Chapter 57

Even Pam and her cameraman Eloy, from WSYX-TV, were there, along with Dave the DJ and his following. I saw my girls changing into their slippers as I mulled over in my head which dances to perform. I quickly decided on ‘The Only Exception’ a Waltz with Kalista, and our new ‘Encore piece’ ‘Xanadu.’

Out of breath, Pam came up to me and said, “National in two minutes, Charles, please?”

“Thank you - two,” I responded. Pam laughed.

An energy always pulses through me every time I know we’re about to dance somewhere; at cotillion, a lounge somewhere, in front of tens, hundreds, or hundreds of thousands. Performing is incredible, and so are my four ladies.

Eloy gave me a 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 and 1.

“Hello, we’re coming from our home, here in Columbus Ohio, where Charles, Claire, and the sparkling Kalista are preparing to go out on a two-year tour, across the United States, 443 cities, 626 performances in all 50 States. For more details, you can go to our web site. www.CCKalista.com [Not real!]”

“We have a dozen never before performed routines on this, our Honeymoon Tour. Claire and I have been married for forty-six days now, and I love her as much as I have ever loved anyone.”

She gave me a peck on the cheek, but I would have none of that, and turned it into an opened mouth event, which the crowd ate up, starting to cheer for us.

“Sorry, folks – She’s pretty hot, Isn’t she?”

A very loud response from the crowd came back, saying, “Hell Yes!”

“We have two routines for you today, first a Waltz for me and Kalista. Dave?”

The music started, and this young lady and I performed our newest Waltz, as we did some of our newest moves, now with the additional motivation of me becoming her stepfather in just over two years.

She’s so graceful and smooth in her transitions from traditional Waltz moves to her Rondés and Piques, we added to this marvelous routine.

When the song goes to where it was repeating its title over and over, we’re doing a newly added lift where I pick her up by her leg and waist and dip her towards the floor and back up again, just as the music ends.

We bowed - the crowd applauded and cheered during the setup of our second number.

Kalista gave me a kiss as she got into her ‘Xanadu Remix’ starting position. Claire joined her as their hips were in perfect position with each other.

“David, please?”

Dave started this frenetic seven minutes and nineteen seconds of high energy, which started the crowd to get energized and quickly got into our combination Cha-Cha, Rhumba, Paso Doble and Tango routine.

As we went from style to style, switching off between my two lovely ladies, I felt a new energy in myself; this won’t be just another tour – this might be our farewell tour, unless we luck into the Olympics somehow!

The crowd was singing along with Ms. Newton-John when she started singing almost two minutes into this cut from the movie - as we filled the stage with dance, lifts and even some side by side by side steps I’d only added three days before.

The legwork between the three of us was fun to learn, and extraordinary to perform, there was about thirty seconds that each of us had to ourselves, then we started to dance together as the song neared its end.

The number was over, the crowd was going bananas as Pam and Eloy came back to us.

“Wow, Charles. That was really something. How is it dancing with your wife, any different?” she asked, actually a quite intuitive question.

“Pam, whether I am dancing with Kalista, my mom, Annie, my Mother-in-law, Sarah, or my gorgeous wife - I love to dance, and I love all of them, maybe Claire a wee bit more than the rest - Goodbye Columbus!”

Pam pulled away, as the crowd reached its crescendo; waiting to watch her do her ‘stand-up.’

She started:

“People all across these United States; -- you are in for a treat for the ages. Wherever these three professionals go in the United States, they will be recognized, fawned over, applauded, asked for autographs, taken pictures of, cheered and rightly so – Columbus, Ohio is proud to say Good Luck to Charles, Claire, Kalista, Annie and Sarah. This is Pam Solberg for WSYX-TV - Have a great day!”

I gave Claire a look to see if I could give Pam a hug, and she approved. As we hugged, Pam said to me, “You are the best thing to happen to Ohio since Neil Armstrong, Jack Nicklaus, Steven Spielberg and Doris Day!”

“Thank you, my dear – you are very kind, destined for great things yourself, I suspect,” I said as we separated.

I gave a high five to Eloy, and we left the Mall, heading for home.

“Charles, I can’t seem to get on YouTube?” Kalista said looking down at her phone...

