Chapter 131

Something woke me up, but both girls were still asleep. I carefully got out my phone and sent a gang email, “I have had a change of policy regarding who can and cannot be a member of the GSS. There will be a meeting as soon as it can be scheduled between performances to explain the UPCOMING policy change.”

I separately sent this email, “Anyone with both Social Networking and computer skills, who would like to consolidate and be in touch with our Fan Clubs around the USA, please contact me before the end of this Tour.”

“What’re you doing, Boss?” an awakening Lily asked.

“Just making sure you have friends in the GSS for a long, long time. Go back to sleep, Lily.”

An hour later we pulled into the parking lot of the Courtyard Marriott. Lily demanded a kiss before I let her off my lap, so I kept it a very chaste lips only kiss.

“That’s not how you kiss everybody else, Michael.”

“Your brothers are good friends ... and you are only twelve. That’s two really good reasons why not. Get along and get your stuff now.”

She did, and I got a kiss from my wife, “You will be such a wonderful father.”

“I hope so, too bad they don’t come out her size.”

“That would really hurt,” she said in return.

She got up, I followed her. We each had our own stuff and our own room again. Thanks Mom!

Grabbing my other hand from behind was Lily, who smiled up at me. Her brothers were lagging behind us, apparently watching me closely.

After we were assigned our rooms, I said to her, “You are very cute, Miss Bell. I’m certain somebody your age will end up in the GSS that your brothers approve of. Take care, sweetheart.”

“Jenn, I will meet you upstairs. Go on ahead.”

We gave each other a big kiss, then I approached the counter.

“Hello Mr. Thomas ... What can we do for you?”

“I need a large enough room to hold a rehearsal in. What can you do for me?”

“Well sir, we have our Patriot Ballroom that has a capacity of 340, would that do?”

“Perfectly. If it’s a ballroom with a stage, might there be music stands available?”

“Would seventy-five be enough? I can have them set up for you?”

“Wonderful, I need that by ten am, can that be done in time?”

“No problem, Sir ... I’m glad we can help you. Will there be anything else?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, we plan to rehearse a good portion of the day. Could you find a way to provide us with some food around one pm? It needn’t be anything special, tacos, burgers, hot dogs ... whatever’s easiest.”

“Thank you, Sir, ... consider it done!”

I reached over the counter and shook his hand.

On the way to the room, I sent a gang text about the ten am rehearsal, including where to meet and the food was on the house (my personal house) asking everyone to send me a confirming text.

I went through my room door, letting it slam behind me. My wife was on the bed, naked and freshly shaved. I reopened and put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door, relocking it and completely turning off my phone.

She motioned for me to walk to her, which I did as I feverishly stripped naked with each step. When my mouth got near hers, she whispered, “Fuck the shit out of me, Michael.”

Whomever was on either side of us, or above and below us, knew what we did for the next ninety minutes. I didn’t care, and neither did my wife.

I was on top, then she was on top, first facing me, then facing away. We 69’d and I finished blowing a smallish load of Michael Milk up inside that crazy beautiful ass of hers. We took a shower -- then; we took a nap.

We got up, changed into comfortable clothes, surprisingly had a box for us to pick up as we went to have some breakfast.

Attaboy Jeff, the box was full of musical scores, each being a different episode of GLEE already scored. twenty-three to be exact, plus a note that the rest are on their way in time for our day off after Cleveland.

After ordering our breakfast, I took a brisk walk to the concierge wondering if there was a print house nearby.

“Whatever for, Mr. Thomas?” he asked.

“I have some music I need many copies of, do you know a place that can do that for me?”

“Is money an object, Sir?”

“Not necessarily,” I responded.

“How quickly, Sir?”

“One Hundred Twenty copies each, of five complete scores within the next three hours?”

“Do you have the legality of having the music copied?”

“Yes, I do. That is not a problem. Here they are, I’m giving you five scores to get back six hundred and five scores. Would a thousand dollars be suitable?“

That seemed to open his eyes, and he said, “Yes Sir, consider it already done.”

I went back to my breakfast.

“Which ones did you give him, Lover?” She asked already eating.

