Chapter 122

Barging into the room, were Stu, Princess and Jennifer, seeing us dressed with me on my phone in the wheelchair, packed and ready to go. Peter sent me a text.

I let Honey ‘man’ my wheelchair as the ladies all giggled at the look on her face. Stuart understood what had happened and I saw him shaking his head in deference to me.

My lap held my, Honora’s, and Jennifer’s bags as we all got to the bus together. Stu handed me a piece of paper, which I put in my shirt pocket because Peter had come off the bus to get me on it. Honey folded up the chair and put it in its place. She’s stronger than most of the other GSS ladies I have gotten to know.

Jennifer even let her sit by me, on the drive to our midpoint between Glendale and Denver, 632 miles away ... Albuquerque, New Mexico. She couldn’t stop grinning, giving away she had joined the ‘Harem,’ especially as Tiff came by to smile at us.

“Michael, that was the best two hours of my life. If I never get to be with you again, I will always remember tonight.”

“Don’t cry ... We are only fourteen days into our forty-four-day Tour, in fact ... I can guarantee you at least one more time together, maybe more?”

Isabel, who was right behind me said, “So you two did it, didn’t you? How was it, Honey ... did I tell you or did I tell you?”

“She knows a lot from somebody,” I said.

“I recommended you, after telling her a lot of your benefits.”

“From what she told me, I don’t have many of them left, my dear little sister.”

“Oh, calm down Michael. I see how, you single-handedly have made her very happy. She deserves it, don’t you think so?”

“I may need to experiment with her at least one more time. Don’t you think so, Hun?”

“I definitely think that one more time, at least would be necessary. That way he can try to make me unconscious like you said he could?”

“IZZY?”

“Oh, like you wouldn’t want to try that with her,” my own sister said much too loud.

“Oww,” I said.

“Did I do something?” Honey said.

“Get off me please?”

“What’s wrong Michael, where does it hurt?”

“It’s not a new pain ... the pill I took must have completely worn off. If I take another one of those, it should only be half. I got it from Tracy, it’s called Midol Extended Relief, at prescription strength for period pain.”

They both laughed at me, and I didn’t care for it one bit. I got out my phone and looked it up. Then I called up Janice and asked if she had anything equivalent to it. Mother got a case of the giggles as well, saying all I needed was the equivalent of 400mg of ibuprofen. From throughout our bus I got enough 80mg pills to take them with a water Ms. Graham pulled from her backpack. She’s definitely become an ‘official’ member of my harem.

I told her I needed more mobility in my right leg, and she understood, waving goodbye.

“Michael,” Princess said. “She has got a bad case of the Michael Malady, we all call, ‘Love Sickness.’”

We both laughed at that, then I had the impulse and kissed my sister.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what caused that?”

“Didn’t you hear, I’m sick with love.”

“That’s not what I meant, Michael?”

“I know that, but I may just be understanding what all you girls are always giggling about.”

“Yeah ... what is that?”

“I’m not telling you, blabbermouth.”

I leaned my head back and tried to fall asleep.

I woke up to male voices singing...

ANGEL
New York City...
MARK (Johnny was singing my part)
Uh huh
ANGEL
Center of the universe
COLLINS
Sing it girl... {br}

(I didn’t realize Jorge was on our bus)

ANGEL
Times are shitty
But I’m pretty sure
they can’t get worse

Let’s open up a
restaurant in Santa Fe
Oh sunny Santa Fe
would be nice
Let’s open up a
restaurant in Santa Fe
And leave this
to the roaches and mice{br}

Oh ... oh
ALL
Oh... {br}

ANGEL
You teach?
COLLINS
I teach Computer Age Philosophy
But my students would rather watch TV
ANGEL
America

ALL
America!
COLLINS
You’re a sensitive aesthete
Brush the sauce onto the meat
You could make the menu
sparkle with rhyme
You could drum a gentle drum
I could seat guests as they come
Chatting not about Heidegger,
but wine!
COLLINS
We will open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
And save from devastation our brains
HOMELESS
Save our brains
ALL
We will pack up all our junk
and fly so far away
Devote ourselves
to projects that sell
We will open up a
restaurant in Santa Fe
Forget this
cold Bohemian hell
Oh...
ALL
Oh...
COLLINS
Do you know the way to Santa Fe?
You know, tumbleweeds...
prairie dogs...
Yeah

With the singers finishing up, the bus broke into applause.

As I saw our Hotel through the window coming up on our left, I knew we are again filling nearly every room in the place with few getting a room of their own. That was one of the details I left to the others which was why I didn’t know who I was with most nights until I saw them coming to the same room as Jenn and me.

A whole day off for everybody was well deserved, for doing so well without me. Peter and Charles had completely proved themselves and we didn’t ... excuse me, they didn’t perform until we are back at Sports Authority Field in Denver.