Annie asked, “So - that was your plan, Honey?”

“Actually no, Mom – I just wanted to have fun, advertise our upcoming Tour and dance with my lovely dance partners. Bringing down YouTube was ... just a perk,” I said with a smile.

“I have an idea that all you ladies may enjoy, sort of an early Christmas present,” I said as we had arrived to our Suburban.

I said, with a big smile on my face. “Head to the Upper Valley Mall in Springfield please, Sarah?”

“Sure thing, Loverboy,” she said with a big laugh.

As we got there, they saw the store logo of where I was taking them. Squeals abounded both around me as well as from the front seat.

This Victoria’s Secret was a bit larger than the one in Columbus, as I got a nice kiss from all of them as we walked towards the store.

“What are we getting, Charles?” Annie said.

“Whatever you want, shoes, swim wear, underwear, dresses – no limits today, replace your entire wardrobe if you’d like. I get to see you all in anything and everything you buy, that’s my deal,” I said.

“What if I find a nice sheer set of underwear Charles, would you like to see me in sheer underwear?” Sarah said. Annie pulled her away from me and said, “Behave, if you do – then, so do I.”

Oh – My – Goodness!

We left VS spending almost $8,000 in zipper boots, new and kinda naughty swim suits, lots and lots of underwear, Kalista got a pair of ‘over the knee lace-back boots’ to wear with the Micro dress of Claire’s that she now fills out, oh so very well.

They each got a couple of new clutch purses. Claire got a couple of Lace Babydolls, one black and one white – Oh boy, did she look wonderful in those. And dresses - Boy, did they buy a lot of dresses! With the free time I’d factored into this upcoming tour, going out would be a treat – for the ladies, too.

We also found a nice local Dance Wear Store, called ‘Pointe Blank,’ went in and the ladies helped my girls get plenty of new leotards, legwarmers, ballet slippers and other such things. They had black canvas shoes for men, so I got a half a dozen of them in my size.

Speaking of size, I’ve been noticing that when we see family’s out wearing our shirts, that when the Dad is uhm, big in the stomach, he can’t wear one, because our biggest size is 3XL.

After all of that shopping, I got on the phone with Ken.

“Yessir, Boss,” he answered.

“Does our source for the shirts make them 4XL or 5XL?”

“They make them all the way to 8XL, but I just never thought of going that big.”

“Well, unfortunately or not, many men and fewer woman do have a need. Does our base price change going that large?” I questioned.

“Not until you get to 6XL,” Ken answered.

“Will the picture stay static in size, or go widescreen?”

He laughed for a few seconds, then said, “The picture is the same size regardless of shirt size. The screen print system itself is the limitation, Boss!”

“Please add 4XL, 5XL, and 6XL to the website. We will eat the increase. I want to see an entire family in our shirts, OK?”

“Not a problem, at the same price as the others?”

“Absotively, Posilutely every product will be the same size at the same price. Sweatshirts as well!”

We went to dinner at Jay’s Seafood, in nearby Dayton, Ohio. I remembered being there before with my entire family, all six of us.

Back then, it was a big deal. Dad had just gotten a raise and took us all out for a seafood dinner. I was unwilling to try any kind of seafood, so I had a steak.

Today, I was the ‘Dad,’ with my wife, my soon to be stepdaughter, and my Mom and my wife’s Mom. We got some Cheese Strips as appetizers, while Claire and I ordered to share, a large order of Fried Oysters. Kalista asked for their Chicken Breast dinner, while Sarah and Annie got the Fisherman’s platter, which consisted of scallops, shrimp, oysters, and fresh haddock; they each had a glass of wine, while us youngsters had soda.

On our way home, we stopped by a TCBY store and each got a cone to go, and we headed back to the homestead.

I asked, “Sarah, could you please get Kevin on the phone?”

“Uh, Sure Charles, what’s up?” she rejoined.

“You’ll find out, my dear,” I said.

A moment later, I heard Sarah say, “Mr. Charles Newman, calling to speak to Kevin Tetcher, please?”

She handed me the phone.

I heard, “Hello Charles – what’s up?”

“Kevin, do you still have copies of our Athens Event?” I asked.

