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In Escrow

Los Angeles, California

January 17th, 1987

11:30 AM

The yellow 1986 Volkswagen Cabriolet wound its way up the narrow two-lane road into the hills below Griffith Park. Rachel Madison, dressed in a pair of designer jeans and a silk blouse from Buffington's on Rodeo Drive, was behind the wheel. Jake Kingsley, wearing a pair of Levis and a long-sleeved pullover shirt, sat in the passenger seat, directing her on where to turn and where to go straight. They were on their way to see the house that Jake was seriously considering buying. Jake's temperamental Corvette was currently in the shop — again — the victim of a broken front-end strut this time. He could have taken a limo up for the second viewing of the residence or he could have gotten Diane Brown — his realtor — to drive him up, but he'd asked Rachel to pick him up instead. It was Saturday, a day they both had off from their normal obligations, and he wanted a woman's perspective on the house.

Since New Year's Even they had been seeing each other fairly regularly, their respective schedules permitting. As promised, she had broken up with her fourth year med student boyfriend, leaving him in shocked tears, she'd told him with a small amount of disgusted amusement. Jake had taken her out every Friday and Saturday night since, escorting her to the Flamingo Club twice, to Flamer's Steakhouse (where Mindy Snow had casually broken up with him once upon a time), and to several shopping excursions to Beverly Hills. Rachel was good company and he enjoyed being with her. She was intelligent, able to hold a decent conversation, had a sense of humor, and was very attractive. She seemed to enjoy his company as well — even when he wasn't spending hundreds of dollars on her.

So far their relationship was in holding pattern as far as physical intimacy went. They held hands when they were together and they kissed quite frequently when they were alone, even going so far as to have heated make-out sessions when the mood seemed right. So far, however, she had fended off each and every one of Jake's attempts to go further. She would push his hand away when he tried to slide it beneath her shirt. She would squirm out from beneath him if he tried to lay her down on a horizontal surface. Her typical explanation was, "I'm not ready for that yet."

Jake remained mostly good-natured about her unwillingness to go to the next level of their relationship. It was actually somewhat of a novelty. Most women he slept with opened their legs to him within minutes, hours at the most. Having to work at the game, feeling the thrill of the chase for once, made him feel almost like a normal American boy chasing a normal American girl.

"Turn here," Jake said. "This is the street."

Rachel turned onto the twisting, tree-lined street. "Nottingham Drive, huh?" she asked, eyeing the widely spaced houses that were set back on both sides of the road. "Sounds very Robin Hood."

"Matt will say it sounds faggy," Jake replied.

"He does have rather strong opinions of that subject," she said.

"Matt has rather strong opinions about almost everything," Jake said. "Slow up a little. It's coming up."

"Which one?" she asked.

"That one." He pointed.

The house in question was bigger than most of the others on the street. It was two stories tall with a large attic area that was big enough to qualify as a third story. It was fifty years old, of classic Spanish Colonial architecture, and surrounded by a lot that was just under an acre in size. A wide, well cared for front lawn stretched from the porch to the street, broken only by a circular driveway and an ornate marble fountain. Sitting off to the right was a four car detached garage.

"Wow," Rachel said. "It's huge."

"Thirty-six hundred square feet," Jake said. He had done his homework on houses in the past month. "That doesn't include the attic, which is another nine hundred square feet. Of all the places I've looked at I like this one the best. It's got the best location, the best view, and the best square footage for what they're asking for it."

"I think I love it already," Rachel said.

She pulled into the circular driveway and parked her car behind the gray Mercedes that belonged to Diane Brown. Diane worked for the same company Jake rented his current condo from. She specialized in Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills properties and, as such, was accustomed to dealing with rich and/or famous clients. She had a knack for finding out exactly what her clients' needs and/or wants were and matching them up with the properties currently listed. In Jake's case she knew that he loathed driving in traffic and wanted to stay within fifteen miles or so of Hollywood but that a prestigious location was not that important to him. She had steered him away from Beverly Hills, where the money he was willing to spend would have gone more toward a 90210 zip code than the house and lot itself. The same amount in Beverly Hills would have netted him a house and lot half the size of what he was now looking at.

Diane was a smartly dressed, attractive woman in her mid-forties. She stepped out of her car when Rachel parked behind her and met them at the walkway that led up to the front door. Jake introduced the two women to each other and they shook hands.

"So you like this one, huh?" Diane asked. "It's a good value. A beautiful place with lots of amenities and the owners are quite anxious to unload it."

"Of all the houses you've showed me so far, this one has the most of what I'm looking for," Jake told her. "It's reasonably private, it has a big lot, it has a view, and it's close to Hollywood. I just wanted to take one more look at it and have Rachel give it the once-over as well."

"So you're thinking of putting in a bid?" Diane asked hopefully.