Our abode is only ten minutes north of downtown Santa Fe proper, although we did have Fine Dining, a Fitness Center and all the nice amenities we had been getting used to. There was also Hot Air Ballooning, boating, and horseback riding, but I wasn’t about to try anything quite so audacious with either a semi-broken or semi-healed leg.

Fortunately, Jenn, Stu, and Princess sounded like-minded to me, so after a large breakfast, we crashed in our room expecting to go to the pool and/or spa afterward.

There was a knock on our door, Jenn go up and it was Tiffany.

“Yes, dear?” I said to her.

She set down on the bed, putting her hand on my covered dick and said, “Honora wanted to do the whole concert by herself tomorrow night. That means I could be your consort for the night, if that’s OK?”

“Does this mean, that you have ... sworn off other girls?” I asked.

“Not necessarily. I have heard you have the connections for a girl to have a twofer with you and ... other guys. Is that true?”

“It could be, if you are a really good girl,” I said.

“Go to sleep,” came from the other bed.

“Sorry?” I said.

Around one pm, I woke up feeling rested, but my leg was sore again. Tiff must have felt me awaken and asked, “Are you OK, Lover?”

“Yeah, although I wish I could do the things we have done before. This damn leg is really getting in my way?”

I noticed Stu, Princess and Jennifer were all gone. Likely to the spa.

“Michael Thomas cursing. That’s amazing all by itself,” she said.

“Could you get me my laptop, Tiff, it’s in my backpack. Right beside my side of the bed?”

Instead of getting out, she reached over my body, showing her beautiful arms and back, probably from all that drumming she does. I slapped her on the butt slightly and licked a nipple on her way back to give me my laptop.

I used both hands and opened it up and my default Google web page came up. I searched for ‘Ways to help broken bones heal faster.’ She was watching me do all this. She quietly read the main headings: “Make sure you are eating the right amount of calories.”

I read on that up to 6,000 calories a day can help a broken bone. I copied it into a note, then went back to the page: “Check your Protein Intake,” my companion said quietly.

My love for meat has now got a scientific basis, I raised both hands quietly in triumph and got a great kiss from Tiff. Next was ‘Take calcium and Lysine.’ “What’s Lysine, Michael?”

“Don’t know, but Google probably does.” I opened another tab to find out that Lysine was an amino acid, found in very lean beef and lots of kinds of fish. I’m not a big fan of fish, but I had it a lot when living with mom ... not so much these days.

The next bunch of aids were all connected: Minerals, vitamins, and even herbal aids. Lastly was exercise, but I didn’t understand how to do that, because I have a broken leg. I knew where we would be and when, so I went to a place online that was always showing on the pages I looked at. It was called Puritan’s Pride, and they might just have everything in one place, outside of the beef.

I opened another new tab and had the methodologies on one tab and the Puritan’s Pride website on another one. Knowing I was going to buy something from it, I registered by giving them my billing address with all the rigmarole they also insisted upon. With Miss Case watching, my password would be TiffanyC2, which I got a kiss for and completed the registration, putting my personal credit card on file.

I found and put a Lysine supplement in my shopping cart. I also found a choice of calcium supplements, picking the one that had thirteen other vitamins besides calcium. A cool thing they did was show you the size of the pill plus reviews from people who had purchased that product. In this case they were all very positive calling it ‘Excellent’ and ‘High quality.’ I got a minimum order of them as well, looking up antioxidants plus some of all of the specific supplements the other site mentioned.

Lastly, there was a rub with the main ingredients of Arnica Montana and Aconiturn napellus. I looked them up and Web MD, of all places, gave them some kudos for their ‘healing powers proven through centuries of use.’

As I selected them, Tiffany, said, “These all seem holistic, Michael ... how can you be sure they will work?”

“Miss Case, I believe that healing the whole body heals its parts, and vice versa, besides none of what I just ordered is dangerous, as long as I don’t overdose on anything. You could help me be sure I didn’t. Could you do that for me?”

“I would love to; how soon can you get it delivered?”

“It looks like two days, so I will put down our Amarillo, Texas hotel information and my cell phone if they need it.”

“Done, Let’s get back to sleep, I could really use some more.”

“OK Lover, goodnight.”

Three hours later, the others were back, all in the same bed together, sleeping. Tiffany helped me get through taking a shower, such a sweet girl.

She was my pusher for the day, loving to be so much a part of everything. Together, we talked to Honey, who also appreciated being so ... appreciated, and was willing to go another performance before trading off with Tiffany. Since Miss Graham seemed slightly skittish around me, she would still be part of the percussion team as well as number eighteen.

I let Jenn, Princess, and Janice pick whom stayed with me in Denver while everyone else performed. I didn’t even want to know who they were considering, basically to surprise me. We still had a day of relaxation before that would even need to be addressed.