“We still sell it, from time to time, but not much lately, Charles,” Kevin said.

“How many do you have in stock?” I asked.

“Just a second – about five thousand, I think – Why?” he asked.

“Could we buy them all, to sell them at our website?” I replied, with my ladies all smiles around me.

“Sure, do you want to buy the rights to make more of them?” Kevin inquired.

“No no no no no, we don’t have the infrastructure in place to do anything like that, but could we simply place an order for more, when needed?”

“I don’t see why not ... we would need some lead time though?”

“What about copies of our Wedding Event?” I asked.

“That’s still in the raw footage stage, do you want to put that on a couple of DVD’s and sell it as well?” Kevin asked.

“Do you have someone who can edit it down?” I asked.

“Charles, I started at the BBC as a film editor – let me do it for you as an early Christmas present, OK?”

“Sure, call me when you’re done, and I’ll give you an address to send it to me – how’s that sound?” I asked.

“Sounds like fun, actually?” Kevin said. “I assume you’d want it in large quantities?”

“Yeah, we’d need copies of that made as well, so work out a price for 50,000?” I asked.

“All right, how many do you want of the Athens Event?” he asked.

“What’s our price going to be, first?” I asked.

“Uh-oh, Charles – I know that tone of voice from you, we have been selling them for $19.95, how does $10 a piece sound to you?”

“You guys still making a profit at that?” I asked.

“Yeah, duplication’s cheap, the cost is in the packaging,” Kevin explained.

“That’s make sense, we want an initial run of a quarter million units, can you guys handle that?” I asked.

“What’re you going to re-sell them for, Charles?” Kevin inquired, “If you don’t mind my asking?’

“$9.99 each, free with a Complete Set of Posters or with an order of at least three of our T-shirts or Sweatshirts.”

“We can ramp up to make that many, how soon do you want them?” Kevin asked.

“January 1^st too soon?” I said.

“I am more than happy to get those to you by then, everything you do is first class, Charles – the world needs ... more like you, son.”

“Here’s Sarah,” I said passing the phone back to her, full of emotion over what was just said to me.

I got out my cell phone and informed Ken what I’d just arranged, including the deals I proposed. He had answered the phone, while in the spa with Sarah Jane. They were enjoying it immensely. That’s the best reason to do most anything.

*******

A week from starting on our Honeymoon Tour, had us practicing all of our routines daily, with Dan in attendance to see what we were doing. He loved the covered backyard idea. We went over a few things regarding how much he needed to say between routines, some of it was due to one or both of the girls changing clothes.

He practiced aloud while we did, and he quickly picked up some key info regarding each of our numbers. His addition will class things up considerably.

The next day was Christmas Eve, so we stayed up late, wrapping presents for one another. I’d gotten some newspapers for wrapping presents with, it was something of a tradition in my family - Claire used it too.

We told the ladies we’d be over in the morning with everything, and promptly arrived at nine am as we saw Ken arrive with some large brown cardboard boxes. I helped him bring them in and he left quickly back to his own Christmas morning. We opened the large boxes to find beautifully wrapped presents by the dozens.

Everything said, ‘From Michael’ as we started our careful systemized opening. Kalista immediately got a present for everyone in their lap, as she sat between Claire and I, holding our hands. I looked over to Claire and rubbed Kalista on her shoulder saying, “Thanks, K,” she beamed - I used to do the same thing with my sisters and brother.

We started with Sarah.

Her present from Michael was a framed signed picture, from the first time they sang together; with Sarah in her ‘nuclear’ dress she wore that night. Next was Annie with a similar picture of her and Michael.

“I don’t remember when this might have been taken Charles, do you?” Annie asked.

Looking closely at it, I determined it was taken at the ‘Announcement BBQ’ and told Mom that – then she remembered.

It was my turn, so I opened my present from Michael, and it was a framed picture from our first Carnegie Hall performance – it was Michael, Claire, Kalista, and I. Everyone saw it and loved it.

Claire opened her present from me first, excited as she saw the Apple Logo on the box. She took it out and went, “Ooooohhh, thank you Charles honey.” She reached over K and gave me a big kiss. It was an Apple MacBook Pro!