"I am doing more than thinking of it," Jake said.

"Well then," she said. "Let's go look it over, shall we?"

She retrieved a key from a lockbox attached to the water pipe and let them in through the double doors. The owners — a cardiac surgeon and his wife — had divorced three months before and were selling the house as part of the settlement. Both of them had long since moved out and taken all of their furnishings with them.

They walked through the interior. The downstairs contained a formal living room, a formal dining room, a regular living room, an entertainment room complete with mahogany wet bar, a huge, fully equipped kitchen, a laundry room, and one of the five bedrooms. All of this level was covered in mahogany hardwood flooring that had been polished to a mirror sheen. The entertainment room looked out to the south, out over the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, which sat below the hills. A circular staircase led up to the second floor where the other four bedrooms, including the nine hundred square foot master suite, were located. There was also an office that looked out over the back yard. All of these rooms were covered in wall-to-wall thick pile Berber carpeting.

"I think I can live here," Jake said as they finished the house tour.

"It's gorgeous," Rachel beamed, her eyes agog at everything.

"Come out and look at the back yard," he told her. "That's what I like the most."

The back yard was actually a side yard since the back of the house was right up against the edge of the hill looking downward over the view. Jake led her out onto the balcony outside the master suite and over to a redwood staircase that led to the west side of the lot. Immediately at the bottom was an oversized swimming pool and a built-in hot tub surrounded by a large expanse of stamped concrete deck upon which a huge brick barbeque and a covered wet bar had been constructed. Beyond the patio was a third of an acre of Kentucky bluegrass. Privacy hedges formed a perimeter around the entire yard, preventing any of the adjacent properties from viewing what occurred out here.

"I've never seen a house like this before, Jake," Rachel told him. "It's like something out of a fairy tale."

"Yeah, it'll do for a starter home," Jake replied. He turned to Diane. "They want nine hundred grand for this place?"

Rachel let out a little gasp as she heard the price. Diane and Jake both ignored her.

"That is the list price," Diane said. "I am inclined to believe, however, that if you were to offer eight-fifty and a quick escrow they would probably accept."

"Hmm," he said, considering. "I like the house. Why don't you put in that bid for eight-fifty and the quickest possible escrow, all dependent on a satisfactory appraisal, of course."

"Of course," she said. "I'm sure it's no problem for you, Mr. Kingsley, but have you secured financing yet?"

"Not yet," Jake said. "But my accountant and my lawyer both tell me that with my income and my bank balance if I put twenty percent down the banks will be falling all over themselves to write a loan for me."

"I'm sure they speak the truth," Diane said, a smile on her face. She was already tasting the $8500 commission on the sale.

"However," Jake said, a hint of warning in his voice, "there is one thing I should mention."

"What's that?" Diane asked.

"I really hate it when people try to take advantage of me," he said. "I will be having real estate experts and lawyers going over every detail of any agreement. If anyone tries to screw me, even in a small way, I will void this deal immediately and I will never again do business with whomever tried to do the screwing."

"I assure you," Diane said, a little taken aback, "that I only deal on the up and up and I make sure my clients do the same."

"Then we should have no problems," Jake said, smiling. "You start writing up the bid when you get back to your office and let me know how the owners respond. You know how to get hold of me."

Jake led Rachel on a quick tour of the back yard, showing her the rose garden near the back (the bushes were all dormant and clipped down to almost nothing this time of year) and the patio attractions. After, they went back into the house and exited through the front door. They said their goodbyes and nice-to-meet-you's to Diane and walked back over to Rachel's Cabriolet.

"Are you sure you don't want to drive?" she asked, offering him the keys.

"Quite sure," he said, taking them and opening the driver's door for her. "No heterosexual male should ever be seen driving a Cabriolet under any circumstances."

"Where does it say that?" she asked with a giggle as she sat down behind the wheel.

"It doesn't say it anywhere," Jake told her. "It's instinctive heterosexual knowledge, imparted by the Creator from birth."

He came around and sat in the passenger seat of the small car. She started the engine and dropped it into gear, back toward Los Feliz Boulevard.

"Are you really going to buy that house?" she asked him.

"I really think I am," he confirmed.

"And you're going to put down twenty percent? That's like a hundred and seventy thousand dollars."

He shrugged. "I can either put it down on a house or I can give it to the IRS next year."

"That's just amazing," she said, her eyes shining almost hungrily. "That's more money than I've made my entire life."

Jake shrugged again, not wanting to talk about his finances. Such conversations made him uncomfortable. "How about some music?" he asked to change to the subject. He reached for the stereo in the dash. "Do you have a tape in this thing?"

"Uh... well... yes," she said, blushing a little, "but I don't think you'll really like it."

"You'd be surprised what I like," he said, pushing the play button. "Let's hear what you got."

