Chapter 71

YOU’RE A GOOD MAN
CHARLIE BROWN
Performance Night
The largesse of Thomas Auditorium was wearing off on me, after performing in a number of larger venues, but still having a full house to watch us will be marvelous.

To keep things uber simple, everyone only had a single outfit to wear. My idea was the old KISS system, ‘Keep It Sweet, and Simple’. No special effects, except the Kite, which Stuart made as low tech as it could be.

I stood in front of my multi-talented orchestra, and the show began...

LINUS
I really don’t think you have anything to worry about, Charlie Brown. After all, science has shown that a person’s character isn’t really established until he’s at least five years old.
SALLY (overlapping)
The only thing wrong with my big brother, Charlie Brown, is his lack of confidence; his inferiority and lack of confidence. His clumsiness, his inferiority, his lack of confidence. His stupidity his clumsiness, his inferiority and his lack of confidence, his...
SCHROEDER (overlapping)
Did you know that Charlie Brown has never pitched a winning baseball game, never been able to keep a kite in the air, never won a game of checkers and never successfully punted a football? Sometimes I marvel at his consistency.
LUCY (overlapping)
Now Charlie Brown has what you call a Failure Face, Linus. Notice how it has failure written all over it. Study it carefully. You rarely see such a good example.
CHARLIE BROWN (overlapping)
Some days I wake up early to watch the sunrise, and I think how beautiful it is, and how my life lies before me, and I get a very positive feeling about things. Like this morning for instance; the sky’s so clear and the sun’s so bright. How can anything go wrong on a day like this?

I am late!

From this opening exposition, the show begins cleverly moving through dialogue and musical moments that makes you think, laugh, and wonder?

We got to the end of Act One. “There will be a fifteen-minute intermission,” Stuart said.

We got a nice round of applause as I took off my headset. The pit went to the ground, where I stepped off, and found my girls, telling them how good they both were. I got matching kisses from the two of them, with a pill and a water right behind.

“Remember Sally, ‘New Philosophy’ is not a sexy number like Lola would sing. What you have been doing is remarkable ... just keep things positive.” I ended it with a kiss.

“Jennifer, I love your characterization, but you have gotten too quiet. Keep Marcie centered, with Patties’ attitude becoming yours when you are onstage together. When you are onstage without her, you are more your own person.”

“Thank you Michael, that can really help me get better. I like that you are conducting only. It feels more like a real show that way.” We kissed again, and I headed back out, putting on my headset.

“I was worried about you, Boss, everything OK?”

“Yeah, I was just ... motivating my cast back there.”

“Then clean off the ‘motivation’ on your left cheek when you get the chance.”

“Thank you,” I said rubbing my cheek clean.

The pit was up, he dropped the lights, and without an entr’acte, we played fifteen measures of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” to fill the void.

As the bow music started, each actor came out alone to his or her own bow, then singing a full verse of “Happiness.”

I turned giving my orchestra recognition, and then I took my bow, and finished cold. The lights came up, and actors were streaming to the dressing rooms, and the crowd started walking out.

Mom, Ally, and their guys came up to me and said, “Wonderful show, Michael.” Mom added, “They seemed not terribly excited while they were singing. The scenes went really well. Who knew James could be so funny, especially when your character is not supposed to be funny?”

“He is one of the surprises of this show, along with the massive amounts of talent from a certain blonde.”

“About your criticism on excitement, I think that’s due to putting it all together so fast. This will be the first and last August show from the GSS, I am pretty sure,” I said.

My blonde and brownette came up on either side of me. Jenn asked, “So, how was it?”

“Our consensus was that it lacked energy during the songs, but the scenes were great.”

Clarice joined us saying, “Mwa Mwa Mwa.”

“What was that?” I said as if understanding her. “The show is over and you don’t know what you are going to do next?”

Everybody laughed at that. Kitten and Peter walked up, we shook hands. Paul and Cece also came up with a slap on my shoulder and kisses on each of my girl’s hands. When he got to Clarice, Cece pulled him back?

We were a hit, to all but the most critical of us. Are my standards too high?

