I was up before six. All of us had breakfast and were loaded on the aircraft by eight, in Washington by ten, and home by noon thirty. I drove the men to the station and went up to see Wanda.
When I came in, Conish and Angie both got up and hugged me, saying that they were glad I was all right. I went to see Wanda, she shut her door, and she hugged me and said, "I knew you were going to be in danger and I just knew you were going to be in front. You did lead and you were hurt. You had to get an artery stitched, that's more than a scratch."
"Wanda, it was a lucky round that I didn't even feel. I'm fine. Dave will tell you."
"Dave already told Sarah he had to make you sit down while he called a corpsman. That's why we worry about you, you don't quit. He did say it was only a very minor wound and that made us all feel better. Now go write your incident report then go home and relax."
When I was finished with my reports, I asked Wanda why my in-basket was empty and there were no e-mails. She said, "By order of your favorite Marshal. He called me personally, not his secretary or John, the man himself called and told me to make sure you went home and stayed there. I told him you were flying to Atlanta to party this weekend and he told me to find out where to see if he could party with you. Do you really want that guy partying with you in the places Lisa said you are going to?"
"Tell him the truth. If he shows, he wants to party. If he brings his ole' lady, he really wants to party. He is a cool guy, I like him."
I called out to the air park to see when Lisa was going to be in. Star said Lisa was shutting down outside right then. I asked her to have Lisa call my cell. I called Brandy and asked, "Ask Metarie if you girls can get out early so we can head up to Atlanta tonight instead of tomorrow. We can get in an extra evening of fun."
Brandy got excited, "I'll ask. We're not busy today at all. She'll probably let us go. I'll call you back."
Lisa called me and I told her about possibly going up tonight instead of tomorrow. She was all for it and said we could eat supper at Peaches, her Mama's restaurant. She said she would meet me at home.
I asked Wanda, "Want to go to Atlanta early, like this evening? We'll eat supper at Lisa's favorite place, Peaches, and play it by ear from there."
Wanda said, "I'm game, but you better call Tina. She wants to go too. I can leave early and have Angie and Conish lock up. I called the Marshal and told him the names of the two places we would be going to. The afternoon and evening at Pops, then an all-nighter at Rags on Saturday night. Should I tell him you're going early?"
"Naw, tonight will be for Lisa."
Brandy called to tell me that all the girls were heading home to pack. She promised they would be ready in a couple of hours.
When I said I was leaving, Wanda had her desk cleaned up and left with me. On the way downstairs, she said, "I called John and he's coming with us. Will the plane hold us all?"
"As long as we don't get too crazy with the luggage. I'll have the instruments and amps plus some clothes. I'll wear nice slacks, shirts, and sport coats while there. Might as well impress the people with clothes."
We were all packed and ready to leave the house by three-thirty. Out at the air park, we had to unload the vehicles and park them in the regular airpark parking lot as we had three cars out there.
When we totaled up the weight, we were just a little under the max gross weight. As I was checking the weather, Lisa said, "I told those music promoters we were going to play tomorrow night at Rags and he's setting it up to tape and record it live. He said he has already talked to Rags about it and had been given the welcome mat. You know this could be something, don't you? We do make a nice front for a group. If we were to get some tunes together, possibly some originals, we could be flying ourselves around on tour. That would really be cool."
"That's all good, Lisa, but look at this line of storms. The tops aren't that high, but our ceiling isn't that high in the 1900 either. It's going to be bumpy as hell up there. There's no way around unless it's by way of Little Rock and they have thunderstorms with higher tops there. Maybe we should wait till morning."
Lisa pulled the forecast and saw that it was going to be worse throughout the night all the way through early Sunday morning. "I guess we go, but we better get some barf bags out. This might be hairy."
"We're okay, I've flown this one through some tough storms, and to think of it, this is one of the planes the weather service uses for storm penetration. Let's get up in the air before it gets worse."
We got everyone loaded up and told them that this wasn't going to be the most pleasant flight they've taken. John told everyone, "Lisa and Chuck are two of the best, so don't worry, I'm not concerned.
We were barely an hour out when we were in the soup. It was boiling soup too. It was rocky, but not as bad as I had anticipated. We broke out about the time we were descending to land in Atlanta.
