Chapter 11a

South Island of New Zealand
January 24, 1989
10:24 AM, local time

The rented Cessna 172 leveled off at thirteen thousand feet above mean sea level, just five hundred feet below the maximum operational ceiling of the aircraft. Jake was a little nervous. He had never flown this high before and he didn't like the sluggish way the plane responded to the controls in this thin air.

"You're doing just fine," Helen told him. She was sitting in the seat next to him, handling all of the navigation tasks.

"It's hard to breathe this high," Jake said. The plane was not pressurized, so its occupants were subjected to the outside atmospheric pressure. "It feels like no matter how many breaths I take, I'm not getting enough."

"You'll get used to it," she said. "If you start to get a headache, let me know."

"Why?" he asked. "Do you have to take over if that happens?"

"No," she said with a smile. "I have some Tylenol in my bag. That would probably get rid of it."

"Oh," he said, giving her a slight smile. She returned it, only a little slighter. She hadn't been smiling much the past three hours.

The reason they were flying so high was because they were over the Southern Alps, the mountain range that ran along the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. Less than twenty miles in front of them was Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. It's jagged, snow-capped triple peak rose 12,316 feet above sea level. All around it were the other, lesser peaks of the Southern Alps range, with jagged gorges and valleys in between.

"Isn't that beautiful?" Jake asked, staring at the majestic scenery around them now that the plane was finally level and he wasn't looking primarily upward. "I really love this place."

He was not speaking figuratively. He had literally fallen in love with everything about the country of New Zealand, but particularly with the Southern Island. The tour had arrived on January 16, landing in Auckland on the Northern Island. They did three shows there and then three more in Wellington. After Wellington, they'd been flown to Christchurch on the Southern Island. They had four days off in Christchurch while they waited for their equipment — which was traveling by ship — to catch up to them.

This was day three of the break, their first of the tour. For the first two days Jake and Helen had explored the area around Christchurch and that was when Jake fell truly and completely in love. The Southern Island was beautiful in every way. The weather was warm but not hot. The scenery was some of the most spectacular on Earth. Christchurch itself was a clean, modern city of moderate size with very little in the way of slums or ghettos. The people in Christchurch were friendly and tended to mind their own business (as much as such a thing was possible when rock stars were in town). In a way, Christchurch reminded Jake of a Utopian version of Heritage.

"This is really pretty," Helen had to agree, even through the funk she'd been in. "It's like we're flying into a postcard or something."

"The turbulence is kind of a bitch though," he said as the plane bumped and rocked in the unstable air.

"It's the wind coming up over the mountain peaks," Helen said. "It can play hell sometimes."

"Yeah," Jake said as another violent jolt rocked them. "I guess so."

He flew on and silence descended once again. Jake brought them two miles to the south of the main peak of Mount Cook and then turned leisurely to the northwest. He could now see the glacier going down the west side of the mountain merging with the lush green of a rainforest near the base. From there, the land sloped gently to the dazzling blue waters of the South Pacific Ocean.

"I want to live here," Jake said whimsically.

"You want to move to New Zealand?" Helen asked in wonder, not because she thought the idea strange, but because Jake was someone who could do such a thing if he wished.

"Maybe not permanently," he said. "But I'd love to have a winter house here. Somewhere near Christchurch but a little bit out of it. Maybe up in those hills that surround the city. I wonder if they'll sell real estate to Americans or if they're like Mexico and only let you lease the land."

"I don't know," she said. "It was easy enough for you to rent this plane. They didn't even check to make sure your license was valid. I suppose if you have enough money you can do whatever you want."

"Yeah, sometimes it seems to work that way," Jake agreed.

Jake had to do some maneuvering as they passed in front of the mountain and the updrafts slammed into them. The plane began to bounce and shake like a car driving down an undeveloped dirt road. He had to nose down a little to counter the increased lift and turn to the west a little to keep from being pushed toward the mountain by the wind. He was feeling more than a little nervous about the flying conditions. Never before had he encountered turbulence like this. Helen's relaxed and unworried attitude did much to ease his mind.

When they finally passed out of the updraft zone in front of the mountain, Jake reduced power and put the nose down so they could descend back down to four thousand feet or so. He would then parallel the west coast of the island northward until they reached Hokitika, a small coastal town where they would land and have lunch before heading back across the mountains.

It was an exciting adventure to be in a foreign country, piloting a small plane over a large mountain range and then navigating to a town he'd never heard of until two days before. Some of Jake's enjoyment, however, was being sapped away by the dark mood Helen was in. As the plane bounced and bumped its way downward toward the glacial wastelands and the rainforest, he decided to try talking about it with her. Hell, anything could work, couldn't it?

"So, what's the problem?" Jake asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, not looking at him.

"You've been giving me the silent treatment all morning. Why?"

"I'm not giving you any kind of treatment," she said.

