Chapter 44: Rock of Ages

Nevin’s House, Bryanston, Ontario
7:14pm, Tuesday, January 1, 1980

“So, Tempe, how is your knee feeling?” my mother asked as all my girls, except for Shannon who was visiting her grandparents in Dresden, Ontario, were sitting around the kitchen table. My brother’s girlfriend, Corrine was also in the kitchen. The ‘ladies’ sent me and John off to watch the end of the Rose Bowl game between Southern Cal and Ohio State in our large den, while they helped my mom clean up after a small New Year’s day feast. Earlier in the day, we watched second ranked, Alabama destroy #6 Arkansas, 24-9 in the Sugar Bowl to cap off an undefeated season.

“Surprisingly, it feels better than new, Mrs. N,” Tempe replied with a small grin on her face.

Lynette then asked of my mom, “Have you ever heard of an MRI being wrong before, Mrs. N?”

My mother looked at Lynette and then to Tempe before she replied, “With all relatively new medical technologies, I’m sure mistakes in reading the results can happen. Now, what brought this line of questions to the table?”

My four girls looked between themselves for a moment before Tempe softly said, “I don’t think the ligaments in my knee have really been torn. This morning, I had no pain whatsoever, and when, uh, Lynette and Zupena compared it with my left knee like the doctors and trainers have done, well ... my right knee doesn’t show any signs of instability.”

“You girls manipulated Tempe’s knees? I’m not sure that was real smart,” my mom replied with a look of concern on her face.

“We’ve had some training in our PE classes on basic athletic injuries, Mrs. N,” Lynette quickly replied.

“Yes. Miss Jacket had Western’s athletic trainers come to class to show us how to do some simple injury assessments,” Zupena added to Lynette’s response. “We not do anything that could hurt knee. Just do simple tests to check on joint’s stability.”

“Tempe’s right, her ‘injured’ knee, didn’t show any slackness when we checked its front-back or rotational stabilities,” Lynette confidently said as she patted Tempe’s left thigh with her right hand.

“There wasn’t any pain or discomfort when they did those tests,” Tempe quickly added.

After taking a few moments to digest the girls’ statements, my mother asked, “And your surgery is scheduled tomorrow morning?” After getting an affirmative nod from Tempe, my mom then added, “If what you girls are telling me is true, I would get Dr. Fowler to redo his examination of your knee, and possibly get another MRI done before they get going with the surgery.”

“That is what I suggested to Tempe and her parents after we did those basic tests at her house earlier this afternoon,” Lynette replied with a smile on her face.

“It’s good that your parents are involved with this, Tempe. I’d have them talk with Dr. Fowler or one of his nurses as soon as you arrive at the hospital,” my mom said before she lifted her cup of tea to her mouth.

“Elizabeth Morkings’ mom is one of Dr. Fowler’s surgical nurses, Mom!” I called out from my favorite spot to watch TV in the den; in front of the heat-duct opening.

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot that Rita took that job with Dr. Fowler,” my mom replied with a smile. She then added, “I think I’ll give my former nursing school classmate a call, and share your tidbit of interesting news with her.” With that said my mother got up from the kitchen table and walked to our rotary phone in the front foyer’s hallway.

“Who’s winning, Cuda?” Lisa asked. My girls and Corrine followed my mom into the den, where Zupena sat down in the wing chair, and then pulled Lisa down into her lap as she queried me of the Rose Bowl’s game status. Tempe parked her tiny bottom in our antique rocking chair, while Corrine sat in John’s lap.

“Ohio State is leading by six, with a tad under two minutes left in the game,” my dad interjected before I could answer Lisa’s question.

“But Southern Cal is driving on the Buckeyes,” I quickly added with a smile.

“You want the Trojans to win, don’t you, Cuda?” Lynette asked over her shoulder. My soulmate had stretched her lean body out in front of mine on the hardwood floor, spooning her scarlet fleece sweatpants covered butt back into my groin area.

