CHARLES CLAIRE KALISTAChapter 35
- 4 years ago
- 29
- 0
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 Akron
5th City
Buffalo, NY
Curtis Hotel
(One of the most expensive places we stayed at!)
6th City
Rochester, NY
Fairfield Inn & Marriott Suites
7th City
Syracuse, NY
Quality inn & Suites Downtown
8th City
Albany, NY
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Performing at the same hotel we were staying in was a bonus. The hall only held 1,300, so I suspect there is a higher than usual price to get in.
At our next rehearsal, Michael asked us if there was any of his songs that we hadn’t done yet and wanted to add to the show, and I told him how much Claire and I enjoyed his cover of “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine.”
Michael’s reply was, “I love that song too, but the lady who sings that with me is off on her own tour right now, and we don’t have time to audition anyone to sing with me.”
“Michael,” a voice from behind me said, “I use to sing in my church choir, could I help you out?”
Sarah?
This was quite a blockbuster to us all, even Claire and Kalista. We all were amazed Sarah would even think to say such a thing out loud. I have heard her humming songs before, even singing a little. It never occurred to me that she might be able to sing, much less a duet with Multiple Grammy winner Michael Bublé.
“Sarah, thank you very much, and you are quite lovely, but I need an alto to sing low harmony to my voice,” Michael said, sounding a bit too condescending for my taste.
“Try her out?” said Claire.
“Yeah, Michael,” I joined in, “Stranger things have happened on this tour.”
“Do you know this song, my dear?” Michael asked.
“Yeah, I used to love to sing along with Lou Rawls back when he was singing it all the time. I just want to help if I can, Michael,” Sarah said sounding something like a new girl in the choir class.
“Michael,” I said, “If she can sing, and I have no doubt she can, and she’s on stage with you in her newest dress, I guarantee it’ll be the most sensational event on this Tour since it began.
“Sarah, get me the laptop please?”
She did and I went to Lyrics Time and found the song lyrics for Sarah. I put the lyrics in front of her. “Sarah, everything I know tells me you are going to be fabulous. Sing low harmony when it strikes you. Love you.”
I said, “Michael get ready; Alan, (Michael’s pianist) please start the song?”
It is a beautiful melody as Alan started on the piano... (Sarah’s part)
MICHAEL
“You’ll never find,
as long as you live,
Someone who loves
you tender like I do
SARAH
You’ll never find,
no matter where you search
Someone who cares
about you the way I do
At this point Sarah is singing in direct harmony with Michael.
BOTH
“Whoa, I am not
braggin’ on myself, baby
Cause I am the one
who loves you
And there’s no one else.
No one else.”
I put up my hand to stop Alan, and I went to Sarah, who had been keeping up with Michael Bublé; and gave her a hug and turned around to Michael.
“Well, Michael, an angel of a voice and a devil of a figure should work out for at least one song a night, don’t you think? How’d you like my little girl, here? As her agent I want her to get a thousand dollars’ cash, any night you want her to sing with you. That’s our ... only offer?”
Sarah put her arm around my waist and said to Michael, “My agent and I are waiting, tick ... tick ... tick.”
Michael could easily just say no, but he was thinking about it, I could tell. I moved my hand to Sarah’s hip; hoping Mom wouldn’t go too ballistic. I looked over at her, Claire and Kalista who all had their mouths open in astonishment as Michael was still chewing this over.
He suddenly slapped his hand down on the piano, startling everyone, even Alan, and said, “Why the hell not? We’ll try it once tomorrow night. If it works out, it could be a regular thing, if both Sarah and her high-priced agent don’t get too cocky!” Michael laughed and just shook his head.
Claire and Kalista ran up to Sarah, and they all screamed together about this. Annie walked up to me and said, “My little boy, Oh, the things that you think of, Charles. It looks like the McArthur girls are enjoying themselves.” We looked back over at them, and saw Michael walk up to Sarah, softly took her by her hand and pulled her over to the piano.
“Mom, did you know she could sing?” I asked.
“No, I have heard her hum and sometimes sing along with something you guys were dancing too, but I didn’t know she could belt like she was doing, in harmony no less? Did you know, Charles?”
“I heard the same thing you heard, mom. I hope we haven’t lost her; C-Cask needs her brain. It’s a good thing her body comes with it.”