After being a little smothered for a moment, Kalista opened her present from Michael, an enlarged framed picture from the night we met Michael, with K in her red dress, and she and I were bowing with Michael.

“I didn’t have my nice big boobies, like I do know, but that dress still fits, and Charles told me it was his favorite, until I put on the black Micro dress that used to be Claire’s,” she said as she smiled so very big.

We went through the rest of the packages, opening and showing off to everyone what we got. The ladies squealed as they opened my Victoria’s Secret gift certificates. This would be our first of many Christmases we will all have together.

The other large box was opened, per the instructions on the outside, and it was full of our new T-shirts and sweatshirts, probably ten dozen or more. Inside there was a card that said, ‘Read Me’ so I gave it to Claire to read.

“To the finest people I have ever met, including Charles Newman, my half-first cousin Claire, my first cousin Kalista, Miss Annie Moynihan and my knockout of a mother, Miss Sarah Rollins - My family and I wish you much joy and happiness this Holiday Season – Don’t worry Charles, I paid for them with the ‘house money.’ We have found out Sarah Jane is carrying a little girl – we plan to call her Rosemary Marie McArthur. Signed Ken, Sarah Jane and the kids,” Claire read.

We all instantly cried as soon as the name ‘Rosemary’ came from my wife’s lips. K crawled up in my lap and hugged me, quietly saying, “I love you, Daddy.”

We had our Christmas meal a few hours later that day, with all of us doing something, and it was an amazing combination of twice-baked potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, home-made stuffing, some steamed vegetables, a salad bar, and both a roast and a ham to complete the menu.

We indeed finished off the meal, having only a little bit of roast and a few slices of ham left, as we gathered around the living room talking about who got what, and the upcoming beginning to our Honey Tour.

I got up and cleaned up all of the trash we generated from opening packages earlier, Claire joined me as Mom said, “Charles, first you care about everyone more than any husband ever has, and now you clean up after yourself, maybe we should invest in cloning you, Honey?”

I straightened up - went to my laptop, going straight to iTunes – “Sorry Mom, as usual, I got a song in my head.”

K got up and finished for me, I acknowledged her by giving her a kiss, as I feverishly kept looking for the version I wanted.

“Charles, what are you looking up?” Sarah asked.

“Just a minute please, everybody – I’ll find it in a minute, please?” I said.

“Charles,” Annie said, “Maybe we can help you, what’s the song?”

“‘Send in the Clowns’, Mom,” I said, seriously leaking from my eyes.

“Charles, I could play that for you – we still have the piano,” mom said.

“I’d sing for you every night if you wanted, Charles?” Sarah said.

“I don’t know it?” Kalista said.

Moving over to the piano, Mom said, “Just a minute honey, here we go Charles, Sarah I don’t know if this is your key or not, but here goes.”

Mom started the haunting opening refrain as Sarah cleared her throat and started to sing...

“Isn’t it rich,
are we a pair
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air,
Send in the clowns.”

“Isn’t it bliss,
don’t you approve
One who keeps tearing around
One who can’t move
Where are the clowns,
Send in the clowns”

“Just when I’d stopped
opening doors
Finally knowing the one
that I wanted was yours.
Making my entrance again
with my usual flair
Sure of my lines
No one is there”

“Don’t you love a farce,
my fault I fear...”

As they went on to the second and third verses, I pulled my wife to me and we started to dance, both of us crying tears of happiness. No key change will be necessary; this is in the heart of Sarah’s vocal range, and she is singing it so beautifully.

We all hugged each other, and Claire and I gathered up our Christmas goodies and headed home.

As we got to the door, Kalista asked, “Can we both dance to that, Daddy?”

“We sure can, Sugar Plum.”

About a week later, we packed up and got on a flight to Hawaii, our first of going to all 50 states.

The Honeymoon Tour

Specifically, we started our performances in Honolulu, in a high school auditorium, in front of 1,000 people, who according to our sliding scale, means that these folks are only paying $50 each to see us.