I was ready for some time in the spa when we got back from the party. The girls all agreed ... each of them putting on their skimpiest suits for my, or any other man’s attention. They didn’t even put on a cover, attempting to make me jealous and hard in the process. I walked with Sam on my arm as Jenn and Princess walked together holding hands. That’s a good sign to me.

I helped each of them get in the spa, commenting, “I am not sure which of you has the nicest butt.”

“Maybe later, you could do a side-by-side comparison, Michael,” Sam said.

“Oooh, I think Sammi is horny for Michael?” Jennifer said with her and Princess high-fiving each other. Blondie even scooted over so Sam could nestle in between us. She began to nibble on my ear, in public. I also felt her hand on my package instantly making me hard.

“I am sorry for being so blatant. The performance was so good I almost missed one of my entrances,” Miss Hornicek said.

I leaned in saying, “I can make sure I don’t miss your entrance, Sammi.”

“I really like that even better than Sam ... all of you can call me that if you want?” she said to us all.

We all spent about fifteen minutes quietly enjoying the bubbles and the quiet.

“Girls, we’re heading up for the night, is that all right with you?”

Smirking, they said “Fine.”

I got out, wrapped my towel around my erection, and then helped her out. I gave her a towel and she wrapped hers around and we held hands all the way to her room.

For some reason, Stuart went back to his apartment after the cast party. It makes me wonder what might have happened.

She let me in ... I locked the door.

I started grabbing at her, but she was flitting away, slowly undressing as she did. She beat me into her bedroom, and I entered as she took off the last bit of clothing.

“Michael honey,” she said trying to sound like a little girl, “Would you please fuck me? I heard that you can fuck me so I can’t walk for an hour or more. Do that to me, please?”

I had just finished dropping my boxers showing my fully erect interest in her recommendation, and I went straight to her pussy with my mouth. She immediately enjoyed that as much as I did. She is the fifth older woman I have made love with and as those ladies before, she has a marvelous and unique taste to her feminine juices.

She was quickly getting close to her first orgasm; I made a concerted effort to go even deeper with my mouth and tongue. I must have hit the spot because she squirted, filling my mouth.

She must have thought she peed in my mouth, because she started to say, “I’m sorry Michael” over and over.

I moved my head to hers saying, “You squirted cum in my mouth. That was really hot, can I kiss you after that?”

She put both of her hands on my head pulling my lips to hers. The contact was instant and sexually amazing. My dick flopped around and found its way inside her and the fucking began as quickly as the kissing and tasting.

Slowing, I got each of her legs up high and close to her head and just started slamming and pounding while kissing and caressing this fabulous redhead that is so remarkable.

I usually let the gal on top for a while to take a ride, but I wanted to prove my ability to this woman that I can do what I say.

I slowed down to make sure I was going as deep as I could get. Her eyes were rolling back as I released my torrent of Michael Milk deeply inside this exceptional thirty-one-year-old.

Her eyes were closed, but she had a smile on her face. She wasn’t moving, just breathing deeply full of my baby making stuff.

I got a text from Stuart, suggesting i came over to the Drive-In site. I told him I would be there ASAP.

Jennifer took me there, stopping for a quick moment at McDonalds.

We were both surprised how well things were going. The entire perimeter edge of the PDI was poured which defined how big the place was. A splurge of wires were ‘sprouting ‘ near the entrance to each theatre, and where the food center would be placed.

Stuart got out a drawing of a single theatre stall, with a Daktronic 25ft tall and 48ft wide screen, showing a mostly full stall of different vehicles. That got him a kiss on the cheek from Jennifer.

“How much are the screens?” I asked him.

“If we only wanted 16 at a time, they are $4,200 each. If we wanted to make a deal for them to be the exclusive screen throughout our ‘project,’ our price per screen drops to $2000. Despite my personal deep pockets, I was hesitant to make that deal without ‘THE BOSS’ knowing about it first.”

“I get that,” I said. “Exclusivity is a commitment, isn’t it?”

He had a dour look on his face, and didn’t answer my question.

“Stuart, let’s make a deal, why don’t we? I need Daktronics number please?”

