FAME and GLORY (8 page)

The applause at the end was only a bit more than polite, and the group was not asked back onstage for an encore.  Only Bruce had gotten any kind of a truly enthusiastic response, a fact that was not lost on Brandee as she removed her makeup after the show.  There was a reason, she thought, that the group was named after her.  She was supposed to draw the bulk of the applause.  If there was going to be anyone's name chanted (and, she had to admit, not even Bruce had accomplished that with his piano tricks) it was supposed to be hers.  For the first time since this tour had been conceived, Brandee began to doubt herself.

***

Later that night, at Denny's, she opened up to the group. “I'm a little down tonight, guys" she said.

This came as no surprise to the group.  Brandee's was the mood that set the tone at their post-show meals.  Usually she was an ebullient whirlwind.  Tonight, she had been subdued.

Jake put his arm tighter around her shoulder, hoping that she would lean against him. She did, but almost imperceptibly.  Suzi spoke up.

“I thought you sounded great tonight, Brandee," she said.  “You were right on as far as I could tell.”

Bruce nodded.  “You sounded like an angel, kid.  The crowd was flat tonight.  It wasn't you.”

Brandee shook her head impatiently, her blonde hair swishing back and forth in front of her worried face.

“I'm not fishing for compliments.  I'm just wondering if maybe we're not as good as we think we are.  Maybe we're kidding ourselves.”

Bruce looked at her with a serious expression on his face and said, “Do you know what I'm worried about?”

 He lowered his voice and leaned in so only the members of the group could hear what he said next.  The others leaned in too.  If Bruce Jackson, who was happy-go-lucky 90% of the time, was worried about something, maybe they should be as well.

“I'm worried about the check not clearing.  I didn't see anyone take an offering at that church service tonight.”

That cracked the table open.  Even Brandee laughed.  Bruce patted her hand.

“It wasn't anything that we did wrong tonight, kid.  Sometimes a group is hot, sometimes it's cold.”

Brandee nodded, the memory of Elko only too fresh in her mind.

Bruce went on, “Sometimes a crowd is hot, and sometimes it's cold.  We were hot tonight but the Utahans were cold.  It happens.  Just keep rocking.  There's magic in the air next time out.  I can feel it in my bones.”

Diane raised her glass of iced tea.  “I propose a toast," she said.  “to saying goodbye to Utah and hello to the great state of Wyoming.  Maybe I'll meet a hot cowboy in a cool pair of chaps, and”, she paused for maximum effect. “Long may we buck.”

The members of
Brandee
laughed and clinked their glasses together.  They had tomorrow off so there was no need to get back to the hotel anytime soon.  They called for another round of Bruce's favorite appetizer, breaded mozzarella sticks with ranch dressing, and settled in for some bonding.

***

The next day, the two couples and Diane all had different plans about how best to spend their day off.  They were staying at The Marriott, which was connected to one of the largest malls in the western half of the United States.  Diane had been waiting for this day for quite some time. She loved to shop, so this would be a great opportunity for her to indulge herself in some retail therapy.  She believed that a day away from Brandee might do her some good as well.  She liked the little songstress okay, but she thought that it would be a pleasure being apart from Brandee's preening ways.

Diane also had another reason to go off on her own.  She had spotted a Dippin' Dots machine in the Salt Lake City Mall.  Diane was a fanatic for the super- cooled ice cream pellets that make up a bowl of Dippin' Dots.  The way that they froze her tongue and slowly melted into the taste of a banana split (her favorite flavor in the world) brought a smile to the drummer's face, and she was determined to have some of that today.  She also knew that the others would worry about her diabetes if they were around.  She had been good for a long time.  Her numbers were fine.  “Dippin' Dots, here comes Diane Hoover.”

***

Bruce and Suzi were miles away from Diane and her Dots, but they were shopping, too.  They were at Schober and Taylor's Harley-Davidson dealership in Ogden.  Bruce and Suzi had found a mutual passion that they shared beside music.  They were both into bikes.  The bigger the bike and the louder the sound, the better they liked it.  Suzi owned a Honda CBR600RR that she had purchased about two years earlier.  Bruce had owned a Kawasaki Ninja 650R before his latest time in rehab.  He had sold the bike to pay for the treatment and hadn't owned one since.  He and Suzi were ready to ride.