“You will learn when everyone else does at lunchtime,” I said. My poached eggs were very good, as was the bacon, toast and fruit plate, my new usual.

As we got up to pay, I saw a series of bellboys, with the GSS instruments on luggage carriers, with Stuart leading the way to the Ballroom. It was only nine am, but they all were very eager as was this hotel I plan to give five stars on-line to.

Hand in hand, we followed the line seeing Peter, James, and Charles setting up the musical stands. I’m not sure if the music we had been playing was stale to them, or the idea of playing music from GLEE seemed like fun.

The Prefontayne girls all waved at us as we walked in. When the bellboys were all done, those same three boys handed each of them two twenty-dollar bills using the other hand to give them a high five as they left.

Five minutes later, the orchestra was setup, and my singers were in the seats waiting for instructions.

“Is anyone missing?” was my first question.

Everyone looked around at each other, then Charles stood up and said, “Okay, if you are not here, then raise your hand?”

“Mr. King, that joke is older than the oldest person here, times two, but thank you. Here’s the plan. By the time we break for lunch, I will have five full episodes’ worth of GLEE music for us to learn from scratch. Until then, we already know almost thirty songs from GLEE, but I plan to put them on starting tomorrow.”

They all cheered for that.

“I plan to include the non-teenagers in this music, so don’t worry about that.”

“Since neither Eponine from our production LES MISÉRABLES isn’t in the GSS, and our Little Eponine, Jennifer Hughes isn’t either, that means Geena Prefontayne gets to sing ‘On My Own.’ Step forward Miss Prefontayne, do you wish to sing this, and do you remember the words to it?”

She was so excited, “Yes please. I remember the whole song as long as they do?” she said pointing at the orchestra.

“Hear that, people?” I said. “Those who weren’t with us then listen to the rest of them.”

“Geena, stand so you can watch my hands from the corner of your eyes to follow along, please?”

“Christian, (Our 3^rd string pianist)”...

EPONINE
And now I’m
all alone again
nowhere to turn,
no one to go to.
without a home
without a friend
without a face
to say hello to
And now the
night is near
Now I can make
believe he’s here
Sometimes I walk
alone at night
When everybody
else is sleeping
I think of him
and then I’m happy
With the company
I’m keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live
inside my head
On my own
Pretending
he’s beside me
All alone
I walk with him
till morning
Without him
I feel his arms
around me
And when I lose my way
I close my eyes
And he has found me{br}

(The Full orchestra comes in here)

In the rain the pavement
shines like silver
All the lights are
misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees
are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me
forever and forever

And I know it’s
only in my mind
That I’m talking to
myself and not to him
And although I know
that he was blind
Still I say, there’s a way for us
I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone
The river’s just a river
Without him
The world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers{br}

(This young lady, is a big girl now, with a big voice!)

I love him
But every day
I’m learning
All my life
I have only
been pretending
Without me
His world would
go on turning
A world that’s
full of happiness
That I have never
known...
I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own

Starting the applause were Joan and her sisters all crying their eyes out. I will tell her separately, that she turned a few words around. Criticism is one on one, while praise is for everyone. Mom taught me that!

We are one for one so far, as I called up Nancy Newman so we could sing “Lucky” together. I started the orchestra then turned around to sing

We sang and danced together. I certainly enjoyed watching her smiling face while doing my best to not step on her feet. Although not as shapely as my wife, she has a nice figure. I had better be careful, I could fall in love with her!

Mike had taken over the orchestra, while Nan and I had a very chaste kiss, then she walked off the stage. The applause was very nice. I saw and heard some employees in the back of the place who enjoyed it as well.

“Of those who haven’t performed yet, who here knows the song, “No Air” originally performed by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown, and on GLEE by Rachel and Finn?”

While the orchestra was finding it; Amongst the many, I saw Peter and his wife raising their hands, so, “Come on up Peter and Jen ... it’s all yours”...

