Chapter 5: Danger Zone

Downtown London, Ontario

8:22pm, Saturday, October 6, 1979

“I almost forgot how much I loved Mario’s panzerottis,” Paul said as he rubbed his stomach after he and Sammy walked back to the Hilton Hotel from Mario’s Pizza Place on Clarence Street in downtown London.

“I’d never met, or even knew Cuda’s sister worked there,” Sammy stated as they waited for the walk signal King and Wellington.

“Yeah, she’s been there for ‘bout two years now. It was always nice to go in there and get a half price discount on our food,” Paul chuckled as he used his fingers for the universal money signal. As they started to walk again, Paul added, “I may not be as perceptive as Cuda regarding people’s feelings, but I do know when something is bothering you. So...”

“So-ah, tell me about this Gina, girl,” Sammy asked Paul as they walked into the main lobby of the Downtown Hilton Hotel where Paul, Cathy and their mother were staying.

“Gina, uh. Let’s see,” Paul said as they walked to a leather couch in a corner of the main lobby. “She a cute like brunette, with a few blonde streaky highlights in her hair ... at least it was these past few weeks. She was a blonde when I met her at our school’s jazz band practice. Ah, she’s hot little thing, more slender than say ... Jennifer or a slightly more busty version of Eda.”

“Can’t go wrong body-wise, being a mix of E and Jenn,” Sammy said with a smile. She chuckled and then thought, ‘Kinda sounds like me.’

“She’s a pretty good guitar player, but she’s got a knock out voice. She’d give Cuda a run for his money as a lead singer ... if she was here in your band,” Paul added. When he saw the look on Sammy’s face he added, “Sorry, Sammy. I didn’t mean that as a put down of you or the other girls in the Bandettes.”

“No, no need to apologize. If she’s got that good a voice, you guys are lucky to have her as a lead singer.”

“‘Kay, good,” Paul replied as he turned towards Sammy and put his right hand on her tucked under leg. “Let’s see, she originally was named Eileen Regina Edwards, but her parents divorced when she was like two. Her mom moved Gina and her sisters up to Timmins ... for some God forsaken reason. Gina, she likes that name better than Eileen. Well, her mom remarried an Ojibwa Indian, and this guy adopted the girls. That’s why she goes by Twain, Gina Twain, now.”

“I like that last name. One of my favorite...” Sammy said.

“One of your favorite authors. Yes, Mark Twain, I remembered,” Paul interjected with a smile. “Well, Gina’s had a pretty rough go of things growing up as I’m pretty sure her step-dad is a pretty mean drunk, and that he’s smacked Gina’s mom a time or two. I saw Mrs. Twain with a Wushu like shiner a couple of weeks ago, and I’m pretty sure she’s not into the martial arts ... like you.”

“Maybe you should get Gina involved in a local martial arts program, so she could put a halt to her mom’s physical troubles,” Sammy suggested which caused Paul to curl his lower lip out and give his head a slight nod.

“Where do you guys play? There can’t be a ton of schools around Timmins to play dances and stuff,” Sammy asked.

Paul chuckled out loud at Sammy’s question. He then said with a smile, “I think the next closest school is like fifty miles away. So yeah, school shows are few and literally pretty far between. We, ah, because we’re probably the best band in the Timmins area, the police have tended to look the other way, and uh, we’ve played in a few seedy bars and night clubs, mostly ... other than the two dances at our school.”

When Paul finished his talk about Gina and their new band, Sammy leaned over and moved her face about a foot from his and asked, “Are you happy, Paul?”

Paul stared at Sammy’s blue eyes for a moment and then let out a small sigh and replied, “Other than being up in the middle of the Great White North, or as some of my Timmins’ friends call it, ‘B-F-E-N’ or ‘Bum-Fuck-Egypt-North’ ... Yeah, Sammy, I’m pretty much ... happy.”

“Then I’m glad for you, Paul. I kinda hate it for me, but...”

“You gotta get out there ... get yourself a new boyfriend, Sammy. Life’s too damn short to miss out on things you and a guy can do.”

“I miss the closeness we had,” Sammy softly said as she sat back on her butt.

“Cuda’s told me you’ve not really gone out more than once or twice with any guy. Why?”

“A combination of things, I guess ... I think they’re scared or intimidated by my Wushu activity. Some don’t like my redheaded feistiness ... I guess it pisses them off, or may be guys think I’m ‘the’ Labatt princess and don’t make an effort to get to know me ... Who knows, though?”