“Darn tootin’, I do. If the Trojans beat Ohio State, then Alabama should move up to number one in the polls, again,” I laughed as I wrapped Cano up in my arms on the floor. I tried to keep a straight face as I said that because I already knew that the Trojans would beat the Buckeyes, and that my Crimson Tide would go on to claim their second straight national championship poll victory. I also knew I was going to win a cool, twenty-two-hundred bucks based on my picking the four New Year’s Day bowl winners: Houston over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl; Oklahoma over Florida State in the Orange Bowl; the Trojans over the Buckeyes; and my Crimson Tide’s destruction of Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. I’m sure Tony Radchuk, our school’s resident bookie, wouldn’t be taking anymore ‘longshot’ bets from me, as this one upped my earnings to slightly more than seventy-three thousand dollars on sports’ wagers.

“Damn it, Charles! You should have cut to the outside!” John bellowed as USC’s tailback, Charles White was tackled at the Buckeyes’ one-foot line with Ohio State holding onto a 16-10 lead with just over a minute remaining in the game.

“That’s still first and goal from inside the one,” I excitedly announced as I rapidly patted my right hand on Lynette’s hip. “If they can’t score from here, they don’t deserve to win,” I added to fortify the notion that I didn’t already know the results.

“That running back is good, no?” Zupena asked as she prodded my shoulder with her foot from the chair behind Lynette and me.

“Oh, yeah! Charles White has set a new Rose Bowl rushing record in this game, Zupi,” I replied with anticipation of the game winning touchdown leap that was about to happen. On his upcoming touchdown run, Charles White will have rushed for 231 yards on 36 carries.

We ravenously watched and listened to Dick Emberg’s call on the television as USC and Ohio State got set for this goal-line play. “First and goal ... A touchdown ties it, and an extra point would give USC the lead. There’s one-thirty-eight left. The clock is running.” The ball was then snapped with the quarterback handing off to USC’s tailback. Emberg’s voice on the TV shouted, “White ... Touchdown!”

“Yes!” my dad shouted and made a loud clapping sound in his leather recliner. Like John and I, my dad wasn’t a fan of Big Ten football, especially with coaches, Woody Hayes of Ohio State and Bo Schembechler of Michigan.

“Yes! Way to go over the top, Charles!” I simultaneously added as I sat up on the floor and gently beat on Lynette’s still reclined hip and torso like they were bongos.

With the extra point, the Trojans took a 17-16 lead with one-thirty-two left on the clock. Even though I knew the final outcome of the game, I was still ‘nervous’ watching the final minute and a half of this game. We watched Ohio State’s All-American quarterback, Art Schlichter throw four straight incompletions to seal the Trojans’ Rose Bowl victory.

“The Crimson Tide are the only undefeated and untied team left after beating ‘Ol’ Pig-Sooie’ in the Sugar Bowl. Right, Cuda?” Tempe laughed at her slight put down of Arkansas’ team name, the Razorbacks.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I replied with a nod to my petite girlfriend, who was slowly rocking in our vintage rocking chair.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock in the Rose Bowl game, my mom walked into the den from the hallway. She stopped alongside my dad, and smiled at Tempe before she said, “Rita Morkings is going to make sure Dr. Fowler does a thorough retest of your knee in the morning, Tempe. If, and it’s a big if, but if that examine shows no ligament issues, then they’ll probably order another MRI as a precautionary move. Nobody wants to do an unnecessary surgical procedure.”

“There you go, Tempe,” Lisa gleefully said to her best friend.

“Thanks Mrs. N for making that call ... and believing in us,” Lynette quickly added.

“Yes. Thanks Mrs. Nevins,” Tempe replied with a smile on her face.

“You’re welcome, Tempe, ladies,” my mom replied after she kissed my dad. She then continued on through the den to the kitchen.

As we waited for the start of the Orange Bowl game, my brother randomly tapped his fingers on the dining room table to an interesting beat, and mumbled:

(Note: Rock of Ages was written by Joe Elliot and Steve Clark of Def Leppard, and their manager, Mutt Lange in 1983. It was from their top selling album, Pyromania. This song reached number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the Top Tracks Rock Chart. The most unique part of this song is the unusual four ‘word’ phrase to start this song. The ‘Gunter-Glieben-Glauten-Globen’ phrase is simply some German sounding nonsensical gibberish, with no true meaning. Mutt Lange added that phraseology to the start of the track, instead of simply saying, ‘One, two, three, four’ to begin the song, which the band members really liked.)

“What the heck is that, Johnno?” Lynette asked as she rolled over onto her stomach and stared up at my brother with her chin propped in her hands.

