CHARLES CLAIRE KALISTAChapter 35
- 4 years ago
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2nd City Grand Rapids, MI Radisson Hotel Here, we performed at the DeVos Place Convention Center in the DeVos Performance Hall, which seats 2,400 people. Mr. Bublé told me we got in here because Harry Connick Jr cancelled, and we got the date. The irony of that is that the two of them have reasonably similar singing styles as well as they sing a lot of the same old crooners’ tunes. From there, we schlepped to, 3rd City Detroit, MI Holiday Inn Woodhaven 4th City Akron, OH Sheraton Suites...
The Announcer came on: “Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls; school’s out and guess who’s back joining us? Charles & Claire!” A wonderful round of applause came up from the crowd, the returning kids smiled at us, the new kids glared at us. “But they are last today, so let’s get started.” He went on to announce the first competitors and it began. Things were moving along, I felt a bit more nervous than usual. Claire came up to me and said, “Charles, remember we’re waltzing today, this...
“Wow, Charles—that’s quite ambitious and crazy, like you said. The minute we touch down, I will do all I can to make that happen. You certainly have been the showman this past year, introducing me, special guests that I sprung on you at the last minute like Idina and adding those fantastic musical routines that include all of your ... harem,” Michael said. “That’s what you pay me the big bucks for Michael,” I said, feeling a pull on my shirtsleeve. It was Claire, who wanted a kiss. Never...
At that point, Sarah and I had scheduled seven days off to recharge and refresh in Dallas, only three hours away at the Cooper Hotel & Conference Center. The place was awesome. I even scheduled a Swedish Massage for everybody in our group - each in their own rooms, which costs extra, but we’re all worth it. While in Dallas, we went off to Six Flags Over Texas, only thirty minutes away from our hotel. We even got Annie and Sarah to go on some of the rides. The place was pretty cool. While...
Annie responded, “Sure thing. Charles — you can let Sarah go now.” This caused a great deal of laughter at our table. Sarah, still in my arms, said somewhat wistfully, “Thank you Charles ... for everything.” We walked to our vehicle and we quietly all got back in. Claire and K leaned their heads on me for the short trip back to the hotel. I walked the girls to their room and told them to be ready by ten am. I apologized to them for the cursing I did, at the Tavern. I got a nice kiss from...
About three hours later, we’d gone through our new routines, polishing them all up a bit—also going over every routine we’d won a trophy using. Some of those were quite fun, since we hadn’t performed them in such a long while. “LUNCH!” The three of us all came in to see a layout of food that was amazing; we had lasagna or meatloaf to choose from. Also, there were Pan-fried home-made French fries, which is a specialty of the ladies, and the usual Salad Bar, but it had more things to choose...
Excusing myself from the ladies for a moment, I went back upstairs to take a shower and shake the ‘Claire-webs’ from my mind. I quickly got dressed and went to BallroomDancer.com, (real!) to see which steps I wanted to add to our various routines and there was a knock on my bedroom door. Rather than my usual ‘come in,’ I asked, “Who is it?” “It’s Claire, Charles ... Annie and my mom said I should come up and talk to you. We need to talk.” “Just a minute — All right?” I was feverishly...
“MOTHER!” She was on a roll, so Sarah kept going, “Sorry Claire, but the truth is the truth. Most girls your age are getting ready to go to high school and plan to sleep with every boy they meet, until they find the one to bring home to Mom and Dad. You, however—hit the mother lode; he’s cute, he’s smart, he treats you like he’s known you for a dozen years, but it’s been barely over a year and a half, from when you first met.” “I know I didn’t originally understand what was going on with...
By the time I looked it up, Claire had gone back into our room, Kalista was looking for a suit and the ladies went back to their room to change. “Charles, I may need you to put some sunscreen on me, later?” Kalista said swishing her hips as she went into her bathroom. She knows how to turn me on! I got up and saw my fiancée walking out of our bathroom, with a delicious red bikini on. “Come on X Man, we want to get there before they leave for the day,” Claire said. As quickly as I could, I...
We all got out of the Spa, changed and had something to eat. Both refrigerators, as well as the chest freezers in the garage were quite full, so we have enough food to last until we leave on tour, maybe even longer. I suppose we could pack some food to go with us? Annie spoke, “Today is July 25th guys, midway between Charles & Claire’s birthdays. In celebration of this, kneel, Claire McArthur and Charles Newman.” Kneel? Claire and I looked at each other, not knowing what was about to...
