Chapter 43: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Labatt Mansion, London, Ontario
11:51pm, Friday, December 28, 1979

“Jeezes, Cuda! I can’t believe you tipped that missed shot into the basket like that to win the game,” Tempe excitedly said as she sat in the leather recliner with her injured right leg propped up with a pillow in the main living room of the Labatt’s big mansion.

“Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then,” I laughed as I stood behind my four girlfriends at the entrance to the living room.

“That was no luck, Mikhail. You darted by defender and then twisted body to avoid center to tip in ball,” Zupena quickly replied as she swatted my right shoulder.

“Yeah, guys. We just saw the highlights of Medway’s victory, as well as a short clip of your rehearsal concert on the news,” Katie Labatt said as she and her husband, William got up to welcome our crew into their house.

“What did they show of our concert, Daddy?” Sammy asked with a huge grin on her face.

“Well, if I remember correctly, there was a crying girl on stage, who looked a little like Ms. Eda, and, uh, some little British sounding guy in a garish, yellow outfit,” Mr. Labatt deadpanned as he avoided looking at Eda.

“I told you, didn’t I, that that was gonna be on the news, E!” Lisa laughed as she hugged her older sister into her body.

“They had to show me crying up on stage? Gawd, I feel like such a wuss,” E softly lamented as she leaned into Wayne’s shoulder.

“The two of you, together on the stage were priceless, E,” Tempe said as I moved over to the side of her recliner. She continued with, “You did a great job of playing off of Elton’s vocals ... even with tears in your eyes.”

“You sure did, Eda. With you being thrown for a complete loop, you did a magnificent job meshing your vocals with Elton’s,” Katie quickly added.

“That’s what we told her, afterwards,” Lynette said as she knelt down beside Tempe. My soulmate then asked, “And how is our beautiful gymnast feeling?”

“I’m doing fine. I hate that I missed the end of your volleyball games, and then Cuda’s game and the concert,” Tempe softly said.

“We missed having you there, Tempe,” Lisa replied as she rubbed Tempe’s propped up feet.

Our crew talked for another twenty-ish minutes with Sammy’s parents about our games and the rehearsal concert. They were surprised to hear about Elton John’s offer to bring all the musicians in our bands to his concert at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, tomorrow. Tempe looked a little dejected at hearing that, but she quickly perked back up when Sammy said, “Elton made sure to provide enough front row tickets for all of our ‘significant others’ to come along with us.”

“He only left six ‘in-concert’ back-stage passes with Devin, though,” Cano said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

“From what Devin told us after the concert, those passes are for us Time Bandettes, plus Kalena,” Eda added from her spot in front of the sofa, between Wayne’s legs.

“Sounds like some of you kids might be busy ... in Detroit,” Mr. Labatt laughed.

“You don’t think Elton John is gonna call us out onto the stage, do you?” Lisa squealed with glee in her voice.

“From our experience with big concerts, they don’t usually hand out those ‘in-concert’ back-stage passes to just anyone,” Katie replied with a smile.

“Yeah,” Sammy added with a roll of her eyes. She then said, “Most of the time, back stage passes are either used before or after the concert as a ‘meet and greet’ type deal. During concerts, the bigger performers only want people working or associated with the show off in the shadows.”

“Oh! God! What are they gonna want us to do?” Eda asked with trepidation in her voice.

Most of us just shook our heads at E’s question and stared at each other. After a moment, Mr. Labatt calmly said, “My guess is Elton will probably just have you come out and introduce you to the crowd. If it’s more than that, I’m thinking he might get you kids to simply harmonize on a song with him and his band.”

A hush fell over the living room as we digested Sammy’s dad’s words. Cano gave my hand a squeeze and then she easily said, “I’d love to be one of Elton’s backup singers for a song.”

That set off another round of crazy statements from my friends and me about our trip to the Joe Louis Arena. When the grandfather clock in the mansion ‘gonged’ once, Katie pushed up out of the loveseat and said, “It’s been a long day. You kids can stay up as long as you want, but this ol’-gal is heading off to bed.”

“I think a hot shower and bed sounds like a perfect plan, Ms. Katie,” I said as I rubbed Tempe’s injured right leg from my perch on the arm rest of her recliner.

