Chapter 33

It was our second day of rehearsal in DC, and things went quicker. If Michael did yell at his orchestra after we left yesterday, it really showed. They were together and crisp; Michael showed no signs of aggravation at all.

The girls changed into their slippers and the day began. Possibly due to the orchestra’s great sound today, the three of us were in good spirits and the girls were as wonderful as always.

Sarah and Annie were sitting and watching us.

We got through the rehearsal and went to the Hoya Court, a food court of sorts that has a lot of fast food choices, like burgers, pizza, and sub sandwiches. We walked in and a very nice-looking older man with silver hair and reading glasses approached us.

“Hello,” he said to us, “Aren’t you the famous dancers Charles & Claire, my grandkids would love your autograph?”

“Certainly, where are they, we’d love to meet them?” I said, realizing I recognized this fellow, but couldn’t put a name to his face.

We walked over to a table and saw a young man and his sister sitting down. “This is Maggie and her little brother Robert, kids this is Charles & Claire.”

The kids got up and happened to have our poster with them and we happily signed them. They both said, ‘thank you’ and sat back down. Claire and I went over to where the rest of our group was sitting. Mom looked at me and said, “You do know who that gentleman was, don’t you?”

“Mom, I recognized his face, but a name just isn’t coming to me. I know he’s somebody important in Washington. It’s driving me crazy!”

“Newt Gingrich,” mom exclaimed.

“Of course, Newt Gingrich – he was the 50^th Speaker of the House. And we just met him and his grandkids. Wow, that’s pretty cool!”

We sat down and ordered some food. It was quite good. When we were done, I walked back over to the table and said, “Mr. Gingrich, it was very nice meeting you and your grandchildren today. I hope you all might be coming to one of our performances either tomorrow or the next day? We would love to have you and your entire family there. We’re performing some new numbers that I am sure that Maggie and Robert would enjoy. Have a great meal, hopefully we will see you there?”

“Charles,” he said, standing and extending his hand to me. “You are everything that’s right with young people today. Most of them are getting into trouble, or worse, but you set an example for all of the teenagers in this country today. I am quite proud to say that I have met you. We will be there tomorrow; you can count on that. Where’s your mother?”

I waved Mom over to us.

“Mrs. Newman ... this is quite the young man you have. He seems determined to be both a great dancer as well as a superb young man. I can only hope my grandchildren and their children can rise to the example, set by your son.”

Mom was about to cry and said, “I am amazed by him daily, Mr. Gingrich. Thank you for such kind words.”

Mr. Gingrich took something from his coat pocket and said, “When this young man and his dance partner wish to go to college, contact this foundation of mine. We often support outstanding youngsters like them, to champion these wonderful young people.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as we shook hands. I took the small card he handed us and put in in my pocket.

We walked back over to our table where our desserts had just arrived. Claire and I got an Ice Cream sundae to share; Sarah and Kalista shared a chocolate milkshake. Mom deferred having any dessert. She thought she was getting fat. I tried to tell her she looked fabulous, but she wouldn’t listen. I did take a spoon and fed her a bite of our sundae.

Since I was sharing a room with Claire and Kalista, that night Kalista had asked for a back massage. I think she just wanted to parade around in a bikini, but I took her seriously and asked her who did she want to get the message from?

As I had expected, she said me, so I told her to lay face down on the bed. As with Claire, the portion of the massage when I will rub her butt seems to be causing me to get a bit anxious.

I started on the bottom of her foot. She pulled it away because I unintentionally tickled her. I re-grabbed her foot and said, “Calm down, Special K – I will do my best to not tickle you OK?”

“OK, Charles ... sorry?”

Claire had stepped out, giving Kalista and I privacy.

I started to rub K’s calves and she then realized just how good a massage could feel and she moaned a little. I moved up to her upper leg and started up again moving towards her cute butt.

“Princess, is it all right with you if I touch your butt for a minute? It’s part of the massage. You have a three muscles in your butt that can tighten up, if you would prefer, I not do that ... I won’t be offended in the slightest.”

“Uhm, maybe n-next time, Charles?” she said, cautiously.

“Sure, honey – whatever you want?”

“What I want is for you to kiss me, Charles ... it’s been way too long since you kissed me,” she said starting to get up on her knees.

“How about after I am through with the massage, Princess?” I said, giving her butt a slap.

“O-K,” she smiled, giggled and lay flat.

I did her other foot and leg, stopping again as I reached her upper leg. She’d moaned a little, as I moved up her leg. I started on her lower back and worked my way up. She has a wonderful set of shoulders that were so pretty, that when I was done, I kissed them.

She flipped herself over and asked, “Now, Charles?”

