Chapter 50

The performances the next four days in Sydney, were quite outstanding. Kalista was extraordinary, and Claire was at the top of her game as well. I’d begun to go to the gym now and work out every morning.

I did look up the latest news on Happy Birthday, finding that only three weeks earlier (On September 22^nd) a judge in Los Angeles ruled that none of the companies that have collected royalties over the years, held a valid copyright claim.

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Randall Newman (No relation?) said, “Finally the charade is over. It’s’ (‘Frikking) unbelievable!

Warner countered that they may appeal the ruling.

The song is now in the public domain, unless WMG wants to bring up wounds that would likely equate them with The Grinch.

Claire went with me for moral support, so I could lift the girls as necessary in our current and possibly future routines. Sarah even suggested I get a couple ‘show tops’ that the guys wear, that show off their chest—basically a silk shirt with no buttons.

Annie snorted at that suggestion.

We went on to Melbourne and Perth, with all of our performances standing room only, and after our final performance in Australia, we got onboard the plane.

We were on our way to Kagoshima, Japan, where we refueled and hopped over to Osaka, the first of our four Japanese cities.

In Osaka, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Osaka Hotel. Claire and I in a Junior Suite, Kalista in one of her own, and the ladies got something called a Swiss Advantage Room.

With multiple flights covering so many miles, Michael had made a point of giving us a day to settle in, after traveling from one continent to the next. We immediately crashed in our room after getting there.

After a three-hour nap, I suggested we all take a spa, so I texted both Kalista and the Moms. We changed into suits and went down to the workout area first.

I did some reps on a few machines, including some powerlifts, which had started getting a lot easier since I first started working out. Claire picked up a few small weights and was working on toning her arms a little.

I saw absolutely nothing on her that needed improvement.

After twenty minutes or so, we grabbed some towels and went to find the three musketeers in the spa - Athos, Porthos and ... Kalista.

“Hey ladies, didn’t expect you to be here?” I said as casually as possible.

“I didn’t think you would, Lover,” Sarah responded.

“We saw you working out in there,” Kalista said.

“Yeah, honey—You are getting to be quite buff,” mom said. “Maybe I should start to workout, Charles—Do I look like I need to start working out to you?”

The gauntlet had been thrown down. I excused myself from Claire and I went over to my mom. I said face to face, “Annie Moynihan, you are already such a drop dead beautiful fox, if you started working out, everyman inside that workout center would want you, even the gay ones.”

“Especially the gay ones,” Sarah said. “If I went in, they’d go straight again.”

“In more ways than one, they would,” I said getting a slap on the chest from Sarah. Claire pulled me back against her, wrapping herself around me.

“If Charles goes straight, it better be straight at me,” she declared with a giggle.

“Charles,” Kalista slurred and walked towards me. “I think you are the most scrumptious guy I know.”

She rubbed her hands up and down my chest, knowing full well what was happening to me under the water.

She moved forward and just touched my lips with hers, then moved back to where she started ... that little temptress.

I turned toward Claire and she pulled me towards her closely, and we kissed as if nobody was in the spa with us, with our hands moving all over each other.

“Charles—Charles. Do you realize what you are doing—And who you are doing it in front of?” Annie said with a snort.

“What? Oh, sorry ladies? Sometimes I forget there are rules to our love—Aren’t there, Claire?” I said catching my breath.

“Uh-huh, the rules - remind me again, Bi ... Lover?” Claire said sounding breathless as well.

“There are two rules, Sweetness—One, I can’t kiss you anywhere your swimsuit is covering; and, Two, I can’t ‘touch’ you anywhere your swimsuit is covering,” I said breaking into a grin.

“What if I take off my swimsuit - so nothing is covered?” she said to me.

We looked over at Annie, Sarah, and Kalista, who were fidgeting a little as well as looking more than a little bit shocked at our repartee.

Finally, “Is there something either of you want to say to Sarah or me?” mom asked.

“No!” we said together. We got out and dried off and left for our room, waving goodbye.

We were so ready to dance the next day, when we arrived at the Osaka International Convention Center, to meet up with Michael and his Acoustic Ensemble.