Once on the ground and parked, John told Lisa and me, "You two were great. I watched you and you both were handling the plane like pros. You were both attentive to the yoke the whole way never letting it go, always feeling what the plane was doing. It didn't get too bad and you were smooth enough, no one got sick. If I were your rating official, which I am, I would rate both of you well above a good pilot. You two did well."
Lisa and I were proud to hear such compliments from a professional, with thousands of hours and millions of miles, such as John.
We rented a couple of minivans, loaded up, and headed to the hotel that was close to the neighborhood we wanted to be in. Atlanta is no different that any other city. One street is beautiful and luxurious, while only a block away the landscape is totally different, raw, dark, and scary.
We were a block away from Peaches, two from Pops, and only several blocks from Rags. After stashing our clothes and most of our gear, Lisa pulled out two classic electric acoustical Gibsons and said, "We have to play for Mama, and we can hook up at Pops to play a little for him. He'll like that. He might teach us a couple new pieces we can spring on Rags. Pops writes constantly and always has something new.
We walked to Peaches and were welcomed the same way as before. The huge woman enveloped the diminutive Lisa in her arms and big bosom, hugging her as only a mother can. She ushered everyone to a huge table set up for us. She had Lisa and me sit on opposite sides of her, while she sat at the head of the table. When we were seated and food was put in huge bowls on the table, she said, "My Lisa's man will ask for grace now. Hold each other's hands."
Okay, I haven't done this in twenty years or so. I said a prayer that my dad had always used, strong, brief, and meaningful. When I said "Amen," Mama gave a soulful "Amen" as well. Lisa smiled up at me and mouthed, "Thank you."
The food was great. Mama had fixed some of the best baked pork ribs in greens I've ever had. She had just the right amount of salty ham pieces to make it all taste great. As we were finishing, she said, "Pops knows you're here and wants you to stop in this evening for a while. Before you go though, you have to play for me. I see you brought your boxes, so just sit right here and duet me."
Lisa and I played some gentle soul and blues pieces that we knew Mama would enjoy. Mama sat back in her chair with her head back, eyes closed, humming with the music. Sometimes she would erupt in song as the music moved her. When Lisa and I stopped, she leaned over to me and gave me a big kiss and did the same to Lisa. "My, oh my, you two are made for each other. I sure hope you two have found each other in bed. That's probably the hot spot on this earth when it happens. Oh my goodness, you two move me."
Mama's outburst made Lisa and me both blush. This made Mama all the more boisterous and happy.
Mama looked at me and said softly, "You take care of this here little girl. She's precious to me and I want her with a good man. You have to overlook her penchant for little girls, but I'm sure you know that. Just play your music and you'll be making music together."
We all left to head down to Pops. This time when we walked in, the bar was very busy. Pops was sitting at his piano with a cigar in his mouth, his hat pushed back on his head, staring at a handwritten chart in front of him while tinkling on the keys.
Pops' lady, Nancy, saw us first and hollered, "Little Lisa, you did come after all. Pops, your Lisa is here."
Pops swiveled around on his stool and stood to hug Lisa. The love shown was very genuine. As soon as Nancy and Pops had hugged Lisa, and Nancy had given both Lisa and me a hug, all the patrons settled back down, getting rid of their instant hostility toward a bunch of whites moving in on them. Pops pointed at some classic amps behind his piano, told us to drag up some chairs, and play a little with him.
We went through a bunch of fairly stock blues tunes with Lisa and me adding only a few riffs here and there. Lisa said, "We'll bring the good boxes tomorrow afternoon and do some good stuff. You need to show and teach us some of your stuff, Pops. We could use some of your originals to show off a little."
Pops said, "I have two for you two just for tomorrow. Those recording men are going to be here for a while in the afternoon and I want us to do them together. I have a couple more that I have all the music for, so you can do some Pops originals over at Rags. The man has heard them and wants them bad. Let's practice these two I wrote just for us. Tomorrow, Chuck here might play his bass on this first one. The other you can get a lead in and sample for the rest of it, then play the guitar with Lisa."