It turned out to be La Diferencia's last album that was stuck in there. The final minute of Lovers In Love — the biggest hit from that album and the song that had been nominated for a Grammy this year — was playing.

"You can change it if you want," Rachel said. "There are some more tapes in the glove box there."

"This is fine," Jake told her. "I didn't know you liked La Diferencia."

"I thought it might bother you if I told you," she said shyly.

"Bother me? Why would you think that?"

"Well... you got in that fight with them that one time at the Grammy awards so I figured you hated them."

"That was Matt's gig," Jake said. "I just got caught in the crossfire. I actually think Celia Valdez has a beautiful voice and is an extraordinary acoustic guitarist. She was a very charming lady as well."

"Really?" Rachel asked. "What was she like?"

"She's tall, almost like an Amazon. She's very pretty and well spoken. She has a good sense of humor and a thick accent. She was able to hold a conversation and even give me back some of the shit I was giving her. She also put Matt quite nicely in his place, something that not many people are able to do."

"Wow," Rachel said. "Sometimes it's just hard for me to believe that I'm really going out with a famous person, you know? And here you are talking about talking to Celia Valdez, one of my favorite singers of all time, and I know you're not making it up. I mean... you've like really done that."

"I've really done that," he confirmed. "It wasn't a big deal. She's just a normal person like I am."

Rachel laughed. "You're not a normal person, Jake," she said. "Normal people don't plop down a hundred and seventy thousand dollars on a house."

"Yeah," Jake said, uncomfortable again. "I suppose."

Lovers In Love faded away and the next track started. It was a song Jake had never heard before as he'd only listened to the La Diferencia tunes that were played on the radio. It caught his attention immediately because it started with a fast, Latin-based acoustic guitar session that was fingerpicked out into a rich, melodious intro. It settled into a rhythm that was half strumming, half fingerpicking as the drums kicked in and set up a slow, military-like backbeat.

"Hey," said Jake, reaching to the volume knob and turning it up a few notches. "This isn't bad. She really can play the guitar."

"I've only heard this song a few times," Rachel said. "I usually listen to the ones they play on the radio and fast forward past this one. It's got a weird name. Something Mexican or something and they never say the title in the song."

The song continued and Celia began to sing, her soft contralto accompanying the instruments and speaking of men marching off to a battle, of muskets and gunpowder, of friends falling and others leaving them where they lie to continue on. It was a riveting piece that was completely unlike any other La Diferencia song he'd heard. He began to wonder about this.

"Do you have the cassette cover in here somewhere?" he asked.

"In the glove box there," she said. "You really like this song?"

"Strange but true," he replied. "It has a depth to it that's missing in most of their other tunes." He opened the glove box and dug around through an untidy collection of loose cassette tapes and empty and full cassette covers. He finally found the La Diferencia cover near the bottom of the pile. He opened it and pulled out the insert, turning it over to where the tracks were listed and credited. He looked at the track listed after Lovers In Love. Carabobo was the name of the tune. Rachel was right. They hadn't said that word a single time in either the verses or the chorus. He looked beneath the title and saw that words and lyrics were credited to Celia Valdez, one of only two tunes on the entire album she had written. The rest were credited to a variety of male names, none of whom were band members.

"Celia Valdez actually wrote this song," Jake said.

"Doesn't she write all of the songs?" Rachel asked. "I heard she was the talent behind the band."

"She is," Jake said, "but they don't write most of their music. It's assigned to them by Aristocrat Records. All of the songs you hear on the radio are written by record company songwriters who specialize in catchy pop music."

"They seem to do a good job, don't they?"

Jake bit back the reply that rose to his lips: To the musically unsophisticated, I'm sure it seems that way. Instead, he said, "Yeah, they're not bad. They certainly sell a lot of singles, but this song here, this Carabobo thing, this is real music. Listen to that guitar work. Listen to the mixing. The vocals are first rate with much more depth then on the pop songs and the lyrics are actually meaningful instead of a sappy, feel-good catch phrases repeated over and over."

Most of this seemed to pass over Rachel's head. "I just like a good song," she said, perhaps a little defensively.

"Me too," Jake said, listening to the ending of Carabobo. It was a strumming slow down of the guitar work and the drums while Celia repeated the final lyrics several times: "So we can be free, so we can be freeeeeeeeee."

"Do you think I can borrow this tape?" Jake asked her when the next song — one of the pop staples from the album — started.

"Uhh... well, sure," she said.

"Do you have the other La Diferencia tapes too?"

She gave him a strange look. "Sure," she said. "They're back there in that case in the back seat."