I talked to Michael and we replaced ‘Footloose’ from the second Set - Claire and I were going to learn a new Viennese Waltz to the Dean Martin version of ‘You and Your Beautiful Eyes’, which I had downloaded earlier in the day, while I was working out in the gym, right after I looked up from the leg press and saw Claire’s magnificent brown eyes looking down on me.

I’d picked up my phone and searched iTunes for any song with the words ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Eyes’ and this wonderful song came up. We hadn’t had a Viennese Waltz in our set list in quite a while. After rehearsing the entire set, Michael cut us loose and we went back to our room to rehearse the new dance in private.

We had a routine in less than 20 minutes, so we proceeded to make out for a while on the bed. I kissed my girl all over her neck and she giggled and moaned a little. I felt her go through, what could only have been an orgasm. I was truly in awe.

“What else can I do for you, Claire?” I asked knowing it was a loaded question.

“Lay with me, just hold me, you big hunk of love, you,” she sighed. I scooted up behind her and she felt my firmness and we fell asleep.

Dinner that night was incredible at the Bay Lounge, inside the Hotel. We all ordered something different, so we could try out everyone else’s food. I ordered Roast Rack of Lamb, to die for. Claire got Fried Tilefish. Japanese Beef Tenderloin was what Annie got while Sarah got an Abalone and Mushroom meal. Kalista played it safe, and got Roast Pork and potatoes.

Our server was an older gentleman named Hanako, who bowed deeply every time he came to our table. The tradition of respect he showed us, made me mindful of how lucky I am with these gorgeous women. At the end of our evening, I bowed to him and said, “Gurache” to which he said in his halting English, “You speak very good Japanese, Mister Charles—thank you for being so kind to Hanako tonight. My granddaughters have all of your posters all over their rooms.”

I paid leaving a most respectful tip for this wonderful man.

I know we had a full day tomorrow, first rehearsing then performing and moving on to Nagoya. We called it a night, heading up to our rooms. I kissed Annie and Sarah goodnight at their door. I took my girls up to our rooms and gave Kalista a big hug goodnight.

Claire and I entered our room, and I closed and locked the door to K’s connecting room and started to take off all my clothes. Claire was mimicking my movements, and we went from fully dressed up to completely naked.

She stood and watched as my penis went from soft to completely hard. We walked towards each other with arms extended.

“Are we going to make love tonight, Charles?” she asked with craving in her voice.

Our lips met with searing warmth, as I clutched her and kissed her with every ounce of passion I could muster. We were kissing and tonguing each other with more fire behind our lips than ever before. I was gripping her butt cheeks, holding her tight against me.

“How do they feel to you, my love?” she asked.

“Remember when we all talked about the different synonyms, I remember someone using the term fun-bags?”

“That was my mother,” she responded.

We crawled up on the bed, and I laid on my back with my hardness aiming at the sky. I was ready for her to try something, and she took a slight hold of my erection and put her lips and mouth very close, almost touching me.

She licked the very tip, saying a very quiet, ‘Yummy,’ and I spurted up and on her face, causing her to giggle.

She ran into the bathroom, washed her face, and coming out with a washcloth, and cleaned me off, giving me something of a spit-shine!

Only 351 days until she becomes Mrs. Claire Newman.

Our performance in Nagoya went well, our new Viennese Waltz was quite well received, and due to my new regimen of workouts, my legs started lasting longer between rubdowns, although I wasn’t sure I was going to tell that to either Claire or Sarah.

We went on to Yokohama and Tokyo, with things moving along well and we were finished with our swing through Japan – On to China.

We started the China part of the Tour in Shanghai, with plans to go to Tianjin, Beijing and ending up in Hong Kong. It was on the trip between Tokyo and Shanghai, when we got the news.

Michael pulled me over in the plane and said, “Charles, it took some doing, but the Athens people liked your idea and we’re getting four days in Athens, one to sightsee, one to practice and two evening performances–All within only 200 yards of the Acropolis. We’ll have a 60ft x 60ft floor installed; giving you guys a nice large dance area. There will be a BBC and Greek TV setup, and it’s being billed as a Pay-Per-View Event Worldwide. It has a potential TV audience of close to a billion people or more. The problem is that to get the biggest crowd watching, would mean to do this near midnight Athens Time,” Michael explained.