“Nothing, really,” my brother replied as he stopped his finger-tapping and hugged Corrine back to his chest.

“Didn’t sound like nothing,” Lisa quickly replied as she repositioned herself in Zupena’s lap to take in John and Corrine’s position behind my dad.

“It’s just something we tinkered with after church, last Sunday,” Corrine softly said as she turned her head to look in John’s face.

My brother let out a few chuckles and then said, “We saw a hymnal book open to Rock of Ages in the pew, and uh, we just messed with a few different phrases to put a new spin on that old-time song as we waited on Russ and Mary.” (My brother’s best friend, as well as Corrine’s brother, and Russ’s girlfriend)

“That is one of my favorite old-school church songs,” Lynette offered as I slipped my hand under the back of her sweatshirt to rub her lower back.

When I looked up at Lisa, I could tell she was mulling my brother’s mumbled phrases in her mind. With her eyes closed, the fingers on her right hand ‘faux plucked’ out a bass rhythm on her blue jeans and then she softly sang:

“That’s pretty good, Bricky,” Lynette said after our busty bassist paused to gather up her next round of thoughts.

Just then, Zupena gave Lisa’s thigh a semi-hard smack, before she added in her sweet Latvian voice, “Rock on! Drive me crazier! No fire brigade, no serenade. Just pyromania! C’mon!”

“Pen, paper! Cuda, get me a pen and paper, fast!” Lynette immediately said as she scurried onto her knees, and then started her musical swaying routine to integrate those various lyrics in her mind.

“I got ‘um here for you, Lynette,” Corrine quickly replied and got up to get a pen and notepad from the telephone desk in the hallway.

I caught the two soft tosses from Corrine and set the items down in front of my soulmate. Lynette lay back down on the hardwood floor and started to scribble down some general musical notes. She first looked up at my brother and Corrine, and said, “Can you guys repeat those phrases you kinda sang earlier, John?”

John laughed at Lynette’s request and then easily recalled those lyrical phrases that he and Corrine created the other day. My soulmate furiously scratched down those phrases before she dropped the pen on the notepad and said to me as I knelt beside her, “That’s the chorus, Cuda. If we can build off this with Bricky’s and Zupi’s lyrics, we’ll have a killer song.”

With a nod of her head to Lisa, Lynette then began to write the partial lyrics that she, and then Zupena had previously sung. Tapping the pen on the hardwood floor, Lynette then said, “I think we need to flip-flop a couple of Zupi’s phrases. Instead of ‘no fire brigade, no serenade, just pyromania,’ we need to switch them to pair the ‘fire’ with the ‘pyro’ phrases. What do you think guys?”

I closed my eyes for a moment to hear those redone phrases and then sang, “Rock on! Drive me crazier! No serenade, no fire brigade, just pyromania. C’mon!”

“Wow-ho! This will definitely be a Cuda song,” Lisa chuckled before she slid down between Zupena’s legs and sat beside me and Lynette to get a closer look at Cano’s written notes.

From the far side of the den, Tempe off-handedly asked in a surprisingly snarly voice, “What do you want?”

I laughed when Corrine echoed Tempe’s question in her own sweetly gruff voice. I then replied in a knurly voice, “I want rock ‘n’ roll, yes I do! Long live rock ‘n’ roll!”

“Perfect! Perfect!” Lynette replied as she scribbled down those phrases. Brick slapped her hand over her mouth when she read Cano’s side note, ‘Us bitches with first question, Cuda with the echo.’

“You just didn’t write that, did you Cano?” Lisa laughed as she maneuvered her body around to make double sure she had read that side note correctly.

With a grin, Lynette nodded and said, “Got to make sure Sammy and us ‘Bs’ are in the right frame of mind to sing it appropriately.”

Zupena softly chuckled at the girls antics on the floor. She then tapped out a beat on her chair’s arm rest before she vocalized:

As Lynette copied down those few lyrics, my brother said, “That was good but I heard one wonky word there, guys. When Zupena sang, ‘I no care if it takes all night,’ I think it would sound better with...”

“I don’t care if it takes all night, I’m gonna set this town alight. C’mon!“ Zupena instantly interrupted my brother’s suggestion to her prior phrasing. I reached up to give Zupi a high-5 after she forcefully sang that ending phrase.