Jake reached behind him and grabbed the cassette case she had. He opened it and dug around, noting that her musical tastes were indeed a bit simplistic — she seemed to favor country and pop — and that she didn't have a single Intemperance tape in her collection. He found the other two La Diferencia tapes and quickly opened them up and gutted them of their inserts. He opened them up and read over the tracks, seeing that two songs on the first album and one on the second had been penned by Celia Valdez. He wanted to listen to those tunes and see if they were as good as Carabobo had been. Could it be that he'd perhaps underestimated Ms. Valdez's talents a little?

"So... you seem real interested in Celia Valdez," Rachel said.

"I wouldn't exactly say interested," he said. "I'm just surprised that she actually seems to have some musical depth. I didn't even know she composed."

"Have you ever... you know... gone out with her?"

He laughed. "No," he said. "I've never gone out with her. The only time I've ever met her is at the Grammy award party and the awards themselves back in 1985. She's our closest competition in terms of album sales and I'm just curious about what makes her tick. You can tell a lot about a person by what kind of songs they write. My guess is that if Aristocrat ever gave her full artistic license instead of feeding her a bunch of crap songs she'd wipe us right off the chart."

This seemed to make Rachel feel a little better. "She is really good," she said. "I've loved La Diferencia ever since their first album." She blushed a little. "I used to have the biggest crush on Eduardo Valdez. Those Latin features, that accent, and that little goatee he used to have." She shivered. "Mmm, what a hunk."

"If not a particularly great guitar player," Jake said.

"You don't think he's good?" she asked.

"Well, he knows where to put his hands on the instrument," Jake said. "I'll give him that."

"Everybody can't be as good as you and Matt, Jake," she said.

"You do have a point there," he said. "Listen, maybe you'd like to meet them?"

"Meet who?" she asked. "La Diferencia? Can you arrange that?"

"They'll be at the Grammy awards and the pre-Grammy party next month. And it just so happens that I don't have a date for either occasion."

Her mouth dropped open and she looked at him, stunned. "Are you asking what I think you're asking?"

"If you think I'm asking you to the Grammies, then yes, that's what I'm asking."

"Oh... wow, Jake," she said. "Are you serious? You mean go to the Grammies with you and be on TV and everything?"

"I am serious," he said. "And before you answer, you need to think about this a little bit. If you go, you are going to be on TV and the whole world is going to know you're dating me. Your picture is going to show up on tabloids and in the entertainment magazines. Reporters are going to be digging into your life, trying to find out everything there is to know about you so they can print it. If there's anything unflattering about your life, they'll probably find it and print that too. There will be paparazzi hanging out in front of your restaurant and snapping pictures of you. You will no longer be anonymous."

"Wow," she said again, overwhelmed.

"I won't be mad if you say no," he told her. "I'll understand completely. Being famous is not all it's cracked up to be."

"No no," she said, shaking her head strenuously. "I want to go. I'd love to go. Oh my God! What would I wear though? I mean, I know how to dress up and everything but I don't have anything for the Grammies." She screamed a little. "Oh my god! The Grammies."

"As I said," Jake told her, "think it over a little bit. I don't need an answer right away. And don't worry about what to wear. If you go, the various dressmakers of Hollywood will be falling all over themselves to be the one to outfit you for both the party and the ceremony. They'll give you whatever dress you want just so it can be seen on TV."

"They'll give me the dress?" she asked, astounded. "You mean for free?"

"If you were a celebrity of some sort they'd actually pay you to wear it," he assured her. "Don't worry about wardrobe."

"Yes, Jake," she said. "I'd love to go." She shook her head. "Oh my God. I can't believe this. Wait until Maureen hears about this. She is gonna be soooo jealous!"

She chattered on and on for the rest of the drive, asking him a thousand questions, making a thousand spontaneous statements, her mood going from elation to nervousness and then back to elation again. When they pulled up in front of Jake's building he invited her up for lunch. She accepted.

"I need a beer," Jake said as soon as they entered the condo. "Do you want anything?"

"Just a diet soda if you have one," she said. "You're really serious about this Grammy thing, right? You're not just fucking with me?"

"I'm not just fucking with you," he assured her, taking a bottle of beer and a can of Diet Coke out of the bar refrigerator. "How does turkey sandwiches sound for lunch? I just happen to have all the ingredients in the kitchen."

"It sounds good," she said absently. "Can I call Mom? I really need to tell her about this."

He handed her the can of soda. "Call away," he told her. "I'll be in the kitchen. Turn on the TV or the music if you want."

He went into the kitchen, leaving her to make her phone call. He cracked his beer open and had a large drink and then began to remove the roast turkey he'd cooked two nights ago from the refrigerator. He prepared immaculate sandwiches on sourdough rolls, garnished them with chips from the pantry, and then carried the whole works into the dining room. By this point Rachel was off the phone and Jake was on his second beer.

"Mom is so excited about this," Rachel said. "Can she be with me through the dress fitting thing? I'd love to have her there."

"I don't see why not," Jake said.