Even Pam and her cameraman Eloy, from WSYX-TV, were there, along with Dave the DJ and his following. I saw my girls changing into their slippers as I mulled over in my head which dances to perform. I quickly decided on ‘The Only Exception’ a Waltz with Kalista, and our new ‘Encore piece’ ‘Xanadu.’ Out of breath, Pam came up to me and said, “National in two minutes, Charles, please?” “Thank you - two,” I responded. Pam laughed. An energy always pulses through me every time I know we’re...
Leaning into Kal, I said, “I think you can do this better than Claire could, but you know I can’t tell Claire that and you can’t either, ever! You promise me? Pinkie Swear?” She put out her Pinkie, attaching hers to mine. I heard her say, “Pinkie Swear, Charles.” I looked over and saw a delicious smile on Claire’s face as K started to try the cut time tempo. She was hesitating. “Look at me, Princess? This song is called, ‘Hold On’ so you can hold on to me and I know you can do this. Try it...
“Kallie?” I said pulling her to where we could talk and not be heard. “Yes dear,” she replied giving me again that smile that radiates love. “I found an ALS Research Center in San Francisco. They are expecting records from your doctor regarding your preliminary diagnosis. I have emailed you their information and would love it if you took care of doing that in the next 24 to 48 hours,” I asked. “It isn’t that important, Charles,” she said. “It is to me, please, Special K, do it for me,...
We all looked at one another and did not understand what she was saying to us. She tried again, “That man who just left here ... is ‘John McArthur,’ not Daniel. It was Daniel who died in June’s arms, all those years ago. John swapped ... all their credentials and took over the life of Daniel, including, being the f-f-father of all of my children.” She was sobbing very hard again. I remarked, “It seems like John and Daniel played the same kinds of tricks on everyone, being twins? Including...
“I am glad you like it so much, Loverboy. If we move into your grandpa’s home, we better have a spa in the backyard, if not inside somewhere too.” “Yeah, inside—that’s the term your mother was using on me too.” We went out to dinner and got back early enough to work on our new routines some more. First, I got Kalista and we worked all of our numbers, then I got Claire to do the same. Lastly, we did out group numbers and the Claire/Kallie numbers as well. It was after eleven pm by the time...
I came back down dressed for the spa, Sarah was already in, so I checked and asked, “You do have a suit on, right Sarah?” She stood up and had on a beautiful one-piece swimsuit, that had the American Flag on it, but there was a mesh portion over the bosom area that flashed a bit more ‘skin’ than I had been expecting. I got in and turned my back to her saying, “Be gentle, Mrs. Robinson,” which caused her to laugh a bit. Just as she was starting to rub my shoulders, everybody came through the...
Last year, being thirteen-year-olds meant we danced on Tuesday, but this year (2013) since we both will be tuning 14 in late July, we’re probably moving to Thursday nights. However, we got a letter from Jimmy with the upcoming Cotillion schedule. Things have changed considerably; Monday is now 17/18-year-olds, Tuesday 13/14-year-olds, Wednesday 11/12-year-olds, Thursday 15/16-year-olds, Friday is the 9/10-year-olds, and Saturday at ten am, will be the 7/8-year-olds. This was explained by an...
“Back to the Countdown, all right?” I hopefully asked. That settled them all down, at least a little. Claire said, “You were at 14, Charles.” “Thanks honey,” I said with a kiss. “Number 14;” 955,000 Sarah “Marilyn Monroe” pose “What’s that mean?” Kalista asked. I said, “There was an actress in the 40s, 50s and early 60s named Marilyn Monroe, Kalista. She exuded sexuality and one of her many famous pictures was with her bent over in a low-cut all-white dress, with her ‘girls’ pushed...
Eventually, we all changed into rehearsal clothes again. We had less than four full months before we leave on ‘The Next-Generation Tour’, and these routines needed to be automatic. I introduced the third set into our regimen, two weeks later we added set number four. Six weeks later all seven sets were worked into the rotation. Sammi was right — the kids were catching on, smiling as they were barely out of breath after a day’s rehearsal. My daily workout did its job; I was back in the best...
