Chapter 32B

Ted had his Roland V-Drums assembled and plugged into the external amp. Volume could be controlled with a pedal next to his bass pedal. Bill already had some experience with electric bass guitars. His Peavey BAM amp was all set up, and he was tuning the new bass.

The microphones had been checked and tested with the Peavey Escort, and three stands stood in front of the band equipment. Having had some practical experience playing school concerts, the boys had made sure the PA speakers were up high above the heads of the singers. Bill had helped Robert with the initial settings, and with tape had labeled each mike input jack so that the settings for each girl would be constant. All that was needed now was minor tweaking, and then only the master volume would need changing, depending on where they were playing. Vanetta had supplied Bill with some heavy duty masking tape, which he had expertly cut with a craft knife, laying down strips beside each control, allowing a simple pen mark to mark the settings.

Bill was just running some riffs on the bass while waiting for Robert to get off the phone when Laura walked over.

"Come on, girls. You don't need to wait for more volume on the keyboards to start singing! Hell, this is probably the first time you three have ever used a microphone!"

"Yeah," said Kat, "like you've had a lot of experience with this yourself?"

"Actually," said Laura, "while not a lot, I have used a microphone in public to sing."

"And she was great!" said Sherri. "I know. I was there on stage with her."

Laura laughed and said that it was more like she had been on stage with her and Celeste, then Laura turned serious and whispered into Sherri's ear. Sherri nodded enthusiastically and sat next to Jim at the Yamaha S80. She whispered in his ear before turning to Bill and asking if he could follow a simple four-chord progression in the key of C.

Bill gave her a look that was equivalent to the question, "Is the Pope Catholic?" So Laura went and whispered in his ear. Bill blushed furiously but nodded enthusiastically.

Sherri and Jim nodded to each other and both started a duet of chord progression in Doo-Wop style. Bill smiled when he heard the riff and quickly dropped into the groove starting at the next C progressing to Am, to F to G. Three repeats later, he started to add extra notes to the rhythm, which sounded familiar to everyone, yet no notes had been played by either Sherri or Jim to give away the name of the song. Ted had quickly picked up on the theme and had pulled out a pair of sticks. He set the control panel on the V-drum's brain and soon had a nice swooshing sound for background. Sherri got up, leaving Jim to play on his own while she grabbed Laura's arm, and they converged on the center microphone. Smiling at each other, they started to sing on the next natural C chord.

"When the night, has come, and the land is dark,

And the moon is the only light we'll see.

But I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid,

Just as long as you stand, stand by me."

It didn't take Kat, Sam, and Jen long to dual up on the two remaining microphones and jump in on the chorus. This was supposed to be a rehearsal after all and their teenaged hesitation of singing with musicians behind them when they were only used to singing with each other disappeared with the feel of the music.

"So darling, darling, stand by me, oh stand by me

Oh stand, stand by me, stand by me."

All six girls sang the next verse in three part harmony.

"If the sky that we look upon, should tumble and fall,

And the mountains should crumble to the sea,

I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear,

Just as long as you stand, stand by me."

Robert got off the phone and walked over to the keyboard amp, changed a setting for pickup / input type and tentatively turned the amp back on. Seeing there was no feedback, he slowly increased the volume till Jim nodded to him that it was perfect and depressed his foot pedal a bit to show he now had remote control over the volume.

"And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me

Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me."

At the natural break, with a press of a button, Jim increased the volume to take over the next verse, and the girls were surprised to hear what sounded like an entire string section from a symphonic group. Ted and Bill continued playing their parts, while Laura and Sherri did a short dance step at their microphone. Just before the next chorus, Laura and Sherri quickly stepped aside, allowing the three younger Williams sisters to take up their own microphones and finish off the song.

"Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me,

Oh stand now, oh stand now, oh stand by me."

"Darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me

Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me,

When ever you're in trouble, just stand, just stand by me."

At the end of the song, everyone stood and applauded, Todd loudest of all. For a first time, first song, these teens had shown they could work together, and they were undoubtedly exceptionally talented, each in their own right. They had justified Todd's faith, which was of paramount importance to him.

Robert was quick to gather the group together and ask what other songs they wanted to use so he could compile a list. A short discussion ensued, and after a four count by Ted, the girls started the first line of "All the Gold in California" by the Gatlin Brothers. It was a testament to their talent that both Jim and Bill found the key the girls were singing in and quickly joined in. Robert made notes during the song and adjusted the PA mixer slightly. He realized he would have to discuss with the teens which keys would be best for each song. Based on the singing ability of the girls, it would require the boys to discover the keys and then for Robert to keep notes on it all.