Never has she been so seductive, for only being nine years old. She’s destined to end up quite the temptress. I leaned into her and started a kiss. She responded and took my hand and placed it on her face. I took my other hand and I was holding her by her face and kissing her very deeply. My god, this girl has become a woman, the way she tempts me to do what I know I can’t. I separated us and she goes into a pout, saying, “Charles—that was just getting good.”

“That’s ... why it had to stop,” I said. “I am engaged to Claire and I must be true to her, Kalista. If you can’t understand that, then we can never do any of this again. You are growing up to be a very beautiful and sexy young lady—young lady.”

She got up and swishing her hips in front of me, something she must have picked up from Sarah and said, “You want to join me in the shower Charles? It could be ‘suits optional?’”

“No, K – I can’t,” I said as sure of myself as I could.

She went into the bathroom and I heard the shower start.

Claire came back in, with a great big smile on her face. She walked up to me and she said, “You passed, Charles. I asked Kalista to use all of her charms on you and you passed. You did kiss her, but that’s OK with me. I know you love her, just love me more—OK?”

“You got it baby. Exactly how did you think of this idea, to ‘test me’ as you put it?” I had a sneaking suspicion.

“Sarah gave me the idea, actually. She thought that you had unresolved lingering feelings for Kalista, so she talked to both of us and even showed Kalista how to walk with a swish to her hips.”

“What if I had gone into the shower with Kalista? Do you trust me that much to tempt me with your own half-sister? And what if we’d ended up in bed together, making mad passionate love? Would you have stopped me before I impregnated her?”

Claire gave me a solid slap across the face. I didn’t react at all to it. I’d been expecting it, knowing I was provoking it. A moment passed.

“I am sorry, Dimples, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but don’t let Sarah, Kalista, or even my mom get inside your head that I don’t love you as much as I love any of them. I do love every one of you, but Claire ... you are my one-and-only future wife, lover and sex partner—only you.”

I grabbed her and started kissing her and pulled her up against me, so she would understand exactly how much I love her. She kissed me and we were really going to town, when Kalista came out of the bathroom in only a towel. She said, “Wow guys, now that’s a kiss!”

I took Claire and we went to our suite’s foyer so Kalista could change for bed.

“Charles, I am sorry for doubting your love and I want to apologize for slapping you?” Claire said, as she sat in my lap and we cuddled.

“Claire, I have loved you since the moment I met you, back at Cotillion. Every day, my love grows for you; Every day, my heart aches for you; every day, I think about making love to you, but that day can’t happen yet. You know that picture in my room of that young actress Liliana Mumy, that I think looks like Kalista?”

“Yeah?”

“Didn’t you wonder why I don’t have a picture that reminds me of you?”

“I never really thought about it, until just now, Charles?”

“The reason I don’t, is because there’s nobody like you on this entire planet; you are unique, beautiful, a truly inspirational dancer ... and my fiancée. I don’t tell that to enough people, I plan to rectify that.”

“Charles & Claire, you can come back in now. I have changed,” Kalista was saying.

I walked in, picking her up and bringing Claire towards us and said, “I don’t want either of you to change, not even one little bit. Sure you will get taller Kalista and both of you will mature in other ways as well. I expect that by the time we start our International Tour, both of you will be needing some new dresses to accommodate your ‘maturity.’”

Kalista, still in my arms said, “Maturity is code for boobies; Charles wants us to get bigger boobies, don’t you Charles?” They both giggled.

I blushed deeply and said, “We will need to take all new pictures for all new posters then, maybe we will get larger posters, since you both will have such big boobies.” We all laughed as I picked up and threw the giggling nine-year-old on her bed and escorted Claire to hers.

Both of our Washington DC performances were amazing. Michael was at the top of his game singing—and the three of us were all significantly better than usual. These people paid a lot more money than our typical crowd and we all wanted to give them their money’s worth.

Final bows both nights had the entire audience on their feet. We saw Mr. Gingrich with his gorgeous blonde wife Callista and his grandkids in the front row, along with some other people who I am certain were equally as important, such as US Senators and US Congresspersons as well. We never had a group applaud as long as these folks were applauding.

Michael had arranged a possible encore number—his first big hit, “The Way You Look Tonight.” We had a medium speed cha-cha routine but had never danced it during rehearsals. He started to sing; the crowd settled and sat down.

During the bridge between the first and second verses, Michael said, “Will Charles & Claire join me?” and I threw Claire out on stage and she turned it into maybe six spot spins. I got to her and we took up our slow cha-cha routine as the crowd started to cheer and yell for us.