Mom slapped me on the shoulder — I gave her a kiss in response. Even Steven!
Within five minutes, Michael and Sarah were singing up a storm; Miss Sarah Rollins makes her professional singing debut tomorrow night.
At the end of the rehearsal Sarah came up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss. “Charles,” she said, “I am singing with Michael Bublé - you are the best agent I have ever had.” She gave me a whopper kiss, and in front of my mother. “As my agent, you’ll get the industry standard of 15%.”
“No, Sarah – I’ll take a single dollar as payment. This is the opportunity of your life, all right. You did bring that awesome red dress with the rhinestones from the last photo-shoot with you, didn’t you?”
“Of course, I did, Charles ... you certainly have become something of a ruthless negotiator though.”
Annie added, “I think the word is fearless, not ruthless Sarah.”
We all laughed as we went off to dinner.
The next night, Claire, Kalista and I started things off with our ‘For Good’ number, and then Michael came out and applauded with the audience and started his set list. Sarah’s number with Michael had been put in the second half of the evening, so Sarah could first help with the girls change after ‘Six-Pack.’
Then Annie helped Sarah get into that ‘Magnificent little nothing she’s almost wearing,’ to quote one of Sean Connery’s early Bond movies, although I don’t remember which one or which Bond Girl wore it!
Michael stopped the underscoring that had been going on while he was introducing the next song.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Sarah Rollins,” was all he said, but did she get applause. All she did was walk out in that red dress, along with her red hair, along with that smile of hers that can light up any room and, she got a tremendous applause, just because she’s so ... stunning. She easily had 48% of her bosom showing!
The song started, and they both had cordless mikes, and as they sang together it was indeed magical. I know Michael had a girlfriend back in Canada, New Brunswick, I think.
He certainly looked like he fell in love with Sarah during that song. It went well, and Sarah left the stage, waving at the audience, as she quite literally bounced off stage.
She ran into the makeshift dressing room, I followed her, and she threw up in her trashcan. Nerves can be cruel. She saw me and started to cry tears of joy. We held each other for a moment, I told her how great she sounded, as she shooed me out to change.
She came out in a t-shirt and pants, looking just as sexy as she had only five minutes before, saying, “Thank you for that moment, Charles, but I won’t be performing any more. That was too nerve-wracking for me. I prefer being behind the proscenium, helping. I’ll go out at the end of the show in that dress again, but you just saw the debut and finale of Sarah Rollins career as a professional singer.”
The rest of the evening went as planned. Sarah had changed back, touched up her makeup and came out again for final bows. She performed a slight show bow, for fear she would ‘go nuclear’ in front of everyone. I had promised a G-rated show.
She did get a rousing applause of her own and stayed in the dress during autographs, which she was giggling with everyone she signed. Gosh, I love her. Her poster will now become our best-selling - I am sure of it.
Sarah came back from telling Michael she wouldn’t be performing anymore.
“He was a little bit pissy about it, but he understood. I told him that I just wasn’t cut out to be a performer like he was,” Sarah told us. “I am going to change; I’ll be right out.”
“Annie, Claire, and Kalista, I need to talk to Sarah, please? Could you guys go on ahead and we’ll meet you in the lobby to decide about dinner?” I asked. Mom gave me an interesting look, but she left with the girls.
Sarah came back out saying, “Charles, I can’t find my brassiere? Do you know anything about it? I can’t go out without a bra on.”
“My dear Sarah, you are so beautiful, but you don’t realize it, do you? You heard the audience applaud for you when you came out on stage tonight, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes?”
“And after you sang, they applauded you again, correct?”
“Yeah, so?”
I caught my eyes moistening, trying to explain this to her, “So, you are a beautiful woman and you amazingly don’t realize it. I’ll give you your bra back after dinner, but you need to walk ... with confidence. The dress you wore tonight represents your confidence, not wearing a bra, but walking proud amongst others would be another way to show your confidence.”
I pulled her bra from my pocket, and said, “Wear this and be comfortable, or don’t - and be confident! For a woman in her forties, you are prettier than most girls in their thirties. What’s it going to be, bra or no bra? I’ll walk with you everywhere you go proudly, not because you aren’t wearing a bra, but because Ms. Sarah Rollins has confidence in herself.”