I blushed deeply as we started to dance using our classic routine we’d made so long ago, to this—her favorite song. She glowed as we danced close enough together to push the ‘girls’ up and against my chest. I glanced quickly down at them, but I just as quickly, returned to the beautiful face of my future mother-in-law as we danced alone on the dance floor. The music ended as I rolled her out and in, ending with my arms completely surrounding her from behind. The audience had been as...
Having brushed up on all of our routines the past couple of days; we were ready to begin rehearsals for the US Something Special Tour. We made our way to the Battelle North Room at The Performing Arts Center in Columbus and found Mr. Bublé there, along with his twenty-nine-piece orchestra and the Arts Center Staff working together to get ready to rehearse. Michael waved at us, as we came into the room. “So, Charles – did you really create a routine to ALL of my recorded music?” Michael...
Not having been there for over five years brought back memories. It was an all-new orchestra, with a new conductor, Herbie must have retired or passed on. After getting everyone settled, I walked up and introduced myself and met the new conductor, Harold Watson, better known as Hal. He was aware of who we were and had a large number of our music ready for us. There was no live singer this evening, just a nice meal and dance music. I sat between my wife and my daughter. “Daddy,” Rose said...
“I am in a spa with four very healthy and attractive women; my mother, my girlfriend, my soul mate and my potential mother–in-law. The last thing on my mind is having fun. Wait a second ... that didn’t come out quite right.” “Charles,” Claire said swimming over to me, “Do I make you nervous right now?” “Not n-nervous, Claire. More uh — uhm, well ... uncomfortable,” I lied. Claire started to walk towards me with water dripping off ... everything. “Claire,” said her mother, “Don’t tease...
The next couple of days were something of a haze, with the practices, the new routines and such. Mom repeated that the musical guidelines for time are, to avoid a penalty, between 150 and 210 seconds. “Annie’s Song” was 180 seconds, but a song that goes 223 seconds, like “Footloose” does, might be stretching it just too much. Claire told me that Josiah could trim music from the front or the end of the song to make it fit the 210 maximum. So, I asked her to have him cut the opening eight...
The next night’s performance was something of a letdown. Michael Bublé performed flawlessly, but every one of us fumbled something. After saying goodnight to him and getting our money, I called a meeting for when we got back to the hotel to pick up Sammi and her crew. After we all assembled outside our vehicles, I said, “What happened tonight was totally unacceptable! Even I messed up!” That garnered a laugh. “In the entire history of Charles & Claire, that has never happened. I don’t...
When they saw us walk up to their ticket windows, there was a scream from within, and they called their supervisor who gave us all free passes for the day. Ever-present Sarah showed me she had autographing pens with her. First thing we did was to take the Behind the Scenes Tour that showed off their zoological support area, and Jonathan, our guide, made a prideful point of mentioning all of the endangered species they had at their park. After the Tour was over, our guide, Jonathan stayed...
“I am so excited,” Annie said. “How do you calm down when you get this excited.” Michael knew, so he walked over to her and gave her a nice kiss, possibly the best kiss they had yet shared. She touched her lips and seemed calmer. “He certainly takes after his father,” Kallie said. “Charles did that to Sarah once, and she was never the same again.” “Five minutes please,” our tech girl announced through my headset. I passed that along to the gang. Turning to my wife, I said, “Ready for...
FIFTEEN YEARS LATER (2032) “Charles?” K said, now 28. “Yes, Princess?” I responded, now 33. “Everybody’s gone, leaving us alone.” “Where did they all go to?” I asked. “Claire, Annie and Sarah with Rose and Michael, along with Ken and his brood, went to check on the newest Charles & Claire Dance Studio in Pittsburgh. On their way back they were going to Columbus for the day, to check on the studio that Brian and Susan, and their family, are in charge of.” “That leaves us all alone,...
Breaking the mood, Sarah said, “He’s not the greatest dancer ever, but he’s darn close. Thank you for stopping by,” she added, rubbing my back saying, “She’s not too far from the truth, Charles?” I leaned into Sarah and cried for a bit. Fed, showered, and dressed - we showed up early for our second Carnegie Hall Performance, these folks paid $2,500 each to see us, so we really needed to be jazzed and ready. Walking up to Michael, I saw he’d actually put on the T-shirt we got him. “Hey...