“I’ll say one thing, you’ve never flaunted your ‘princess-ness‘ around me, which I thought was great.”

“I really try not to be a spoiled rich bitch,” Sammy replied as she rested her head on the back of the leather sofa in the lobby.

“Goodness, if it’s not that spoiled rich redheaded girl, Sa-matty Labatt!” Mrs. Thulin called out from the center of the hotel lobby with perfect timing based on Paul and Sammy’s conversation.

“Mr. and Mrs. T! How are you doing?” Sammy shouted as she jumped up from the sofa and ran over the grinning elderly couple.

“We’re good, Sa-matty. We’re just getting back from visiting Inga and the grandkids,” Mrs. Thulin replied.

“And who is this good looking young man, Samantha?” Mr. Thulin asked after giving Sammy a hug.

“Mr. and Mrs. Thulin, this is my, uh, my old boyfriend, Paul McGregory. Paul moved with his family up to Timmins, last spring. He’s in town with his twin sister, Cathy and their mom for the weekend.”

“Ah, that was you driving Samantha and the pretty black-haired girl in Mike and Lynette’s car, was it? Mrs. Thulin asked Paul.

“Yes, Ma’am, that was me driving that Barracuda,” Paul replied as he shook Mr. Thulin’s hand.

“Well, any guy who was able to tame this wild, spoiled little girl, even for a short time is alright by me,” Mr. Thulin stated as he put his arm around Sammy’s shoulder.

“I wasn’t able to tame this redhead, Mr. Thulin,” Paul chuckled.

“And you know darn well, I’m not a spoiled little girl,” Sammy faux-fumed at the older gentleman.

“You know we’re messing with you, Sa-matty,” Mrs. Thulin replied as she patted Sammy’s shoulder.

“And I love you for it!” Sammy replied with a big smile on her face.

“Would you two care to join us for a night-cap at the hotel bar?” Mr. Thulin asked.

“Thanks, Mr. T, but, uh, I’ve got to get going. I didn’t get much sleep last night and...” Sammy replied.

“And a pretty girl like you, she doesn’t need any more beauty sleep, does she Paul!” Mrs. T chuckled, which caused her gray-blue hair to dance on her head.

“As pretty as Sammy is, Mrs. Thulin, her nick-name could be ‘Sleeping Beauty’”, Paul replied with a smile and hip-check to Sammy.

“Why haven’t you talked your dad into kidnapping this guy, Sammy?” Mr. Thulin asked as he held his eighty-plus-year-old hand up for Paul to high-five.

“Trust me, Mr. Thulin, when I told Sammy about having to move to Timmins, she basically did ask her dad about kidnapping me and my twin sister,” Paul replied after giving the elderly man his hand slap.

“And there’s proof of being a spoiled little girl! ... Just kidding, again, Sa-matty!” Mrs. Thulin chortled.

“Oh, the spoiled rich brat definitely reared her ugly head on the day Paul told me that he and Cathy were moving up north. It wasn’t my proudest moment, that’s for sure!” Sammy said as she leaned her head on Paul’s shoulder.

“Everybody’s got a little brat in them, Samantha ... even your dad and granddad had some brattiness in them,” Mr. Thulin said as he reached over and patted Sammy’s shoulder.

“As much as we like chatting with you and your ‘old’ boyfriend, Sa-matty, if we’re going to have a night-cap, we best get a move on it, Malcolm,” Mrs. Thulin said as she gave her husband a gentle tug on his arm.

“It was nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Thulin,” Paul said as he nodded at the elderly couple.

“The pleasure was all ours, Mr. Paul and Miss Sa-matty,” Mr. Thulin replied and winked at the petite redhead as he purposefully used his wife’s pronunciation of Sammy’s name.

“Have a night-cap for me, Mrs. T!” Sammy said as they started to walk away.

“Say hello to your dad and Ms. Katie for us, Samantha,” Mr. Thulin asked.

“I will!”

Masciotro House, London, Ontario

8:25pm, Saturday, Oct. 6, 1979

“I can run inside if you guys want to talk,” Eda perceptively said as we walked into their backyard and moved to their picnic table. “I kinda have a feeling the two of you would like a little privacy.”

“Brick?” I simply asked, putting the ball in her court.

“You don’t mind ... giving us some... ?”

“Heck no, Sis,” Eda replied and gave her sister a hug. “I’ll let Momma and Dad know you’re out here talking with Mike. If you’re not out here too long, I think they’ll leave you alone for...”

