Double Team
Chapter 198
“I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are good people and bad people. You’re wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.”
—Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
I HIT THE BRICKS at seven this morning. That wasn’t enough sleep, but I could go back to bed later. I really needed to get a good run in before the day started. Em parked us in a lot near the Krannert Performing Arts Center. I ran through the campus and around the paths used by students who were living normal lives, going to school, working on degrees. Students who had already completed their service.
When I got back from a good five miles, I was ready to hit the shower. We needed to learn to manage our water usage. Em said there was plenty of water in the fresh tank, but when I stepped into the shower, I discovered we were out of hot water. I was sixth one in and the water heater apparently isn’t that big. Em said it only had a twelve-gallon capacity. We’d need to learn to use less water or find alternate places to clean up. I wondered if there was a fitness center near that we could use. Emily had her tablet out and was making notes on facilities and needs.
“This is complicated,” she sighed as I slid into our little dining nook beside her with a cup of coffee. Joan was on cooking duty and was making our first meal in the motorhome while trying to find where pans and dishes were.
“You mean that logistics is more than just driving the cargo around?” I joked. She scowled at me.
“Putting the two of you on the road requires a staff of ten,” she said. “Donna, do you think it’s too early to call Jo? When is she supposed to get here?”
“She’s probably having breakfast at the Hilton,” Donna said. “She didn’t plan to leave Chicago until ten since there’s no performance or load-in today.”
“I should find a dump station and fresh water,” Em said. “I can probably wait until we move the bus to the loading ramp tomorrow and get provisioned while you’re rehearsing.”
“When we move tomorrow night, I plan to ride with Jo so we can be at the facility to get things set up before you all arrive Tuesday. You can stay here on campus for the night and not leave for St. Louis until first thing Tuesday morning.”
“Okay. I hate to leave you in her clutches for another twenty-four hours,” Em laughed.
“Aside from being a little abrasive, she’s not so bad. She’s just dealing with a new department, new personnel, and a new product all at once, while coordinating resources across 3,000 miles and fourteen venues. The sooner you and I can take over the nitty gritty, the happier she’ll be.”
“We won’t have as big a crew here as we had in Chicago,” Em said.
“That was a bit of overkill anyway,” I said. “We can move our own equipment.”
“There are rules at most venues regarding who can move and set up equipment,” Em sighed. “Just don’t expect a gourmet meal served in the dressing room tomorrow. Beca? We need to do some menu planning so we can put the right groceries in. Once Jo gets here, we’ll use her car to go get what supplies we need.”
“Joan and I started putting together a list last night. We’d be working on it now, but there’s only room for one person in the kitchen.”
“And here’s breakfast,” Joan said. “Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, and toast. Paper plates. With as short on hot water as we are, I’m trying to wash as few dishes as possible.”
“How did you get stuck on kitchen duty?” I asked. “Is that your new NSO?”
“We all have to do what we have to do, Jacob. Beca and I don’t have specific duties during concerts. We’ll try to keep the place tidy as long as you all pick up your dirty underwear when you come running through the bus, stripping after a show,” she said.
“I happened to recognize one pair of those dirty underwear as having been stripped off your cute butt,” I laughed. “But point taken. We don’t have much room and it wouldn’t take much to make it unlivable. Pick up our shit.”
“I cook,” Cindy said quietly. She’d slid into the little booth practically on my lap with a plate of eggs and sausage. It was the first thing I’d heard her say this morning and I put an arm around her bare back to pet her. “I don’t mind. Well, I mean it’s hard to do on a night I’m performing, but I really wouldn’t mind cooking tonight. It helps me not get obsessed about the performance.”
“Then help me prepare the menu,” Beca said. “And I suppose we should plan on Jo joining us for dinner, which means clothes, people.”
“I think we can be pretty casual with her,” Donna said, “but there’s no sense rubbing her nose in our lifestyle. It’s just part of being polite to guests, like we are at home when the parents come over.”
There was a knock on the door of the motorhome. At nine o’clock on Sunday morning? I grabbed a robe and went to the door. Em scrambled to find her sweats. Everyone else got themselves covered before I opened the door. A campus cop stood at the bottom of the steps.