Lisa and I went through the music with Pops about four times before we got the feel he wanted and we began to go from there, adding in some extra flavor in the open bars for highlights. Pops was nodding and smiling and saying "Amen" then "Amen, brother" the whole time. The second song was obviously a really crusty blues piece. It twanged and wailed with lyrics that were marked, Pops, a little later, Lisa, then a little farther, Chuck. There were even duets with Pops and Lisa, Lisa and me, and Pops and me. The piece highlighted all three of us in harmony. I said, "Man, you have a lot of faith in a guy to think I can sing that."
"My Lisa says you sing, she says you sing pure blues sos I writes you a pure blues soul piece to unleash on the popsulation. Now sing boy."
We went through the piece instrumentally several times, until we were able to begin becoming naturally inventive with some riffs. Then Pops began the lyrics followed by Lisa, sounding more like Mama Cass Elliot than the original. When it was my turn, the man did write words that came from me as if I were born in black and blue. By the third time through, the bar was hollering and applauding. You would have thought they would have gotten tired of the repetitious way you have to learn a piece of music.
Pops turned to me and said, "Now you know what your Lisa can do. Dig up that old Mama Cass stuff and let her wail. You'll have people crying in the aisles. Rags will have her doin' it over there. You two can do this one over there and let that bum sing with you in his gravely voice. Now, let's go through the two pieces I wrote for his place. I got lots of brass and sax in it. Real Chicago style stuff. But this is Atlanta, we be better than dem northern folk.
We paused for some refreshment which meant coffee and water for Pops, Lisa, and me, as we wanted to remain sharp to learn the new stuff.
We were another two hours before we had the last two pieces down and Pops had us do all four together, one after the other. It was fun and I'm sure entertaining for the patrons. They wouldn't be here if they didn't like Pops' music. That's what the place was, a haven for blues freaks, players, and listeners alike. When we were done, Nancy, Pops' wife, came over and asked, "Can you do the Summertime Rags was telling me about? He says you really did it up blue. I love that piece and used to sing Lisa to sleep with it when she took her nap here in the afternoon so many times."
Pops did the lead in with the piano and Lisa did a solid rhythm background, letting me pick the lead with Pops. After the first time through, I sang, without benefit of a microphone, but loud enough to be heard. The music always moves me to give it my all, and I was wailing on the guitar as well as with my voice. The song is strong enough to bring tears to eyes of blues lovers everywhere. There was a long hush over the patrons when we finished. Not even the clink of a glass, then all of a sudden a lone clap that was followed by more and more applause and yelling. It was too much, as I had enjoyed it as much as they had.
Lisa gave me a kiss and Pops shook my hand. Pops said, "I want you to do that here tomorrow. You can do it over at Rags too, but you have to do it here. There's going to be a sax man here that will sit down and cry when he hears you. His daddy used to sing like you do, and I know he'll just cry. He'll want to adopt you, but you be a little too white for him. Now, let's play some happy stuff."
Pops started playing and singing Sweet Georgia Brown. Soon, the entire bar was singing along and continued as Pops played song after song that was popular to sing along with. I looked at the big clock by the door and saw that it said it was two o'clock in the morning. Where did the time go?
I looked over at the people we had with us and they were mixed in with the regulars, having a great time. I asked, "Are you guys ready to get to bed? Tomorrow's going to be a long, long, day and night."
There were mostly "Aw, do you have to stop, do we have to go?" John smiled and said, "This has been very enlightening. Tomorrow is going to be even more fun."
Pops said, "Come by about two or three. We'll play till nine, ten, something like that, then you can get something to eat before going to Rags. He won't really get going until one or so. But be ready, there's supposed to be a crowd there to hear you two. He's been talking you two up like you were a couple of rock stars. We'll have the recording people here first then they will be over at Rags. We told them no heavy lights so we don't get too hot and they said they would use the low light cameras at both places. The guy said it should make it look and feel more authentic. They done been here earlier doing sound pressure measures so they knows their stuff."
Pops gave Lisa a kiss and me a hug and a handshake. "You two have a good night and make some more music." He gave me an exaggerated wink and whacked me on the shoulder as Lisa and I picked up our guitar cases to leave. Damn, right on the stitches.
