The Cloud

High above the crowds and the smoke and the lasers, Lemmy sat on a dark cloud.  Torrential rain poured from its gunmetal guts.  Lemmy was an opaque shadow, seated at a cocktail table with another gentleman who could barely be made out in the darkness. Just then, a third man appeared and sat with them.  The cloud pulsated and throbbed in the sky as a Pennywise themed balloon farted past limply, expending its last bits of hate filled air, and slowly began to plummet.

"Why did you do it, man!  You remember when we saw Sun Ra, right at the end, when they wheeled him out on stage in a fuckin' wheelchair, man.  As it happens, this Kilmister didn't have a say in the matter, my fuckin' body just gave it up."

The other gentleman barely distinguishable in the darkness sighed.  It was Keith Emerson.

"Lemmy, it just hurts when you don't have it anymore, you know?  You start to wonder, am I a joke?  A has been?  I couldn't bear going on stage giving lackluster performances after rising to the heights I got to.  It wasn't fair to the fans, and it--"

"FUCK the bloody FANS, Keith, you had SO much LIFE left.  You just don't fuckin' kill yourself when so many are getting taken so early for no reason, by cancer, fuckin' liver damage, overdoses, car crashes, heart attacks.  You couldn't go on? What the fuck, man."

Lemmy ashed his smoke into the little aluminum ashtray on the cocktail table, and looked at Keith sadly.  The ashtray was just like the ones they used to have at McDonalds, he thought, back when you could still bloody smoke in one.

The third man spoke up.  He had on a black cowboy hat and a black Nudie suit, and he had a black owl on his right shoulder.

"Leave him alone."

"Aw, who fuckin' asked you, Merle?" snapped Lemmy, immediately regretting it.
"This ain't about you, partner," he continued, more gently.  Lemmy was upset, but he didn't mean any disrespect to Mr. Haggard.

Keith put his head down on the table.

Down below, the band had fallen silent.  The crowd was roaring and chanting.

"Can't you see it's not helping?" asked Merle.  He pulled out a flask and took a swig and handed it to Keith.  Keith took it and looked at it absently, then handed it back.

The cloud poured grey sheets.

Lemmy wept.