With regret, Harry and Lew had to leave. They hugged the girls goodbye and shook the hands of the boys. Todd walked them to the door and wished them a safe day.

Across town, Brenda and Kelly were walking through yet another landmark of historical significance, holding hands and giggling like school girls. Where they went and where they had been was of little importance to either of them - being close and sharing the time together was much more important.

Neither girl knew how the day would end, but for the moment, their shared bonding was more important.

Harry and Lew were about ready to call it a day. They had both put in an extra six hours. Six hours of being in a squad car was about all that Lew could handle, even though his best friend was driving as carefully as possible so as not to hit any of the potholes that the city had become famous for. Thankfully they'd had the chance to stop at Todd's and were just pulling into a coffee shop for a final break when the call came in. A four year old had left his mother's side while she was shopping in a discount store. Thankfully, the store had security cameras, and officers on the scene had verified the toddler had wandered off by himself, managing to get through one of the automatic doors for an adventure of his own. The problem was that the door the toddler had managed to make his escape through faced the wooded area across the parking lot, and this particular mall was located on the edge of one of the natural water drainages on the outskirts of town. The fear was that the child had wandered into the woods and might fall into the water. There were officers at the scene, but with it being Saturday, most active on-duty officers were already busy on other calls. It would also take some time for volunteers to be coordinated to do a section by section search of areas that possibly the child hadn't even ventured into.

Harry looked at Lew, who looked back at Harry, and both said at the same time, "Bubba."

It took Harry less than ten minutes to get to Annie's after a quick phone call, and thankfully she agreed right away to let the sergeants take Bubba out to help. Generally, Annie had little use for the police, based on her experiences with them, and she was sure that Lew and Harry had corrupted Bubba after they had taken the dog into a strip club to convince a hostage taker to surrender, but as much as she carried on against the police department as a whole, she knew that Harry and Lew were her friends, and besides, this was a lost child - something that she would never have said no to.

Annie was waiting by the front door and had put Bubba into the leather harness the CMPD had given Bubba after his near-brush with death. The short braided-leather leash was attached, and it was clear that Bubba could feel the excitement in the air as he leaped into the back seat of the cruiser.

"No peeler bars this time," Annie warned the two officers. "I still think he's looking at women in a different way now." Then she turned to Bubba and quietly said, "Find the baby, Bubba. Find him quick before the sun goes down."

Harry thanked Annie as he put the cruiser in gear and peeled rubber as he left for the scene where the toddler had last been seen.

News stations had already been alerted to the situation and as always were quick to cash in on someone's misery. By the time that Harry and Lew, with Bubba panting in the rear, arrived on the scene, it already looked like a circus.

Thankfully, Lew turned out to be the most senior officer on the scene, and he quickly ordered back all those who had taken it upon themselves to try to find the missing child. He hoped that his last few months on the force would not be spent facing misconduct charges based on his faith in Bubba.

Harry and Lew made their way through the media circus and found the mother of the missing child. One of the stations was interviewing her, but the officers knew that time and daylight was being wasted, so they just barged in, Harry holding Bubba by his leash.

Bubba seemed to know exactly what to do and started to sniff the woman's clothing. A camera turned to capture this moment on film, but Lew's hand shot out and covered the camera lens. People have scent glands located all over their bodies, but there are certain areas where pheromones are released in greater quantities. The strongest of these scent glands are under the arms, under women's breasts, and between their legs. Since most women used some form of deodorant under their arms, Bubba had started right off sniffing the woman's breasts and goosed her before he turned and sniffed the air.

The mixture of diesel and exhaust fumes was a thick haze to penetrate, as were all the other 'people' smells in the crowd, but Harry took Bubba quickly to the exit where the child had been seen on the video surveillance camera as leaving while Lew stayed behind to apologize and remind the news station that if they wanted to film the rescue, not to embarrass the mother or the dog with footage of Bubba doing what was natural.

At the exit of the store, Bubba sniffed the air again and stopped, looked towards the trees, and pulled Harry along behind him as he raced to the wooded area.

All plans by Sherri and Cara to catch a movie had left their minds as they watched the Williams sisters rehearse one song after another. It was mesmerizing as they went from song to song, and they were amazed that the three teenaged boys backing them on the instruments managed to not only keep up to all the variations but were able to add to the overall sound. It was clear to anyone listening that this group would be in great demand.

Todd had fetched beers for himself and Vanetta and Laura. Vanetta and Laura had mixed together a batch of fresh fruit juice for the others, and after nearly two hours of ripping through one song after another, Todd had suggested to Robert that it might be time to take a meal break.