Back at the hotel, Wanda and John split off to their room and the Fab five, Tina, Lisa, and I went to a big room with two king beds. We all stripped down and washed up to get the bar smoke off us. We needed a shower, but were all too tired. I was paired with Lisa and Brandy with Tiani on the outside of Brandy. The other girls were snuggling playfully in the other bed, still high from the excitement of the music and the strange environment of the blues bar.
I thought I was sleepy, but Brandy reminded Lisa, "Mama said you two were supposed to make music tonight in bed. You can't go to sleep without making some music together. Then you two have to make some music with the rest of us too."
Lisa and I did make some nice music that was easy, smooth, loving, and full of kisses. After that, Lisa, Brandy, and Tiani were only sort of making music. When Frieda snuggled up under me, holding me deep in her while giving me a real, a very real kiss, I woke up again and began making some more music. Nancy was next and was able to nurse a second load from me, telling me I might be making a baby; that almost crippled me. But alas, there was still Judy who was very loving, and when I was laying limp from her energetic coupling, Tiani began sucking me up and said, "One more, Stud. You need to play a duet with Tina too.
Tina was very loving, and Brandy and Lisa drove her over the top as I gently thrust into her. As she clamped down on me in her final throes, I actually came one last time. When I rolled to the side, Tina wouldn't let me slide out from her and kept her legs around me, holding me in. She said, "I love the way you make me feel. So full, so loved. Brandy, I'm gonna keep him."
Brandy said, "I think we'll all keep him."
That's the last I remember.
I woke up really needing the potty. I had to pee badly. I slid from bed and made it to the pot to let loose a torrential stream that lasted at least fifteen minutes. At least it felt that way.
On the way back to bed, two things distracted me. Actually it was three as three girls were in the other king size bed, and the covers were pulled down displaying Nancy, Judy, and Frieda. With Nancy in the middle, I had to chuckle as it was a reverse Oreo. The other bed was now the same with Tiani between Brandy, Tina, and Lisa. Knowing I shouldn't, but had to, I grabbed my cell phone and snapped pictures of both beds. They were all darling. I would be happy to spend the rest of my life with these seven.
Now where did that thought come from. Mr. Conservative, thinking of keeping seven? Well, five wouldn't be around all the time and the other two liked the fairer sex as much as I did. Oh well, I wonder if there would be enough of them to at least have one a night that wanted me, a guy.
The other thing that distracted me was the clock. It said ten thirty. It was past time to get going. I turned on the TV to the music channels, found some twangy country, and cranked it up loud enough to get complaints.
I told them all, "Let's go get some breakfast, lunch, or whatever is available. We need to be at Pops before long."
Brandy rose up and smiled, then cupped a breast saying, "Come back to bed a few minutes. You still need some rest. We don't have to be at Pops till two or three. Please?"
When I slid into bed, Brandy was on top of me instantly, rubbing her breasts in my face, knowing that would make another part of me rise for the occasion. She was soon impaled; sliding up and down with a smile on her face and her eyes closed, mouth open, and gasping at her pleasure. Her lovemaking was about to push me over when she collapsed on me, and as she kissed me, she said, "You're little Tiani needs you now."
As Brandy slid from me, Tiani pounced, sliding down on me, squeezing me hard enough to almost hurt. She loosened up, almost began vibrating on top of me, and came instantly. She was on a real short fuse this morning. When she finished, she is so short that she had to slide off me to kiss me. She made me kiss a big nipple on a tiny titty before she moved to let Lisa slide onto me. Lisa leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Make me sing, Music Man, make me sing."
Lisa did sing, then Tina, followed by Judy, Frieda, and finally, Nancy, who said to me, "Roll me over and do me hard, put it all way up there inside where it will do the most good. Come on, deputy dawg, fill me up."
She was too cute to refuse, so I pounded her until all my insides had transferred to be inside Nancy. Whew, some kind of wake up. Brandy kissed me and said, "Now, aren't you glad you came back to bed? I think we all needed you again this morning as much as we needed you last night. Come on, my King; let's get you washed and ready for the day."
I was thinking on the way to the shower that it was good I could hold off from coming for so long because by the time that I got to Nancy, I was really primed.
We called John and Wanda to find they had already eaten breakfast and were planning on a noon nap before our journey to Rags. We went to Peaches and had some kind of Cajun rice meal that was really a fish and crayfish Jambalaya. There was sausage, some bits of ham, and lots of love in the big pot. Mama's girls hovered over us as we ate, listening to us talk about the exciting day we were going to have.
