Chapter 58

Disney’s Hollywood Studios was impressive. With twenty attractions to choose from, including Rock ‘n’ Roll Coaster, Star Tours in 3D, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, that Annie and Sarah wanted nothing to do with, Toy Story Mania, the newly refurbished Fantasmic, and a 25-minute long Live truncation of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ with five of the wonderful songs from the movie, including the Oscar winning ‘Be Our Guest’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast.’

We also watched the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, took The Great Movie Ride, and the studio Backlot Tour. Kalista talked me into going to Muppet-Vision 3D, so we all did that as well.

In between all of that, we stopped twice for food, were often asked for autographs, which we gladly did for all who asked.

My future step-daughter was wearing a top that showed a lot of shoulder and neck, so, with Claire’s permission, I gave her some aloe vera, and she enjoyed it a great deal. Mom did me, and Sarah did her daughter.

Getting back to the Grand Floridian Hotel was nice, where Claire gave me a leg rub, and I gave her leg and backrub, along with a vigorous upper chest massage - we were both naked at the time

The next morning, instead of trudging through another park, when we met up with Sandy again, I brought up the possibility of performing somewhere in the Magic Kingdom Park. Her eyes just about popped out of her head.

“Oh, yes, that would be just wonderful – how ‘bout the Castle Stage again?” she offered.

“Sounds great, Sandy – we could perform for thirty minutes, how’s that sound?” I countered.

“Wonderful, just a minute OK?” she said, getting on her cell phone to somebody. “How about two pm – for forty minutes?” she asked, putting a wonderful look on her face, reminding me of Kalista a bit.

“Great idea, Sandy – give us a minute, OK?” I asked.

Our group sat down, Sarah pulled out the ever-present MacBook Pro, and using iTunes, I tried different groupings based on our Honey Tour and got it rather quickly. I asked Sarah to burn two copies while I walked over to Sandy who was waiting with a fellow cast member, who had a golf cart at the ready. I went back to Sarah who handed me a completed CD, with the music hastily, but clearly printed on it.

I gave it to Sandy, who gave it to the young man, who got out of there in a hurry. Sandy was so excited; she gave me a hug, then realized the probable ramifications and separated from me.

“Sandy, I won’t tell anybody OK?” I said.

Kalista added, “We all do that at one time or another, he seems to have that effect on all of us.”

Sandy was blushing, as Claire leaned into me and said, “Love ‘em and leave ‘em Charles – you are a cad.”

Our set list was as follows;

“I’m Not That Girl”

“Hate on Me”

“I love the Nightlife”

“Unchained Melody”

“It Had Better Be Tonight”

“Firework”

“Teenage Dream”

“Footloose”

“Vincent”

“Heartache Tonight”

“The Rose”

Within thirty minutes an announcement had started throughout the entire park, “Walt Disney World is very proud to announce that the Dance team of Charles, Claire & Kalista will be performing on the Sleeping Beauty Castle Stage at two pm!”

We heard cheers from all around us, making us feel so wonderful – I took Kalista and gave her the biggest hug, then Sarah, Annie and finally my wife, Claire Tiffany Newman. I say it often, but I really am the luckiest sixteen-year-old on the planet.

Sandy turned to me and asked, “Would y’guys like to participate in our ‘Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade?’ They never put guests in it, but I called the Parade Manager and told him y’all were here, and he asked me to use my charms to get you to say ‘Yes.’”

Claire gave me a nod, so I walked slowly towards Sandy and said, “And exactly what charms are you prepared to use on me, young lady?”

“I was told my dimples can git any boy to do anythang?” she responded with a big ole grin.

“I think you have beautiful dimples Sandy; your face is one of the prettiest faces I have ever seen before,” I said with my face very close to hers. I put my hand on her cheek and she gave out a deep sigh, and then pulled away, giggling a lot and blushing a little. All of my ladies joined in the giggles as well.

“So, we have our performance at two pm – what time is the Parade, Sandy?” I asked.

“At dusk, Charles – about 6:30 – is that OK with y’guys?” she asked, averting her eyes from me a little bit.

“Sandy that would be fantastic. We’ll have you nearby all day anyway – you can help us get to everything on time – all right?” I asked.

She finally looked straight at me again and said quite sure of herself, “I shore will, Charles!”

Annie walked up to me and said, “You need to be careful that you use your powers for good, X?”

Sarah gave out a great big laugh, along with Mom’s snort as we went on with our day.

*******

Our performance at the Castle was magnificent. They loved every single routine. After it was over we signed autographs for over an hour.

The Parade was a new experience, Claire and I stood next to Mickey, while Kalista walked alongside Snow White, and the Moms walked amongst the Seven Dwarfs.

Back to the Grand Floridian we headed, first thanking Sandy for all of her help. She hugged each of the ladies and she and I hugged for a very long time. She gave me a nice peck on the cheek, and we got on the Monorail and had a straight shot to our hotel. As we pulled away, Sarah said, “She was very nice, wasn’t she, Charles?”

“Yes, Sarah – quite the young lady,” I said, as I waved towards where she was. What a sweetheart.

It will be a while before we stay at any lodging as nice as the Grand Floridian.