“So?” I replied, “Let’s do it at midnight, how about it girls­–Want to dance at midnight outside, in one of the most picturesque places on earth?”

“Fantastic,” said Claire.

“Cool,” said Kalista.

“Amazing,” mom said.

“Bitchin’,” was Sarah’s reply.

“What are they charging per viewer, Michael?” I asked.

“$24.95 American, each household,” Michael replied.

“And our piece of the pie?” I asked anxiously.

“$6.00 per PPV client–I negotiated that number myself, just for you guys,” Michael said pleased with himself.

“For how much dancing?” I asked.

“One hour solid, Charles,” Michael responded.

“Sarah,” I said, “Check the Internet, what’s the largest verified Television Audience for a single event?”

After a moment, she said, “The 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony ... had a verifiable audience of 984 million at some stage of the event. But that was live TV, not PPV, Charles.”

“Michael, call them back, tell them we only want $1 per client, provided they drop their price down to $19.95 per client, and we’ll double our Donation up to $100,000.”

“Or, the deal is off?” Michael said glancing down at his watch.

“Or, the deal is off,” I confirmed with a hearty chuckle.

Michael looked at me and likely thought I’d gone completely loony. What he didn’t know that I did, was that a price point below $20 is the ‘Magic number.’ I did an extra credit report in fourth grade, comparing new movie titles sold at $49.95, $39.95, $29.95 and $19.95.

There was an increase of only 6% to 11% with each decrease, until it hit the $19.95 price, which generated a whopping 89% increase across the board, even more back when Disney first broke this ‘Magic number’ selling their ‘Animated Classics.’

Michael got on the phone, explaining the deal, while I went over to Mom, who had helped me research my paper back then.

“Honey, you do realize that even at only a dollar, we could end up with an additional billion dollars in our bank account?” mom calculated.

“I guess I could go from being a Millionaire to be being a Billionaire, wouldn’t I ladies?” I said as Claire got to me before Kalista did, unloading a kiss on me and saying, “I always wanted to kiss a Billionaire – who knows?”

After cuddling a little with each of my girls, Michael got off the phone, and he had an unmistakable smile on his face.

“Unbelievable Charles–They agreed with everything, but insisted on you getting $2 a client, and they’d still drop the price to $19.95 for the live event, and for sales after the fact, you’ll get $1 per unit sold,” Michael said shaking his head and putting his hand out to me to shake my hand.

“Every $2 client received, I am paying you $0.50 per,” I said to him. “Without you Michael, none of this would have happened.” We shook hands, as the ladies all applauded our deal.

We landed in Shanghai about ninety minutes later, with a limo ready to take us to our Hotel. It was the Radisson Hotel Shanghai New World, an internationally known luxury hotel. We have two performances while here, at the Shanghai Concert Hall. From looking at it on the Internet, it is a beautiful recently renovated piece of architecture that holds 1,100 people.

Fortunately, the people at the counter spoke English quite well. The young lady who helped us, named Hua, knew who we were and was very helpful.

We got our three rooms, up on the 41^st floor and, after learning the current exchange rate for the dollar, we all settled in to each of our rooms.

“Charles, that girl Hua was very pretty, wasn’t she?” Claire said.

“DD, There’s nobody to compare to my Claire. So don’t worry about a thing,” I said. “I noticed they have a gym and a spa, would you care to join me and protect me from all the Chinese girls that look like you. Oh ... that’s right, nobody looks like you, Chinese or otherwise.”

We changed into our suits, putting on t-shirts for modesty’s sake. We found our way to the workout area after first, texting the ladies where we were headed. The hotel was bustling with people, looking to be mostly Americans.

We started out stretching a little, using a technique Claire taught me. We sit, and put the soles of our feet up against each other, and then alternately pull each other slowly towards one other, stretching all the muscles from the waist down very effectively. After about five minutes of that, I got up and shook my arms a bit and started using a few of the apparatuses. Claire stayed nearby, clearly being the most fully-rounded woman in the place.

While I was working my arms on a curl machine, an older guy, maybe thirty, walked up to Claire and started talking to her. I could see she was clearly uncomfortable, especially given his age.