We left, promising Mama we would eat a late supper with her, and be back before we left tomorrow. We needed only one van today, so we loaded our instruments and amps in the van and headed to Pops. The place was buzzing with customers and the recording people. They were setting up mikes all over the place, with wire running everywhere. They had their muted lights shining in our direction, but also had some big coolers that blew cool air toward the stage area. Pops was supervising everything very professionally, as if he had done this thousands of times. He probably had.
Lisa and I plugged in our equipment, tuned the guitars, and just watched. Pops wanted to warm up a little and we did a few good blues tunes to get a feeling going. The sax guy Pops talked about was there and he could do a righteous job on his sax. It was a beautiful Selmar of Paris that had to be forty or fifty years old or more. The man played it as if it were an extension of him. He could play some good jazz stuff along with the blues. But then, the two are so close most of the time.
The old Marshal came in the bar with an attractive woman that must have been his wife. I introduced him to all of my people and he blended in quickly with the bar patrons, as well as with my group.
Around three, we began to get stronger and stronger with what we were playing. I was doing a bass lead in that was strong and hard, Lisa came in on a natural that bled down to a gravely blues wail, with Pops pounding away with what he felt. This was raw, extemporaneous blues, created on the spot, never to be recreated unless recorded and sent through midi software. This was good, we played this piece for at least fifteen minutes until it came to a good conclusion. We sat back and smiled. One of the recording engineers said, "I got all of that. What do you call it?" Lisa said, "Saturday at Pops."
Pops laughed and said, "There's been a lot of those over the years, but this is the first to be recorded. Come on let's play the other two originals."
We played both of the pieces and our voices sounded very good together and individually. The music came out great. Next Pops had Lisa do some Mama Cass stuff, then he nodded at me while I had the Les Paul and he led in to Summertime. Lisa pushed a mike in front of me and we did the first part purely instrumental, then I sang the lyrics with our wailing in between. As predicted, the sax player was weeping. Big tears streamed down his black cheeks. It made me sing all the better. Blues is emotion, raw, pure, loving, emotion. When we finished, he came over, squatted down in front of me and said, "Thank you, thank you, that was so beautiful. You sound just like my daddy did. That was wonderful, thank you." He shook my hand vigorously and went for a bottle of water for me.
Pops shoved a music stand in front of me and said, "You can do this, better than Willie and possibly as good as,,,, "
I said, "Don't say it. I'll never be as good as the man. I'll sing it, but it is only in Ray's honor." With Pops' piano, Lisa's crying guitar, my bass, and the sax man, we did the song "Georgia on My Mind" justice. My voice must have fit, because we did get a lot of applause.
We played until almost nine when I said, "If my fingers are going to last the night, I have to stop and get something to eat. Before I go, Nancy, how about a Beefeaters on the rocks. I'm dry.
Lisa and I had a drink, which would probably be our last for the night, as you can't play all night drunk. Pops loaded us up with the four pieces he wrote for us then handed Lisa a huge folder of stuff he said we should look at. He said, "You bring that back after you copy it. I don't have copies, okay?"
We agreed, of course, and promised to get the music back to him soon. We loaded up the equipment and went to Peaches for our late supper.
I made sure the Marshal came with us and Mama just set two more places at the big table. Tonight, she fed us more Cajun, but not too spicy for most people. She handed me a plate and said, "I knows you a man that likes his food hot, sos I made this for you special. This was my man's favorite. It probably kilt him, but then he died happy with a flaming mouth." She laughed heartily. The food was some of the best spiced chicken, stuffed with spicy sausage and stuffed peppers, I've ever had. I'll be passing pepper farts for a week.
Mama happily watched as I savored the hot food. It really wasn't that hot, but it would be too hot for most spicy food lovers. When we were all done, Lisa gave Mama a disc that she said was from this afternoon. She had talked the engineer out of several CDs so we could listen to it later.