At the very moment that Diane was enjoying her first bite of frozen bliss, Bruce and Suzi were working out a deal with salesperson Karina Kimem for 2 2011 V-Rod Muscle Bikes.  They were going to celebrate their budding relationship by purchasing matching bikes.  Neither of them had ever owned a Harley.  They wanted a biker's bike, and intended to get a couple of them.  At just over 1000 cc's, it would be the fastest things either of them had been on.  They had done their due diligence in terms of research and were ready to take possession.  They would arrange to have the bikes shipped back home so that it would be waiting for them when the tour was over.  First though, they had something that they needed to do.

The Bonneville Salt Flats was a desolate area that began about 88 miles west of Salt Lake City.  Flat, barren, and remote, it had long been a mecca for people who wanted to bring their vehicles out just to see how fast they could go, flat out.  Years ago, the Land Speed events were held at Bonneville before speeds in excess of 350 miles an hour proved too fast even for The Flats.  This was where Bruce and Suzi were going to bring their bikes before setting them up for shipping.  By midafternoon, they had arrived.  The nearly 100 miles from Ogden had gotten the musical couple used to their new bikes.  They were ready to open them up.

They took off together, each of them accelerating smoothly away from the starting point, the throaty roar of the new engines sounding a clarion call of speed and power.  After about a minute, Bruce and Suzi looked at each other and nodded.  Each of them cranked the accelerator on the new Harleys and away they went.  The speedometers quickly passed 90 then 100 miles per hour.  The engine note rose through the scale of the signature sound of a Harley-Davidson.  Suzi's bike edged ahead as the couple passed 110 mph.  The alkaline sand was just a blur before her eyes.

Bruce's bike found a reservoir of boost as the couple got to about 122 mph.  He surged in front of Suzi by about a quarter of a bike length. She glanced to her left and smiled.  She knew that his lead wasn't going to last.

Suzi only weighed about 104 pounds.  Bruce wasn't fat (an amazing fact given how much he ate) but he was a solid 190 pounds.  This weight disadvantage was destined to cause him to lose this little impromptu race as long as Suzi was able to handle the big bike at top speed.

Suzi was more than equal to the task.  When the machines topped out, she had outdistanced her boyfriend by almost 50 yards.  Her top end had been 134 mph.  Bruce's bike had topped out at 132.

“I wasn't beaten by a better bike.  I was beaten by a midget rider,” he said later.

The couple went back to Ogden and meticulously cleaned the salt off of their bikes before returning them to the dealership for shipping.

***

Jake and Brandee weren't actually very far from Diane and her Dippin' Dots.  They had decided to just laze around the room and relax on their day off.  They slept late and were watching a pay-per-view movie, having just enjoyed a room service lunch.  Jake was holding Brandee, watching the movie a little but more interested in the neck of his wife.

Brandee moved her head to the left so Jake could have better access to that neck.  He kissed her under her ear and let his lips trace the line between her ear and her neck.  She purred a little in pleasure.  Jake enfolded her in his arms and drew her back a little farther in the bed.

She looked at him and said with a smile, “What’s up, buttercup?”

Jake kissed her, first tenderly and then with rising passion.  Her lips parted eagerly for him and his tongue caressed hers.  Brandee's arms went around his back, her hand against his neck pulling his kiss deeper.  She moaned a little into his mouth.

Jake's right hand moved over her alabaster shoulders and down over her shoulder blades, gliding smoothly, feeling her warming skin against his hand.  He pulled her against him by applying pressure to her back and again with pressure to her hip, helping her to know, as if there was any doubt, just what was up.

Brandee gasped a little at how hard Jake was.  She knew that he found her attractive but never ceased to be pleased at how much being with her made him physically excited.  She kissed him again, this time with flaming passion, and he returned her ardor with abandon.  She began to move against him in a steady rhythm.  Jake could feel the heat coming from her body.

Jake broke their kiss and moved slightly away from her.

“I love you so much, Brandee," he said looking deeply into her eyes.

Her lips parted with desire.

“Make love to me, Jake.”

He found her beautiful breasts with his lips and caressed them, before running his tongue lightly in the crevasse between.  Then he nuzzled, first her left breast and then her right one, kissing and caressing them with his warm lips.  He knew that her nipples were very sensitive, so he teased them with his tongue, feeling them swell under his attentions.