I got up, walked over to her and gave her a weight to work with, and her gentleman left.

“Jealous much?” she said taking the weight from me.

“Damn right I am,” I exclaimed.

We kissed and went back to working out together. This time she stayed closer to where I was.

I took some weight off of the leg press, and had Claire get up on it instead. I started pushing her up and down, up and down causing her to giggle and flash that dimpled smile I first fell in love with.

After fifteen reps, we walked over to the spa and took off our shirts. When Claire did it, I could hear many whistles from back inside the workout area. Claire, of course, loved it, milking it for all it was worth as she joined me in the spa.

She was laying on my lap and we both had our eyes closed, when I heard, “Here they are – I found them.” I know that voice!

With a voice as unique as her dancing, Kalista was there and Mom and Sarah were coming up behind her, everyone giggling and jiggling like nobody’s business.

“Mother, you left the room like that?” I said as my Mother was in a black bikini getting in the Spa. “Sarah, those are first-strike weapons hanging from your chest. You should have worn a t-shirt over them. You two are certifiable. This isn’t North America where people are used to beautiful women just walking around with their ... bits hanging out. This society has certainly been Americanized, but – augghhhhhhhhh!”

“Charles, you may be right, but it’s too late now,” Sarah said as she slipped her equally small lime green bikini, beneath the waters of the spa.

“Mother, you should know better than to be throwing those fun bags around,” Claire said giggling herself with Kalista joining in the fun by breaking into a great big smile.

While it was a bit disconcerting and quite titillating to see them all dressed so provocatively - I believe a discussion on decorum is necessary, during our next plane trip.

“Sarah, I am sorry for yelling at you and Annie? It’s just that the two of you, Kalista as well, are too darn pretty to be letting just anyone see how captivating you are. Seriously for a moment, Sarah, have you ever modeled before?” I asked, trying my level best to keep eye contact.

“You are not the first person to ask me that, but no I haven’t?” she replied looking over at Annie.

“I know Victoria’s Secret would hire you in a heartbeat as a model for their clothing lines, especially the swimwear. When we get back to the States, check into it why don’t you? You are beautiful and a mom as well, what a combination,” I said. “You could be the standard for their MILF line of swimwear?”

Sarah slapped at me for that. I saw Claire whispering to Kalista, who covered her mouth in amazement - adding a blush.

“Now Annie, the same could be said for you. You are one magnificent piece of ... womanhood, yourself,” I said.

She blushed, but sat up and posed for a second, before it all devolved into four girls giggling.

We went to the Windows on the Park restaurant, open 24 hours, and had a nice Chinese meal.

Afterwards, we headed back up to the rooms to get a good rest for rehearsing and performing the next two nights.

Claire and I talked about what we should dance in Athens.

“Charles, will Michael and his entire orchestra be at this, or will it be a combo like you first conceptualized?” Claire asked.

“Pretty, and knowledgeable – Wow,” I remarked. She slapped me on the arm.

I sent Michael a text, asking the very question, and surprisingly, I got a rather quick response confirming the entire orchestra will indeed be there.

With that in mind, I got my Laptop and in five minutes I created an ‘Athens’ set list evenly distributed between the girls. I emailed it to Michael and turned over and went to sleep, with my girl - in my arms.

Our two performances went rather well, with practically full houses both nights. Many Chinese young ladies came up for autographs, more for the ladies than I.

We finished up our China portion of the Tour, performing in Tianjin, Beijing, and finishing up in Hong Kong. From there we had a flight of over 5,300 miles to Athens, Greece.

I’d gathered our group in a circle away from Michael, explained the deal Michael and I made to Sarah, Claire, and Kalista. They were all amazed and I got a kiss from each of them.

Sitting them back down, I became quite serious.

“Sarah, I was quite serious back when I was upset over the three of you walking through that hotel with your bikinis on and no cover. However, there is a dignified manner of respect expected from all of us - all the time. While I certainly enjoy you all in as little as possible...”

Claire slapped at me.

“I still, would like to strongly suggest that in the future, when traveling from the room to a gym, pool or spa ... that decency can rule the day - instead of ego.” I finished my speech.

