Chapter 14

Helping Steve, Dewey, and their families prepare to leave early Monday morning was sad. My ladies and babies who were leaving were packed and ready to leave, too. The rest of us would leave a little later, but we needed to say goodbye to our other extended family first.

They were able to get everyone on a single 737 and were going to be on an aircraft for many hours. There would be fuel stops, but Dewey would be home this afternoon, and Steve and family would be home late tonight, due to crossing the International Date Line where today hasn't happened yet.

I made sure our checkout back in the hotel was complete and that we had given the staff sufficient gratuities for all the special attention we had been given. I also made sure that Kenny and Barb would be taken care of while he recuperated in the hotel before traveling home.

Lisa and I made a quick trip to the hospital to see Kenny and Barb. They were both doing fine, with Barb looking more rested and Kenny feeling good. He had already been up walking around a couple of times, so we all knew he was doing well. We assured him that everything, including flight reservations, had been taken care of, so all Barb had to do was to call to confirm them when he felt they could leave. Brandy had made arrangements with the hotel to make sure that Kenny and Barb were given every type of attention possible. They would provide limo service from the hospital and to the airport, knowing that we would reimburse them if what funds we had left weren't enough.

Brandy became the person in charge. She had a clipboard with papers on it, and constantly asked each of us questions and checked items off. Tiani also had a clipboard and was checking on other items. Nancy, Judy, and Frieda were making nearly continuous cell phone calls, but also watching the babies. The Freaky Five were fun to watch as they were the height of organized chaos.

Kal, Kai, Lisa, Kathy, Sue, and I sat at the bar downing some Bloody Marys. All of us were amused as bellhops came in with carts to begin hauling all of our luggage down to the busses to take us to the airport.

All three aircraft were being readied simultaneously this time. My remaining family, including Jane, along with Kal, Kai, Sue, Kathy, Bonita, and Lizzy, were going on one 737, and the guys from the Blues Expedition and all of Pop's and Rags' men would be on the other. We could probably stuff all of us on one aircraft, but why? I was footing the bill for the aircraft, so I liked the idea that we weren't going to be crowded.

Kal and Kai were enjoying some drinks with Lisa and me when we were up at altitude, while Jane was having fun playing with the little ones. Kal told us, "You guys know how to travel. This has got to be the most luxury we have ever traveled in, and we have been on some really fancy airplanes."

Sue came over and told Kal, "Chuck, or rather his people, have been buying aircraft from Sheiks and Princes, so these aircraft were once owned by some of the richest men in the world. Chuck and Lisa would probably rather be piloting them, but they look like they are enjoying being passengers."

Kathy told the Hawaiian couple, "The more you know about Chuck and his friends, like Steve and Dewey, the more you're going to want to be a part of what they do. You really need to come to see us in Florida so that you know how we really live. Jane is going to be in for a big shock when she finds out our huge extended family has another hundred people or close to it."

Kai was smiling and said, "It does sound like fun, and I loved Sue's and Mercy's mothers. They were both classic as they had a great time being grandmothers to all the kids. I suppose I'd better learn to be a grandmother while we stay with you in Australia. I'm going to love this."

Kal was sitting back smiling, and waved me over to a seat facing him. "I understand you are an investor in some resorts on the islands, Chuck. You're also an investor in the private airport that is big on instruction and promotes trips to the mainland and golf trips to Hawaii. Is that really working?"

"So far, Kal. The people managing it are special. There are two people, a couple there in Hawaii, who are mostly responsible for the charters, and Dewey's people in Seattle are the ones who put everything together in the mainland. They now have weekly flights from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles that bring folks to Hawaii for a golf week. They have island residents making trips to the mainland for some fun and shopping at the same time. The flights are less than half of what is normally charged for the one way fare. We can just about break even on the air expenses, because we can profit from the resorts."

"That is something, Chuck. Kai and I will have to use those flights to visit the coastal cities. We used to love Los Angeles and San Francisco. We always had a great time when I wrestled in those cities, and especially in Las Vegas."

I told the big man, "It's great that you have had the experiences performing the way you have. I'll bet you miss that attention, but I'm sure you don't miss the aches and pains those performances gave you."

"You have that right. Kai became an exceptional masseuse in order to keep me moving for so many years. She still gives me some of the best massages a man could have." He patted Kai's thigh and said, "Don't you, Lover?"

The tiny Kai grinned at her husband and while winking at me, said, "And I still give him happy endings."

Kal blushed and pulled her to him for a kiss. "This woman is still more than I can handle, but I try every day."

In a quieter manner, Kai said to me, "Kal and I are not very conventional in our lifestyle. The way Sue and Kathy were talking, we might fit very well with many of the folks at your home. We're both dying to see this patio, and we both want to be a part of what the girls said was a hot tub party."