She took the bra from me, looked at it ... and stuffed it in her oversized purse that her performance dress was in. She took my arm and we walked together. She was walking with confidence and was looking straight ahead. There were some people lingering from the audience. I heard a gentleman say, “That’s Sarah, the gal who sang with Michael. Isn’t she stunning?”
We walked past the people, including the gentlemen, with Sarah nodding her head as she walked by, and we caught up with the gang.
All of the girls gasped as they noticed Sarah’s attire, or lack thereof.
“Have you ladies picked out a place to eat?” Sarah asked unfazed by their demeanor.
“Yeah, where is the restaurant around here, anyway?” I followed up.
Annie broke first, and said, “There’s a place on-site called Kelsey’s Restaurant. Let’s check it out?”
“Sounds good, Charles if they have beer, would it be all right with you if I had just one?” Sarah said to me.
“I am not your mother, you can have whatever you want, my dear?” I replied.
Mom looked at me, getting a quizzical look on her face. I hope she noticed neither Sarah nor I seemed concerned about Sarah’s lack of ‘support.’ It wasn’t like the ‘girls’ were hanging low, like some old ladies.
“Yeah, that sounds good, I’ll have one with you Sarah, to keep us from going overboard,” mom added.
We walked to Kelsey’s and it was seat yourself after eleven pm, so we went in and ordered dinner. Mom and Sarah each had a single beer. I was sitting with Claire on one side of me and Sarah on the other. Claire leaned into me and asked, “What’s going on with my mom, Charles? She suddenly seems to exude confidence from every pore. Did you have something to do with this, loverboy?”
“Claire,” I said placing my hand on hers, “All I did was talk her into trying to be more confident; She did the rest all by herself. Isn’t your mother a beautiful woman that deserves to be confident?”
“Remember, she found out about John a little over four months ago, but right now, she seems quite empowered, more invested in herself. All I did was to help her see it.”
We ordered and ate dinner, and I helped Sarah up after dinner and she still was quite impressive, full of confidence and she had her chin up and was quite prideful, for the first time I remembered, since just before the email I read out loud.
As we walked together, she leaned over to me and said, “Thank you for the pep talk, Loverboy. I needed that a lot – I love you, if it’s OK to say that to you.”
“No problem Sarah,” I said, “I have got the four most beautiful ladies in this entire hotel surrounding me right now, and I have never been so proud to say that,” I said, breaking down and shedding a couple of tears, as we all headed to bed for the night.
Sarah turned around and took the thick cash filled envelope from her purse that she got from Michael and handed me a ten-dollar bill saying, “Nine dollars of that, is for your excellent motivational speech, the other dollar is your commission for my singing debut. Charles. I wish there was an additional way I could pay you back ... for all of your help tonight?” she said, winking at me and licking her lips.
“Sarah as awesome as that offer sounds, I couldn’t do justice to you, you are too formidable for me. Maybe when I am older and more capable, we can work out some kind of arrangement. I am not saying ‘No’, I am just saying, ‘Not yet.’”
After our second night in Albany, this time without Sarah singing, we got back to the hotel, packed up and headed off north. During the drive, Kalista asked, “Charles, are there any dances we haven’t learned yet?”
“Such as?”
“I’ve heard of something called the Flamenco, and Salsa dancing. Do any of Michaels songs match up to either of those dance styles?”
“You know, my dear sweet Kallie-Poo. That would take some research to find and match songs to steps, but there are a number of musical steps we just never got into,” I answered the lovely young lady sitting next to me.”
“Kalista,” her sister said, “I’ve heard of the flamenco too, but I don’t know if it’s for couples, only single dancers.”
I had been looking up music, so I went to YouTube and searched for ‘couple flamenco dancing,’ and was amazed by it, noticing how much stamina it appears to need.
The girls liked the outfits.
I made a note of it, then looked up ‘Salsa dancing’ knowing my two lovely redheads would get a kick out of that. It should be easier to find a song from Michaels repertoire to match it up to.
Once it started, they got animated talking to each other like I wasn’t even there. with this being nearly three hours to our next stop, we spent a good long while perusing the music before I realized that if he simply sped up ‘Sway’ we could easily do a hot salsa dance to it.
Special K, due to her height difference would likely have an issue if we tried the Lambada, but the Salsa might just work.