Claire and I had passed on the news from the WDC to the rest of the ladies, who were amazed that the WDC had been so nice to say the things they’d said about all of us.

That made me start thinking about going back to the stricter standards of the NDCA and the WDC; but right now, we had to think about our next city in Florida.

Sarah called a C-Cask meeting in their room.

“Charles, as much as I enjoy schlepping around ... carrying the laptop all the time, couldn’t we change over to using thumb drives instead of CD’s?”

“Well, wouldn’t you still need the laptop for me to pick the songs from?”

“Thumb drives aren’t nearly as expensive as they were when they first came out. We could create a six, eight, twelve, or however many songs, preselected. If we do that in advance, I could also provide a list, on paper for whoever we are giving it to.”

“Making a list in advance wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Claire said to me, giving me a nice kiss to help advance her idea.

“Not a problem, Sarah. Purchase what we need as we go, I am willing to make some set lists in advance. You hadn’t been complaining, has this been on your mind for a while?”

“Ever since the day at Elitch Gardens, Lover. I am not a complainer and will do whatever you want me to. Just to let you know, the quality of the music will likely improve being played from a thumb drive.”

“Good to know,” I responded, putting my hand softly on her cheek. Wow, she is so gentle.

******

We had six cities left in our Group B, starting with Orlando for 3, then one each in Deltona, Melbourne, Palm Bay, Port St Lucie and West Palm Beach.

After finishing all of them to overflow houses, we had Group C to go, which consisted of Jacksonville for 3 and Tallahassee for 2; then Florida was done. Whew – 42 performances in 28 cities - 3 states down, 47 to go.

Next on the Honey Tour was the great state of Alabama, starting in Mobile, on to Montgomery, Hoover, Birmingham, Huntsville and lastly Tuscaloosa; only Birmingham had two performances, all the rest were one-nighters.

Besides our performances, we took a cruise on the Southern Belle while in Mobile; went to and danced at a club in Montgomery called the 1048 Jazz and Blues, where a group called the Hot Rod Walt Trio played some Honky Tonk music which had Claire and I tapping our toes all night. They acknowledged us and we got up to applause as they played a number they called ‘Rebel,’ to which I felt a Tango coming on, so I grabbed Kalista and we had a blast as these guys played and we danced. When it was all over, we got a great big hand from both the audience and the Trio.

After Montgomery, we did our performance in Hoover at a high school auditorium, to a group of mostly teenagers who mobbed us for autographs after the show was over. Most of them had our new ‘fivesome’ poster and were wearing our ‘T’s.

Ken was right – it turned out fabulous. After the Wedding, I had him remove our signatures and put it along with the rest of the new poses directly to press. Everywhere we went, most of the kids were wearing our T-shirts as well.

The few adults there, came up for autographs as well, both men and women, with the guys typically giving the Moms a leer, while at the same time were shaking my hand. Dan was there of course between the Moms in case something was to happen – I found out, although he was in his fifties, he was a follower of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

After finding out exactly what that was, I asked him to show me some moves, in case I was ever out with Claire and I needed to defend her or myself. Dan and I started a mini-training camp whenever we had the chance.

The ladies laughed at my technique at first, but I quickly became quite good and Dan told me I was a quick learner. He knew my motivation was to protect my ladies, Claire in particular, and he quickly told me I was ready for a professional trainer. That’ll have to wait.

While in Hoover, Alabama, we stayed at the La Quinta Inn, intending to commute to Birmingham for our two performances there, at the University of Alabama Birmingham’s (UAB) Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center. What a mouthful!

Of the four venues on campus, we were slated to perform at the Jemison Concert Hall, which seated 1,330 persons. We drove to the Campus to check out the facility, and talked to the Hall Manager, Evan Moulles. After locating a place to input our CD player, Claire and I talked.

“Claire honey, we have been dancing the same routines now through 50 cities, could we change it up a little?” I asked.

“Sure, X – whatever you want, anything in particular?” she responded.

“I think I am officially tired of Michael’s music, we have been dancing to it for a very long time,” I said.

“That’s four songs we need to replace, Charles; we need to get back to our hotel and learn some new numbers, don’t we?” she replied giving me that glorious smile.

I turned to Evan and said, “We’ll be back tomorrow night at six for the seven o’clock show, all right?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Newman – do you wish to be paid now or after each performance? Both nights sold out very quickly.”

I usually defer this discussion until after we’re done in a city, but I had an idea, so I answered, “Now would be fine, Mr. Moulles.”

He reached into his pocket and handed me a check, which I put directly in my pocket.

“You are not going to check to see if it’s the correct amount?” he asked.

“Sir, gentlemen pay what is expected, when it is expected. I have no reason to suspect that you are anything other than an above-board gentleman,” I answered.

“You are everything I have heard, Mr. Newman, a professional, at everything you do,” Evan said.

“Now you sound just like my mother, which is a good thing – see you tomorrow?” I said as we all walked out of the hall to our vehicle.

Mom came up to me and gave me a big hug from behind, saying, “I love you honey – that was a very sweet thing to say.”

“Mom, despite everything else that has happened the past couple of years, two things have stayed constant. I have the best Mom ever and she’s the most beautiful woman in my life - after my wife.”