My petite blonde gymnast reached up to my left shoulder and tugged on the sleeve of my hockey jersey. When I looked down at her, she softly said, “I didn’t have a shower after my meet, and doctor’s visit, Cuda, and I’m feeling pretty grubby. Do you think you can help me take one before going to bed?”

I gave my injured girlfriend a smile and replied, “Oh, yeah, B-G. I’ll help you with your shower, as well as get you ready for bed.”

Lynette and Lisa both heard Tempe’s question and my response. They quickly got up, with Lisa snagging Tempe’s crutches. Lynette then said, “We’ll all help you, Tempe, as we all need to take a shower to get rid of the crud from our rehearsal concert.”

After letting me and my girls in the guest house, we said our good nights’ to Eda and Wayne, and Gary and Sammy who were going back to the main mansion. In the main bedroom of the guest house, I was a little surprised when Tempe asked for Lynette’s assistance, instead of Lisa’s when it came to helping our injured friend out of her clothes, and into the shower. After I helped Cano get Tempe into the large shower enclosure, I saw that Lisa was almost in tears at not being asked to help.

Walking to her at the ensuite’s door, I wrapped my busty beauty in my arms and whispered, “I think Tempe is feeling vulnerable with her injured leg, Bricky. She was almost acting like the first day of our Naked-in-School week, and it was Cano and I who helped her get through that traumatic first experience. I don’t think she’s rejecting or replacing you as her best friend. I think she just wants that ‘mothering’ aspect that Lynette seems to provide in tough times.”

After a few sniffles, and wiping her eyes with her sweatshirt, Lisa softly said, “I guess you’re right, Mike. She was pretty babyish there as you guys were helping her get ready for her shower. Tell her I love her and that I’m gonna go use the other shower. I’ll see you guys in a jiff, ‘kay?”

“I will, Bricky. Tempe, all of us love you. We’ll see you back here in a few,” I replied as I gave her a big hug before gently nudging her towards the bedroom door.

After the three of us got cleaned up in the large shower with either Lynette or me always holding onto Tempe, I helped our injured beauty hobble out to stand along the long double vanity. As Lynette and I gently dried Tempe’s petite teen body, I softly said, “Make sure you let Bricky know how much you love her, Tempe. She had her feelings hurt when you asked Cano to help you shower, instead of her.”

“Oh! God! I never meant to hurt Brick’s feelings, guys!” Tempe cried and almost fell over at she turned to look at Cano and I.

“Easy, Tempe. We know you didn’t do anything like that on purpose, but you’ve got to be careful and steady, or you’ll hurt your knee even more,” Lynette replied as we both increased our grips’ on Tempe’s arms or hip area.

“Tempe, don’t make a big deal out of this or it could become a big deal. Just show Brick that you love her and...” I said as I dried her legs.

“Can, uh, can I sleep with Brick and Cano in this bed here, Mike?” Tempe softly asked as she placed her hands on my shoulders as I knelt on the bath mat to dry her feet.

“That’s not a problem for me, B-G,” I replied as I looked up at her sullen face.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?” she reiterated her concerns.

“Tempe, who else is here for Cuda to sleep with, Sweetie?” Lynette laughed, beating me to the punch with that question about our possible sleeping arrangements.

“I just don’t wanna hurt anyone else’s feelings, tonight,” Tempe said as I stood up and gave her cute nose a kiss.

“There’s always gonna be someone or some ones with their feelings tweaked a little in our crazy situation, Tempe,” I said as I started to quickly use the towel to dry off my brown mop of hair. “Just love on Bricky a little tonight and all will be good.”

“Okay,” Tempe whispered and then used the towel that was wrapped around her damp hair to gently help dry Lynette’s lean, slender torso. She wasn’t able to seriously help with the drying process as she leaned her butt against the vanity counter.

With just a pair of boxers on, I headed out of the main guest house bedroom and walked to the larger of the two other bedrooms to find my other three girlfriends. I just stood and stared at the three naked beauties as they stood back to front, back to front, with Lisa toweling Shannon’s hair dry and Zupena doing the same to Lisa’s damp hair. Zupena smiled at me as I leaned against the door-jam and softly said, “Take Shan’s towel, my short hair not completely dry, yet.” After Zupi’s request, Shannon held out the slightly damp towel for me to snag. In short order, all three of my beauties were having their hair towel dried from behind by the next tallest person.