Jake sighed. "Yes, you are," he said. "Obviously you're upset about something, so how about you tell me what it is and we'll talk about it."

"If you don't know what it is, I'm not going to tell you."

"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ," he cried, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "For someone raised by a man, you're sure acting like a girl right now."

"I am not acting like a girl!" she shouted at him. To Helen, that was one of the worst insults imaginable.

"Then why don't you be a man and tell me what's bothering you," he said.

She finally looked at him, her eyes shooting daggers at him. "I would think you would know what upset me this morning. Did you forget about that little incident with those two sluts?"

"Ohhh," Jake said, nodding. "Is that it?"

Jake and Helen had spent last night in a luxury hotel in Lake Tekapo, a small resort town at the eastern base of the Southern Alps. This morning, after they'd had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant and had been waiting out front for the taxi that would take them to the small airport, two young women named Hannah and Dandie had come out of the front lobby and recognized Jake. They immediately came over and engaged him in conversation.

The two girls were from England and were in New Zealand on holiday. They both said they were twenty-two years old but Jake suspected that they were actually closer to nineteen, twenty at the very most. Hannah was a blonde dressed in a very revealing spaghetti strap top and a pair of short shorts. Dandie was a brunette in a skimpy brown one piece dress that left her cleavage exposed on top and the majority of her shapely legs exposed on the bottom.

After fawning over him, telling him how unbelievable it was that he was here at the same time as they were, and asking all of the usual questions about what he was doing in Lake Tekapo, how he came up with his songs, where was Matt and Nerdly, when was the next album coming out, they both pulled scraps of paper from their purses and asked for autographs.

"No problem," Jake said. "Do you have a pen?"

"Uh... sure," Hannah said, digging furiously in her purse and finally producing one.

Jake took it from her. "How do you spell your name, Hannah?" he asked.

She told him and he scrawled out his usual bullshit line about meeting the nicest two girls in Lake Tekapo and signing it. He then did the same for Dandie. Through this all, Helen stood next to him, completely ignored by the two girls, just waiting for it to be over so they could get into the taxi, which had just pulled up.

"Thank you sooooo much, Jake," Hannah told him with stars in her eyes.

"Yes," agreed Dandie, was nodding furiously at him. "We just love all of your music. We tried to get tickets to one of the shows in Christchurch but they all sold out as soon as they went on sale."

"Yeah," said Hannah. "And the bloody scalpers are asking for nine hundred dollars for even the worst seats."

"And I don't even get a cut of those dollars," Jake said.

The two girls giggled as if this was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

"I don't suppose," said Hannah, "that you have any extra tickets on you?"

"Nope," Jake said. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to pass out tickets to any of the shows. It's a contract thing." This was not strictly the truth, of course. If Jake or any of the other band members or even some of the upper echelon of the road crew wanted someone to have tickets to any particular show, it could be arranged. Jake was not in the habit, however, of arranging it for young girls he met in front of hotel lobbies — even if they were incredibly cute and exuding naked sexuality.

"Oh," Hannah said, pouting a little. "Well, that's too bad." She brightened a little. "Could you sign one other thing for me?"

"What's that?" Jake asked, although he already knew. Such requests were very common.

She stepped closer to him and pulled down the left side of her spaghetti strap top, exposing her naked breast to his eyes. "Could you sign my boob?" she asked him.

"Hannah!" Dandie squealed. "I can't believe you did that!"

"Yes, what would your mother think, Hannah?" Jake asked.

"My mum would have her top down too," Hannah told him. "Hell, probably her tarty knickers as well.

"Well, a pity mum's not here, isn't it?" Jake said, getting another laugh from the two girls. He took Hannah's pen again and scrawled his signature across the downslope of her breast without actually touching it.

"Lovely," Hannah said dreamily, as she gazed at the pen markings. "I'm never going to wash this boob again."

"I really wouldn't recommend that," Jake said.

"Uh... Jake," said Dandie nervously. "Could you... you know..."

"Bring it on out, hon," Jake said. "I still got the pen in my hand."

With a happy smile she rolled the entire front of her dress downward, baring both of her apple-sized breasts. Her tiny nipples were standing up proudly. Jake leaned forward and autographed the right one, again without actually touching it.

After the two girls covered their breasts back up, they finally acknowledged Helen.

"Could you be a dear and take a picture of us with Jake?" Hannah asked her.

"Sure, why not?" Helen asked. She took the camera and backed up a few steps. The two girls got on either side of Jake and put their arms around him and their heads on his shoulders. He put his arms around their waists. They smiled for the camera and Helen took the shot. She then had to take another shot with Dandie's camera.

The encounter soon ended when Jake told the two girls that they had a plane to catch. They fawned for a few more moments, thanked him profusely, and then finally went on their way, allowing Jake and Helen to climb into the taxi.

And, now that he thought about it, that was when the silent treatment had started.