They ate their lunch and then retired to the couch in the entertainment room to watch a movie on the VCR. It wasn't long before they were in each other's arms, engaged in a heated make-out session.

This time when Jake put his hand beneath her shirt, she didn't stop him. Encouraged, he slowly unbuttoned her four hundred dollar blouse and popped the snap on her matching front-loader bra. The perky breasts that he'd admired for so long beneath her Brannigan's T-shirts at the restaurant were now visible to him in all their majestic glory. They really were worth the wait, he concluded as he gazed upon them for the first time. Nice, well-rounded C-cups capped with pink nipples that were sticking out excitedly. He cupped one and then the other with his hands, caressing them, feeling them, and then he slowly lowered his head and took the left nipple into his mouth.

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"What mistake?" She pulled a piece of paper from one of her desk drawers. It was an official looking legal form with numbers printed all over it. "This is a breakdown of your tour revenue as of last week. It lists all forms of expenses and all forms of income, including merchandising. When you read the bottom line it says that we made $1,116,428, or, to round down a bit, $1.12 million." "Wow," Jake said, whistling. "That's not bad." "Not bad at all," Pauline agreed. "It's a...

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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 15c

The very next day, Darren was destined to find out about that price. After less than twenty-four hours of stalemate in the Darren vs. Charlie issue, the Mexican standoff, as Pauline called it, was broken. Jake's first inkling of the issue's possible resolution came at just after eight that morning. He was under the covers and snoring in his bed, still sleeping off the eleven Coronas and eight bonghits of the night before. Suddenly, someone was pounding on his door. He tried to ignore it...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 17a

Heritage, California October 31, 1989 The sound of knocking, gentle but insistent, woke Jake up. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling the familiar dryness in his throat, the mild pounding in his temples, that came from drinking a few too many the night before. He took in the wood paneling that surrounded him, the ceiling that was only eight feet above his head, the tight confines of the bedroom. It was both alien and nostalgically familiar to him, as was the surface he was lying upon. He was...

4 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 2c

Pasadena, California December 31, 1986 Rachel ended up wearing a black, thigh-length cocktail dress that clung to her body quite alluringly. Her toned legs were clad in dark nylons. She wore three-inch patent leather high heels on her feet. Her blonde hair — which was usually tied up in a ponytail at the restaurant — was styled and hanging down around her shoulders. Her face was carefully and expertly made up with just the right amount of blush, eye shadow, and bright red lipstick that...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 12B On The Road Again

The break-up went down as discussed and scheduled. Georgette and Shaver gave their press conferences and read brief statements written by Jake and Mindy in which both proclaimed that the reason for their break-up was personal and that they were still "dear friends" and would always remain so. The media went into a frenzy over the announcement, with headline stories and analysis taking up more room in some local publications than the stories about the pull-out of the US Marines from Beirut...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 16B Pauline

Frowley was still infuriated when Pauline called him two hours later. She was forced to endure a five-minute lecture about lack of decorum and uncouth behavior and proper legal procedures and judges who didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. "That's all very interesting, Frowley," she said when he finally wound down. "Now, if we could get to the point of my phone call?" "What do you want?" "I would like to arrange a meeting between you, myself, and at least one member of...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 7 Coming Home

March 25, 1983 Portland, Oregon A soft spring rain was drizzling down as the band walked from their hotel room to the tour bus. As usual, they were looking a little haggard, their faces unshaven, all dealing with varying degrees of hangover. By this point in their careers, however, being hungover was an almost normal state, something that a few more hours of sleep on the bus and a few lines of coke and a few beers upon awakening would take care of. Their humor was good since they were not...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 5A Never Kiss a Groupie

January 1, 1983 Interstate 95, Southern Maine Jake woke up slowly, his head throbbing, his mouth dry and tasting of rum, his stomach knotted with hunger pains. He felt the familiar rocking of the bus, heard the familiar rumbling of its diesel engine as it pulled them up a hill, but he was not in the familiar confines of his fold-down bunk near the back. He opened his eyes slowly, wincing a little at the sunlight streaming in from the windshield up front. He found he was sitting at one of the...

2 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 8A Imagery

June 28, 1983 John F. Kennedy Airport New York City, New York The limousine stopped as close to the Nationwide Airlines terminal as possible. The driver had been instructed not to open the door for them. That would only attract attention. The hope was to get through the airport lobby and security checkpoint as anonymously and unobtrusively as possible. It was a slim hope at best, but a hope nonetheless. Jake opened the door and stepped out. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a button...

2 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 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...