“I like it. I like it. I like it,” Lynette rapidly said after she finished adding those lyrics to her notes.

Lisa then leaned down and put her finger on the, ‘What do you want?’ phrases in Lynette’s notes and said, “I think we need to repeat those questions and the response before we dive in with John’s and Corrine’s chorus.”

With John and Corrine’s choral lyrics on the sheet, I took a breath and sang them while Lisa mouthed out a vocal-bass-line. When I finished with singing the chorus, Tempe immediately laughed in her still snarky voice:

My dad was sitting quietly in his recliner with the sound off on the TV as we worked on this song project. After Tempe’s rasping sounding vocals, he softly said to her, “Those may be good lyrics, but I would suggest you not sing in that gravelly voice, Tempe.”

My girls all laughed at my dad’s suggestion to Tempe. Lisa then said, “We sure don’t love Tempe for her singing voice.”

“But her lyrics fit perfectly with this song’s direction,” Lynette quickly added with a smile and a wink towards Tempe.

For the next thirty minutes, my four girls, John and Corrine and I worked on putting these lyrics together. I loved it when my brother and Zupena came up with the killer opening ‘speech’ for this song. I wasn’t surprised when Lisa said, “I wanna vocalize that, Cuda. Can I, please?”

When Lynette had those opening lines down on the notepad, I took the pad from her and handed it to Lisa. With a wink, I said, “Lead me into this, Bricky.”

With her hands tapping out a beat, Lisa had a grin a mile wide as she handed me back the lyric notepad. Then with a scowling tone in her voice, Lisa sang:

With Lynette and Zupena providing a soft background beat and melody, I then started to sing our semi-finalized version of Rock of Ages. After we sang through it a couple of times with a few minor adjustments to the bridge and final chorus, my mom correctly surmised, “I’m guessing you guys have the music for that song in your heads, yes?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Lisa chuckled as she gave my left arm a small shake.

Lynette then added, “While I doubt we have all the riffs for this down yet, I’m pretty sure we have a good notion of how it’ll sound, Mrs. N.”

We had the television’s sound turned down while we were working on that song. With things looking like we were finished with it for the night, my dad used a simple hand motion to get me to go to the TV to turn up the volume (There were no TV remote controls in 1980 – at least not in our household). The Orange Bowl game was at the half, with Oklahoma leading the FSU Seminoles, 17-7. I loved that my man, Billy Sims of the Sooners was running wild over the ‘Noles, even though he didn’t score in the first half.

As the half time show was wrapping up, Zupena yawned, which triggered a round of additional yawns from me and my girls. When Zupi moved over to give me a kiss, she said, “I think I head home, Mikhail. This girl is kinda tired.”

“I think I’m gonna make like a tree and leaf, too,” Lynette chuckled at her own play on those words. She then added, “I’ll give Tempe a ride home as she’s more on my way than either Zupena or yours, Cuda when you drive Bricky home.”

I took a peek at Tempe after Lynette’s offer of a ride home. With a smile and a small nod, Tempe let me know she was cool with that travel plan. My girls all went into the kitchen to say good night my mom. We were all surprised when she told them they were welcome to stay the night if they wanted, but all of them said they would rather get a good night’s sleep in their own bed after being a little ‘sardined’, last night at Sammy’s.

After wishing my dad, John and Corrine a good night in the den, my four girls and I got our coats, toques and gloves on to prepare for the down-right cold Canadian night. Our good bye sugars were shared quickly after Zupi, Cano and I had started our cars to have them heat up. Everyone had a little laugh as Lynette used a ‘triple-timed’ pace when giving me her short ‘drive safe’ speech before she ducked into her Chevy Nova.

Lisa and I got about halfway to London before she turned in the passenger seat to face me. She then softly asked, “Are we really going to do a full striptease rehearsal tomorrow morning, Cuda?”

I let out a long slow sigh and felt my hands tighten on the steering wheel of my Barracuda. I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I processed that down-right scary situation, something I was trying to keep in the back of my mind for as long as possible. I pulled my right hand from the wheel and lightly rubbed it over Lisa’s left thigh. Knowing I had to be the stronger person in the car regarding our ‘too-soon’ NIS concert, I calmly replied, “If we’re gonna do this damn concert justice, then I guess we’ll need to rehearse that fun aspect of our performance. From what Sammy told us on New Year’s Eve, our striptease costumes are pretty sharp.” I purposefully emphasized the ‘fun’ and ‘striptease’ portions of my reply to hopefully connect those two seemingly antagonistic beliefs for Lisa.