Before long, all three of these beauties were brushing the tangles out of their own damp hair as they sat on the edge of the queen sized bed. When Lisa had her brown locks detangled, I said, “Bricky, why don’t you go sleep with Tempe and Cano in the other room. I’m hoping these two beauties will give me a couple hours of sleep in here.”

“What? You’re not gonna screw Zupi and me into the New Year tonight, Cuda?” Shannon laughed as she leaned her naked torso over Zupena’s equally nude seated body to gently give my boxer covered penis a squeeze.

“We let you sleep ... tonight, Mikhail,” Zupena laughed as she reached over and under Shannon’s chest to playfully squeeze her firm, full boobs.

“As long as we don’t have to go to sleep right away,” Shannon replied as she pushed herself up and attacked Zupena, knocking the larger girl back onto the queen-sized mattress.

“You can come and sleep with us, if these two heathens want to have some serious alone time, Cuda,” Lisa laughed as Zupena and Shannon wiggled their bodies further onto the mattress.

“Nah. I’ll be good in here. You run and keep Tempe and Lynette company,” I replied as I rubbed my left hand over Lisa’s upper thigh.

Lisa gave me a short stare to gage my words before she pushed up from the bed. Bypassing me, she crawled up onto the mattress to give Zupena and Shannon a good-night kiss. Lisa then slide off the mattress, and put her hands on my thighs and leaned down to give me a passionate kiss. When she eased off from my lips, she whispered, “I love you, Mike ... and thanks for doing this.”

“I love you, too, Lisa,” I replied with a wink, before giving her bare right butt cheek a little slap to begin her journey to the other bedroom.

Elton John’s Charter Bus, Leaving Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

11:22pm, Saturday, December 29, 1979

“That was beyond mind-blowing awesome!” Lisa exclaimed as the charter bus Elton John arranged for us pulled out from the underground parking area of Joe Louis Arena.

“Gawd! That was an incredible concert! I can only hope our show will be half as good as that one!” Eda added as she knelt on the seat, looking backward on the bus.

“I take it you kinda like Elton John, E?” Paul laughed from a few seats behind Eda.

“I’d have his kids in a heartbeat! ... Sorry, Wayne,” Eda excitedly replied and then added in a hushed voice to her boyfriend kneeling beside her.

“Good thing for you, Wayne, as I’m not sure E will ever get that opportunity with Elton,” Steve quickly added and gave us a slight, limp-wristed wave.

“Yeah, I’m not too worried about Elton stealing my girlfriend,” Wayne chuckled as he put his arm around E’s shoulders.

“Can you believe that Devin and his crew somehow got our instruments on this bus without us knowing about it, Cuda?” Sammy exuberantly asked from the seat in front of me and Tempe.

“I wondered where our ukuleles were after we finished our short rehearsal,” I replied to Sammy’s change of topic question.

“You guys did a great job on that funky song,” Tempe said as she rubbed my right thigh with her left hand.

Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

9:23pm, Saturday, December 29, 1979

The crowd at Joe Louis Arena was going crazy as Elton John and his band started playing Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me. During his introduction to this song, I turned to Cano and gave her a big hug when we recognized a little bit of her introductory music in Elton’s piano playing. My bandmates and I were in awe of their tight-knit performance as these top-notch musicians played to the crowd. The twenty-thousand-plus crowd gave Elton and his band a huge round of applause at the conclusion of this song.

“As some of you may have seen on the news this morning, I had the pleasure of singing that song last night with the best high school rock band in the world, Mike and the Time Bandettes,” Elton John said as he got up from his piano and walked out to the center of his stage. The crowd responded accordingly when the Rocket-man mentioned our band’s name. When the noise level dropped, Elton then said, “I think it is only fair that those young kids return the favor by doing something at one of my shows, don’t you?”

Once more, the crowd exploded in applause, screams and whistles. Not waiting for the noise to die down this time, Elton then pointed to our location and said into his hand-held microphone, “Please give a monstrous welcome to Mike, Lynette, Samantha, Eda, Lisa and Kalena ... C’mon, Detroit, give it up for Mike and the Time Bandettes!”