2 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 15b

Jake did not stand, did not rise to the bait. "I've told you this before, Matt," he said mildly, "and I'll tell you again. This isn't high school. You don't win just because you can kick my ass. I will tell you that if you lay a hand on me in anger, you and I will never play music together again." "Gentlemen!" Crow said, now truly alarmed. "We must stop this! We must..." "Shut your ass, Crow," Matt told him without even glancing in his direction. He continued to glare at Jake...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 15A Crossing The Line

December 17, 1984 Los Angeles, California It was Monday morning and Steve Crow was going over the music sales reports from the previous week. He was dismayed to see that La Diferencia's debut album The Difference had moved into the number two spot on album sales, selling only six hundred fewer copies than The Thrill Of Doing Business, which was holding at number one for the eighteenth consecutive week. At this rate it was entirely possible that The Difference would take over the number one...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 17A Balance of Power

The back of the stretch limousine was filled with a thick, pungent could of marijuana smoke, a cloud so dense the passengers could barely see from one end to the other. All five members of Intemperance were back there as well as Janice Boxer, their publicity manager, and Steve Crow, the man identified as the producer of The Thrill Of Doing Business album and all the songs featured on it. There were two fat joints going around, the band members smoking them with enthusiasm, the two management...

4 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 17B Balance of Power

The twenty-seventh annual Grammy awards took place on February 26, 1985. Intemperance once again hot-boxed the limousine with marijuana smoke as they made the trip and were stoned out of their minds as they walked up the red carpet and entered the building. In all there were three nominations associated with Intemperance. The band itself and Crow, the producer, were both nominated for Record Of The Year for Crossing The Line. Jake was nominated for Song Of The Year for writing Crossing The...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 5B Never Kiss a Groupie

Jake's stage outfit consisted of tight red leather pants and a black, loose-fitting shirt that came down slightly below his waist and covered about half of his arms. For shoes he was given patent leather, ankle-length boots that had been polished to a high shine. The moment he got dressed he began to sweat. He knew it would only get worse out beneath the heat of the stage lighting. "Fabulous," crooned Reginald Feeney, the wardrobe manager. "It accents that nice ass of yours but hides the...

2 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 15a

National Records Building July 2, 1989 The meeting with Crow was scheduled for eleven o'clock that morning since that was the best time to catch Matt and Coop both awake and in a relatively sober state of being. Jake, who was not looking forward to the subject of the meeting in any way, shape, or form, nevertheless showed up forty-five minutes early. He had a few items that fell under the umbrella of "personal business" to take care of while he was in the building. Since he was Jake...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 17b

Later, Jake, his mother, and Nerdly's mother took their places at the front of the room to perform the wedding song Jake had written for his friend. Jake picked up the battered acoustic guitar he used when composing. His mother removed the $18,000 Nicolas Lupot violin she played onstage with the Heritage Philharmonic from its case and put some rosin on her bow. Nerdly's mom sat down at a baby grand piano she'd arranged to have trucked here from her house. As he had done with Celia's...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 8c

Jake and Helen did continue to socialize with each other outside of the classroom. He took her out to dinner on a few occasions, to a Los Angeles Dodgers game one Friday night, and to a party at Matt's house. Everywhere they showed up, the media soon followed, dying to get a glimpse of Jake and Helen in some sort of compromising position. The public was fascinated with Helen for some reason Jake could not even begin to put his finger on. Not even Matt's newfound relationship with the famous...

1 year ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 10c

"You know something, Nerdly," Matt said. "All kidding aside, I have to tell you, that bitch of yours is all right. She's a good sport." "Uh... thanks," Nerdly said. "I like her a lot. She's got a good ear for music." "How's her titties?" Matt asked. "It's hard to tell with those baggy clothes she always wears. She got a premo rack, or what?" "The specification of Sharon's breasts are not your concern," Nerdly said. "Oh come on, Nerdly," Coop said. "Give it up. Was...

4 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 13b

"Got another one of those?" Celia asked him, taking up position on the rail next to him. She, like everyone else at the rehearsal, was dressed informally. She had on a pair of khaki shorts and a white sleeveless blouse. Her hair was pulled into a simple ponytail. "I think I can spare one," he said, pulling out his pack. He shook one out for her and then lit his lighter so she could ignite it. She drew deeply on it and then exhaled, sending a plume of smoke out over the beach where it was...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 6 The Road

January 29, 1983 Texarkana, Texas The deputy was about as stereotypical of a Texas lawman as he could be. He was tall, white, had a gut that protruded over his belt, and he wore an actual Smokey the Bear hat upon his head. He had black leather gloves upon his hands. His light blue uniform featured an American flag on the shoulder and a five-pointed star pinned above the left pocket. His southern accent was so thick as to be nearly unintelligible. "Ya'll better eat up your chow now," he...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 5a

Los Angeles, California September 18, 1987 10:30 AM Jake sat shirtless in one of the chairs adjacent to the wet bar out on his patio. Sitting on the bar next to him was an ashtray that contained half a dozen cigarette butts and half of a joint he'd lit earlier. There was also a potent rum and coke sitting there — his third of the day even though it was only 10:30 in the morning. Sitting next to the drink was a notebook and a pen he was using to transcribe lyrics from his head onto paper....