"Why are you upset about that?" he asked her now. "You've seen a hundred girls stick their tits in my face to have them signed. It happens every time there are girls around, doesn't it?"

"Yes," she said. "I don't much like it, but I understand it's part of who you are. I'm involved with a rock musician and I have to accept that part of your job is signing titties and being nice to sluts."

"Well... it's not actually in the contract," Jake said, making an attempt at a joke.

It fell flat. "It's not the fact that you signed those girls' tits," Helen said. "What did that slut whisper in your ear while I was taking the picture?"

She was talking about Hannah, who had indeed whispered something in Jake's ear while Helen had been taking the pictures. "Just the normal crap that women are always whispering in my ear," Jake said.

This was not exactly the right thing to say. "This happens all the time?" Helen yelled. "What did she say? I want to know."

"Uh... well, she said that she and her friend were staying in room something or other and that I would be welcome to visit them tonight if I wanted to have some fun."

"She asked you to come to her room and fuck both of them?" Helen asked.

Jake shrugged. "That is how I took the invitation," he said. "I don't know why you're upset about it. I'm not planning on doing it."

"You told her, 'I'll keep that in mind'," Helen said. "You didn't tell her no. You said you'd keep it in mind."

"That was a jerk-off answer, Helen," Jake said. "I don't even remember the room number now. I hardly remembered the whole freakin' episode until you brought it up."

"She did that right in front of me, Jake," Helen said. "I was standing four feet away from you and she propositioned you while I was watching her. She knew I was there! If she's read any magazines or watched any TV in the past two months she knows that you and I are dating. And she still did it!"

Jake was now getting frustrated. "I'm sorry that it bothers you," he said. "But I can't help what other people do. Like I said, I'm not going to take her up on the offer."

"What if I wasn't there?" she asked. "What if she'd made that offer while you were alone? What would you have done then?"

"You mean if you were not present with me at the moment, but were still out on tour with me?"

"Yes," she said. "If I'd been in the bathroom or something?"

"I would've done exactly the same thing," Jake said.

"And what if I was back home in California?" she asked next. "Would you have taken them up on it then?"

This was touchy ground, Jake knew. He went for the oblique answer. "If you were back in California, I wouldn't have been in Lake Tekapo this morning. I would've been nursing a hangover in my hotel room in Christchurch."

"You know what I mean," she said. "If I wasn't out on the tour and you happened across that same situation somewhere, would you have done it?"

He decided to go with honesty and see where that led. "I might have," he admitted. "It would depend on the circumstances and what was going on at the moment, but yes, I might have taken them up on it."

"So you did find them attractive," she said.

"They were cute," he said. "I never tried to say they weren't."

"And young," she said. "Much younger than me."

"Not that much younger," Jake said. "Why are we even having this conversation, Helen? You are out on tour with me and because of that, I've turned down every offer of sex I've had except for those that come from you. Why are you getting upset over what I might've done if you weren't here?"

She shook her head in frustration. "You don't understand," she said.

"Then make me understand," he told her. "Tell me what's on your mind. Isn't that how people resolve problems?"

She didn't answer at first. Jake didn't push her. He continued his descent and made a shallow bank to keep them on course to the coast. It was only after he'd leveled out the turn that she found the words to say what she wanted to say.

"I'm having a hard time handling all of this, Jake," she said. "I know it seems like petty jealousy to you and it even does to me, but that doesn't make it go away. Beautiful women are constantly coming on to you. I know that's been happening the whole time we've been together and I'm pretty sure you haven't cheated on me, but now that we're out on tour together, now that I go to those after show parties with you, this whole issue is just constantly in my face now. Women pull their boobs out for you to sign them. They put their arms around you and kiss you on the cheek and rub their bodies all over you and you don't make them stop."

"I told you..." Jake started.

"I know, I know," she said. "It's part of being a musician. It doesn't pay to piss off fans and get a reputation as an asshole. What happened this morning, though... that was just too much. We're in fucking Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, some little tiny town in the middle of an obscure country, and there are still women there trying to get you into bed with them. They're so brazen about it that they proposition you right in front of me. I'm just coming to the realization that this is going to go on as long as we're together."

"Yes," Jake said. "It is going to go on as long as we're together. I don't plan to take any of these women up on their offers though."

"You did before, didn't you? You got caught with that redheaded girl down in Mexico while you were dating your last girlfriend."

"That was a completely different relationship," Jake said. "At the time I did that, Rachel and I were already on the outs. It was a mistake and I learned from it."

"And Rachel was publicly humiliated by your mistake," Helen said. "The fact that you'd cheated on her and pictures of the girl you cheated on her with were plastered all over the newspapers for a week. That bothers me as well. If you do decide to take one of these women up on their offer, my personal life and response to that won't be private. Nothing involving our relationship is private. There is always some reporter slinking around trying to get a story. Look what they're doing to poor Matt."