What was that? Did they say we had moved on, or were they telling us to leave the floor? The crowd was stunned and started to applaud very loudly. I guess that meant ... We made it! We waved back to the crowd, and Claire took me by my collar and kissed me in front of everybody there. I knew this was likely to come back on me, but I responded and kissed her back causing the other dancers around us to start applauding as well. We broke up both equally embarrassed, but happy as can be — we...
“Let’s get back to the hotel everybody,” Annie said. “Michael, when do we leave for Russia?” “In three days, we fly from here to Novosibirsk, Russia, about 2,950 miles, then on to Moscow, an additional 1,730-mile leg, after that to St. Petersburg, our final Russian stop,” Michael said. “Good, I might just sleep for the next two days Michael,” I said. Claire leaned in close and said, “Not without me, you won’t?” The realization of the previous evening, hit me when I woke up. I had my arms...
Sarah went to her daughter and hugged her, tightly. “Yes, I do,” she said just loud enough for us all to hear. My mother started back up, “Claire, calm down. I believe you, but I need you both to be thinking clearly these next few days ... about only dancing! You may become stars whether you win this competition or not, if David Letterman has his way. He may even ask you to go on his show. I believe it broadcasts from Manhattan. I had better go and talk to Jimmy about this.” “Go ahead and...
“Ooooohhhhh — That was a joke, Charles? That was my soon to be fourteen-year-old sons’ idea of a joke. Ha-Ha. Hmmm ... you knew I was behind the door, didn’t you? Well, you got me pretty good there, Chuckles. I must admit.” She started laughing with us; so, I guess she was OK, but I am going to start being more careful, generally speaking. RING “Hello, this is Charles Newman, who may I ask is calling?” “This is Kalista McArthur, Mr. Newman. Calling to see how you are doing?” “Kalista. So...
That caused Jimmy to smile big as he said, “Now ... Charles & Claire will show us all, the Tango,” starting “Hernando’s Hideaway,” a different version than we had danced to before, but quite lyrical. Claire turned to me and said, “Charles remember, No rise and fall!” What a wonderful dimpled smile was on her face. We proceeded to Tango ourselves into a lather using steps that we know Jimmy wouldn’t be teaching tonight, but when you love to dance ... you do what you do, and what you...
The next morning, after working out and coming back to take a shower, I looked at our list of cities we’d gone to so far and determined that we have been to 30% of the total cities, and we’re about eight months into our 24-month long Tour so far, which ... matches up. We’re less than two months from Kalista’s 12th birthday. Our second Anaheim performance was as electric as the first, then we had a day off, then Fullerton for a single, the next day was our ‘Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon...
Claire said, “I guess we’ll find out who wins the battle of the chesticles, won’t we, Mom?” Sarah did a shake and said, “In sheer size, dear – there’s no comparison.” They all laughed and snorted. “All right let’s go ... Dammit! The stat site is down, I need to call Ken about this!” “Oh,” Sarah said. “We got a request from Disney to make our posters available in the non-USA Parks. Without running it by anyone, I said to go ahead, but only in Japan. I figured we could find out how...
The performances the next four days in Sydney, were quite outstanding. Kalista was extraordinary, and Claire was at the top of her game as well. I’d begun to go to the gym now and work out every morning. I did look up the latest news on Happy Birthday, finding that only three weeks earlier (On September 22nd) a judge in Los Angeles ruled that none of the companies that have collected royalties over the years, held a valid copyright claim. An attorney for the plaintiffs, Randall Newman (No...
“OK, last subject – turning professional and going on this tour. I am beginning to believe, that we are going to like dancing for people on this tour more than anything else, so I suggest we all turn professional right away, informing the NDCA at the proper time. We go on this US Tour, and maybe even Michaels’ World Tour as well.” “Then we maybe find out about going on the World Dance Council International Tour, or starting our own Tour, something along the lines of ‘The Claire and Special K...
After we got home, I changed into a swimsuit and practically jumped into the spa. Being that everyone else was of a like mind, within a half hour, I was joined by my entire C.A.S.K of ladies. Kalista came up to me and asked, in an alarmingly sexual tone, “Whatcha doin, Loverboy,” and she sat down on my lap, spreading herself out in a leisurely manner. “Well, Special K, you sexy lump of clay, you, I was looking at the final leg of our US SST tour.” I had my laptop on a stool...