He got it, then I said, “If I can sweeten this deal, I want you to take charge of Isabel. She is very special, but I know that she is better for you. Do we have a deal?”

This 17 year old broke out into a sweet smile and offered his hand to conclude the first part of this deal.

I called Mr. Kurtenback, “Daktronics.”

“Mr. Kurtenbach please, this is Michael Thomas!”

A few clicks, “Hello Mr. Thomas. I know of you. You are a multi talent. What can I do for you today?”

“I want to make deal to purchase 6,, 400 of your Daktronic 25ft tall and 48ft wide screen.”

It was rather quiet.

“How soon would you expect them, Mr. Thomas?”

“I am a understanding person, why don’t we spread them out over the next five years?”

“While we are at it, I wondered if we could get some of your billboard sized signs as well. Maybe 1,200 of them. I would expect a nice price break for all of this product.”

“Why don’t we drop the price of the 25x48s to $1,600. My people need to be motivated.”

“That is a deal! I may need some other things you do. Send the paperwork to...”

I gave him Mom and Dad’s address since I needed an adult to legally consummate the deal.

“By the way, we will need the first 16 of those in 30 days, how does that work out?”

Fortunately, his accent wasn’t too strong, so it all worked. We said goodbye to each other and I handed Stuart his phone.

His smile was quite emblematic, and Jennifer and I left.

I am so glad I moved the WEST SIDE STORY and RENT Auditions to the following week. WSS would be Friday after school and RENT would be Saturday morning. I have been wondering how Stu will react. I had planned to politely refuse Isabel in my bed.

WEST SIDE STORY
Auditions
Lincoln High Auditorium.

Princess got the role of Lola in DAMN YANKEES she had coveted and was telling whoever would listen.

There was just a piano, Nancy had volunteered to help out.

There were about 125 Lincoln students and about a dozen fourteen-year-olds from Jackson. It was nice to see a wonderful diversity of boys and girls to fill the 39 roles available.

“OK, first up is an explanation. In the movie, the two groups were the Jets (the white guys) and the Sharks (the Puerto Ricans). They struggle to control their turf, just like gangs do everywhere across the United States.”

“Today our groups will be the whites against all the other ethnic groups combined. That’s the Asians, Hispanics and Blacks. Without trying to agitate any particular ethnic group, I may use how a person looks to put them in their appropriate groupings. That’s called racial profiling in the real world, but around here it’s called Musical Theatre.”

Everyone laughed at that ... good.

“Today breaks down into four groups, plus three adult males, which I may cast later. The Male Jets, The Female Jets, the Male Sharks and the Female Sharks.”

“First, the Female Jets ... all of you come up please?”

About thirty girls came up, including Isabel and Jenn.

“Nancy, could you please start playing ‘Tonight,’ and I would like five girls at a time come up and sing it through.”

Isabel was in the first group, as I expected. She was much more animated than anyone else. I tapped the other four out and got four more and started things up again.

I had Izzy, Bethany Sierra, Emilia Ross, Erika Silger and Sharon Sizemore left. I let them each sing it along starting with Sharon.

After each sang it, I thanked them releasing them doing it until all had sung the song.

Next, I asked for the Female Sharks. I asked Jenn to stay on stage, which surprised her.

“Nancy honey, could you please start playing ‘I Feel Pretty,’ and I would like five girls at a time come up and sing it through.”

Smiling at me, Jenn stayed back as the other girls sang first. She was in a group of three with Maria Vargas and Joan Prefontayne.

They were quite good together.

“I would like each of you to sing ‘Tonight’ separately, please?”

Maria stepped forward and sang it very well, and then Joan did better than I had expected. Then ... Jennifer stepped forward. “Would you sing it with me, Mr. Thomas?”

MARIA
... Only you, you are the only
thing I will see forever,
In my eyes, in my words
and in everything I do,
Nothing else but you ... Ever!
TONY
And there’s nothing
for me, but Maria,
Every sight that
I see is Maria.
MARIA
Tony, Tony...
TONY
Always you, every thought
I will ever know,
Everywhere I go, you will be
MARIA
All the world is
only you and me!
Tonight, tonight,
It all began tonight,
I saw you and the
world went away.
Tonight, tonight,
There’s only you tonight,
What you are,
what you do, what you say.

