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“Damn it!” shouted Bright Storm as she fought with the screwdriver against the innards of the broken jukebox. Kobra Kid handed her a smaller tool.
“Try this, Storm,” he said. He smiled as she resumed her attack on the machine.
“Why haven’t you guys ever tried fixing this thing before?” she asked, huffing a bit as she swapped out the parts she’d managed to scavenge.
“Because we didn’t know how,” Kobra laughed. Storm snorted.
“I’m not sure I do, either,” she admitted. “But I’m going to try!”
The three other Killjoys had gone out for the afternoon on a supply run. Party Poison, Fun Ghoul, and Storm’s boyfriend, Jet Star, were on a mission to refill their pantry.
Storm and Kobra had decided to stay at the diner instead of joining them. Kobra had been nursing a head cold for the past few days, and Storm had honestly just not felt like hauling cans again. She had promised to make them all dinner out of whatever food they managed to loot afterwards.
In the meantime, she had taken it upon herself to try to repair the old diner’s jukebox. It had sat in the corner, surrounded by Party’s painted mannequins for as long as she had been a part of their crew – probably longer. It had made her sad when she realized that it no longer played.
She didn’t recognize most of the songs on the box. It likely hadn’t been updated for many, many years before the diner was abandoned. Names like Bobby Darin, Ricky Neslon, The Five Satins, The Shirelles, and Chubby Checker meant absolutely nothing to her. She was intrigued by a song titled “Splish Splash.” That was the first song she planned to play when she finally got it working again.
She just hadn’t reckoned on how difficult the repair job would be. She cursed again as the tool slipped against a screw, nearly slicing her hand in the process. Kobra shook his head.
“I can’t watch the carnage,” he said with a snort. “I’m going to go lie down for a while. My head is feeling fuzzy again.” He stood up and walked toward his bedroom.
“Drink some water!” Storm called after him. “And feel better, Kobes!”
“Thanks, Storm,” he said as he disappeared into his room. Storm turned back to the jukebox, more determined than ever to get it going once more.
Party Poison popped the trunk of the Trans-Am as Fun Ghoul and Jet Star got out of the car and walked toward the back.
“I can’t wait to see what Storm cooks up with this stuff,” said Ghoul, barely containing his glee. Of all the Killjoys, he was the one who most hated when they were reduced to eating canned dog food. The others were never thrilled about it, either, but Ghoul actually seemed offended when Power Pup was all that was available to eat.
When Storm had joined their crew, she’d told them about new locations for scavenging and finding shelf-stable foods. They had all been thrilled, and had kept their pantry well-stocked more often than not.
Jet and Ghoul lifted two of the four boxes of canned goods out of the trunk and turned to head into the diner. They were parked on the back side, and the door in front of them led straight into the kitchen.
As Jet opened the door and held it for Ghoul, he heard faint music coming from inside. Exchanging a look with Ghoul in confusion, he followed the shorter man into the hideout and set the box on the prep counter. Then he followed the sound into the main room of the diner.
“He rocks in the treetops all day long,
Hoppin’ and a-boppin’ and a-singin’ his song
All the little birds on Jaybird Street,
Love to hear the robin go tweet-tweet-tweet
Rockin’ robin, tweet, tweet, tweet,
Rockin’ robin, tweet, tweedle-lee-dee,
Go, rockin’ robin, ‘cause we’re really gonna rock tonight!”
“What in the hell…?” Ghoul said, looking once again at Jet and Party, who had just joined them. Without another word, the three Killjoys made their way through the kitchen and into the dining room.
They all stopped short behind the lunch counter as they took in the sight before them. Bright Storm was dancing through the room with Kobra Kid, who looked like he was feeling much better from his cold. Both were laughing as they snapped their fingers and moved their feet to the rhythm of the music.
The music was coming from the jukebox which had stood silent for all the years that the Killjoys had lived in the old restaurant. The lights on the front of the box were illuminated in bright yellows, greens, and reds, and a record spun on the turntable beneath the needle, pushing music out through the speakers to fill the whole diner.
Kobra twirled Storm beneath his arm, and she stopped when she saw the remaining members of their crew watching them in stunned silence.
“Hey, guys!” she cried, her face bright with joy.
“Storm, what…?” Party stuttered. “How…?”
“I fixed the jukebox!” She beamed happily. She was proud of the work she had done.
“How?” Ghoul asked, his face breaking into a grin.
“A little elbow grease and a lot of determination,” she laughed.
“This girl is stubborn,” Kobra smirked. “I’d have given up after ten minutes, but she just kept hacking away at the thing until she got it to play.” He huffed out a breath and wiped a light sheen of sweat from his forehead.
“Whew,” he breathed, slowing his movements and heading toward the booth. He slid onto the bench and grinned at Storm. “You and those tunes have worn me out, Storm. I like it, though!” He continued to snap his fingers as he tapped his feet beneath the table.
Storm danced over to the three other Killjoys just as the song ended and another record dropped into place inside the machine. A catchy tune played on a jangly electric guitar as she reached out for Jet’s hand, drawing him into the center of the room.
“Well, he walked up to me and he asked me if I wanted to dance,
He looked kinda nice and so I said I might take a chance
When he danced he held me tight,
And when he walked me home that night,
All the stars were shining bright,
And then he kissed me!”
Storm danced a circle around Jet before stopping in front of him on her tiptoes. She reached up and kissed him firmly on the lips. He couldn’t hold back a grin.
“I like this one,” he said, sliding his arms around her waist as she continued to bop in place to the music.
“Me, too!” She swayed in his arms, and Jet joined her. He wasn’t exactly the most graceful dancer, but he could sway along with her to the rhythm of such a fun song.
The next song that played had a slower tempo, and he smiled when Storm wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes. He hadn’t felt like this since he was a kid at a school dance, a lifetime ago, when the world was a different place.
“Cupid, draw back your bow,
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me
Cupid, please hear my cry,
And let your arrow fly
Straight to my lover’s heart for me…”
He leaned in and kissed her once more as the song came to a close.
“You’re pretty fucking amazing, you know that?” he said with a grin.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, with an impish grin of her own. “But I love hearing you say it.”
Another fast-paced, dance-worthy song spilled from the speakers of the ancient jukebox, and the rest of the Killjoys joined them on the makeshift dance floor.
The sounds of music and laughter filled the desert air as they danced the night away.