The six of us walked out and waved at the crowd as the spotlights blazed bright on us as we joined Elton at the front of the stage. As Mr. Labatt suggested the previous night, we knew something was up song-wise when Elton’s head stage manager had our wireless ear-monitors and microphones ready for us back stage. After sharing a hug or hand shake with Elton, a couple of his stage hands carried out my Fender ‘Mando-Strat’ eight-string ukulele, Sammy’s soprano ukulele, Kalena’s Stradivarius violin, Lisa’s purple Rickenbacker bass and Lynette’s fire-engine red keytar for us. As we took our instruments and put them on, Elton said, “I heard it through the music grapevine that you kids have done a unique rendition of a Beatles’ song, which I happened to cover with John Lennon a few years ago. I think it’s called something like Lucy in the Sky... maybe ... with Diamonds.” The twenty-thousand plus crowd erupted at hearing that song title from Elton. With his hands egging on the crowd, Elton then added, “I was half-way hoping you’d play it for us, and possibly allow me to sing along with you.”

“Oh! God! Elton! We’d love to do that for ya, wouldn’t we guys?” Eda squealed as last night’s two singers gave each other another hug.

“How ‘bout you take lead on this Elton and we’ll try to stay out of your way?” I laughed as I adjusted my mandolin on my chest.

“I guess I can do that, as long as Eda is right here beside me,” Elton replied and lifted her right hand up with his left hand, which earned another eruption from the crowd.

Lynette gave me a little elbow to my ribs to get my attention. With her hand over her wireless mic, she ‘loudly whispered’ in my ear, “I sure hope I can get the settings right to recreate our opening to this song, Cuda.”

With my hand over my wireless mic, I replied, “Whatever you come up with, Cano will be awesome. I’m sure Sammy and I will be able to play off your intro.”

“You kids ready?” Elton asked as he looked at the five of us with instruments around or sitting on our shoulders (Kalena’s violin).

“Yeah, but just know we haven’t played this live since last summer,” I replied as I looked at Lynette and Sammy. They, along with me, were the main musicians on our cover of this Beatles’ classic.

Lynette then gently played an unnerving intro on her keytar as the rest of us spread out a little in front of Elton’s band on his massive concert stage. I watched my soulmate make a few adjustments to her instrument’s sound to create an eerie reverb, which was shortly followed by Sammy’s simple plucking out the background music on her eight-string soprano ukulele. Those two played eight measures before I joined in with my Mando-Strat tenor mandolin to play the main melody of our rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Lisa had a very simple bass roll in this song, plucking out a note on every first beat to each of the verse’s lines. Her easy bass note was played at the same time that Elton sang:

“Picture yourself in a boat on a river.

With tangerine trees, and marmalade skies.

Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly.”

As Elton sang that last line, he turned to Eda and with his hands held out to her, she then sang:

“A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.”

Both Elton and Eda then harmonized on:

“Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,

Towering over your head.

Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she gone.”

During the interlude before the next verse, Kalena added her Stradivarius violin to our stringed instruments and Cano’s keytar’s eerie backing music. Her sweet violin sounds blended beautifully with our sharp, distinctive plucking melody to create a wonderful fusion of non-traditional rock instruments. Lynette, Sammy and I were glad that Elton had ‘heard through the grapevine’ that our version didn’t go into the chorus of this Beatles’ song after that first verse. Our superstar singer easily picked up on the flavor of our rendition when he sang:

Elton, with Eda’s hand in his then motioned for our drummer girl to sing, so she continued with:

“Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,

Waiting to take you away.

Climb in the back with your head in the clouds, and you’re gone.” Elton joined in with E on this last line.

I then began a short solo on my mandolin before Kalena and Lynette joined in to create a wonderful array of sounds in the hushed arena. With Elton and Eda holding hands, and looking at us with their microphones down by their sides, I smiled at them and simply sang the song title:

“Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”

Sammy joined back in with her soprano ukulele after that simple vocal phrase. Elton smile at me and mouthed, ‘Third verse?‘ as we really didn’t make any plans on how we were going to play and sing this song. I gave the star of this concert a nod and mouthed back, ‘Four measures and you’re up.’

Just as Kalena and Lisa joined back in with Lynette, Sammy and me, Elton sang:

“Picture yourself on a train in a station,

With plasticine porters, with looking-glass ties.”

Eda then joined Elton to sing:

“Suddenly, someone is there at the turnstile,

The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.”