I cut it off and started her applause which got louder and louder. I excused the ladies and went through the same sequence of events with both sets of boys.

“Thank you, the parts will be posted at both schools on Monday.”

I had no real casting committee, since this would be a Concert.

The moment I got in Jenn’s car my phone rang, “Yes, Mother.”

“Your deliveries just came. Something from Daktronics, and a number of boxes all labeled Apple.”

“Thanks, Beautiful. We will get it later. We have a series of errands already lined up.”

“Don’t forget that you have a mother and she loves to cook for a lot of people. How about Monday night?”

“Sunday would be better ... you know my favorite meals.”

“I may not make noodles and chicken, Michael.”

“I guess that means when I receive my first award I will thank Alice before you,” I said.

Her laughter caught me off guard. “You are such a little shit sometimes.”

“Thank you, I haven’t heard that in a while. I know it means you love me, Janice. Goodbye.”

I heard her laughing again as I hung up.

“So, we’re going to your mother’s on Sunday night for dinner?” Princess said.

“That’s right blondie,” I returned.

“Assuming I get to play Mimi in RENT, what would be her hair color?”

“Dark black. Just like Jennifer had for LES MISÉRABLES. You are coming off Charlie Brown, and are playing a major role in Jackson Heights DAMN YANKEES concert. Besides that, you just auditioned for WEST SIDE STORY and I have already slotted you in the Disney concert. Shouldn’t you take a break?”

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to get exhausted from all of that ... I am counting on you for RENT and in PAJAMA GAME there is a part for a beautiful dancer.”

“Well, I will take off ‘Funny Thing’, but Jackson is doing BYE BYE BIRDIE,” she argued.

“Well, all right. I can barely imagine you as a brunette. Maybe, if Jenn gets Maureen, I will have her be a redhead. Would you like that, honey?”

A kiss on my lips was my answer.

“How much longer before you add all of those people to the GSS?” Jenn went on to ask.

“This next week I plan to roam through the schools and find someone to help me give them out.”

“How are you going to do that, with all of your classes?” Princess questioned.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I have taken a test in three classes to satisfy three required freshman core courses and I nearly aced them all.”

“NO, you didn’t.” Jenn said, giving me a shoulder bump.

“We will still have Biology together. I don’t understand that stuff just by reading the book. We get to cut up some worms and frogs, at least I hope so.”

“That, I am not looking forward to,” Jennifer said.

“I hope you don’t puke, because I may faint,” I said.

“Not while we’re eating, Michael,” Sammi said.

“Sorry Mom,” I said making her giggle.

“That wasn’t your mother you were in bed with earlier, Michael,” she said.

“I like to role-play, recently Jennifer pretended to be Isabel and we had a great old time together.”

“She did?” Isabel said with a giggle.

I got such a look from Jennifer.

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s a lot of fun. We pretended she was Katherine before as well.”

“Wow,” both Izzy and Sammi said.

“To be honest, before she ended up with Peter, she and I had a series of assignations,” I said.

“Not only that, they fucked all the time,” Princess said. “That’s what Jennifer told me.”

“There’s an expression Michael,” Sammi said, “When you sleep with someone, you are sleeping with every person that they slept with. That’s something to think about.”

“I understand that ... it goes through my head especially when someone new and exciting comes along.”

“Is that what I am to you ... A new toy to be played with?” Ms. Hornicek remarked

This ... sounded like a trap.

“No ... not exactly. We both enjoyed all the flirting we had been doing. I never thought it would go anywhere. But, you started to respond and it became something different. And now we are here today, a slightly dysfunctional and very disturbing extended family.”

“You like it because you are the only guy,” Jennifer said.

“I like it because if I was any happier and satisfied, I might explode.”

“That sounds messy,” Princess said to them all giggling again.

I got up and washed the plates off. I asked if anyone else was finished, taking Princess’ plate and doing the same. “Somebody sure trained him well,” Sammi said.

“My mother worked hard raising me without a dad for the last ten years. The least I could do was perform my part around the house. I am ... an excellent catch,” I said sitting.