She put her hand on the back of his head and pulled gently.  He responded by taking her breast into his mouth, rolling his tongue around her soft pliant areola, causing her to gasp with pleasure.

He worked his way quickly back up, kissing her in mid-gasp.  He caressed the inside of her right thigh with his right hand and felt her body turn toward his touch.  She arched her body, asking to be touched more profoundly.

Jake responded as she knew he would, his familiar touch cupping her moist mound.  He lightly squeezed her and her hips thrust herself deeper into his hand.  He teased her a bit with his finger, moving it in a counter-clockwise fashion around her vagina.

Suddenly, he was where she craved him to be right then.  He had found her clitoral button and was massaging it tenderly.  With his every stroke, she cried out in approval.

“Oh Jake.  Oh my man.  Oh my love.” she gasped.

The gasp rose in volume and intensity until she was shrieking his name.

“Jake!  Oh baby!  Oh Jake!”

Jake buried her last shriek in his kiss, his mouth finding hers with an ardor almost violent in its intensity. Their mouths and tongues fought each other for supremacy as Brandee's hips bucked wildly against Jake's probing finger.  He was playing the inside of her hot pussy like a violinist plays a Stradivarius and she loved every minute of it.  Slowly he pulled out of her.  She clawed at his hip, needing him to take the next step.

Jake climbed between her well-toned thighs, looking at the sweat sheen on her face.  He noticed anew the golden flecks in her eyes as he tapped her once, twice, three times with his raging erection.  Finally, with the anticipation that was coursing through both of them completely unbearable, he entered her.

They quickly found the rhythm that they both knew so well.  She rose to meet his thrusts as he dove to find her depths.  The pace, first slow, then with increasing speed was familiar to them both.  Brandee's cries increased in pitch and volume. She tossed her head, first to the left and then to the right in response to his lovemaking, achieving one shrieking orgasm after another. He felt the tide inside himself start to rise.

She felt it too.  She knew that she was about to be given the gift of his seed.

With one final orgasmic howl she screamed, “FUCK ME JAKE! FUCK ME HARD!”

Jake exploded inside her soaked pussy, their juices intermingling in a miasma of spent passion.  His own orgasm seemed to go on and on.  He throbbed for minutes on end as he held her in his arms, rocking her to sleep in a post-coital nap.

Jake lay awake afterward, listening to her deep and even breaths.  He knew this woman's body so well.  He couldn't wait to grow older and more in love with her as the years went by.  He was blissfully and completely happy.

The next day was another early morning for the members of the group.  They had about 350 miles ahead of them to get to their next performance. 
Brandee
was scheduled to appear at Arena Auditorium on the campus of The University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Brandee
was going to be the opening act again, but their lead singer's disappointment was slightly mitigated by two things.  First, they weren't being followed by a yodeler, whose presence at the last concert was still under Brandee's skin.  Second, tonight was a little bit of a reunion. They were to be followed this evening by Nora Denice and Lizzie, the metal band that
Brandee
had played before in Ukiah, California at their first ever event as a group.

Almost 8 months earlier, the two groups had performed on the same stage, and
Brandee
was anxious to show the girl rockers that made up ND&L how much their own group had grown as performers.  The two groups had gotten along well back then and all of the members of
Brandee
were anxious to see ND&L again, this time in Laramie, Home of the Cowboys (as Diane liked to remind them).  They all believed that it would be a fun night.

As the Nissan passed through Rock Springs on Interstate 80, Suzi was quieter than usual.  Normally, she traveled in one of two conditions - talking or sleeping.  Today though, she sat quietly and watched the sun climb, illuminating the desolate landscape of southern Wyoming as it passed by the windshield.

Diane looked over at her younger friend.

“Are you all right, Sooze?” she asked quietly, not wishing to wake Bruce, who was asleep in the second seat of the Nissan.

Suzi felt a little sick to her stomach.  That wasn't all that was causing her to be quiet though.  She had discovered this morning what she had suspected for quite some time.  She was pregnant with Bruce's child.

It made some things more understandable, of course.  Her ravenous appetite at the chuck wagon in Elko wasn't like her.  She thought it was the excitement of eating outside. The craving for Chinese food in Chico had seemed odd but made sense now.  She had tenderness in her breasts that she had discounted as being muscle soreness from hours of being on stage. Not true.  She was percolating a little Jackson.

