You're in a movie?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Are you shitting me?”
    “No. Just a live gig thing in a scene at a club, but some of the guys from No Rain are acting, too.” Jonah shrugged. “It's pretty fucked up, but the director's a friend, so we thought we'd help him.”
    Sisco shook his head with a laugh. Something was definitely going on with the music scene, and he wasn't fully convinced he liked it. He was glad it meant the guys got to tour, and that also helped him, since he was getting properly paid to do something he loved doing. He was sure it had to be better to be a roadie than to work at a garage.
    “So when is it released?”
    “No idea,” Jonah answered. “The movie company changed their mind about it or something. I don't know. I don't give a fuck either way.”
     
    The tour was just supposed to be for around a month, but dates kept being added—to everyone's surprise. He got more and more calls, faxes, and shit from the booking agent. It wasn't all that fucking easy to prepare a tour while being on tour. Trying to get hold of people using payphones and not having a number to leave them wasn't optimal, but he made it work. Sort of. At least well enough for no one to complain. Except him; he complained a lot!
    He made sure they didn't get punk stews for food, that they got wine and beer, and the specs of each place beforehand so he knew what to expect when they arrived. He got into it all pretty quickly.
    They weren't big venues; the biggest had a