“Ha! Yeah! You’re gonna be all high-class in your sharp-dressed man outfit,” Lisa uneasily chuckled as she patted her right hand over my hand on her thigh.

“And you’ll always be the prettiest ball player-bassist in ... or out of your Blue Jay outfit,” I laughed as I put my brakes on for the stoplight at Highbury and Fanshawe Park Road, the official northern boundary of London.

Waiting until the light changed for us, Lisa then softly said, “I sure hope the small snaps on our outfits work like Ms. Katie says they will. It’s bad enough that we’re gonna get naked on stage in front of ten-thousand plus people, but I’d just die if our clothes don’t come off easily, drawing even more attention to that process.”

“Lis ... It will all work out as Katie planned,” I somewhat confidently said to my youngest girlfriend. After a brief moment of eerie silence, I added, “Besides, you and E will be the last ones to lose your clothes, so hopefully the shock value of our stripping will have dropped some after me, Lynette and Sammy have all doffed our duds.”

“Oh! Oh! How are the Jazz Band members gonna look when they come out to play with us on Love Shack?” Lisa excitedly asked as I drove up the small hill before reaching Lisa’s and Eda’s high school, Montcalm Secondary.

“Hum,” I grunted as I pondered her question. I then replied, “Well, seeing how we three Medway guys will be naked by then, I can easily see the Jazz Band members walking out onto their elevated performance area in their birthday suits. Everybody in the J-band has completed their Naked-in-School week already, so being naked won’t be a completely new experience for them.”

Lisa released another long sigh as we waited on another traffic light to change for us. She then sweetly said, “While I’m definitely antsy ‘bout stripping, I sure hope Beth is still able to play trumpet, while displaying her goodies on national TV. She really seems super stressed whenever being naked is mentioned at our rehearsals.”

“Oh yeah,” I exasperatedly replied.

“Maybe you can give her a little Energist boost to help her overcome her fears, Mike?” Lisa asked. Even though my young busty girlfriend was seriously afraid of our upcoming NIS concert, I was very proud of her for the concern and resourcefulness she showed for a fellow performer.

“That’s a good idea, Bricky. I definitely can do that for Beth and really, for anyone who is feeling a little of the ‘birthday suite’ blues on Friday night.”

“Make sure you save a little ‘boost’ for me, Mike. I’m getting the ‘chilly-willys’ ... and not from the cold, but from thinking ‘bout Friday’s concert,” Lisa softly said as she leaned over the center console to rest her head on my right shoulder.

We shared a passionate kiss in my warm, running ‘Cuda after I pulled into her short driveway. After I told her I’d be by to pick her and Eda up around eight o’clock in the morning, Lisa sweetly asked, “Did you talk with Dr. Candi the other night about using her place for a ‘play-date’?”

After giving her a little negative head shake with a grin on my face, I replied, “We talked some. We’ll get over to Candi’s place in the not too distant future, Bricky. The main issue with setting a specific date is that Candi really wants to be a participant in your next ‘Rickenbacker’ play-date. She and I have to synchronize our schedules for that to happen, though.”

“Oh, I’m good with waiting ‘til Dr. Candi can be there with us,” Lisa cheerfully replied. She then lowered her face a little and asked, “Is, uh ... are you thinking Lynette will be there having some of her ‘hot-pizza’ as I’m having my ‘Rickenbacker’ fun?”

A quick, heavy sigh escaped my mouth after I heard Lisa’s question. She quickly looked back up at me when she heard that. I then gave her a clear negative head motion and said, “I don’t think you need to see everything that Cano truly requires on her ‘play-date’, Lisa. Lynette is nearing her mom’s and Dr. Candi’s level of ... uh, how do I say this ... sexual needs. You’re just beginning to develop an understanding of what people like Ms. Dillon, Candi and our Cano require in their lives. That is why Candi wants to be there with you as you’re still in the experimenting stage of giving up control, while Lynette is...”