As the second verse ended, Kallie came out and we did an overhand change from Claire to K, as they gave each other a high five as Claire left the stage. K was never lovelier as she held on as we did a couple cha-cha turns. When the song hit a moment when it was just the orchestra, we split into side by sides and I fell in love with Kalista all over again.

Claire came back out and we all were side by side, with me in the middle, as the song faded out.

The crowd jumped to their feet and appreciatively made a lot of noise, kind of reminding me of our final competition. Boy, do I love to dance.

The girls and I did a group bow, to a lot of noise. We had more people wanting our autographs then Michael did, but he didn’t seem to mind at all.

Annie and Sarah came up to us and announced, “We will leave for Baltimore in the morning everybody and it’s only an hour from here.”

24^TH City
Baltimore, MD
Hotel Monaco

Our trip was indeed a quick one. We found the Baltimore Convention Center and also found a nice place to stay. The Monaco had shuttle service to the Convention Center. We had only a day to de-compress before we rehearsed and we hadn’t eaten since before our performance the night before.

We checked in, having our stuff taken to the room. As we approached the restaurant, the Restaurant Concierge suggested we find another place to eat; they’re quite full and have reservations to keep them full for a number of hours.

The person who checked us in heard the Concierge’s remarks and rushed over to him and explained who we were. Immediately the Concierge went from smarmy to ingratiating. I said in front of a number of waiting diners, as well as my group, “We will find a place to eat that cares how to treat people nicely—Let’s Go.”

We turned to leave and as we walked away, a young lady came up to us and said, “I am very sorry for the way you were treated; my name is Heather Willet. I am the restaurant manager. Please come back and eat whatever you’d like ... it’s on the house. You must be Charles of the famous Charles & Claire. I want to apologize for Walter. I don’t believe he’s ever been spoken to like I just heard. The B&O American Brasserie would love to have your entire party eat with us today.”

I turned to my ladies and asked them what they would like to do and they said that we should stay. “Heather, we will stay and eat. I believe Walter needs better communication skills, don’t you?”

Heather just started to laugh and said, “From your mouth to God’s ears, Charles. Let me find you folks a table?” She left and came back to say, “Follow me please?” and we were taken to a very nice table, set apart from the rest. Along the way, I saw people looking at us, so I smiled, nodded and said ‘Hello’ to everyone who stared.

We ordered from the brunch menu and had an enjoyable time. As we were leaving, Walter came up to us and said, “I am very sorry for the way that I treated you folks. This job has a lot pressure and I hope that you all had a wonderful meal, please come back anytime we’re open and I’ll find you a table personally, if necessary.”

I am glad that Heather didn’t fire him on the spot; he just needed to calm down and re-prioritize his goals. I shook his hand and we said goodbye.

Things went pretty well, with my girls coming thru again with fantastic dancing and being so upbeat all of the time. I think we were all counting down the last three cities on this leg of the Tour.

25^th City
Harrisburg, PA
Hilton Harrisburg

26^th City
Pittsburgh, PA
Courtyard by Marriott

27^th City
Akron, OH
Sheraton Suites Akron

From there it was home, to Columbus.

Home at last!

We got five days to ourselves to recharge our batteries and catch up on our schooling. We typically do that on the drives between stops, alternating between the three of us with Sarah.

Although I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, that spa had been calling me since Atlanta. After bringing in the suitcases, I turned on the spa, as I very quickly changed into my swimsuit and got into the bubbles. Ooooh, boy did it feel good! I had it to myself for all of 20 minutes, before Sarah joined me in what looked like a brand new, all white bikini.

I’d swear that she’s getting better looking, as she gets older. She let me lay back on her as I had before; the rest of the ladies came in all at once and joined us. I thought Claire might be annoyed about where my head was, but she didn’t say anything. We had five new complete sets of all eleven posters left for us in the garage.

It was the quietest we’d ever been while in the Spa. After about 30 minutes, I excused myself and got out and dried myself off. Claire joined me, as the rest of the ladies stayed in.

Claire and I held hands as we went upstairs into our rooms. I changed into sweat pants and no shirt, ready to sleep during our 120 hours at home before we go out again on our next leg of the tour.

There was a knock on my door and I got up to let Claire in. She bought some t-shirts on tour and had put one on and a pair of shorts, showing off her legs. We kissed for a while and eventually fell asleep in each other’s arms. Falling asleep we heard everyone else coming upstairs, with Mom popping her head in, checking on us.

The next morning Kalista bounded into my room, yelling, “Breakfast is ready, you guys. Sorry—didn’t mean to wake you. I just figured you’d be hungry, that’s all.”

I replied, “K, we will be down in a second, I promise?”

“Sure, Charles – see you guys in a minute.”

“Claire?”

“Yes, Charles,” she said, still laying on her back on my bed looking fabulous with her bosom catching my eyes.