There was a restaurant onsite, called Terra, so Stu, Princess, Jenn, and Janice, with Tiffany behind me, went to have a meal.

Most of the girls had salads, but with my new information about foods to help heal quickly, meaning I ordered a lean Terra Burger, and Tiffany ordered the Blue Corn-Crusted Trout, promising me a bite or two of her fish. We hadn’t told anyone of our covert order of pills, so some of our conversation was quite full-on inside information.

It was during this meal, I found out I was only five months older than Tiffany and we had a great time together.

I did offer each of them a bite of my meat, but Jenn wasn’t interested this time. Tiff loved feeding me, and I her. I believe Princess was more taken aback by our canoodling than Jennifer was.

After the meal was over, we had nothing planned ... until the Hotel Manager walked up to me and said, “Mr. Thomas, there is a venue in Santa Fe called Vanessie’s Lounge. Well, they found out you and your Gold Standard Society were in town. They wondered if you would be interested in using some of your people and performing later this evening? I told them I would ask you but promised nothing until I could ask you personally.”

“What do you know about this place, exactly?” I asked.

“they typically have a four to eight-piece combo and they have a full grand piano available for you, plus what you call a trap set. Are you interested?”

I looked at Jennifer and Princess asking, “What do my girls think about this?”

“You want to, don’t you?” Jenn said with her hands on her hips.

“Of course, I do; They have got a grand piano,” I said as if there were no other choice in the matter.

“Jennifer,” Princess said, “He’s just going to pout if we say no.”

“Yeah. What time to do they want us there, Sir?” my wife questioned before I could.

“Anytime at all, here are the directions. I will call them and let them know you will be there ... how soon?”

“In an hour,” I said. “Do you have a shuttle to take us there, or do we need to fire up one of our buses?”

“Of course, we could loan you one, or more of them, if needed, Mr. Thomas,” he said already on the phone.

I asked to have Tiff, Joan, Anna, and Brigitte, Mike, Genny, Jason, Peter, Charles, Lupe, and Nancy Starr contacted. Better call Mom and Dad, as well.

“Everybody dress accordingly and meet me and Tiffany in the foyer with your instruments, please?”

Waiting to talk to me was the Hotel Manager who said, “For doing this, we plan to give you a 50% discount to your total room bill, Mr. Thomas.”

“That’s very nice of you, Sir,” I said shaking his hand.

“I will have the vans outside for you in just a moment,” he added.

In a matter of thirty minutes, we all arrived at the Vanessie Restaurant and Lounge, with everyone except Tiffany and I walking in with their instruments. After getting some additional cords for our high-tech string sections, I was wheeled to the piano, where I felt right at home. It sounded in tune, so I started by playing the very song I first heard live, “Moon River.”

During the applause, I turned to the crowd and said, “Hello everyone, I hope you are still sober enough to enjoy us.”

That got a bigger cheer than I had expected, even Janice and Brian liked it. “My name is Michael Thomas, the others with me are only a small cadre of the much larger Gold Standard Society. We have been playing to crowds over eighty thousand since we started our most recent tour, going to every place there is an NFL Stadium. Tomorrow night we perform at Sports Authority Field in Denver.”

Another very nice applause.

“First up tonight will be my favorite lady in the whole world, my mom ... the former singing star Janice Forester. If you can help me get her up here, she will sing for all of us ... Come on Janice?”

With an ‘I will get you for this’ look on her face, she broke into a smile as she prepared to sing the iconic James Bond piece of music, “You Only Live Twice”...

You Only Live Twice
or so it seems,
One life for yourself
and one for your dreams.

You drift through the years
and life seems tame,
Till one dream appears
and love is its name.

And love is a stranger
who will beckon you on,
Don’t think of the danger
or the stranger is gone.

This dream is for you,
so pay the price.
Make one dream come true,
you only live twice.

And love is a stranger
who will beckon you on,
Don’t think of the danger
or the stranger is gone.

This dream is for you,
so pay the price.
Make one dream come true,
You Only Live Twice.

“Wasn’t she wonderful, ladies and gentlemen?” I said as the applause began to drop in intensity.

She stopped by me and gave me a peck on the cheek. “She’s pretty too but married.”

Another great chortle went through the place.

“Some more of our group have become justifiable stars, including Peter Chapman and Charles King. The song they told me they would love to perform is from the Disney movie, PETE’S DRAGON, may I present Dr. Terminus and Hoagy...”

They jumped right into in ‘Every Little Piece.’

Their captive audience just ate them up, loving these two boys like everybody does. I let Peter move to the side, calling up Princess and I kept Charles up.

“Could I get some water please?” I asked as I went on, “We have recorded and regularly performed a number of songs from the FROZEN soundtrack. Here is Mr. King in a crowd-pleasing number...”