“Oh, hi! Are you our security?” I asked.
“I’m here to enforce campus rules,” he answered. “No overnight parking is allowed in campus lots. And camping is strictly forbidden. I’m going to have to write you a citation that will include a day’s campus community service for this violation.” Oh, shit! “Your license, please.”
“I’m the driver, officer,” Em said, pushing past me. “We are here with the National Service and have permission to park until Tuesday morning. We’re guests of the University.”
“No one has given us any directives, Miss…” he looked at her ID “…Hopkins. And your ID says you are no longer in service.”
“Our OCS manager will be here about one o’clock. She’s carrying all our paperwork,” Emily said. “This is a service deputation team on tour and will be performing tomorrow over there across the street.”
“Hopkins. Are you part of that rabble-rousing group? Let me tell you, if you incite civil unrest on this campus, we will come after you. Your best bet right now would be to pack up your bus and leave town,” the officer said.
“Really? You’ll put the campus police up against the Office of Civilian Service?” Em said. “I think we need your name, badge number, and supervisor’s number.”
“I’m the one writing the citation here. I’m retaining your ID until you’ve completed your day of campus service.”
“Meaning I can’t move the bus and since I’m the only qualified driver, it will have to stay parked here while you write a new citation every day. Is that what you’re driving at?” Em said. A car pulled into the lot and drove directly to us. Four guys jumped out pulling National Service armbands on.
“We’ll take over from here, officer,” the first said. “This is National Service business and is out of campus hands.”
“This vehicle is not allowed to park here,” the officer insisted.
“Call your office and check,” the NS rep said. “You’re out of the loop.” The campus cop stepped away and pulled out his phone. The National Service guy turned to Emily. “Sorry we weren’t here to greet you folks. We were told you wouldn’t arrive until this afternoon. I’m Tom Lester and will head your security team this week. We don’t expect any serious problems while you’re on campus but there’s a strong anti-reform faction here. We’ll keep at least two guys on duty outside your vehicle while you’re here and we’re planning on a dozen tomorrow as we lead up to your performance. Word is that Representative Collins is organizing a protest against your entire tour.”
“A protest?”
“He’s adamantly opposed to service reform and your performance is a direct attack on his campaign for reelection. He’s very popular around here,” Tom said.
“We’ll be watching you,” the campus cop said. “One misstep and we’ll still move in to enforce campus rules.” He turned away.
“My ID,” Emily demanded. The cop scowled at her and handed the ID back. I think he planned to keep it.
Indeed, there was a protest. It was outside the Krannert Center. The loading dock was down a ramp under the theaters. The bus fit, but I guess they’re used to full semi rigs driving down there. It took about thirty minutes to unload our gear. After that, Tom accompanied Emily as she drove to a dump station to empty our black and gray water tanks, and refill our fresh water tanks.
Close to a thousand people, most recently released from service or about to enter service, filled the Tryon Festival Theatre. Outside, it rained. I tried not to gloat about Representative Collins and his protesters standing with soggy placards and wet clothes.
As much protest as there was, I expected our crowd to be a tough sell, but they were more enthusiastic than Chicago had been. They greeted my call for reform candidates with cheers. Apparently, Collins was mostly popular among people old enough to have never had to serve. That said something about his campaign and what the 48,000 students at the university were up against.
The best part of the show was the dressing room. It had a shower and all seven of us cycled through. Emily got her shower after she pulled into the loading ramp after the show and we got things stowed. We pulled away from the campus and hit I-57 south, all of us too drained for any raucous sex. I sat up front next to Em as she drove us down to a campground about forty miles south of town. Jo had scouted the location, reserved a site, and led the way down there. As soon as we were camped, she continued on to St. Louis so she’d be there before we got there on Tuesday.
“Are we going to have the same kind of difficulty in St. Louis we had in Champaign?” I asked as we got under way Tuesday morning.