Now it was my turn to blush, as I imagined Kal and Kai partaking of all of the folks who went up there to play.

I got down on the floor to play with the little ones and helped to settle them down for a nap. The hostesses fed us a really great lunch, and were extremely attentive on the just over four-hour flight. We were going to play the first weekend in Melbourne, the second in Sydney, and the last weekend in Brisbane. We were going to have time throughout the weeks to do some sightseeing, and also to practice for our weekend shows. We weren't planning on working up a lot of new material, although both Bonita and Pop had a pile of music they wanted to introduce.

I spoke with Brandy before we landed, to see if she had any sightseeing trips planned. She told me, "I know you guys need to practice, but could you do everything you need to do early Wednesday morning and then on Thursday? If so, you can go with us tomorrow, Tuesday, on a bus tour out of Melbourne, then there is a great tour to Phillip Island around noon on Wednesday. It's a wildlife reserve that's also like a zoo. The rest of us will probably try to go outside the city on Thursday, but we'll stick around Friday. You guys will do your shows on Friday and Saturday, and then travel to Sydney on Sunday. There we will do some serious sightseeing outside the city, but also plan on you guys practicing Wednesday and Thursday. We'll repeat that in Brisbane."

Nancy came over to us and advised, "We're being contacted by other locations in Australia, but we're turning them down. These folks love concerts and I think they have a lot of them here. I just wanted you to know we could probably play weekly here for most of the year."

I was smiling at the thought of how the ex-agent would have been conniving enough to try booking more shows. Doing three cities, two shows a piece, should be good enough. A future tour could be planned if the band sees that much of an increase in sales from Australia. If my ladies keep pumping out kids, this might be the last all family tour for my group. I know they're really good moms and extremely efficient, but the kids can be almost too much to handle.

Landing at Melbourne and getting to the hotel was smooth. The road guys were going to begin the stage construction and setup Thursday, so they were going to let the customs people search through everything on the aircraft, then move it to the venue on Wednesday. The road crew chief said he was planning on tearing down Sunday and Monday, with tentative plans to fly to the next city on Tuesday and repeat the setup and teardown In Sydney and Brisbane.

The girls were all planning to leave Brisbane following the shows on Sunday. Our destination would be Hawaii to visit with Jane's family there before flying back to the mainland. The length of visit in Hawaii was still up in the air, but I wanted our stay to be 3 days at the most. I'm sure the rest of the folks are getting homesick and would enjoy our own home.

The other folks, the band, and brass would go ahead and fly back to Florida the most expedient way. The cargo aircraft would be doing the same thing, but probably wouldn't leave Brisbane until Tuesday. I can imagine that everyone will want to relax a day or two, or even a week, at home before beginning any new ventures.

Brandy was really on top of everything as she had hired a tour company to find us suites at the best hotel closest to the stadium. The road crew was going to be put up in a good hotel that had food available as well. We thought they might enjoy some freedom in Australia after having them underfoot in New Zealand. They had the proper warnings, and the crew chief said the guys all behaved well.

We spent most of Monday afternoon at the hotel. The ladies took turns going out to look around at the nearby shops. Brandy spent a lot of her day with the representative from the tour company. They were going to take care of us at all three Australian venues.

We had a delicious meal served in our suites that evening. All the band members heard the proposed schedule and were to work hard Wednesday morning, all day Thursday, and Friday morning. That should get us prepared.

It was almost like old times when it was time for bed, as there was only the Fun Five, plus Jane and Lisa. The seven women were busily entertaining each other by the time I made it to bed. Tiani came to me while I was observing from a bedside chair, and immediately impaled herself on me. She told me, "Brandy and I want girls this time. Boys are nice, but we want a girl to dress up and teach to be a perfect little girl."

"What are you telling me, Tiani; are you and Brandy actively trying to get fixed up on this trip?"

The tiny imp was grinning as she worked on me and advised, "All of us are. That is, all five of us are. This will probably be all for us, but it will be fun to have so many babies around. All of us will be busy being moms."

"What about the others? How about Taiying, Sing, or Maria. I can only hope Gina doesn't want any more."

Tiani told me, "Gina is so happy to have Carlo that she could want another, but I think both her and Giovanna are done with babies. Isn't it great to have so many women having babies, and now you have Jane? She's going to be perfect for our family. Just look at her. She's delicious."

I pinched Tiani on the butt, and she said, "Oops, I mean beautiful. But just look at her giving Lisa as much pleasure as Lisa does all of us."

Tiani led me to the oversized king-size bed when I had enjoyably planted the makings of her next baby, and we were able to snuggle together as the other women enjoyed each other.