We arrived at Rags about midnight. Rags wanted to immediately practice the two pieces Pops wrote for him. We went through them quickly with everyone smiling, as we were very familiar with them already. We did the other two pieces as well, with Rags' gravely voice. Rags said, "Man, this is going to be good. We'll do a couple before two, then after two, we'll have the whole gang. You can switch around between bass, guitar, and drums. We'll have a good time. Go bang on them skins, Man. Get loose, make em sing, make us a solo, beat em."
I had not sat and just played the drums for my own fun for years and years. It was always with a group for music and I had to stay structured, but when you can have the set all to yourself, you get crazy. I began light, finding the sound of the different toms, getting the feel of the snare, the high-hat, and the other cymbals. The two big cocktail drums had two different deep sounds that complemented the bass drum nicely. The twin toms above the bass drum had two nice higher pitches that when rolled across sounded really good. By the three minute mark, I was sweating and my hands were flying, making the drums give out a tune of their own until I found that magic that led to a close. When I finished, I sat there with the sticks in my lap, grinning. That was fun.
People were hollering and clapping and it embarrassed me, since I wasn't playing for them, that was all for me. Rags came up to me and said, "Funny isn't it, you did that all for you, but you sure did entertain the rest of us. That was fun. Now, how about some warm up music."
I started off on the bass, with Lisa doing some different Mama Cass stuff. A couple of guys with trumpets came in and instantly began backing us with great breaks. A trombone player came in and did the same, playing with the trumpets. Another sax player came, along with the sax from Pops. Everyone applauded a drummer who showed up. We had a full group playing some good Chicago/Atlanta style hard blues. Rags had us do both of Pops' songs back to back, then insisted I do Summertime the way we did it before, but this time the brass did some backing that was perfect. Again, the song came out pure. I made the bass sing along and accompany me, along with Lisa's bleeding 335. This was blues at its purest.
We took a short water and coffee break, then did the two pieces that Pops had written for his own place. They came out nice and the vocals were amazingly good. After some really funky blues pieces, Rags announced, "Pops says the white boy does a good job on Ray's stuff, so here he is with all of our favorite piece." Rags led into Georgia. The words are easy and flow easily, so it comes out very natural. When that was done, I think my voice was done as well. This had been more singing than I had done in years and years. Lisa did some other stuff Mama Cass never had the chance to sing as they were Pops' originals that she used to sing when she would jam there and at Rags years before. I did a couple of numbers on the drums while the drummer was trying to make time with Tiani. When he came back he said, "Man, you got too many women. You gotta break loose with one or two of them for me. That little one is really something. You the man."
Around five in the morning, my fingers were raw and I could tell Lisa's were hurting as well. We were saying goodnight and packing up to the cries for more, more, from the patrons. They had to have enjoyed the music as the other musicians had as well. All of the men came to Lisa and me to make us promise to come back. One said, "Man, you two make us want to join up with you and make music. We could be selling this stuff and livin' high. We are good together."
Our group went together back to the hotel. The Marshal and his wife insisted we all come to their room for a nightcap. He was very prolific with his praise, saying it was always a pleasure to see his deputies doing some private things that made them more human in his eyes. He said, "I saw you in action and you were a machine, a leader, fixed on a single objective. I just watched you blend into a group and stand out at the same time. I saw the real you in both places. I think I like this one better, but I need the other you sometimes."
Lisa said, "You should see this boy fly. He can fly just about anything and he does it naturally and smoothly. If he had been in the Air Force, he would have been an ace in his first combat. I love to fly with him."
The Marshal said, "I might see that one of these days. I heard he just bought a Learjet for an unheard of amount of money." The man winked at me and put his thumb up. "You're a better man than me, Son. Thanks."
I thought, 'So, who needs another thirty some million lousy dollars?' I almost broke out laughing. I think Brandy was the only one who caught it.
We all went to our rooms and this time I did shower, but did so with a steady stream of women hogging the water. We were all covered with smoke from the bars and needed to get clean. We lay down as the sun was shining in and instantly fell asleep.
Tiani was sitting cross legged in front of me, shaking me, "Time to wake up Mr. Music Man. You need to take us home before those big bad clouds get big and bump us around again."
"What time is it, little bits?"
"Eleven. We have to go by Peaches to say goodbye to Mama before we go, so let's get going, okay? I'd really like to get home in time to do laundry for next week. Have you noticed that we've been keeping up with your clothes, even if we haven't been keeping up with you?"