1 year ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 9A

Palm Springs, California November 11, 1988 5:24 PM "Wow," Helen said as the limousine came to a stop in the circular driveway at 210 Jacinto View Drive. She was looking out the window at the huge house that towered above them. Even though the sun had just gone down, bringing an inky twilight to the desert city, she could see enough to be quite impressed. "That is a big motherfuckin' domicile," Jake agreed, managing to combine a Nerdlyism with a Mattism and successfully pull it...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 16c

Buying land, even in one's own country, was not simply a matter of walking into a real estate office, writing a check, signing a few documents, and then walking back out again with ownership papers in hand. When such a purchase was being made in a foreign country, things became even more complex. Though to Jill, Jake seemed to be acting on foolish impulse, in reality he planned to proceed very carefully. The first things Jake wanted done were to make sure of all the legalities involved in...

3 years ago
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Intemperance Volume 2 Standing On TopChapter 18a

Santa Monica Municipal Airport November 24, 1989 Celia Valdez stood on the tarmac of the airport, looking at Jake's twin-engine plane nervously. Jake had just finished the exterior pre-flight inspection of the aircraft. He had checked the control surfaces, the tires, the brakes, the fuel sumps, the propellers, the antennas, the lights, and had visually verified that his two tanks were actually full of fuel (true, he had watched the fuel truck pump both tanks full just thirty minutes before,...

2 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 13a Lines of Persuasion

Austin, Texas June 7, 1984 They moved about the stage, their motions pulsing, frantic, as they closed out Almost Too Easy. As the last beats were hit in a carefully timed crescendo, Jake, Matt, and Darren moved backwards, entering the safety perimeter that would keep them untouched by the coming explosion. By now they were well practiced in this maneuver and there had been no mishaps. The last beat was hit, the last strings strummed, and the two canisters detonated, sending a boom and a...

2 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 16A Pauline

Heritage, California January 2, 1985 It was well past 9:00 PM and Pauline was sitting behind her desk on the sixteenth floor of the Markley Building. The ultra-modern, thirty-two story building was the tallest, most exclusive high rise in Heritage. Situated directly adjacent to the Sacramento River, its westward facing offices featured spectacular views of the waterfront. Pauline didn't have one of these offices. In fact, she had no view at all. Her office featured no windows and was less...

2 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 8B Imagery

The movie premier that Jake and Matt had been pretty much ordered to attend (their contract stated they were required to make themselves available for public appearances as arranged by the record company — this was without compensation, of course, with only travel being paid for) was for a film called Thinner Than Water. Neither Jake nor Matt knew anything about it other than it starred Mindy Snow and Veronica Julius, two of the hottest young female actors on the movie scene today, though two...

4 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 9B Rebellious Souls

They met with Steve Crow. He was a young, hip-talking man in a loud but fashionable suit. He had long platinum blonde hair styled in punk rock fashion. He wore sunglasses even though he was indoors. He was intelligent and articulate and he sat and went over each of the previously rejected tracks with them, rating each on its relative merits. "The only one you're absolutely forbidden to record is Its In The Book," he told them. "Which is one of our best songs ever," Matt said...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 12A On The Road Again

February 24, 1984 Los Angeles, California "God I hate these fucking leather pants," Matt barked as they emerged from the makeshift dressing room and made their way towards the back-stage area of the rehearsal warehouse. "That ain't no shit," Jake agreed, pulling at his for the twentieth time to keep it from constricting his testicles. "I forgot how hot and uncomfortable these get-ups are." This grumbling was met by more grumbling from the rest of the band. Coop complained about the...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 14B The Core

They put in their normal jam sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, with none of the core members speaking of the conspiracy they were hatching to Darren or to Coop. Not that it was likely to matter if they did. The drummer and the bassist were both so strung out on what Matt, Jake, and Bill were increasingly coming to suspect was heroin that it was chore enough just to keep them focused on their musical tasks. On Wednesday, Coop actually fell asleep a few times — nodded off you might say —...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 15B Crossing The Line

Jake, Matt, and Bill all received multiple phone calls over the next two days. They received them from Doolittle, from Crow, from Shaver, even from William Casting, CEO of National Records — the big guy himself. These phone calls were all in the same vein — demands to submit recordable music by the deadline, threats of what would happen if they didn't, promises that National would not cave on this issue no matter what, that they would sacrifice the millions they stood to make even if they...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 17C Balance of Power

Two days later, Jake was sitting in his living room, sipping a rum and coke and flipping through a collection of apartment brochures that had been sent to him. Manny was already gone, his fate unknown to Jake and uncared about. Jake himself had thirty days to find new lodging. He now had $79,780 in his bank account, his share of the $500,000 advance minus Pauline's twenty percent and the amount he'd spent on groceries for himself and the monthly insurance payment for his Corvette. On...