“I doubt we’ll be out here all night, E. Thanks,” I replied with a smile.

When Eda closed the backdoor behind her, Brick let a loud sigh escape from her body and rapped her fingers on the picnic table. “So, Miss Lisa Conchita Masciotro...” I softly said and purposefully left it at her full name.

“I, uh, I sooo badly wanted to suck on you when I pulled your shorts down, I could hardly breathe and you, you simply said, ‘No’. What was that all about? You woulda let the others do it, but not me. Then...”

“Stop, stop, stop. Slow down, Brick,” I calmly said as I put my hands over her twitching fingers. “First off, I was very impressed at how well you removed my shorts when I challenged you. That showed me that you indeed were a big girl ... no a lady, beginning your journey into womanhood.”

“Then why’d ya stop me when your thick cock was inches from my mouth?” Brick asked in a much calmer manner than her earlier mini-rant.

“I didn’t think your initial sexual steps in womanhood needed to be viewed by all our friends. Somethings ... should be done in private, Brick. Our first time together should be one of them.

“But then, after you sang and we danced, you told me something like, ‘That lounger would do’ and you were talking about makin’ love to me, Mike,” Lisa softly but confusingly said as she leaned across the table towards me.

“It took every ounce of will-power I had NOT to lay you down and make love to you on that lounger in front of everyone ... including your older sister,” I replied as I stared into her brown eyes on this dark crisp evening. “I, uh, when I said that to you I gambled that you ... being a super-smart fourteen-year-old would either panic and run, or realize that even though your body wanted it badly, your mind would tell you ‘not now’ and walk away from that situation.”

I paused to let my words sink in and then added, “By your reaction afterwards in the hot-tub and then when we practiced those two Journey songs, I knew it was the super-smart Brick that responded and you walked away saying, ‘Now isn’t the time for this.’ Am I right?

“You’re right, damn it! My body was screaming to do it, but I could tell by the conflicted look in your eyes, that wasn’t the time for us,” Lisa replied.

She then quickly pulled her hands from under mine, slapped the back of my hands and then whispered in a stern tone, “You gambled on me basically ... either running in panic or rationally walking away did you? What would you have done if I had jumped up and wrapped my long legs around your waist, trapping your hard cock against my pussy?”

“You, my beautiful birthday buddiette would have then had seven-and-a-half inches of thick cock driven between your shaved pussy lips!” I replied with a grin on my sixteen-year-old face. “I told you it took every ounce of strength for me not to do that, so ... if you had of done that, the balance of power would have tipped to my little head, which desperately wanted to interact with your hot virgin pussy.”

“Ya-you’re telling me that...”

“Yes ... I would have had you pinned to that lounger in a heartbeat with my cock ... you so badly wanted to suck ... in your tight pussy before either of us could have changed our minds.”

“Ohh, shit, Mike,” Lisa softly said and sighed as she looked down at our hands. “I guess we both gambled and won, tonight.”

“How? What did you gamble with?” I asked with a confused look on my face.

“Being a baby and crying about being left out of things; then when I really-really wanted to do it with you, I backed out ... I just gambled that you woulda, you’d still want me ... after I kinda was a hypocrite, this afternoon.”

“I would never think of you as a whiny hypocrite, Lisa. You are exactly who you’re supposed to be, a...”

“A hormonally driven, and confused young girl, right?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Lisa. I’m a hormonally driven young guy. A guy, who almost gave into those hormones ... with a girl, who almost gave into her desires.”

“So I haven’t lost you ... as a future lover, teacher and friend?” Lisa softly said as she stared into my blue eyes.

“As a future lover and teacher, and I’m guessing you mean as a sex teacher ... who really knows, Lisa? As a friend; that shouldn’t even be in question!”

“But you do know the future, Mike ... you’ve lived it,” Lisa stated a partially correct statement.

“Give me your hand, Lisa,” I asked and took both of her hands in mine. “Here’s ... what we experienced together in the future.”

I gave the beautiful fourteen-year-old time to process the mental images that I was able to share with her about our time together, starting on our birthday in January of 1980.

“We, uh, did everything, but ... make love?” Lisa both stated and asked in her response to seeing those mental images. “I started it all on my fifteenth, your seventeenth birthday?”

“Lisa ... based on how infinitesimally close we just came to doing something NOT from our future, what I ... what we did in my ‘future-past’ isn’t guaranteed to happen this time. Heck, we weren’t big time musicians. We never wrote kick-ass songs. I didn’t date, let alone have my brains screwed out by Lynette, Sammy or Cathy. So, uh, when I said a few minutes ago about being your future lover and teacher...”

“We’ll just have to play it by ear, then, Mike ... like we did dancing to your Anytime rendition,” Lisa smartly completed my thoughts.

Just talking like this eased both of our troubled souls. As we sat there holding hands across the picnic table, my super-smart and obviously intuitive birthday buddiette asked, “What’s going on with you and Lynette? I noticed somethings changed in your relationship, today, but I can’t put my finger on it or figure it out.”

“Hell, Lisa, I can’t truly figure it out!” I chuckled and lightly rapped both of our hands onto the picnic table. “I, uh, love her with all my heart...” I paused and looked in Lisa’s eyes for a moment.

“What’s the ‘but’ to that statement?” Lisa once more had the winning lottery ticket question.

“I’m just not the right guy for her, Lisa. I can’t do the things she’s gonna want or need me to do for her. I want to be with her still, but...”

“The right guy is out there for her, Mike. But hanging with you guys now for six months, I doubt Lynette is gonna completely abandon those special things you’ve done together and with others. I wasn’t making it up today when I got all pissy ... I knew about some of your group shenanigans. Now, when I’m or when we’re ready, I hope to be a part of them with Cano and Sammy ... and possibly Eda.”

“Possibly with E?” I asked with a grin on my face.

“Oh yeah! ... Let me ask ... er, tell you something first before I get into Eda possibly wanting to get with you,” Lisa calmly said with her brown eyes sparkling in the darkness. “Why do you think me and E weren’t scared to death when we saw that thick monster between your legs?” Before I could formulate a response and reply, Lisa continued, “We weren’t because Cano and Sammy have told us that even though your cock looks like it could rip a girl’s pussy apart; you’ve made sure that each girl you’ve been with has had an awesome time. For me, seeing your hard cock for the first time was exhilarating, but not alarming because us girls ... well, we talk about stuff.”

“You were ... surprisingly cool with my large cockhead right in your face,” I said with a smile.

Brick grinned and then easily changed the direction of the conversation like Sammy or Cano often did. She softly said, “So, E’s been hinting in a round-about way to me, and I’m sure to Cano and-or Sammy, that she might like to have some of Cuda’s special attention.”

I shook my head at Brick’s statement and then figured I might as well share something she didn’t know about her sister and the girls. I leaned over to her and whispered, “If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell Eda, or anyone, not even Cano or Sammy who told me this. I very, VERY seldom share what others have done and said.”

“Oh gosh, I promise not to breathe a word of any of this to anyone, Mike. Please tell me what Cano and Sammy had to say about E!”

“Well, the couple of times Eda has been with Lynette and Sammy, she’s made it very clear she didn’t want anything in her pussy that would, you know, tear her hymen. So, uh, Lynette and Sammy have a real private but loving name for Eda, which again ... you can’t ever use or let on you know it.”

“Oh, God! What is it, Cuda?” Lisa asked as she bounced her small tight ass on the picnic table’s wooden seat.

“Sammy gave E the nickname, VB2B ... which stands for ‘Virgin Bride to Be’.”

“Oh! My! God! ... That! Is! Priceless! ... And damn it to hell, now, ‘cause I can’t use it with her!” Lisa softly, yet super excitedly cried as she smacked the table with her hand on each of her single forced words at the start of her response.

“What’s got you all wound up, Brick?” VB2B or Eda asked and then gave this message to her younger sister. “Oh! Momma said five more minutes as we’ve got early church.”

“Just that I didn’t ruin things like my friendship with Cuda and the girls when I acted like a whiny little baby earlier today, E. And we’re almost done out here. I’ll be in in a jiff, ‘kay.”

“I’ll see you in morning at church, E,” I replied with a smile from the dimly lit picnic table. “Say hello to you mom, dad and Nonna, for me.”

“I will. See you in the morning and have a safe drive home, Cuda.”

After the backdoor closed, Lisa asked, “If E doesn’t want to have, you know, like sex-sex, why would she want to fool around with you?”

“Really, Lisa?” I replied with raised eyebrows, “What did you initially want to do to me today? What else could I do with her that doesn’t require having a hard cock in her pussy?”

“Ahhh! See ... I told you I need you as a sex teacher in the worst way, Mike. So, uh, you’d be happy with just doing oral sex with E?”

“We were good with it ... in our past-future, remember? Also, there’s one other place that E just may want to have my hard cock; some special place where Cano used her blue vibrator with Eda. Sammy and Cano both said your sister absolutely loved feeling it there.”

Lisa looked at me with glazed, confused eyes after I said there’s another place for my hard cock in Eda. “Think, Lisa,” I simply said and watched as her facial expression changed from mystified to horrified to mesmerized to simply being awestruck when she softly muttered, “Your monster could go there ... in her ass?”

“Ask Lynette, Sammy, or Jennifer about that when you see them again. It takes lots of time and patience the first time or two, but they all went bonkers with pleasure with my ‘monster’ in their asses,” I replied as I squeezed her hands. I almost burst out laughing when Lisa grimaced and I wiggled her clinched butt cheeks together as she imagined my hard cock fitting in those girls’ or maybe her own tiny butt.

“I think I’m gonna leave you with those wonderful mental pictures running through your beautiful, but still fourteen-year-old mind,” I said as I lifted my butt off the wooden seat and leaned over the table to give Lisa a soft kiss on her still crinkled up nose. “If and when you think you might like to try that or anything, with me ... I’ll be here for you, Lisa.”

As I lifted my legs out from the table and stood up, I added with an evil grin on my face, “All I know for certain Lisa is that, in my mind it didn’t’ end for me and you ... on that lounger ... in Sammy’s pool room... “

“Gawd! Mike! Just stop!” Lisa cried with a huge grin on her face as she moved to the end of the picnic table. “Yes, I know that both our right hands will probably be giving our private parts one hell of a workout, tonight. I just don’t need to it to start, here, at my damn picnic table!”

“Nothing wrong with a little fun on a picnic table, Lisa,” I chuckled and then scooted out of harm’s way as she lunged at me while laughing her pretty head off.

When we got to my Barracuda, Lisa pushed me against the door and mashed her large breasts against my chest. She then huskily said in her still relatively soprano-ish voice, “Thank God for my Italian mother!”

“Why’s that, Lis?” I asked as I looked down into her dark brown eyes.

“Because the only thing keep me from ripping your clothes off and sucking that monster into my mouth is...”

“Your wonderful Italian mother ... Got it! I’m inclined to agree with you on that one.” I then leaned down and gave my birthday buddiette a soft kiss on her nose and squeezed her tight, tiny butt cheeks.

When she slipped her left hand between our tight bodies, and touched my hard package, Lisa said, “Hope you can drive alright with that third leg of yours in its full functional mode.”

“It will be a chore driving with ‘three legs’ but I’ll manage. I’ll, uh, see you in the morning ... nine-fifteen-ish. Try to get some sleep, okay?” I said as I slowly inched both of us from my driver’s side door and reached behind me to open it. “You gotta let me go, or your Italian mother will be calling the mafia on me, Lisa!”

“I know, I know. I just don’t wanna let you go ... after all we’ve been through, today.”

“Again, when the time is right...” I said as I moved behind my open door with Lisa on the other side of it.

“Trust me, I don’t think that will too far off in the future, Mike.”

“Then, we’ll have the times of our lives ... this timeframe’s lives,” I said as I ducked down into the low-slung bucket seat of my mean muscle machine.

“Nine-fifteen-ish, Mike. Bye,” Lisa said as the low growl of my car overpowered her sweet voice and the few tree toads still alive and chirping in the chilly fall evening. When she moved her incredibly sexy body around to the sidewalk, I put my car in ‘D’ and waved as I started my twenty minute journey home.

The Aeolian Hall, London, Ontario

3:55pm, Sunday, Oct. 7, 1979

“Y’all may have noticed a second set of drums up here, and an extra mic-stand over beside Brick,” I said after the huge crowd went ballistic during and after we finished Life is a Lemon, near the end of our first set at our Sunday encore performance at The Aeolian Hall.

“We’ve got a super-special treat for you, today!” Lynette said with a huge smile on her face.

“Yeah, a couple of friends from the original Time Bandits are back in town!” Brick exclaimed.

“And they’re here to join with us on a couple of songs we put together yesterday,” E added from her drum throne.

“Please, give a big London welcome for our friends and former band members, Cathy and Paul McGregory!” Sammy shouted and led the crowd in a round of applause.

Paul and Cathy came out from behind the rear curtain with huge smiles on their faces. Before the show, Paul said this was by far the biggest crowd he and Cathy had ever played to, which Mr. Jeffery said was just four people short of breaking Gordon Lightfoot’s record.

“Thanks, everybody! It’s great to back in our hometown... London!” Paul called out from that extra mic-stand. Brick went over to him and gave him a huge hug and kiss on his cheek after he stepped back from his mic.

“As Eda said, our friends are joining us for a couple of songs we worked on yesterday. So, uh, if there’s a screw-up or two in them; just laugh it off, and uh ... sing along with us. You’ll know these two Journey songs: Feeling That Way and Anytime!” I exclaimed. I looked back at our two drummers and then over to Lynette and nodded that we were ready up front.

(Note: Feeling That Way and Anytime are from Journey’s 1978 album, Infinity. Feeling That Way was first done as an instrumental with the music by drummer Aynsley Dunbar and pianist Gregg Rolie. Rolie and their new leader singer, Steve Perry, wrote the lyrics with both of them sharing lead vocals on this song. On, Anytime which was written by Rolie, Roger Silver, Robert Fleischaman, Neil Schon and Ross Valory; Rolie sings the lead with Steve Perry harmonizing with his falsetto vocals. This song peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot100 in 1978.)

Lynette then tickled her keyboards and played this song’s opening melody prior to my singing:

“Opened my eyes to a new kind of way.
All the good times that you saved.
Are you feeling?
You feeling that way, too!
Or am I just,
Am I just a fool?“

At the end of the first verse, our band, along with our two guests, kicked it into high gear and laid down a monstrous sound. I loved how Brick’s sweet soprano voice sang the Steve Perry’s chorus:

“When the summer’s gone,
She’ll be there standing by the light.
Once she’s been to where she’s gone to,
She should know wrong from right!

Is she feeling?“

And I immediately took over here to sing the song’s bridge:

“Are you feeling?

You feeling that way, too?

Or am I just ... am I just you’re fool?

“A new road’s waiting, you touched my life.”

Brick joined in with my vocals and we created a wickedly beautiful sound as we sang:

“Whoaaa!
Soft and warm on a summer’s night.
You’re the only one; I told you ... The only one I love!
The lovely one ... I’m thinking of.”

Brick and I then traded off on the repeated choruses and bridges. During our vocal duel, the youngest member moved her bass off to her side, allowing Paul to play that instrument by himself as she belted out her vocals in a way that would have made Steve Perry applaud.

After a two seconds’ pause between songs, all seven of us harmonized:

“Ooh, ooh, Anytime that you want me!
Ooh, ooh, Anytime that you need me!“

I was glad I turned and looked back at Eda and Cathy at their elevated drum kits after that second line because they laid down a thunderous dual drum line and cymbal crash volley. Their hard driving beat led us into their rocking sounds as we again sang:

“Ooh, ooh, Anytime that you want me to!
Ooh, ooh, Anytime that you need me!“

As I did in the enclosed pool room at Sammy’s, I simply sang the verses and used my arms and hands to emphasize the lyrics and my feelings in this killer rock ballad. Sammy killed it as she took the lead guitar roll during these lyrical parts.

I moved around the stage and rubbed Paul’s, Brick’s and Sammy’s shoulders as we all harmonized the starting lyrics, again. On the second verse, I moved back to Lynette’s keyboards and then behind E’s and Cathy’s drum kits as I sang:

“Give me all of your sunshine.
A spark is all I need,
To take it away, all of the shadows.
Well what more can I say, yeah, yeah!?“

I moved back towards the front of the stage as Brick stopped playing her bass and forcefully sang Steve Perry’s part:

“Ohhh!
Anytime at all!
Anytime at all!
Anytime at all!“

Once more, Cathy and Eda hammered their drums as I swung Silverburst around into position and moved to the very front of the stage with Sammy and her seafoam green Strat guitar. Just as the two girls crashed their cymbals, we did our best dueling guitar riffs to expand on Neil Schon’s amazing guitar sound on this super rock ballad.

The audience went wild as we neared the end of our covers of these two Journey rock ballads. When they didn’t seem like they were going to stop yelling and screaming at us, I held my hands up and said, “Thanks, everybody ... and give it up one more time for Cathy McGregory on the drums, and my best friend in the whole wide world, Mr. Paul McGregory on bass guitar!”

Cathy stood up behind her rented Pearl drum kit and waved, as Paul did the same from his spot to my left, beside Brick. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when our youngest band member wrapped her arms around Paul mashing her breasts around his right arm. She also laid a big juicy kiss on his grinning right cheek. Peering back at our drummers, I saw Cathy and her drumming partner, Eda, sharing a similar show of genuine affection.