As we did after the second verse, I played a short mandolin solo and sang the title line of this song. Lynette, Sammy and Kalena added their instruments, and then those three girls all joined in with me as we repeated the title phrase a second time. On our third vocalization of the title phrase, the Masciotro sisters added their higher pitched voices to our harmony.

For the fourth and final vocalization of the song’s title, Elton powerfully sang: “Lucy in the sky,” as we simultaneously stopped playing our instruments with his ending vocal. Our little group on the stage paused for three seconds before the six of us youngsters joined with Elton to sing the final “with Diiiiiiiii-mondsssssssss!” harmony.

(Note: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles in 1967. It was from the Beatles’ smash album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and has been covered over twenty times by various artists, including Elton John, Natalie Cole, Frank Zappa, and The Hooters’ ukulele driven rendition, which I modelled and modified for this story.)

The near silent arena slowly erupted in applause and shouts as Elton held Eda’s hand up at the conclusion of our song. Lisa and Kalena both rushed over to hug onto my arms as we never had experienced the incredible rush that twenty-two thousand screaming fans can create within our inexperienced bodies. Lynette and Sammy were likewise sharing a hug as the spotlights were flashing on and around us on Elton’s large stage.

All of us were surprised when Elton’s band members stepped up to us to offer their support on our musical journey. I loved that guitarist Davey Johnstone complemented Sammy, Kalena and me on our guitar and stringed instrument playing. I also was glad to see that Nigel Olsson chatted with Eda for a few moments, and bassist Dee Murray did likewise with Lisa. Lynette was in hog-heaven as Elton took her over to his Steinway and Sons’ white concert grand piano and had her sit on his lavish leather piano bench. The crowd didn’t seem to mind this little five minute hiatus in music as we talked on stage.

Elton once more thanked us for joining him on stage, and for allowing him to ‘half-way butcher’ that song, according to his own evaluation of his performance. The six of us waved after another incredible ovation from the crowd as we walked off backstage. We weren’t surprised that Elton’s stage manager had several crew members ready to take and pack our instruments in their cases, as well as putting up our wireless sound equipment. After thanking us, he handed us off to a pretty assistant, who lead us back out to our front of the stage location to watch the rest of Elton’s concert. She was also responsible for making sure our entire contingent had everything we needed to enjoy Elton’s show.

Labatt’s Pool House, London, Ontario

10:21pm, Monday, December 31, 1979

“Don’t you dare!... Don’t you dare! Mike!... Mike! Don’t you daaaarrrreeee!“ Katie Labatt cried as she clung on to me for dear life. I was carrying her towards the deep end of their heated, indoor pool as punishment for spraying me and a few others with her bottle of champagne. Her last screaming cry happened as her sneaky step-daughter, Sammy gave both of us a push into the pool.

Twenty-six of us high school kids, plus one college girl, Tina Sullivan were enjoying the Labatt’s pool and Jacuzzi tub as we partied ahead of the New Year. Mr. and Katie Labatt were also having a good time, after Sammy’s dad bowed out of their planned New Year’s Eve party because he wasn’t feeling well earlier in the day. His migraine medicine worked well this time, but Sammy told a few of us that his headaches knock him for a loop at times.

“Sammy!“ I added my loud voice to Ms. Katie’s cry as I wasn’t really expecting to join the forty-three-year-old blonde in the pool’s deep end. Katie was definitely not hard on the eyes in her black and silver striped one-piece swimsuit. Even with a sheer black cover over her swimsuit, Katie’s rocking body wasn’t out of place with all the teen girls wearing various types of skimpy bikinis.

Being leery of deep water, I released Katie from my arms as soon as we went under. Even though I knew I could easily get my head above the water, the sudden rush of water into my mouth and nasal pathways caused a ‘drowning-panic response’ in me. When my feet touched the bottom of the pool, I powered up with as much force as I could muster. I had my eyes closed, my arms flailing and ‘blindly’ thrashed towards what I hoped was the pool’s edge. Unfortunately for Ms. Katie, my crazed left hand grazed her right cheek and then gave her right shoulder a pretty solid wallop before I pulled her back under the water with me.