From the front seat, Sarah said, “Isn’t ‘Save The Last Dance’ something of a Salsa, Charles?”
Running it through my head, I reasoned that she was correct. Neither song was in the current set, but Michael would have no problem adding it back in.
Now, both of my girls couldn’t wait until we arrived at our,
9th City
Burlington, VT
Doubletree by Hilton
Sarah and I walked in to the hotel foyer, and after verifying they had rooms reserved for us, I asked, “We have a need for a space to practice some new ideas for our dancing tour. Would you have something available that might work?”
The pretty brunette responded, “Certainly, we do Mr. Newman. It is carpeted, if that is all right?”
Taking a quick glance to see her name was Nancy, I said, “That makes no difference to us, Nan. We just came up with an idea for Salsa Dancing. Do you dance, my dear?”
“No,” she said with a slight pout, “But, I wish I did!”
Sarah joined in to say, “I am trying to talk them into becoming dance teachers when he and my daughter are married and through dancing.”
Clever lady!
We were upgraded to the nicest suite in the place, as Nancy handed me our room keys.
Pablo had our luggage on a large cart and we just fit into the elevator.
“I have tickets to see you dance,” he said. “I can’t wait. You guys are the biggest thing to be here in a few years. There are people scalping tickets for over $100 each.”
I took Kallie’s hand as we left the lift to the top floor.
He asked which luggage went where, and after unloading it, I handed him a Jackson, and thanked him.
I was sharing a double with my Mom, with Sarah only ten feet away. I called for a C-CASK meeting in our room after all were dressed for bed.
“First things first, ladies. Kalista honey, some people buy tickets to sell them to others and make a profit, but that is illegal just about everywhere. Why it is called scalping I have never understood. Are we good?”
“Thank you, Tiger!” she said to me. I gave my fiancée a look, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Next, Is a rundown of poster sales, with a complete breakdown to date, ALL 21 SHOTS:”
“Don’t forget to reload, Lover?” Annie said sitting to my left. Sarah led the giggles...
619,000 - Claire in her Shimmy Dress
600,000 - Kalista in her Red Dress
588,000 - Sarah Braless
568,000 - Kalista & Charles - NEW
525,000 - Sarah in Red lowcut dress - NEW
511,000 - Charles & Claire in Dance Pose
501,000 - Charles between the ‘Two Moms’
492,000 - Claire in LBD - NEW
489,000 - Anne and Sarah kissing Charles
474,000 - Kalista in Blue
458,000 - Kalista in Green - NEW
432,000 - Charles, Claire and Kalista.
417,000 - Claire & Charles - NEW
411,000 - Annie in Pink dress - NEW
410,000 - Annie & Charles - NEW
409,000 - Charles w/Open Collar - NEW
405,000 - Sarah & Charles - NEW
404,000 - Annie in Black
403,000 - Charles in Blue Suit
401,000 - Annie and Sarah in Yellow
400,000 - The Five heads shot.
After reading off the numbers, I looked at the time, and called Ken, getting, “Ken McArthur, Hey Boss! Not bad for three kids still in school!”
“Are you sure of these numbers, I mean positively positive?” I asked.
“Yep, the place has hired extra staff and is now running 24/7 to be sure to get pictures out in 72 hours or less!”
“So, we have really sold just under 10,000,000 posters?”
“Yessir, and they are happy as can be, since you capped the cost drop. Those who want a complete set are being priced at $19.95 for all 21 pictures. The original set is going at $9.95 and the new nine poses are priced to sell at $8.99. I was wondering...”
“KEN, MAKE AN OFFER TO BUY THE ENTIRE PROPERTY FOR $9,999,999!” I said.
“WHAT?”
“Do I need to repeat myself, Kenny?”
Sarah grabbed my phone, saying, “We will call you back ASAP, Kenny!” and she disconnected the call.
“Are you out of your effing mind, Charles?” she said.
“No, I am thinking with a very clear mind. I know some information that none of you know!”
“Such as?” Annie said.
“The printing building is only 100ft by 100ft, while a small portion of the property, only needs to be cleared off to allow a duplicate building to be built. With a little imagination, we could ALSO build a screen-printing center with any of our pictures on either a t-shirt or sweatshirt.”