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll have a different kind of trouble,” Donna said. “This venue is prepared for touring shows. They have three secure parking slots for traveling acts, complete with power and water. Jo will be at the site ahead of us and have the security and crew on site when we get there. We have seating for 1,500 again but the one thing they can’t guarantee is no hecklers. But the facility itself is not conducive to any protests. There just isn’t a convenient place for them to set up without blocking access, and that’s illegal.”
“And if the facility is so big, why are we doing two shows? And why is one in the morning?” Cindy asked.
“School isn’t out here yet,” Donna said. “Tomorrow’s performance will have seniors bused in from several high schools. It will be more like the performances you did in high schools, but about five times as big.”
“We’re still two hours out,” I said. “I’m going back to bed.” Cindy grabbed my hand and followed me into the bedroom. We cuddled up and went to sleep.
The evening performance went well and the crowd was enthusiastic about our message for the most part. As Donna predicted, there were a few hecklers, but only during the times I was speaking and not during our music. The big surprise was when a guy showed up backstage just before we went out for our encore and marched onto the stage. I looked around for support and Jo laid a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s a surprise, but I talked to him first. Be ready to return for your encore.”
“For those of you who don’t know, I’m Senator Arnold Hornby,” he started. There was a mixture of applause and hisses. “This performance was directed at me. I fell in line behind Senate Leader Jeffries when he refused to put service reform on the agenda. I want the good people of Missouri to know that I have been listening—not only to the crusaders who have given us a great evening of entertainment this evening, but also to the people of Missouri. I am announcing this evening that I will support any move to bring the National Service Reform Bill before the Senate for debate. That does not mean that I am in favor of reform at this time. Vote your conscience. But this is the Show Me State. I believe it is incumbent upon us to hear this bill and give the President the opportunity to show me it is needed. This may be the shortest speech you will ever hear me give. Let’s give it up once again for Marvel and Hopkins.”
He walked toward the wing as applause was renewed. He passed us with a nod. One might have been confused over whether the applause was for Cindy and me or for him. We took our bow and launched into Mozart on Fire.
There was no mistaking the applause at the end.
Jo met us in the dressing room just after I stepped out of the shower. I’d pulled on a pair of sweats since this was a public venue and not what we considered our private space.
“I’m sorry to have sprung that on you,” Jo said as we gathered around. “Donna, you’ll need to be prepared for things like this. It may well happen again.”
“A warning would have been helpful,” I said. “Now we’ll know not to panic when someone interrupts the show.”
“It’s something we hadn’t really anticipated, but when Senator Hornby spoke to me backstage, I had to go with it. I did vet what he planned to say,” Jo said. “It brings up another issue. I think you need to have a representative of the service traveling with you. Your load-in and rehearsal went more smoothly because I was here to get things ready before you arrived.”
“You’re going to travel with us for the rest of the tour?” Emily asked.
“No. I’m going to ask Rachel to join us in Louisville and be with you for the rest of the tour. When she shows up, I’ll head out. That has the added advantage that you won’t have to get dressed for staff meetings,” she chuckled. She was trying to facilitate the tour and not micromanage any longer. “I’ve had Rachel working ahead this week to meet the local service coordinators by phone. She should be able to handle anything I can at this stage.”
What I heard was, “Rachel will join us.” That brightened my day.
We had a good campsite at the 4-H Fairground about ten miles from where we’d perform Thursday night in Evansville. After that show, we’d be heading straight for Louisville, so we were focused on getting extra sleep Wednesday night. And Wednesday morning. We had all three beds in use that night and I held my beloved Em in my arms all night. I knew Cindy and I were the reason for this tour and we worked hard in our performances, but Em had to be focused all the time. She drove us from place to place, maneuvered the big rig into loading docks, made sure we had power and water, and generally kept us safe and organized. She needed all the care we could give her.
And an orgasm or two. That helped.
The fairgrounds offered limited trails to run on in the morning, but it was in the country so I took off on the county roads and had a really good ten-mile run. I got back about eight and took a quick shower, then went to work making pancakes for breakfast.
We had plenty of time as we didn’t need to load-in until noon. Cindy and I practiced a little while sitting in lawn chairs under the motorhome’s awning. If I had my druthers, I’d rather just take my wives in this bus and wander around the country, sitting outside, playing music, making love, and generally being vagabonds. But, of course, we had a program to play.