As I was going further in panic mode in the deep water, Sammy recognized what was happening from the edge of the pool. She screamed at Lynette and Lisa, both trained lifeguards who were in the deep end on the opposite side of the forty-foot wide pool, to help her mother. Sammy dove into the pool towards my panic-filled body. Without breaking the surface, she drove her right fist into my solar-plexus, literally paralyzing me, stopping me from holding Katie under the water. With dolphin like skills, Sammy maneuvered her body behind me, had my head up out of the water and used a one-arm carry and one-arm swim stroke to get me over to the pool’s edge.

“Mike! Mike! Are you okay?” Tempe cried as she hobbled over to the edge of the pool on her one good and one bad wheel. I was unable to reply as I valiantly tried to get air back into my body after Sammy’s powerful gut-punch.

Unknown to me, Lynette and Lisa had gotten to Katie and helped her back-stroke towards the shallow end of the pool, where she sputtered and coughed a few times before she turned her focus back on the deep end. As I struggled to get my breath after Sammy’s punch, I heard Katie ask, “Is he alright, Sammy, William?”

“He’s gonna ... be alright, Katie. How are you ... doing?” Sammy replied as she too was struggling to regain her breath after that scary, physical water rescue.

“Just hold the edge, Mike. You’re gonna be fine, son,” Mr. Labatt said as he knelt beside Tempe, me and his daughter. He had a strong grip under my right shoulder as I continued to gasp for air.

“Ka-Ka-Katie, is she oh-okay? I didn’t ha-hurt her, did I?” I stammered as I peered blurry eyed towards the shallow end of the pool. My glasses had gotten knocked off my face when I tumbled into the pool, so I my distance vision wasn’t great at the moment.

“She’s fine, Mike ... maybe a little frazzled like you, but she’s good,” Mr. Labatt replied from the pool’s edge.

“Are you okay, Mikhail?” Zupena softly asked after swimming over to where I was clinging to the edge.

“Yeah,” I softly replied as I was now able to take fuller breathes. I then added, “Breathing in some water and, uh, having it up my nose triggered some real bad memories.” I then saw Katie, Lynette and Lisa walking towards me from the shallow end and said, “I’m so sorry for going all haywire on you, Ms. Katie. I really thought I was drowning there for a second or two.”

“I’m good, if you are, Mike,” Katie replied as she began to dog-paddle towards us.

“God, Mike! I’m so sorry for pushing you and Katie in the pool,” Sammy said as she wrapped her arms around my left arm and mashed her head against my shoulder.

“No, no! Thanks for rescuing me, Sammy,” I quickly countered.

“What did you do to Mike to stop him from climbing on Ms. Katie, Sammy?” Shania asked from the edge of the pool.

“I hate to say this, but I really punched him in his stomach,” Sammy softly said as she stared in my eyes.

“You hit Cuda? Why?” Paul asked from beside his girlfriend.

“Well, in lifeguard training,” Sammy said, “they tell and teach us that we need to incapacitate a panicking victim, so that person can’t drown us, their rescuer. Because I didn’t have a lifeguard’s can to drive into his stomach to do that, I did the next best thing and solar-plexed him.” Sammy rubbed my shoulder and then my stomach as she related her lifeguard’s training to me and my friends.

“I wondered how she instantly stopped your flailing actions out there,” Lynette chuckled as she easily swam over to me.

“I sure hope she never hits me that hard, again,” I laughed as I covered Sammy’s hand on my stomach with my own hand.

“Again, I’m really sorry for pushing you into the deep end, and then for punching you, Mike,” Sammy whispered near my ear.

I looked down at Sammy’s teary eyes and softly said, “I’ve been pushed in pools a ton of times, Sammy. It was just the way the water went in my throat and nose that panicked me. Although my stomach is still kinda sore, I’m glad you did what you needed to do as I could have drowned Katie, myself, or anyone who tried to help me. I’ve got you by a hundred-plus pounds, remember, and I wasn’t acting in a very civilized manner a moment ago.”

“This is all a good lesson for all of us,” Mr. Labatt said. He then added, “Fun and horse-play can turn into a crisis in an instant. I’m sure we’re all glad that you and Katie are fine.”

“Yes. From now on, I’ll just drink our champagne instead of using it to spray people,” Katie chuckled as she climbed out of the pool on the ladder.

I got my first good look at Katie’s scratched and reddened face as she climbed out of the pool and asked, “Did I do that to your face, Katie?”

Sammy’s step-mom slowly touched her right cheek and then said, “I really didn’t know you got me, Mike. It’s not bleeding is it, William?”