After settling in at the hotel, we went over to our venue, and they indeed had our expected dance floor and sound system requirements. We were surprised to be greeted with the enthusiasm there was, by about two-dozen students, who ‘leid’ us all, and showed us the facilities with pride. They said they spent hours fixing it, cleaning it and painting, so it was ‘worthy’ of Charles & Claire. A group of boys glommed on to Kalista, so I had to casually remind them, that she was only eleven-years-old.

The next night, all dressed up - the place was full to the brim with both people and excitement, many of them in our T-shirts, both kids and adults - along with posters in hand.

I went out with a microphone.

“Aloha,” I said.

“ALO - HA,” the whole room reverberated back to me.

“You have a beautiful campus and wonderful people. Everyone we have met here have been so very nice. A reminder to everyone – You know how you always hear that announcement, ‘No flash photography, turn off your phones?’ Well, we’d prefer you not be on the phone talking to your BFFs, but we do encourage you to use your phone and make a copy of anything and everything you see and hear tonight, so you can share it with everyone you know.”

I handed the microphone over to Dan as I went off stage to ready myself for the first routine.

I’d purchased a high-tech CD player, with remote control, so I was in personal control of the music.

Dan:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls: Welcome to the first stop on the New Charles, Claire & Kalista Honeymoon Tour. If you weren’t there, back on October 15th, two things happened, The Lovely Kalista turned eleven years old. (Pause for applause)”

“On the same day, about 8:15 in the evening, the world’s favorite dancers got married to each other. (Pause) Fans of Dancing everywhere, I am proud to present to you, Charles, Claire & Kalista...”

I started the song ‘Xanadu’ as first Kalista entered the dance floor, then Claire and finally yours truly, doing a combination of the Cha-Cha, Rhumba, Paso Doble, and the Tango.

Everybody reacted to the music, and some started dancing in the aisles along the sides. The three of us had a blast doing this very theatrically styled performance, as the crowd stood up.

I immediately reached in my pocket and started the next song, ‘California Dreamin’ by the Beach boys, as Kallie left the stage for Claire and I to start our Viennese Waltz. The older folks - those over forty - immediately applauded this music, and the kids got into it quickly as well. My wife and I performed one of my personal favorite dance steps.

The moment we were done, I reached in as Claire gave me a kiss, and started ‘Beautiful,’ with Kalista joining me in the middle of the dance floor for this soul-searching Slow Samba. Kallie’s hands, arms and her legs are magnificent, and we did some Samba turns to finish this off. I gave Dan a nod as we finished and left the dance floor.

“Charles, Claire and the Sparkling Kalista have won every competition they entered. Next performing to the perfect tenor voice of Jerry Vale singing ‘Sunrise Sunset,’ are Charles and his mother-in-law, Sarah Rollins.”

I started the music and we entered dancing, in our completely renovated Waltz routine, to Sarah’s favorite song. She was in her black Multi-Way dress, in the strapless configuration, which garnered many wolf whistles. She smiled so lovingly at me as we danced together through this most beautiful piece of Waltz music. She was in four-inch heels, putting her best foot forward and it was over, much too soon.

Next up, were Kalista and me dancing a Waltz to ‘The Only Exception’ by Paramore. She was ‘on’ and her smile broke my heart again, just as it did back when she danced on my feet...

“When I was younger
I saw my daddy cry
and curse at the wind.
He broke his own heart
and I watched
as he tried to reassemble it.”
“And my momma swore
that she would never wed herself again.
And that was the day that I promised
I’d never sing of love if it does not exist.”
“Well Darling,
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.”

It was during these repetitions that we
did our Charles & Claire one-armed turns.
“Maybe I know somewhere
deep in my soul
that love never lasts.
And we have got to find
other ways to make it alone.
Or keep a straight face.
And I have always lived like this
keeping a comfortable distance.
And up until now I sworn to myself
that I am content with loneliness.”
“Because none of it
was ever worth the risk.”
“Well you are the only exception.
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception.“

Through this point to the end of the song, K and I only saw one another. With her workouts, she’s lighter than air these days, as we finished up this dance with our trademark one-armed spin, to thunderous applause from everyone there.

The rest of the evening was just as glorious as these first five routines were, with Dan doing his thing, as we went from routine to routine, until we’d performed all of the numbers, the fastest three hours – ever!