Lisa was mounted on me later during the night, giving me lots of kisses. She whispered in my ear, "If you think you might have done Tiani, you will have all of your Friendly Five fixed up. My goodness, Chuck, you are one prolific stud. All you did was just about look at Jane and she was like Gina. They both became pregnant just thinking about fooling around. All of these kids are going to be special because they will all have been conceived on this tour. Maybe I should have stopped the pill and joined the club."

I rolled Lisa over and gave her the ride she wanted, but told her, "We'll work on our baby when the time is right." That must have been the right thing to say, as she moaned through our mutual climax.

We were enjoying an early breakfast before our bus tour Tuesday morning. Kathy answered a knock on the door and was talking to someone in the hallway. I got up to see what was going on and saw three men in black suits with skinny black ties. All had sunglasses tucked into their suit breast pockets. Kathy frowned when I came to the door, but then went into the room saying, "These people just won't leave you alone."

Lisa was right beside me as I invited the three men into the room and sat them on the chairs away from the dining area.

The apparent leader identified himself and his companions as CIA assigned to the State Department, then said, "This isn't a bad visit, and I want to tell you that we're not here to either ask you do something here or to try to influence you. We want to warn you that security for the shows you're planning is not adequate so far, and we are concerned."

He continued by telling me, "Australia is good about keeping track of dissidents, possibly even better than New Zealand, but they don't provide extended security to concerts or even sporting events. It's up to the promoters to provide that. We can help set it up, but it is expensive and must be coordinated with the local officials."

"Excuse me a second. Lisa, please go get Brandy for a minute."

I turned back to the men and said, "Here's a proposal. I'll hire who you guys suggest instead of the other way around this time. You and yours hire and set up security so we don't have to worry about being interrupted. You will advise me if there are any suspicions so that Lisa and I can be prepared. We will help if you have a cell that you want removed, but you know our rep and you decide whether we're too heavy-handed."

Lisa returned with Brandy. I told Brandy, "These gentlemen have advised that the venues do not provide security. It's the promoter's responsibility here in Australia. Here is my solution, Brandy; I'm going to have these gentlemen hire and set up security at all three locations. They should be able to secure the stadiums so we shouldn't have any problems."

Lisa asked me, "Are you going to trust these guys? You know the troubles we've had."

"We're sort of hiring them this time, Lisa. They will want to show us they can not only be trusted, but they will be on top of anything. I've told them we would assist if they had a cell they needed to take out of circulation, but they had to take into consideration as to how permanent we would be eliminating the problem."

Lisa laughed a little, "Yeah, I think they know that we do permanently eliminate problems."

Brandy frowned at both of us and said, "Just do your music and let these guys work on security." She pointed to the guy who was sitting forward more than the others, and asked, "Can you give me your telephone numbers so I can be assured security is taken care of in Sydney and Brisbane."

All three agents gave Brandy their cards, and told me, "You're not going to like the price the agency charges for stuff like this, but we'll do a good job. Who do we bill? Should we bill you direct, Chuck, or do we bill the band?"

Brandy said, "I'll e-mail the billing instructions. The tour is a separate corporation and will be paying."

The three stood up and said to me, "Thank you for listening to us, Chuck. We wanted to make sure an asset such as you and Lisa were taken care of here. We'll check in with you Friday morning to let you know the status."

They left, and Brandy said, "That was easier than I thought it was going to be. I kept thinking you two were going to be gone again when Kathy said three black suits were here. All of us get really scared sometimes, especially when we're away from home."

Lisa and I hugged Brandy who happily went back to the dining table.

We were able to leave for the bus tour on time and enjoyed the day. The tour director had made sure there were food and restroom stops. We had big comfortable busses so the babies could take naps. It was fun to drive out to an area that had several 'mobs' of kangaroos. We were able to walk out near them' but they are very timid around people. All of us were looking forward to going to Phillip Island tomorrow afternoon.

All the band, plus Jack and Elmer, were in our conference room for practice at eight Wednesday morning. We went right to work doing some tunes to warm up. We had printed playlist sheets from the Hawaiian, Japanese, and New Zealand concerts. We decided to use the Hawaiian playlist for Friday and Saturday so that we would be playing familiar music. We went through the music piece by piece to make sure we were with each other and were all happy that we were all on cue. Bonita was even happy and said that we were really good this morning. I told the band members and emphasized this to Pop and Bonita. "We need everyone to think about the playlist and if there's something that we have learned that we can insert, let's talk about it. If either Pop or Bonita have something they really want to learn, bring it up today while we're out at this park we are going to visit. The idea is to play what sounds the best, what we are good at, and what the audience wants. Jack and Elmer, I want you to contribute to this too. We'll be back here tomorrow to really work at it, and we'll do a show run-through Friday morning. That's it, guys, let's go see some Australian animals."