This idea was met with great enthusiasm, and while the six members of the band sat and discussed songs they wanted to try, Robert, the only adult not drinking alcohol, had gone off to pick up four extra-large pizzas. It wasn't exactly supper, but the energy the group had used up required a refueling.

Todd was amazed at the versatility of the band, and had stated as much, especially when it came to remembering all those lyrics. Kat simply said that in their house there was always music on, and they had learned at an early age to memorize the words, even before they could read. Not being musically inclined himself, playing no instrument other than his CD player, Todd was in awe of the talents of the teens, and though he was not a musician, he had a great ear for superb music.

When Robert came back with the pizza, Laura and Vanetta had already made a large pitcher of sweet iced tea, and the six teens, plus Sherri and Ami, Cara, Laura, and Vanetta found room around the reception hall for everyone to pull up a chair or a grab a piece of the couch, and silence descended as they devoured every single slice. The teens ate more than the adults, which Todd attributed to the massive amounts of energy they burned during their rehearsal.

Kat said that they would have to wait a little bit before they could continue practicing as her stomach was too full.

Ami coughed discreetly to get Todd's attention, and he clued in instantly.

"Hey, Robert," Todd said, "when are we going to see the rhinestone outfits and other performance clothes?"

"Ah, we didn't exactly get rhinestones," said Kat, and Todd realized that she was the spokesman for the band.

"Well," said Todd, "Whatever you picked up, I'm sure it's flattering. Why don't you kids get freshened up and show me what you got, so Ami and I can plan the publicity shots. We've still got the main studio set up for portraits and Ami here is going to shoot the group."

Quick glances were exchanged and Robert knew that it was time he took charge in the role he had been hired for.

"Come on guys," he said, "we've got to get this part over with as well. We'll let the girls use the apartment upstairs to change, and the guys will take over the studio change rooms to clean up and show Todd how great the clothes look."

Vanetta and Laura stood and Vanetta said, "Ladies?" and led the three younger Williams sisters upstairs. Laura blushed a bit as she realized her younger sisters were headed to the place where she had spent her first night with Todd.

"Damn, I hope you know where you're headed, Bubba," said Harry as he raced to keep up with the GSD (German Shepherd Dog). "It's going to be my badge before I get my 25 years in if we screw this up."

Harry knew that his captain would understand why he and Lew had taken Bubba instead of one of the German Shepherds from the K9 unit, but if harm came to the child, Harry also knew that the police commissioner would not be as understanding and would probably hang both him and Lew out for public humiliation. Bubba was a civilian dog, and even though much more intelligent than the CMPD dogs, the fact remained that they had taken time out to get a non CMPD K9 for a time-sensitive rescue. A dog trained only by its owner.

As they approached the edge of the woods, Bubba stopped and looked at Harry as if to say, "You're slowing me down."

Harry nodded, already out of breath, and removed the leash from the dog's harness. With a low growl, Bubba launched himself into the undergrowth, pausing just once to make sure Harry could see which direction he was headed.

Out of earshot from the reporters, Harry said to Bubba, "bark when you find him, boy, or come back and get me. I'll try to keep up."

Bubba seemed to nod, and Harry shook his head. That damn dog was more human than most of the people Harry knew. He was positive that Bubba understood everything he said to him.

Bubba was out of sight, and Harry, seeing no clear path, carefully picked his way through the brambles and bushes. Harry knew that Lew would keep the reporters away from where he and Bubba were looking. He cursed the overgrown, dense brush, plodding farther and farther into the darkness, wondering how a four year old managed to get through this without just turning back. For the second time, he wondered if the toddler had gone this way or if Bubba was chasing after something else all together. He shook his head at that thought. If anything, Bubba was too smart to go through this crap on a rabbit chase.

Kelly and Brenda heard about the lost toddler on the radio as they drove to a late lunch. Both felt bad about the situation, and Kelly wondered if she would ever have fears of such magnitude for her own child.

"I hope they find him fast," said Brenda. "The mother must be sick with worry."

"It's worse in that area than others," said Kelly. "People have been dumping garbage in that area for years, and the city keeps promising to clean it up, but it always gets dropped from the budget at the last minute."

Brenda sighed and turned into the restaurant parking lot. "Governments and the idiots that run them," she said.

While Robert, Laura, and Vanetta were busy helping the band get into their show costumes, Cara and Sherri decided they would be of no help to Todd at this time and had called a taxi to take them to the Multiplex on the corner of Statesville Road and Distribution Center Drive. They promised they would be back in a few hours. Todd told them to have a good time and call when the movie was finished, and either he or Laura would run down and pick them up.

They heard the news in the cab.