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Matchbox Three Usually, I enjoyed meet and greet time. I get to meet some of the fans, joke around with them a little, basically just hang out and have a good time. But, tonight, meet and greet was hell. I felt like an assembly line worker. As I received items that passed through my friends' hands and now required my signature, fans leaned over the table and demanded to know about Rob. If he was all right, what he had, how long he'd be sick. Paul decided that Rob had the flu; the illness was unpredictable enough. I must have told six hundred people that Rob Thomas had the flu. There were so many people! Normally, we restrict meet and greet to a cozy number, so things don't get too out of control, like what was happening here. Their voices were still in my head when we filed into our bus. Rob's stuffed koala greeted us. It was laying on its side, where Rob had been sitting on the way to this city. The koala was from Australia. He bought it there, on one of our many trips to the country, and it was now his travelling companion. The fur around its midsection was matted, where Rob had often held it. The ends of the ribbon around its neck were starting to fray, and the tag on its ear was wrinkled. I looked closer at the tag. I had never really looked at it before. The brand name was "Hug 'Ums", and there was a picture of a boy hugging a koala who looked to be the same size. I couldn't help but smile. We should have stuck a picture of Rob's face over the boy's a long time ago. I picked up the koala. I stared at it, and it stared back at me with its glossy black eyes. It seemed to be saying, "Where's Rob?", but maybe I'm just losing it. I returned the koala to where Rob had left him. I slid into my usual seat, behind Rob's, in the back of the bus where all the rowdy kids go. But I didn't feel like getting rowdy. Adam dove into his side-facing seat on the left. I could tell when he went to sleep; his face muscles relaxed. His arm slipped off his stomach and dangled off the seat. I sighed, wishing I could do the same. Kyle boarded the bus. He sat down beside me, just as Paul came up the steps. Paul stood in the aisle, at the front of the bus. "I told Jay Hawks what's going on," Paul announced. "Needless to say, they're upset." I sighed. Marc must be especially upset at me, since I'd lied to him. Paul took a seat across from Adam. He and Kyle were staring at our sleeping band member as we sat in silence. We could hear the crew loading our gear into the compartments under the bus. It would be a while before we'd go. The silence must have been killing Kyle. He jumped up and flicked on the radio. "I would give my world to lift you up," Rob's voice sang over the airwaves. "I could change my life to better suit your mood. 'Cause you're so…" Kyle smacked the off button and slumped back into the seat beside me. "Who's going to tell Marisol?" Kyle asked. Of course, Rob's wife came to mind after hearing her song. "What are we going to tell her?" Paul corrected him. "That we lost her husband?" He sighed. Shaking my head, I said, "Guys, we haven't lost him yet." Maybe I was just in denial, thinking that Rob would be there when we got back to the hotel. But I didn't want to think about the other possibility, the more real one… What if he wasn't? |