We all laughed for the next hundred miles or so as we headed towards our, 31st City Salt Lake City One Night SLC Marriott City Center We arrived in Salt Lake City about three am. Sarah had gotten us a large suite with two queens and a rollaway. We’re performing at the Salt Palace the day after tomorrow. We were emotionally drained from the last six hours of things happening, so Kalista got in the rollaway, provided I give her a goodnight kiss, which I did, and I crawled into bed with my...
With the NIS program finally over, here are the playlists from the Welcome to the... concert that Mike and the Time Bandettes, and the Shania Twain Band played at the John Labatt Center in London. I regularly used ‘unique’ web-links to songs to get a feel for how other bands have played these songs. For example, I used Nickelback’s cover of ZZTop’s Sharp Dressed Man as a guide for what Mike and the Time Bandettes, and the lighting crew did during this song. In the Chapter Songs’ list, I did...
I found Michael already there getting ready to begin his physical routine. “Michael, the day you spent with Rose ‘talking’ what did you talk about? Did the subject of me come up?” “Why?” he asked. “Just had a problem with Kallie, involving Rose ... so?” “She asked me if she thought you would ... no ... dad, I can’t say those words out loud!” “Come on Michael, we have always been upfront with each other.” “She’s still a virgin, dad!” “Really? I thought you two had at least, attempted...
“You had me worried there for a minute, Tiger,” she said giving me a new nickname. “I thought I felt your hands moving towards my butt.” “They did ... a little, but I was in control of my hands the whole time, OK Love.” “OK Love,” she repeated quietly. Jimmy told us that during the next week we would likely still be working on the Tango and Cha-Cha. Claire and I only needed to refine our steps and learn a few more. We must keep Jimmy satisfied. ==== It was Saturday night, and Annie and...
The rest of the day was a blast, the farthest thing from dancing we could do. Occasionally, Sarah grabbed my hand as we walked to the things we wanted to see and accomplish. We’d gotten tired, and let our guide give us a mini-tour, while we stayed in the cart. We weren’t being bothered for autographs that much, but if someone asked, we’d stop and gladly do it. We were all dried out now. I’d seen a place on the Park Map I wanted to go to, so I asked to go to Topper’s Hat Shop. I got a light...
We landed in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the first of four performances in the 49th state. Fans in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau all loved our Next Generation Tour. Our hop from there to Hawaii was wonderful. Our Tour of Pearl Harbor was amazing. Michael explained it to his ‘girls’, causing all three of them to cry a little. Sammi did the same with Lily. My Great-great grandfather, Richard Noble Newman, was shipped to Pearl Harbor during the late summer of 1941. By the grace of God, he...
Disney’s Hollywood Studios was impressive. With twenty attractions to choose from, including Rock ‘n’ Roll Coaster, Star Tours in 3D, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, that Annie and Sarah wanted nothing to do with, Toy Story Mania, the newly refurbished Fantasmic, and a 25-minute long Live truncation of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ with five of the wonderful songs from the movie, including the Oscar winning ‘Be Our Guest’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ We also watched the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt...
We got back to Caesars about twenty-five minutes before things started. The same gentleman we’d spoken to before helped us to our seats. The lights dimmed. As part of her show, she does many of her most popular musical selections, including practically all of her music that we had. After her first couple of songs, she took her microphone and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, last fall I was lucky enough to be part of a very special wedding event. It was at a football stadium in Columbus, Ohio....
I opened the door to a wonderful scent, thank you Ken, and Claire and I quickly started a load of laundry, then stripped and got naked into our spa. I got a text from K, “Can I spa with U?” I asked Claire and she said ‘Sure’ and I texted K back. She was over in a flash. I was planning on putting on some boxers, but my legs felt so good, I stepped into the spa, naked. K came in already in a suit. “Princess, right now - naked only.” She got in, put Claire between us and stripped herself...