“And I caught him first,” Jennifer added. “That’s what this ring means.”

“Michael, I am a little tired, could we go upstairs for the night?” she added.

I gave everyone a kiss goodbye and we left.

She was silent on our short walk and must have been tired, because she lay on the bed after only taking off her shoes.

“Are you mad at me, because of what I said?” I asked.

“A little more than that I felt the need to reaffirm my place in the kingdom of Michael.”

“You will always be on the very top of that Kingdom.”

*******

I was eager to get all the computer stuff the next morning, so I called to make sure Stu and I could come and get it. Mom said it was OK, so I texted the other girls to let them know we would be gone for a while.

On the trip there, I told Jennifer about my idea about putting together a concert show only of the music from FROZEN. She thought it sounded like a great idea.

“Who would play what parts?” she tried to innocently ask.

“I was thinking of Princess as the oldest Anna, you as the oldest Elsa. Charles King as Olaf, Rich Newman as Kristoff, James Allen as Hans and Joan Prefontayne as Bulda the Troll.”

She added, “Sam Choate could play The Duke, if necessary. Maybe Peter could play the Troll King.”

“We would still need the younger Anna’s and Elsa’s, but it sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? I was looking at the schedule and I could slot it in as soon as a year from this coming October.”

“We couldn’t do it any sooner?” she wondered as I saw Stu pulling up.

“I have done a lot of changes to the school year that just started, so realistically that would be the soonest,” I said giving her a kiss.

We pulled up, I asked Jenn to keep this idea to herself for now. She smiled and agreed.

I knocked and Mom was surprised it was just the three of us, inviting us in to sit down.

“It’s wonderful to see you,” mom said.

“It’s nice to be seen,” I responded trying to be witty.

“You know Janice,” Stuart said. “You remind me of my mother, which must be why I like being here for whatever reason.”

“That is so sweet of you to say, thank you,” she said to him.

“Well, I am going through all the paperwork from when we moved in there ... fortunately, our fireproof three drawer file did its job, I got everything out of it before Ken and his people cleared the site. Come by after school tomorrow. Ken says he has a rough draft for us to look at.”

I grabbed the thick envelope from Daktronic’s, opened it and read it aloud.

“You know Son,” Brian said. “You have a real head for business.”

“I can’t take all the credit, Stuart started the process, he was the quarterback, I kicked the field goal that won the game! Besides, the day we open the first PDI, we could be grossing as much as $84,000 per day.”

“The Capital cost per PDI unit,” Stuart said, “May be as little as $950,000. If you didn’t know, I am funding the first one.”

“I hope my son is paying you enough, Stu?”

“I am comfortable, Brian. Don’t worry about me. The day we open the tenth PDI we are using, as the expression goes, ‘Other People’s Money!”

“Now you sound like Michael,” my mother said.

“Michael, I have been looking at a way so that when anyone went out to work out or spa or go to the pool, we wouldn’t have to deal with rain or snow. Some kind of clear large plastic enclosure so we can use our pool year-round.”

Brian pulled his laptop over saying, “I have heard of a company that makes those ... just a minute ... here it is, Aqua Shield! Go to it when you get a chance. They can custom make them all the way to 32ft by 100ft.”

“Wow, that’s pretty big. I will follow that up Dad. How do you two like not having anyone around anymore?”

“You would ask us that?” mom responded with a look.

“My acne is finally clearing up,” Brian said with a loud burst of laughter behind it.

“Before my sixteenth birthday, I would like more than anything ... chest hair. I look like one of those people who shave their body to swim. What I would give for some dark chest hair to make me look older. I shave only once a week but there are only a few chin hairs to deal with.”

They all chuckled at my self-deprecating humor.

“Mother, may I play the piano, please?”

“Like I would ever stop you Michael,” she said as I went over and sat down. I cracked all of my knuckles first, something my mother never could stand.

We played and sang for a few hours, including music from MARY POPPINS, MY FAIR LADY, and DAMN YANKEES.

During that, I saw Stuart humming while moving the boxes to our car.

“Oh, by the way Dad, the steel building I’d wanted can’t be put where I wanted it, but I have a new idea for it.”