“Lynette is absolutely willing to give her sexual self to you,” Lisa correctly interjected. After staring at me for another moment, my busty girlfriend then winked at me and said, “While I think I can really learn from being there when Lynette gives herself completely to you, I understand that that is gonna be a super personal event in her life. So, uh, I’m good with both of us having our separate ‘play-dates’, Mike.”

“You’re a real sweetie, Brick. I love you, tons of bunches,” I softly said as I leaned over the console to give her one more soul-wrenching kiss.

“See ya in the morning, Cuda. Love you bunches of tons!” Lisa laughed as she opened the passenger door and quickly scurried around the back of her house to the backdoor entrance.

As I was driving on Huron Street towards Highbury, I was thinking about what Lynette said to me last night, ‘that she would fuck the whole basketball team if that is what I wanted her to do, as she trusted me with her sexual being.‘ While there was no way in this world - or any universe for that matter - that I would want that to happen to my soulmate, I did know that I needed to push Cano’s limits just like Mr. R does with Ms. Dillon. As soon as I thought of Cano’s parents, I knew, ‘Ms. Dillon will know how to help me with Cano.‘

I had just made my right hand turn onto Highbury when my computer materialized over the passenger seat with, ‘Dialing the Robertson’s‘ on the screen. I chuckled just before I heard a sweet soft voice say, “Happy New Year, this is the Robertson residence.”

“Happy New Year, Ms. Jessie,” I replied as I turned the radio off in my car. I then added, “Did you have fun last night at your grandma’s house?”

“I sure did, Mike,” Jessie replied with glee in her voice. Then in a hushed voice, she added, “Grams let me have a couple sips of champagne right after ball dropped on TV. Mom and Dad don’t know, so please don’t tell them.”

“I definitely won’t share yours and Grams’ secret with anyone, Jess. Speaking of your mom, though, can she come to the phone for a couple of minutes, please?”

“I’ll run and get her. Hang on, Mike,” Jessie said and then I heard the ‘cluck’ of the headset being set on their kitchen counter. In the background, I could hear Jessie excitedly say, “Mike’s on the phone, Momma. He would like to talk with you.”

“Hello and Happy New Year, Mike,” Ms. D said over my computer’s speakers.

“Back at you, Ms. D,” I said and then let out a sigh before asking, “Uh, have you talked with your daughter since last night?”

“Yes, I’ve talked with her ... the whole day,” Ms. Dillon replied with a chuckle the last piece of her response.

“Ha-ha, very funny, Ms. D. You know full well which daughter I’m referring to,” I said.

“Yes, Mike. I saw and talked a little with my rock star daughter this morning before she was off gallivanting to Tempe’s and your place,” Ms. Dillon replied.

“I’m guessing from your words and tone that you didn’t have a real mother-daughter chat with her, though.”

“No, but I’m guessing now that you have a couple of things you want to discuss with me about my oldest baby?” Ms. Dillion asked with a more serious tone in her voice.

“Yes,” I replied as I slowed to a stop for the red-light at Fanshawe Park Road. I then shared with Ms. D what Lynette said to me last night in Sammy’s guest house.

“Well, I knew this was coming, but I was really hoping that this stage in my baby’s adult development would be on hold until all your concert stuff was well in the past,” Ms. D softly said after digesting what I had shared with her. She then asked, “So, Mike, what are your plans, because it wouldn’t be good for either of you to put this next stage of your relationship on hold for any real length of time?”

“Oh, I agree we need to do something as soon as possible, but I’m just not sure if we can take care of things prior to our concert on Friday,” I replied as I accelerated north on Highbury. “Additionally, I’m super concerned about our sudden fame or being ‘in-the-spotlight’ with her mentioning she was ready to have sex with whoever I told her to. I really have no idea who I might want to include in Lynette’s next experience. Jesus, Ms. Dillon, all this is still relatively new to me.”

“Well, Mike, you’re doing the smart thing by coming to me with your concerns,” Ms. D calmly replied. After a pregnant pause in our conversation, Lynette’s mom softly said, “If you want me to talk with Lynette when she gets home, I’ll find out for sure if she is really capable of dealing with ramifications of giving her body to another man, while under your supervision. If I think she is ready for that experience, would you like for me to find a suitable gentleman to help you with this experience? I have a few men in mind, who would be very capable, yet very discreet due to your newfound fame.”

“Honest to God, that is exactly what I was hoping you’d do for me ... for us,” I replied with relief in my voice.