“Charles, you are exactly right–I am sorry for that. I was so anxious to get to the Spa, that my brain forgot a step in the process. Can you forgive me and my ‘first-strike weapons?’” Sarah said giving me a smile that filled my heart with joy.

“I forgive you this one time, but the next time I may have to put you over my knee and spank your bottoms?” I said.

They all snickered at that.

“I’d like to see that myself, Charles?” Annie said looking over at Sarah and snorting a few times.

Our flight was over 11 hours long, so I got up, took Claire with me and we cuddled and fell asleep.

We landed and were taken by limousine to the Electra Palace Hotel where we were unloaded and went to our luxurious rooms. Claire and I went to our Suite, which had a balcony and a Jacuzzi, while the other ladies are all sharing a room with each other.

Although we slept on the flight, the moment Claire and I lay back on the queen bed in our suite, we were out like a light. I woke up to a beautiful woman laying on me, kissing me all over the face and finishing with the mother of all kisses plunging her tongue deep inside my mouth, instantly causing me to get an erection.

“Claire ... Claire ... Let me go – I gotta go pee,” I said. She rolled off and I almost didn’t make it in time, for the first time, ever. I came back out in my boxers saying, “There’s a Jacuzzi in here DD, want to put on that white suit again?”

The look she gave me would have melted ice, but the phone rang and I picked it up and said rather curtly, “Yeah ... what do you want?”

“That’s no way to talk to your Mother, young man. Remember, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out,” she said with a snort.

Laughing I replied, “Sorry Mom, something ... came up between Claire and I just before you called, what can I do to you, I mean for you?” I quickly recovered, although I did hear her laugh over my oopsy.

“It’s OK, Charles. We’re all hungry, for food ... how about you two?” she asked.

“Sure, dress up and we’ll meet you in 20 minutes’ downstairs, see you,” I finished.

“Guess what place in Athens I want to eat at, my dear?” I asked Claire.

“How would I know,” was her response.

“I have always wanted to go to a Hard Rock Café, and Athens has one; shower and make yourself beautiful, you have ten minutes!”

She grabbed a change of underwear and came out in eight minutes. I was timing her. She came out looking like a model for the Victoria’s Secret underwear she had on. I rushed by her and got in the shower and came out to see my fiancée in black, her black mini-dress.

In answer to the unasked question, she said, “Don’t worry, Charles–It’ll stay up until we get back to the room, when I expect you may just rip it off and ravish me,” she growled at me.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but you look good enough to make love to right here and now. We both know we can’t yet, but in 329 days, all bets and all of our clothes, are off,” I said causing a giggle from my girl.

I finished changing and we headed to the lobby. My girls all looked really good. We took a cab to the Hard Rock Café and were screamed at, the moment we walked into the place.

Music was going as we were escorted to our table. The place looked full of Americans. We ordered a mix of American and Greek food, as the DJ turned on his mike.

In a marvelous British accent, he said, “Hey Everybody – I am PK the DJ, we got celebrities here tonight, Charles & Claire.”

There was a big uproar of people cheering and applauding as the three of us stood up and waved to the crowd.

“There is a Pay-Per-View Event coming from the Acropolis, starring Charles, Claire and Kalista. Maybe we can get them to dance for us tonight?” PK said.

I asked Annie for the ‘special CD,’ with music no one has ever seen us dance to, and took it up with us. The crowd screamed even louder as we walked to the dance floor. I told PK, “Cut three, please?”

“Yes, sir ... Mr. Newman,” he replied as Christina Aguilera’s version of ‘Beautiful’ started; the halting Slow Samba song started, as Claire gave me a kiss as we began to dance.

The place got instantly quiet, except for Christina singing this wonderful song about a beautiful woman who feels that everyone puts her down. Claire’s beauty glows through to show how wrong everyone is.

Our routine had only been run through once, back in a hotel room in Japan. We were able to ad-lib some moves, that added some flourish and drama to our routine. Claire was brilliant, flashing that smile as we were doing some Samba moves that even Kalista and the Moms never saw us do before. I fell in love on a dance floor - I did again tonight as the music finished, and so did we, performing our signature one-armed spin to a standing ovation from a very loud and crowded roomful of people.