We finished to a standing ovation after Claire and I tangoed to ‘The Rose’ by Leann Rimes. We gladly signed autographs for over an hour, some directly on their shirts. When a particularly buxom high schooler wanted me to sign on her shirt, I paused and blushed for a moment. Sarah helped me out by telling me to do it on the hem of the shirt, as opposed to the chest portion of the shirt. The young lady smiled and blushed as well.

Talk about your unintended consequences!

Since our usual arrangements will include getting paid at the end of each performance, a nicely dressed gentlemen, who introduced himself as Ron Deeds, Principal of the High School, gave me a handshake and a check for the balance, as the ladies were gathering up their belongings.

After our two additional performances in Honolulu, we picked up and went to Ewa, along the leeward coast of Oahu, and did it all over again, with a crowd just as rambunctious as in Honolulu, but there were only eight hundred people this time around.

A plane trip to Alaska, with a single performance in Fairbanks and two in Anchorage, was our next set of stops, after which, a flight getting us back to Columbus, where we took a day off, preparing for our trek through Ohio.

We would have 3 performances in Columbus, then Canton, 2 in Akron; Parma, 2 in Cleveland, 3 in Toledo, Dayton, finishing with 3 in Cincinnati. Every one of them had at least 1,500 screaming fans, with posters to sign, T-shirts to sign, and pictures to take – never before have so many people stopped us and asked for pictures.

That was a fast moving 30 days, with 24 performances so far.

Another day off, then a deadhead drive down to Florida where we’d start our crisscross of America, starting in Gainesville for a single performance, moving all the way to the southern tip of Florida, where we started our remaining 28 cities, with 41 performances, and a three-day vacation in Walt Disney World again, taking up almost ten full weeks on the Honey Tour.

All four ladies now had long hair they usually put up for a performance, but on our time in WDW, they were in ponytails of some design.

We stayed at the Grand Floridian, a resort we had not stayed at before. It was quite expensive, but Annie made the point, ‘If you are making big money, you have the ride to spend it!!’ If Dad had ever heard tha, it might have killed him on the spot!

Miami was our next starting point - the itinerary for Florida was as follows; 3 groups of cities, with a break after each group; Group A was Miami for 2 performances, Miami Beach, Hialeah for 2, Miami Gardens for 2. Next was Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Plantation, Davie, Fort Lauderdale for 2, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton.

We arrived in Miami, late at night with reservations at the Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove Hotel, where one of our three performances were being held. We had a wonderful performance we were coming from in Gainesville, where 1,200 people enjoyed our evening of dance routines.

Our performance at the Ritz Carlton venue drew some local celebrities; including legendary performer Ben Vereen; along with Wayne Brady and tennis star Jennifer Capriati.

Our other two Miami performances were at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami, where the Miami Heat plays. The arena could hold upwards of 20,000 people, but they only expected five to seven thousand folks to show up for us.

When we showed up ninety minutes before we were to start, the line to buy tickets went around the venue - twice, and it was filling up very fast. We met Dan Sutherland who’d made our arrangements with Sarah. He wasn’t aware of our popularity, so he was somewhat flummoxed by the size of the crowd.

We worked out the necessities and had sellouts both nights, getting a hefty check at the end of the two evenings for $1 million dollars. We hadn’t expected anyone to put us in such a large venue, but it was a blast for Dan ‘the Man’ and the ‘Springfield Five,’ as Sarah had started calling our cache.

We went through the rest of Group A in much smaller venues, such as high school auditoriums and a couple of smaller college basketball stadiums.

Group B was, in order, Cape Coral for 2, St Petersburg for 3, Clearwater, Tampa for 3, Lakeland, and Orlando for 3; then 1 each in Deltona, Melbourne, Palm Bay, Port St Lucie and West Palm Beach.

Cape Coral was a lot of fun; we performed at the Palmetto Pine Country Club, in their newly decorated clubhouse, specifically their dinner/ballroom in front of about 400 folks. After performing, we were asked to stay for dinner if we wanted. The evening felt more like a wedding reception than a performance, but everyone was quite satisfied.

Our contact, Charles Nagle, came up to us with our check and offered us an Honorable Membership to the Club, which we thanked him for as we left.