"You're doing a nice job of it, too. I'm sure Maria appreciates the help."
Brandy was now up, "I think she redoes some of what we do because she doesn't think it's good enough. She's really picky."
Soon, everyone was up and I did my bathroom stuff, including shaving, and dressed while watching the seven women chat and dress. They were getting along amazingly well. I didn't think women could do that, but perhaps it was because they were more female oriented than most.
Breakfast or brunch at Peaches was nice, as they were not open and made it for us as a going away present. Mama was very loving to Lisa and we promised to come see her soon. Mama said Lisa came to see her whenever she was in Atlanta, which was fairly often, but it was still too long between visits.
At the airport, Lisa and I did the preflight together and quickly had us in the air. The flight home had only one towering cumulus cloud that gave us a single bump, but the rest of the way was like glass. We played one of the CDs from Pops on the way back, giving the people in the back an enjoyable ride.
At home, we pulled in front of the ops building to unload all of our luggage and instruments. I walked across to the maintenance hangar to get the tow motor and was confronted by a really obnoxiously painted Lear with "Deputy Dawg" painted on both sides of the nose. There were cartoons everywhere, with faces of all the women in my life, including Lisa and Tina. Mercy, Kathy, Juanita, and Sue were very present with me staring at Sue's cleavage. Rather my extended eyeballs were staring. Every girl was highlighted with me, and the Fab five were grouped around me, as were Tina and Lisa. They had Lisa and me grinning in a bi-plane, and also pictured as pilot and co-pilot in the front windscreen of a G5. Like I said, the plane was full of cartoons.
Jimmy came over to me and said, "Come talk to my dad. You know him from Minneapolis. He really loves the way the 200 came out, and he can't believe the Lear. We're done with the engines, hydraulics, and the new instrumentation. I'll take it up and shake it out tomorrow, and then you'll be set to go.
I talked to Jimmy's dad who was head first in the engine compartment of the old Cessna. He shook my hand warmly saying, "You've helped my boy fulfill one of his longest dreams. I'm sure this is just his first airplane, but it is his first. Thanks for helping him."
They had refitted the wings and you could tell they had done several repairs on the skin. This would become another project for Shawna and Hank.
I towed the 1900D back to the hangar, cleaned it out quickly, then fueled it, noting the quantities and turning in the slip. I logged the plane in and pushed it into its spot in the hangar.
Back across the parking lot, Wanda left with John and the five gave me a kiss, saying they would try to come by this evening and took off. Tina and Lisa said, "How about pizza from Park Place to take home?"
We were home in about an hour and a half, after a few small calzones and some beer while waiting for our pizza.
At home, Angie and Dennis, with Jan and Don, were sunbathing in the nude out by the pool. The guys became embarrassed when we showed up, but they were told to cool it as we were open here anyway.
The girls and I listened to some of the music recorded at Rags, marveling that we did sound pretty good. Tina said, "That was the best two concerts I've ever seen. It was up close and very personal. Damn, you two really pull the music from the other players and complement each other so well."
Lisa and I laughed and almost simultaneously said, "We won't quit our day jobs for it that's for sure."
We three exercised, with Tina and Lisa not as enthusiastic about it as I was. Tina said she liked mornings, and Lisa said she didn't like it at all. She said she liked to swim, but didn't like the weights and things. When we finished, we stripped and went to the pool, walking past the sunbathers to dive into the pool. Of course, I have to drop my peg and hop the last couple of steps, which means my appendage flops around extensively.
The sun was getting low, so everyone went inside with the two couples disappearing upstairs and the three of us left to put on shorts or nightgowns and lounging in the living room.
We watched television and I stretched and yawned, saying, "I think I'll have an early night and get refreshed for tomorrow." I kissed both ladies and when I went to stand up, they pulled me down on the couch. Lisa said, "Where do you think you're going without us. You know you have a dynamic duo to take care of before you get to rest, don't you? Come on, Tina, let's drag him back to bed and have our way with him."
The three of us made love to each other for a long time. They made it fun and loving, constantly making each other and me feel great about our union. When the bed was very wet, not just from me either, we snuggled up in the wet spots and slept peacefully in each other's arms.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious