Chapter 10

I woke up being nearly smothered by good smelling women. The weight on my stomach was Tiani, and Brandy was on one of my shoulders. The other shoulder held Nancy, who was whispering in my ear, "I love you, Chuck. Please make me a mommy again. Please, Chuck. Let me give my mom another grand baby."

I kissed Nancy and told her, "Let it happen when it happens. Let's not force anything and let this next one come on his or her own."

"But this is the perfect time to do to it, Chuck. It'll be a boy this time, so I'll have one of each. Do it to me, Chuck. Fill me up with that special blend that'll make my belly swell with your son."

That caused me to laugh. I couldn't believe that Nancy wanted another baby with one that wasn't quite a year old yet. None of the other girls had said anything, and I sort of figured they were making sure not to have another baby so soon. All of them were very health conscious, and I expected them to wait at least a year or more before wanting another, if they ever did.

It took some doing to get out of the huge round bed that was only one of four within the big suite. I met Steve and Dewey in the big common room after I showered and dressed, at what appeared to be a bar. Dewey was setting up tall glasses with ice and celery sticks, before pouring some vodka and mix into them. I took one and had a good drink. Lisa had followed me from the bedroom and took the glass from me before I set it down, and took a healthy drink. She didn't give it back, but handed it to Jane who had followed her and finished what was in the glass and handed it to Tiny. In a sweet voice, Jane asked, "Could you refill this, and are these others available for Lisa and me?"

Dewey burst into laughter at the way Jane asked. He told all of us, "You have finally found someone who knows what to drink in the morning and is willing to go after more, Chuck. You need to keep this one."

As she hugged Lisa, Jane smiled and said, "I'm a keeper, Dewey. I've already made up my mind to see if I can apply for membership in this family. I may be a little different than most of the women in Chuck's group, but not that far from Taiying and Sing. I'm a little different than Tiani and Nancy, but Chuck needs me for diversity."

Dewey was laughing once again, but there were a few more laughing as Kathy, Sue, and Mercy heard Jane's announcement. Kathy said to Steve, "You're going to have to work on your status, big guy. Chuck is taking newbies in faster than we can round them up for you."

As he swatted Kathy on the butt, Steve said to her, "No more women. I have my quota. Besides, Chuck'll need my help to take care of those he has."

That got Steve a sore shoulder as Sue punched him. Mercy kissed him on the cheek and told him, "That's okay, Steve, we'll borrow a few of Chuck's so you can help him out. I'm sure he'll appreciate the help."

Jane was still being her confident self and said, "If Chuck is anything like he was last night, I think he took care of everyone of us women and might have even had a couple twice. Please note that I said 'us' women."

All the women were now in the big room by now, with a lot of kids of various ages sitting and waiting for food. The little ones were crawling around and a couple were trying to pull themselves up to stand. It was a fun place to be with all of the activity.

The women began putting tables together so we could all eat. Hotel personnel began bringing food about the time the women had some tables placed. The hotel personnel had multiple rolling carts full of food. The younger kids converged on the tables and began stuffing the variety of breakfast treats. There were rice cakes with various bits of sweet items on them. Honey was used to sweeten several items as the kids kept trying new foods.

All the little ones were soon fed and ready for the day, and the bigger kids were ready to begin their day in anticipation of practicing for their opening the next night.

Kenny came to the suite and told us, "The agent made a deal for a conference room for us to practice in. I want to go over the show and try a few new pieces. We can probably use most of the show from Hawaii for this and do like we did by changing the order of a few things between shows.

The kids began working on their show about nine, wanting to finish early so they could use the hotel's huge indoor pool later. After lunch, Kenny began rounding up the band members to go to practice. He told me about having gone to the huge indoor stadium where we were doing the shows. "The stage and equipment were almost complete, and should be ready to test by later this afternoon. The agent said the stadium has offered us some big money to do a third show on Sunday. He wants to do it, of course, but I'm not sure we should work the kids three days in a row like that. What do you think?"

"That's a tough question, Kenny. The kids have near boundless energy, but performing like that can be stressful. Let's ask the moms to see what they think. Be sure to do it out of hearing distance of the kids or they will be pushing to do it."

Kenny looked around and said, "Let's run up to the suites now and talk to them while the kids are still down here. They'll want to stay to listen to some of our practice."

We went up to the main suite and found Kathy, Sue, Mercy, and Dewey's women playing with the little ones. I nudged Kenny and he whispered, "You ask them."

"Ladies, the event stadium wants us to do a third show here on Sunday. I'm concerned that three shows back to back might be too much. What do you think about it?"

Sue spoke up and said, "The two to worry about are Lizzy and Nita. They do their show, and then join the big band for the entire concert. It is too much if you guys do three five hour shows. It might be okay if you can keep it down to three hours or so. They are just kids, and that's a lot of work in addition to all of the practice time they've been doing."

Kathy said, "Bonita would just be holed up somewhere with her guitar or keyboard doing the same thing if she wasn't practicing or performing. We'll just make sure they get some mid-day rest."

As we left, Kenny said, "I still don't know, Chuck. That's going to be pushing it to do three shows like that. The ones in Europe damn near killed us. I can't remember being as tired as we were after three shows in Rome."

I told the man, "It's going to be your call. Lisa and I have had some rest after our whirlwind USO tour, so we're fine, but guys like Pop and a couple of his men are getting up there, and it might be hard on them too."

"You know what, Chuck. We don't need the money, and two shows here is enough exposure, so let's pass on Sunday and rest up for New Zealand. I think those shows have been delayed a full week so it will give us more time to do some sightseeing. We'll have only a couple of practices during the off week, and then buckle down a few days before the first show. I like that schedule better."

Kenny began telling the band and the kids about the offer, and what he had decided, when we went into the big practice room. You could see the indecision on the brass guys' faces, while Pop was sitting at a keyboard nodding his head. The kids had the same almost disappointed look on their faces, but they brightened up when Kenny said it would give us more time to play in New Zealand.

I kept thinking how my original plan was for just Lisa and me to wander around and play a bunch of small venues, but the Expedition then got involved, and that added Bonita and Lizzy, and then Pop and Rags. It was now a full blown tour. I'll bet the agent wanted the extra show to pay for the extra week's hotels and wages for the roadies. That expense is going to be hefty.

I mentioned it to Kenny and he said, "Hell, I'll just make it up out of pocket if the money means that much to the man. I'd rather be rested and have a good time."

Practice went like clockwork. We sounded really good and enjoyed doing a lot of vocals with the backup singers. Lisa had Jane work with the three wives so she could sing with them in the show. Jane was really up for it, and worked well with the three women. The additional voice was good, and I'll bet the women will have Jane really showing off for the Japanese audience.

I called Wanda about eleven that night to see how things were going. It was nine in the morning there, so she had already checked on the overnight events. "Hey, Wanda, how's it going back home?"

"We're doing great, Chuck. You wouldn't believe the press you're getting here for the USO tour you and Lisa did. Who's the fourth girl who was with you? It looks like the Assistant Deputy Chief of the Hawaii Station."

"That's her. She wanted to go with us and asked me to find out what it would take for her to transfer back to our office. Lisa, Tina, and Jane became close friends, if you know what I mean, and the rest of my ladies have almost hijacked her. Jane has a bunch of unused vacation, so she'll travel with us on the tour, but would like to look at the possibility of a transfer to Tampa. Can you feel Sam out on that? Don't make it firm yet, because she still needs to get a feel for our large, strange group, and I would really like for her to spend a little time at the house to be sure it's something she really wants. She's a native Hawaiian, with all her family on the islands, so moving to the mainland could be harder than she thinks."

"You're not gathering women again, are you?" Wanda asked, with a little edge to her voice.

"No way. Jane is nice to look at, very smart, but I think she might be a little like the flamboyant five, and could be a little fickle. She likes all of the women, and says she has joined the crowd, but it hasn't been long enough for something like that to really work. I think she may change her mind, and I want her to make sure."

Wanda chuckled, "Well, you do seem to pick up women, and your partner is even better at it than you, Dude. Add Tina to the mix, and your house size is in trouble. Brandy will want to add on again, both with women and on the house."

"Well, check with Sam on this for me. He knows how my household is. I don't think anyone else would understand."

"I'll talk to him about temporary duty in Tampa to learn some mainland techniques. They will give her a month or two without her losing her position in Hawaii. That will be best," Wanda said, acting as if it was time to end the call.

"Call me if you need me, Wanda. I'll be available, but remember the time difference."

I could hear someone talking to Wanda as she hung up, and wondered who might be there since she is pretty strict about people walking into her office when she's on the phone.

I surprisingly didn't have to wait long for the answer to that. Wanda called my cell phone and said, "I don't know whether you heard the background, but that was Sam telling me that I might have to bail him out of jail after he finishes firing the Station Chief. He came to town because of numerous complaints and a petition by the Deputies. Sarah is about to tend her resignation so Sam showed up at eight this morning and has been going nuts since. He wants to terminate the man, but the Service wants Sam to transfer him. The guy is in his office throwing a temper tantrum that has the rest of the Deputies laughing and running. I think Sam could have used you on this one."

Thinking about it, I told her, "Call John and have him come in and confront the guy. Sam can do it, but John won't get into trouble if he decks the guy. Sarah will probably encourage John to shoot him instead. I know she didn't care for the man, but she has kept the office running correctly."

Wanda told me, "You can thank Marie, the clerk, for a lot of that. She won't take any lip from the guy, and he keeps telling her she'll be next to be dumped. Marie isn't concerned and keeps right on doing her job. Sarah does the performance reports, so the idiot doesn't get any input anyway."

"Well, go help Sam and check the guy out the way it's supposed to be done. Have Sam send the guy to the research station for a year. That will either straighten him out or make him a flamer."

"Ha, ha, ha, you're so right, Chuck. Good idea. I'll just whip the orders up right now and have Sam authorize them. They do have a slot open."

"I'll talk to you later, Chuck, probably tomorrow with the answer to your question."

I've always wondered how major companies do business between Japan or Korea, and the US, because of the time difference. I'll bet they have people on different shifts so regular correspondence and phone calls can be made twenty-four hours a day.

As I was sitting back with a drink and Lisa's company, she said, "I know how we could do a Sunday show that would be different. Let's not bring all of Pop and Rags' men, but let's use just us and the Expedition. Bonita and Lizzy could do a cameo, but they wouldn't need to be on stage for the whole thing. I was thinking about doing something like our USO show. Just real loose, like a jam practice session. We could break out a couple of the pieces you wrote that we've been saving to work on. We can do some vocals, jam on some Santana pieces, and do some just plain jamming. I'd bet the show would be a hit and people would be begging for copies of it. We would have a winner with both Jack and Elmer working the boards and cameramen."

"It would be fun, wouldn't it? You know Bonita and Lizzy will be all over it if we start out loose. You know you'll be doing keyboard, guitar, vocals, and directing. I'd bet Bonita bosses everyone around when she wants something to sound a certain way. The crowd would get a kick out it."

"That's what I'm saying, Chuck," Lisa said. "Let's call Kenny and talk to him about it. You know his guys would be all for a three hour jam session. We could use the time to even get a couple of new pieces put together for New Zealand. We'll have all of us mic'ed up so the audience can hear our comments and on stage chatter. They'll probably stay quiet in order to hear us."

I called Kenny's cell phone and he answered on the first ring. "What's up, Chuckie boy. You write something you want to practice?"

"Not that, but Lisa made a suggestion that has merit. Want to hear it over the phone, or do you want to come up here, or meet in the bar. I think we should meet in the bar. Get the guys and meet me down there."

Kenny laughed, "Ha, ha, ha, it's a good thing you didn't call ten minutes ago. I was ba ... ouch. Anyway, I was busy. We'll be right down. This must be something hot."

Lisa said, "Come on, we're dressed, let's go down now. Let me check on Jane to see if she's still dressed."

After looking in a bedroom door, Lisa came over and hugged me. She said, "Jane is snuggled up with Tiani, Brandy, Taiying, and Sing. I think they are all asleep. Can you believe how Jane has become like a long lost sister to all of these girls?"

We went downstairs to the private bar that is reserved for special guests. There we had the staff put some tables together for us and get us some snacks to nibble on. They put the order in and said they would serve our drinks when the others arrived.

Kenny, the rest of the Expedition, Jack, and Elmer showed up, but following them was Pop and Rags, along with their men. The quiet or small practice session could suddenly get out of hand.

"So what's up, Chuck, or should I say, what's up, Lisa?"

Lisa was grinning while she got ready to speak. "I was thinking about the Sunday show and what it could be other than a straight out concert. The thought was that we could do a jam, almost like a practice, give the audience a look at how we have fun and what we do when we do have fun. I know there are a couple pieces of Chuck's work that all of you want to play, so we could use the show as a practice session to see how it goes. I was thinking that we could mic nearly all of us so they could hear us talking between us while we put something together. What do you think of a three hour, unstructured, good time to let it out and just have fun?"

I could see the expression on Pop's face as he smiled at Rags who was nodding in agreement. Kenny was sitting there with an expression of wonder on his face, as Elmer and Jack were immediately huddled, making plans.

Kenny finally came from his daydream, "That would work. I think that would be the wildest show ever put on. It would be just us having fun and with Pop, Rags, and the boys. We could have a really good time putting some of Chuck's music together. I know Pop has a couple of Chuck's he wants to do, and I have about ten that I'm just dying to practice. We couldn't do all of them, but we could do a few. The idea of the personal mics is a good idea. The crowd would almost have to keep it down to hear the comments. Jack and Elmer are going to be busy on the board. Hell, I'll bet we can sell that show as easy as any we've recorded. We'll make a multi-CD set for the whole thing. Damn right, Chuck, let's do it. Let me call the agent. He'll be creaming in his jeans.'