If I should die before I wake
It’s ‘cause you took
my breath away
Losing you is like living
in a world with no air
Oh
I’m here alone,
didn’t wanna leave
My heart won’t move,
it’s incomplete
Wish there was a way
that I can make
you understand
But how do you expect me
to live alone with just me
‘Cause my world revolves around you
It’s so hard for me to breathe

Tell me how I’m supposed
to breathe with no air
Can’t live, can’t breathe with no air
It’s how I feel whenever you ain’t there
It’s no air, no air
Got me out here in the water so deep
Tell me how you gonna be without me
If you ain’t here, I just can’t breathe
It’s no air, no air

I remembered when I thought they would never work out, but they sing really well together these days. When the song was over, I stopped and gave him a big handshake and kissed the back of her hand.

“On our bus a few nights ago, I broke into a song that I found was sung during season two episode eight when Finn sang “Just The Way You Are.” This morning however, I want Juan Scott to sing it for us. You should have heard him on our bus.”

Juan came up, getting some high fives and fist bumps. “Can I go all out, Boss?”

“Sure, just keep up with the orchestra – go crazy man!”...

Oh, her eyes,
her eyes make the stars
look like they’re not shining
Her hair, her hair falls
perfectly without her trying
She’s so beautiful
And I tell her every day.

Yeah, I know, I know
when I compliment her,
she won’t believe me
And it’s so,
it’s so sad to think that
she doesn’t see what I see
But every time
she asks me do I look okay?
I say...

I never heard anybody sing live like he did ... trilling and making runs both up and down. He was even dancing, although what he was doing, I didn’t recognize. Diversity, Hell ... this kid is fantastic, no ... he was fucking fantastic!

The orchestra was playing with more enthusiasm, barely keeping up with him. I saw him ramping up, for a finish, so I brought the orchestra down in intensity, then had them stop cold, and he did a final ... thing with his voice that was awesome.

Everyone stood up for that, and I went over to him giving him a massive hug saying, “Can you do that in front of 70,000 people, Mr. Scott?”

“Yessir, I can ... damn, thank you for letting me cut loose like that.”

“Don’t you worry, you just became my new standard for any new guys in the group,” I said.

We went on doing some more music, until a plethora of servers brought in a buffet bar for us. It was exactly one pm. We got hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork and potatoes! Along with a big basket of assorted sizes of buns.

As they left, led by a group of bellboys, the concierge had our music for us. I went to him to open my wallet and he only let me pay him two hundred dollars, saying, “Mr. Thomas ... I have been listening and watching you from when you visited Miss Day in California and your style ... first came to the masses. I’m exceptionally proud of you and your young people. I do what I do to be self-satisfied. It appears we are kindred spirits. I plan to be at your event tomorrow night. Good job, young man.”

He put out his hand to be shook. I wondered how he might react to one of my hugs, so I shook his hand and said, “Thank you, very much.”

He left with his group of young employees in tow.

As he left, I saw my mother, who looked like she needed a hug. So, I went over to her and said, “I love you Janice. Do I tell you that often enough?”

“I’m so proud, whenever I hear anyone tell you that you are becoming a remarkable talent. I knew when you were an infant, that you would be an incredible young man. I just ... didn’t know how incredible that would be.”

“By the way, you can always text me ILY,” she said. “Brian and I do what is called ‘Sexting’ when I’m at home and he’s at work.”

Ignoring that, I said, “I love you, forever and ever. Now, I see a couple of hot dogs with my name on them. Would you like a song from GLEE to sing?” I asked her as we walked to the food. She had my arm. She was thinking about it.

We went down the tables, me getting my food and Janice getting hers. “You know Mom, there is a song from the show OLIVER that was performed on GLEE. It’s called ‘Where Is Love.’ Don’t you know that song?”

“Yes, I performed it at a few wedding receptions before you were even born, Michael.”

“Please, just the one number?”

“Michael, don’t taunt me like that.”

“I wasn’t taunting. It was like begging. Brian has told how he sometimes has to beg you to...”

“Please, don’t finish that sentence, honey. OK, I will sing that when you have it for me to look over again.”

“It’s from the pilot episode, which is one of the five episodes I had copies made of,” I said handing her a copy of the episode one score.

After we were done with our food break, I got up in front of everyone, while the orchestra was getting into place.