My eyes moved to her face, as I said, “While we’re back in town, why don’t you quietly ask your mother again to get you to her doctor to prescribe you birth control pills. Otherwise, you’d have to wait another 90 days.”

“Are you in a hurry to have me on the pill for some reason Tiger?” Claire said, with that sultry sound in her voice that I hadn’t heard in a while.

“Not really, I just thought of it is all. Not that I haven’t thought of making love to you, especially when you look like you do right now, but our wedding is only 639 days from today?” I said, with a wee bit of sarcasm.

Smiling, Claire said to me, “They are going to wonder what’s happened to us, we better get down for breakfast OK, Loverboy?”

We walked slowly, holding each as we approached the food. “Hmmm, smells great,” I said.

“Mom, while we’re in town, can you take me in and get me a prescription for birth control pills?” Claire asked in front of everybody.

“Why so soon, dear? Charles isn’t pressuring you to do ... anything, is he?” Sarah responded.

“I resent that, Sarah. I have been practically a saint around all of you and all you can think of is that Claire and I are just itching to start having sex with each other,” I said, getting more upset then I should have.

“I am sorry Charles. It’s just that when I was Claire’s age, there were boys who were always pressuring me to do one thing or another and I just want to protect my little girl for as long as I can,” Sarah responded.

“Apology Accepted, Sarah—let’s eat,” I said.

Homemade food has something about it that just is more satisfying than the food out on the road. My mom’s pancakes, alongside Sarah’s scrambled eggs might be the best of all. Ken knew when we were headed home and Sarah had arranged her oldest son to get us some key ingredients for our five days off.

“After breakfast, let’s all sit down and talk about the next leg of the Tour and what’s happening concerning C-Cask’s finances,” I said.

“Sounds good,” said everybody.

Everyone finished as we all helped clear and wash and then we all sat down to discuss what’s going on.

Mom turned to me and said, “Charles, you want to lead this discussion?”

“Is that OK with everyone?” I asked, they all shook their heads yes.

“First thing, Assets. C-Cask has three tangible assets—Kalista, a tangible asset is something you can touch or hold, like a lamp or a car ... well you can’t hold a car, but it is a solid ‘tangible’ thing. Anyhow, our Chevrolet Suburban, the 12-seater and Sarah’s house, that we all live in, as well as all of the conveniences inside the house. Did you place the 12-seater and this house in the LLC, Sarah?”

“Yes, I did, along with the Suburban, too,” she replied.

“Why is that important?” Claire asked leaning into my shoulder, smelling really nice.

“If any of us were sued, for any reason, anything in the LLC is protected from seizure—have I got that right Annie?”

“I believe so, sweetheart,” mom responded, causing giggles all around.

“Thank you, Mom. I love you. Moving on, we have no intangible assets, such as trade secrets or intellectual property.”

“Charles, aren’t you something of an intangible asset? Due to your knowledge, many decisions are made, on behalf of C-Cask, so in a way your brain is our intellectual property. Should we get an insurance policy on any or all of you three? You are our primary source of income,” Annie asserted.

“That’s an interesting supposition, Mom. I may have to look that up.”

“Next up, regular income. We sold our house and that put nearly $300,000 in the bank, we also sold the Land Rover for an additional $10,000 dollars.”

“Have we received any money from either ass-ho ... Charles Senior or John? I remember Mom saying something about payments from Dad?”

“Charles, we have received two payments from Charles the Chickenhearted, for a total of $27,700. The next one is due this week,” Annie said, giving out a snort over the nickname she just put on dad.

“Charles, John has sent three payments of $3,500, as he’d said he would in the ‘infamous email,’” Sarah said.

“Fantastic ladies, I knew there was a reason we kept you two with us and didn’t jail either one of those creeps.”

“Charles, you kept me around for these,” Sarah said, getting up and giving her bosom a shake.

Claire got up, as I suspected she would and shook hers as well, saying, “Look out Mom, here I grow again.” She must have been waiting for a chance to do and say that. It sounded too prepared.

Kalista got up and said, “Mine could end up bigger then both of yours together, so there!”

I glanced over at mom, who’d looked down at her chest and decided against doing or saying anything.

“Lastly, Poster sales, while we have done extraordinarily well, sales is now rather flat, unlike anyone in this room.” That got a rousing guffaw from the ladies.

“We have sold, all told, roughly 4.220 million posters, we had a peak of almost 200 thousand a week, but lately, it’s been a paltry 75 thousand a week.”

“Our total gross sales are approximately $21.1 million dollars at a cost of approximately $5.6 million dollars, so we have a profit before taxes of $15.5 million dollars.”