“Do you mean that my picture could be on a shirt that anybody could buy?” the smallest McArthur asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “The property is worth maybe five or six million dollars, but if I ... we purchase it, we could have Ken do most of the preparatory work prior to building anything new.”
“If you had explained that first, I wouldn’t have likely gotten so loud, Charles. Sorry?”
“You do need one of us to sign off on anything we do. It is the reason we are C-Cask, isn’t it?” Annie remarked.
“You are absolutely correct. It was the realization that we have sold 20 million posters, meaning about $100,000,000 is the bank account. Money, we have to pay taxes on unless we spend it in the same calendar year!”
“You impress me again,” Sarah said. “Of course, you are correct.” She leaned into me and gave me a nice safe kiss.
“Call Ken back, please?”
About 15 minutes later, we were all hugging each other, and headed off to bed.
With the dawn of the first morning of our two days off, CC&K were shown the rehearsal room they had for us ... plenty of room.
Starting with my fiancée, we covered the 8-count Salsa Basic, followed by the UnderArm Turn to the Right, that both she and the closely watching Special K enjoyed, due to the circle turn the girl performs.
I did that with both of them, until it was setting into concrete. We had a quick break for water, then I brought up my Soul mate and we learned the simple named UnderArm Turn to the Left.
“You are forgetting to lead with your hip,” Sarah noticed, I excused myself from K and did all the same things with Sarah and then my mother.
From there I covered everything again with Claire, including both UnderArm Turns. I am so happy how quickly and completely all my girls are learning these steps.
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
“E-rog-en-ous Zones – look it up. They are places on a woman’s body that, when touched ... or kissed, can produce the female equivalent of your ‘problem,’ at least it makes us feel really good all ‘inside.’” “A young girl like Claire or Kalista doesn’t know they have places on their backs that control specific parts of their anatomy, and can create a lot of sexual feelings, and in your and their cases, sexual frustration. Be Careful, dude,” Sarah finished. “Since this doesn’t sound like...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
“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...
“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...
“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...
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...
“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...
“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...
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...
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...
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,...
Well, again, Tuesday night couldn’t come soon enough for me. This week, Brian’s mother took us to Cotillion getting us there early so Claire and I could confer with Jimmy. We told him about the BBQ and about all the steps we learned. Mr. Bradshaw looked at us flabbergasted and said, “You have learned The Natural Turn Progression? I usually don’t even try to teach that to anyone under fifteen; they ... just can’t grasp it. You two really are something special, you know. Next week, I will be...
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...
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...
“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...
“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...
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...
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...
I chuckled, put the phone down and ran to Mom in the kitchen asking her if Claire could come over in the morning to practice. Of course, she said, “Are you ready to be a proper gentleman this time, young man?” I bowed my head and said, “Yes, ma’am. I have got Claire holding on the phone. Could we get her this time, instead of one of her family having to drop her off, please?” That probably sounded a bit needy. “That was the perfect amount of groveling. Go tell her we will be coming to get...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
“Can we wait and not have sex, until we’re married? Too many kids rush into their first time and end up regretting their decision.” “Absolutely Charles, that’ll make it that much more exciting, when we finally do make love to one another, for the very first time.” Of course, that was exactly when Sarah walked in, knocking and saying, “I want the two of you to know something about love. There’s lust, and it is a very powerful and strong emotion, that can break up friends forever. It can ruin...
“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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
“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,...
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...
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...
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...
“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;...
Finally, we went back to dancing. I thought we could now practice the Cha-Cha and the Tango. Those were the dances we were expected to know for Cotillion later. We went back over the four Basic patterns, the New York step, along with both the Spot and Walkaround turns again. I added to that, the Crossover steps, and a really cool derivative step called The Chase. After going through this without music, I looked at their selection. They had the Eliane Elias version of “Oye Como Va;” a perfect...
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...
She pounced on my slightly diminished erection, enjoying it like a kitty cat that just got a fresh plate of milk. She got me clean and pushed me on my back. She dropped her butt down on my erection, causing her to practically scream bloody murder. I threw her a pillow, as she performed at first a ‘Cowgirl’ then without stopping turned it into a ‘reverse.’ I pulled out and got her on her hands and knees and I plowed right into that beautiful butt of hers, again doing most of the work. Only...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...