“Both of our mothers, along with our future stepdaughter, would kill us both if we did something as stupid as that,” she responded. “You’re right Claire, and when you are right – you are right,” I said, first looking over the delicious body of my soon to be wife, then starting another kiss. “I am so horny, and you are so gorgeous – a deadly combination, my dear.” “I am up for a little ‘afternoon delight,’ Charles?” she said grinning at me, reminding me again of that wonderful June evening...
We got up, showered and met up with the group for a small and quick breakfast. Sarah got us a room in the hotel to practice in, we went through all of our newly restored routines two additional times letting the girls flash them up a little. We took a cab ride out to Wembley Stadium to check it out. We saw a very large dance floor being setup, it was maybe 80ft across by 100ft deep, easily the biggest we’d seen so far. As fast as they were setting it up, Michael and his merry men were...
Our Three Sports Stadium Performances were not technical sellouts, but they were the loudest frikking amounts of people we ever had, with Dan the Man in his elements. Well, back to the Tour: 40 cities left in California; starting in Oxnard, then Ventura and Santa Barbara for 3, Santa Maria for 2, Bakersfield for 3 (In a new multi-use stadium capable of holding 125,000), followed by Visalia, Clovis, and Fresno for 2, Modesto, Stockton and Sacramento for 3. We were planning an extra two days...
All characters in this story is at least 18 years and older and made up!Mom Goes Camping With Son & Son's Friend.Chapter 1 It was a nice summer's day Mike and his friend Bill was talking about going on a camping trip. Up north because Bill's family had land up there with a cabin on 30 acres of land. Bill told Mike no one was going to be up there for the 4th of July how would you like to go camping for the weekend and you can bring your sexy mom Liz with you. I know you want to fuck her...
We laughed all the way down to the kitchen. I pulled the chair out for Claire and we went about our business. I made her a salad and brought it to her, then made us each a cheeseburger and grabbed some chips and took it to the table. Lastly I poured us a couple glasses of water and realized I was the only person moving at all. The ladies seemed perplexed over Claire’s ‘ensemble,’ but nobody actually said anything. Claire looked up and said, “Are Charles and I the only ones having lunch...
“Yes, a Terrible Tango routine,” I said. “Must find just the right music,” as I started rummaging through our music collection. “What about ‘Hernando’s Hideaway,’ Charles? We have practiced to it a couple of times?” Claire suggested. “No, Claire ... it’s a great song to Tango to, but I want something that works for only you and me ... so nobody else will dare dance to it, after we do.” “Aren’t we getting a little full of ourselves, Charles?” mom asked. “No Mom, the music is important;...
Things were breaking up and our group quickly surrounded us, as we exchanged hugs and kisses. I looked around and didn’t see Kalista anywhere, at least not until she was in the air, on her way to me and I caught her. I won’t be able to hold her much longer, she has gotten taller and thus, heavier; I certainly wouldn’t say that to her face. She went for the deep kiss, but Annie and Sarah were there in time, to stop it from happening. After signing autographs for over half an hour, Annie...
My girls all came up to me wondering exactly what I was going to say. As usual, I said that I didn’t know yet, I’d planned to wing it. The cameraman was getting instructions through his earpiece and I got Claire and Kalista on either side me. He backed up a bit and gave me a 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1. The reporter handed me her mike, and I said, straight into the TV camera in front of me, “Ladies and Gentlemen, and kids of all ages, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Welcome to the Columbus Mall, in...
Mr. Labatt’s BMW on HWY 401, Ontario 6:42pm, Saturday, November 24, 1979 ‘What a fuckin’ awesome weekend!‘ I thought as four of the six key girls in my life were engaged in a flurry of various conversations as I drove Mr. Labatt’s B-mer back from Guelph on the 401 (Ontario’s equivalent to the Interstate System in the States). ‘I might as well not be in the car,’ I chuckled to myself as Shannon, Lynette, Zupena and Sammy regaled each other with their Friday night, Saturday morning escapades,...
“I plan to ask her to marry me at graduation, not to marry me at graduation. I know many teenagers as well as older folks seem to think two or three months is plenty of time to be engaged. I hope to be engaged for two full years so when we turn twenty, that year’s McArthur Family BBQ could become our Wedding Day.” “I know you usually hold it in June, Sarah, but that year it could be the Sunday between my and Claire’s birthday’s in July. Could that be planned? Maybe you can get that dunk tank...