Em got the bus parked at the loading dock in Evansville and Jo met us with four guys who made short work of moving our equipment to the stage. It was a smaller venue and it seemed we were pretty much unknown here. They mostly liked that we were from Indiana, but it was the first place we performed where the house wasn’t quite full.
We rolled into a KOA RV park just across the river from Louisville at midnight. Jo was already there and had us registered, so she led us to the slot and then took off for her hotel. Em was incredibly efficient at setup in the middle of the night by this time and it was less than fifteen minutes until we were leveled and connected to shore power, water, and sewer. The slides were out and we were all naked and ready for bed.
Well, I discovered Cindy and Beca had been naked and in bed since we left Evansville. They were tucked in together in the bunk and no one realized it.
“You’re here!” I shouted as I rushed to Rachel’s arms when I came off stage after our rehearsal run-through for the techs in Louisville. “I’m so happy you’ll be with us for the rest of the trip!”
“I couldn’t believe Jo loosened the reins so I could join you. We have so many things going on every place it’s unbelievable.”
“Tell me.”
“Well, first of all, Sophie, Nanette, Desi, and Brittany are closing on our new home tomorrow. The whole ‘motivated seller’ thing means we’ll have possession tomorrow night.”
“Are they going to stay there tomorrow?” I asked.
“Not unless they manage to get a bed delivered. There is so much work to be done on the place, but it will be beautiful when it’s finished. They’ve had contractors through this past week and the kitchen guys are ready to demolish the travesty that’s there and replace it starting Monday morning. Nan’s amazingly coordinated in making decisions on what appliances and countertops and everything we need to have. She’s like our general contractor. Most of the rest of the work to be done is painting and floors. There are a few bathroom updates to be done, but at least the former owner did an absolute playboy remodel of the master bath.”
“That’s incredible. I’m so glad they are handling that while we’re stuck out here on the road. What else is happening?”
“I managed to adjust the last week of the tour. Richmond has been moved out a day so it will be the official end of the tour on the 30th. I added a stop the day before.”
“Where? Another concert?”
“We’ll be performing for a National Service Sports Base Camp in Blacksburg, Virginia. It’s a special performance for the athletes based there.”
“Wait! Blacksburg? That’s where Livy is!”
“Bingo! And that long-legged girl will be riding your cock the rest of the night while we go to Richmond. She’s got a long holiday weekend arranged and won’t have to be back to base until the fifth.”
“That’s great! She’ll be with us when we all get to the new house.”
“And then there’s Remas.”
“What? Tell me.”
“She’s joining us Sunday in Memphis. She has a performance Saturday night so she couldn’t come out with me today.”
“That’s great. I didn’t think she’d be able to get time off.”
“She didn’t. She’s on assignment. Dr. D and some of the staff have been watching the tape of your Chicago performance and are sending Remas to work with you on smoothing out a couple of things.”
“They’ve never interfered in our performances before.”
“I don’t know enough about it to tell you what Remas has in mind, but from what I understand, they aren’t concerned with content at all. It’s more like having Mr. LeBlanc work with you on the music itself. Who worked with you on rehearsing your show?”
“We had to do it on our own. It was pretty chaotic getting out of school and all.”
“Exactly. Remas has been assigned the task of tightening and making the show more professional.”
“I guess I can see that. At least they’re sending Remas and not some professor we’ve never met. I’m so glad you’ll be traveling with us. Making love in the motorhome while we’re on the road can be kind of exciting.”
“Yeah. Well, we’ll have to do that tonight. Tomorrow, I’m taking over Jo’s role as point person. That means I’ll be driving to the venues ahead of you and not riding the bus with you.”
“Oh, crap! Alone?”
“There are enough of us on the tour now that I hope I can kidnap someone to ride with me. The nice part is we won’t have to book into a hotel at night. We can join the family at the campsite.”
“Rachel, I love you and all I care about is that you are with us.”
“Then let’s get some dinner and get you ready for tonight’s show.”
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