I looked over at our table and they were all crying, holding each other. Kalista was sobbing as we headed back to them, she held me so tightly.

“Charles Xavier Newman, that was the single best dance I have seen the two of you ever do - and I have seen them all,” K said to us.

“Your mother and I agree with that statement, when did you ever have time to learn that number?” Sarah asked.

“One night in Japan, we couldn’t sleep, so I found the music and we learned a dance, around one in the morning,” I responded, “Was it any good?”

“Listen to those people who are still standing and cheering for you guys. Our food hasn’t arrived yet, do another number,” Annie said pushing us back out.

We walked back over to the dance floor, eliciting another loud roar from the crowd as I yelled, “Number Five, PK,” as we moved to the center of the floor, as the hit number from the first HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL movie started.

This could be the ‘Start of Something New.’ I got my kiss and the Cha-Cha began, although the first thirty seconds of the song were slow, we simply did some cut time dancing until the rhythm section of this song takes off.

The audience were all singing along as we entertained them with this energetic dance to a piece of music that jump-started a whole generation to sing and dance. The song ended and we went back to our table and sat down to our dinner. Kalista was next to me, glancing over at me a lot while she ate her dinner.

“Charles - could we dance too?” she said looking at me and licking the Tzatziki Sauce off her lip. She missed a little so I took my finger and got it off her and she proceeded to lick it directly off my finger, causing the Moms to laugh and Claire to give me a look.

“Sure thing Princess! Annie–Hand me the ‘All Rhumba CD’ please?” I asked.

She reached in and quickly got it for me as both K and I took a big bite of our dinner, had a drink of soda and got up, hand in hand, going to the DJ. The crowd saw us moving together and started a chant of “Kal-lie, Kal-lie, Kal-lie” and I told PK to play cut four.

He picked up his microphone and said, “Everybody, Charles and Kalista are dancing ... a Rhumba.”

The music of Celine Dion singing ‘Refuse to Dance’ permeated the place, as the crowd got really noisy again. The singing started after almost 30 seconds of music. She sure can sing.

K gave me a kiss to start and our hips began, as we danced close during part of this, causing gasps around the place. I let her loose to do the Cucarachas Steps, which she nailed. Her hip swivels were brilliant. I added an Open Hip Twist as we headed towards the end of the routine, with an Alemana sequence at the end - Kalista handled it like the pro she is. We added some side-by side-moves and the song ended cold.

The crowd once again went practically hysterical over this number, screaming out, “I love you Kallie”, over and over. We waved to everyone and went back to our table and sat down.

“Wow,” I said, “Was that a rush or what?”

“Charles, you and the girls danced so well, I think your working out has helped your balance ... you look amazing and you clearly dance like I have never seen before,” Annie said.

“Yeah, Charles–Your da’ bomb,” Sarah said causing our group to laugh out loud.

Our server came by and she said, “I was told to tell you that anything you want was ‘on the house.’”

“Thanks, we appreciate that,” I said as we got up to leave. The crowd started a chant of ‘One More” and after I got them to both put on their slippers, we all went back to the dance floor. I handed the CD to PK and the girls got into position to dance to ‘I’m Not That Girl.’

The music started and K started to perform, flawlessly. As the routine moved forward, both girls were dancing far beyond the expectations I ever had had for either of them. Kallie joined the routine and the crowd got quiet again. They were watching my Princess; my beautiful, graceful, adroit, artistic, curvaceous, and well-practiced Princess. Claire and Kalista both are the very best of their generation.

We all met Michael at the address he’d texted us. It was much closer to the actual Acropolis than I’d expected us to get. The dance floor seemed bigger then I’d been anticipating.

They’d set up what looked like about 800 chairs, around three sides of the dance floor. Two large floor TV Cameras with the BBC logo were already in place, downstage left and right. Light standards at least 150 feet tall were positioned at each corner of the dance floor, with another two facing and lighting the Acropolis, itself.

Two large 20-foot tall screens were mounted up 25 feet high, just upstage left and right. I presumed they were there for the crowd to watch us dance. I also saw a trailer, which was the BBC production trailer.

This was our ‘sight-seeing day,’ but due to the important nature of this upcoming event, I thought we should show up to support Michael, however we could.