4 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 9A Rebellious Souls

July 8, 1983 Los Angeles, California "Jake, where are you going?" Manny asked as Jake picked up his key ring and headed for the front door. It was 9:25 AM and Manny had just finished cleaning up the mess made from the light breakfast he'd served. "Out," Jake said simply. "But you didn't call a limo," Manny said. "Just taking a little walk, Manny," Jake told him. "Don't worry about it." "But, Jake, you can't just..." "Don't worry about making lunch," Jake said as he...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 10A Exposures

It was eleven o'clock the next morning when Mindy dropped Jake off in the usual place. As was the usual routine, they did not kiss or hug or show any sort of affection toward each other. They simply smiled, said their goodbyes, and parted company. Jake was limping as he made his way back to his building. He was tired, having gotten less than two hours of broken sleep the night before. He and Mindy had spent the entire night naked in her bedroom, lustfully boffing each other's brains out....

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 10B Exposures

Jake was actually quite concerned that Mindy would do just as he'd suggested and call an end to the relationship in the name of imagery. He knew, based on phone calls the two of them had shared, that Georgette was pressuring her to stay as far away from Jake as possible and to start repairing the damage the photos had inflicted. "She's trying to set me up with Joseph Clark," Mindy told him during one such conversation. "Can you believe that?" "Joseph Clark?" Jake asked, lying in bed...

3 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 11A The Razor

Jake stopped the Corvette before the closed gate that guarded access to Mindy's property. There was a mailbox, a newspaper delivery box, and a small intercom box that could be used to communicate with the inside of the house. Jake pushed the intercom button, holding it down for several seconds. He hoped he was wrong about what he was thinking — he hoped that sincerely and with all his heart — but he rather suspected that he wasn't. No matter how hard his brain tried to twist and distort...

4 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 11B The Razor

Afterward, as they lay naked on their backs, staring up at the ceiling, smoking their cigarettes, she turned to him. "I really am going to make it up to you," she said. He grunted in response, feeling his usual post-coital guilt at giving into her emotional blackmail. She gently kissed his ear. "Jake," she said, "I know I've been unfair to you. I've been parading you around like a toy, exposing you to all kinds of things and people you don't want to be exposed to. I've ruined your...

2 years ago
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IntemperanceChapter 13b Lines of Persuasion

That night, after eating the dinner Manny had prepared for him — something with an unpronounceable French name that was made out of chicken breast and rich white wine gravy — Jake walked into the office of his new place. There, beside the computer desk and the filing cabinet was a black case that had been moved from his apartment in Heritage to his apartment in Hollywood to a storage house during his first tour to his first condo after it to another storage house during the second tour and...

1 year ago
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IntemperanceChapter 14A The Core

Los Angeles, California November 19, 1984 Jake's Corvette moved slowly down Hollywood Boulevard, caught in the thick Monday afternoon traffic. Jake was behind the wheel, feeling the usual frustration that came with driving a high performance vehicle he could rarely get out of second gear. Bill sat next to him, his thick glasses perched firmly upon his face, his hand playing with his crewcut, trying to determine if it was time to get another haircut or not. They had just finished a jam...

1 year ago
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Day and Knight Volume III

DAY AND KNIGHT VOLUME III Chapter # 1 by Lewis Chappelle Note: this is a very long, multi-volume, story beginning with ?Day and Knight Volume I? published in early March 2007. A LOOK BACK and A LOOK FORWARD? In volume I of this story, two dancers were introduced; Patti Day who was white and Susan Knight who was black. The girls were professional dance partners in point of fact, but were as different as their last names. They were now the featured act at Clairet?s Musical Review...

4 years ago
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2 Boy 2 Girl Cousins Volume 4 5

Well back at the end of volume 3 we had all come back in from our play time in the barn and playing in the rain naked. Grandma had gone to the kitchen to get Supper ready, We went to the kitchen and sat at the table, I asked can we set the table in the dining room for you Grandma? She said yes that would be a big help. So we proceeded to do just that. It was Friday and Tony's mom was coming to pick him up in the morning. He said I don't want to go, but his mom insisted because they were...

2 years ago
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Sidney Volume 1 Awakenings Sorrow and Sex

Thanks. Copyright 2010 Sidney dropped her head on her desk. It was Thursday morning. She looked down at her hands and groaned. “God, I hate my life.” Sidney was naked, and held a fluid-covered vibrator in one hand and was wiping the other with a paper towel. “I hate my life,” she repeated, trying to convince herself otherwise. She sat up and closed the window where she had been viewing some porn while masturbating. It was her favorite type, but she was getting tired of watching...

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