“Uh-oh, I recognize that tome,” Jennifer said. “Anyhow Michael, what about the Tour to California?”

“What Tour is that?” Janice asked with hands on her hips.

“It’s why we have the new buses. I am adding upwards of twenty-five people to the Gold Standard Society, and we will head to California, with a few performances along the way, spend up to four days there, then do the same back again, getting everybody home for Christmas.”

“When were you planning on telling me about this?”

“This is late August, my dear mother. It’s called preparation.”

“Well, OK. It sounds feasible. Can I do something for it?”

“I haven’t run it by the existing GSS, much less the 88-person version we will have very soon,” I said. “I am expecting that Cece and Paul won’t be available, so the Quintet downsizes back to a Quartet.”

“Eighty-eight people. That’s a lot of bedrooms,” Janice remarked. “But, I suppose it’s not impossible.”

“It’s four months away, we need a route to take, that is my task, that I will have done before Labor Day. That will pass on to Janice and Alice, to find us hotels to stay at; and Brian will locate us the largest venues for us to get into.”

Everyone was nodding their heads, in compliance with what I said. I went over and gave my mom a kiss on the cheek.

“Your charms don’t work on me anymore, young man. I have a husband now.”

“I know you do, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you how stunning you look, can’t I?”

“I tell her that every day,” Brian added fighting back with a delightful smirk.

“And he gets to see you naked, so that counts double,” I said getting a slap on the back of my neck from Jenn and I, while Brian and Mom laughed at my pithy remark.

“Guys, let’s load up the computer stuff and leave these two lovebirds alone,” I said taking a quick look at my watch.

Stuart had left, and I believe I knew why?

She went out and opened the back of her Matrix and Brian and I got everything into the back of the car in a single trip.

Jenn got out her keys causing mother to say, “Kids, don’t be strangers. You can come by for dinner any time you like ... especially on weekends. Tell the other ladies as well. There are times when looking at him just isn’t enough to get through the day,” she said.

Brian took that as a challenge and gave her a mouth-watering kiss so; I took Jenn and started one of our own. They were done first, causing us to be watched. I pulled Jenn up very close and had my hands just above her butt.

“Get a room,” They said together

“Good idea, See you later. Got a computer to put together. For the Christmas Tour please use hotels with restaurants in them. Love you guys,” I waved as we drove away.

“What do you want to do when we get home ... put together a computer ... or make love to your fiancée?”

“That will depend on a few things my dear,” I said pulling up to our temp home and seeing Stuart’s car in front of it. it was empty, so we are going in to to either a loud fight or...

It was deadly quiet!

“Tell me you love me, Michael?”

“My God, Jennifer Rose ... I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone in my life, including my own mother. We are getting married, my beloved. That is a fact.”

Jen came over and sat in my lap, and we had a few minutes of making out until I heard a door open. Coming down the stairs were a very satisfied looking Isabel, and a very proud looking Stuart Holland.

They sat in the loveseat, with her on his lap.

It was quiet until Isabel said, “Michael ... I know that we have been intimate for a very long time, but I have come to the conclusion that we need to stop doing that. I love Stuart and he loves me and we are engaged to be married as soon as I am old enough.”

She gave Stu an elbow.

“I have moved out of my place, and we are going to live together as a couple, provided it is all right with you two?”

My greatest acting job began, “He is three years older than you. Are you sure you want this, Izzy?”

Stu gave me a sly smile before he said, “I believe I heard you say that love, the truest love, will hit you when you least expect it.”

“I don’t recall saying that before, Mr. Holland!” getting a light slap on my back.

“If you didn’t, then you should have,” Jennifer said, getting up to give Isabel a big hug, while I gave Stuart a nice manhug.

Operation Isabel: COMPLETE!

“Michael,” Princess asked, “Have you ordered the replacement keyboards you need for the GSS to play?”

I had to stop and think about that. ‘Shit. I haven’t yet. Stuart, remind me right after dinner, please. I am going to have to get rush delivery at this point. I need two of them and a replacement modern Keytar. I have gotten used to having that around. Thank you Princess. I can’t believe I forgot to do that, Damn.”