Suzi was almost 43.  Bruce would turn 46 a few months after her birthday.  Since she had been married before without conceiving, she pretty much assumed that it wasn't in the cards for her.  While she had never said as much to Bruce, she kind of figured that his motility rate would have been diminished by his years of substance abuse.  All of these factors combined had made it seem unnecessary to worry about birth control when she and Bruce had become intimate.  At least, that was what she had thought.

Now she had much more to think about.  She knew that women were giving birth later and later this century.  While she still lived with a young spirit within, and believed the same about Bruce, she wondered about starting off as a new parent at this age.  She quickly did some math.

By the time the baby would be 10, Bruce would be 56.  Obviously not the youngest dad in the PTA, Suzi thought.  On the other hand, how many fifth graders have a dad in a band?  Suzi smiled a little at that.  She decided to call that one a wash.

By the time Junior (as she had temporarily named the baby) graduated from high school, Bruce would be 64 and she would be 61.

“People will think we're the grandparents," she thought, almost aloud.

One other thing that had Suzi mesmerized was the whole Bruce thing in the first place.  She loved the man to distraction.  He was the calm yin to her bouncy yang.  When she was younger, the other kids in her class called her “Tigger” because of her inability to sit still.  She felt at peace with him in her life, but was that enough?  Did they have what it took to be a forever couple?  Suzi had experienced divorce as a child and did not intend to do that to her own offspring.

Finally, what would be Bruce's reaction when she told him?  She had briefly toyed with the idea of not telling him at all, and having it “taken care of” when they got home.  The very thought brought tears to her eyes, though.  She was scared at the idea of trying to be a mother, but her belief system didn't allow the thought of abortion to be seriously considered.  Suzi had been raised by a strict Catholic family.  While she and Bruce had never discussed religion too much, she hoped someday to become a little more active in her faith.  She hoped that would include Bruce.  Now, with her early pregnancy test stick having turned bright blue, all of the questions about Bruce became that much more important.

Suzi turned to Diane and answered her question.

“I'm okay, Di.  I think the ride to the Salt Flats yesterday took a little more out of me than I thought it would.”

Diane patted her friend's hand.

“I looked at you a minute ago and thought you were a little green.  The road straightens out here.  There's hardly a bend between here and Laramie.”

Just then, Bruce woke with an enormous stretch and yawn.  He liked the shorter drives better, because then he didn't have to get up so early.  He had a hard time getting comfortable in the second seat of the Quest.  Regardless, though, when he awakened from his “handsome sleep” as he called it, he was unfailingly in a pleasant mood, not to mention hungry.

“God, I'm starved," all three of them said, simultaneously.  Diane and Suzi never failed to crack up about that.  Bruce's appetite was nothing if not consistent.

“We're going to be in Rawlins in a little while,” Diane said.  “I could use a slice of pepperoni pizza.”

That did it.  Suzi's stomach did a barrel roll.  She shouted at Diane.

“Stop this thing!  NOW!”

Diane pulled on to the shoulder of the interstate. The blue Nissan's rear end slewed first to the right and then to the left in response to the powerful pressure that Diane laid on the brakes.  The tires grabbed the gravel surface of the shoulder and the van shuddered to a stop.

Suzi half climbed out and half fell out of the front seat of the van.  She took 2 steps further off the road and there, just past the sign that said Exit 171-Superior, she was finally and copiously sick.

Suzi had never been pregnant before.  She didn't know the little tricks that expectant mothers sometimes use to ameliorate the effects of morning sickness.  Granted, some mothers-to-be don't find that there are any tricks that work at all, and perhaps Suzi would have been one of these, but she didn't even know how to try.  All she could do was to bend over at the waist and let fly with everything that she had.

Bruce's eyes widened with surprise.  As far as he knew, Suzi had been perfectly fine up until now.  The speed with which things had changed was alarming to say the least.  He quickly thought about the performance that was scheduled for Laramie.  As quickly as that thought came, though, he put it off from his mind.  His lady was terribly sick, and it didn't look like she was going to stop showing just how sick anytime soon.

Diane's eyes widened too, but with realization.  She recognized the symptoms.  She was the mother of 2 daughters, both grown.  The fact that it had been over 20 years since she was last expecting didn't mean that she had forgotten what morning sickness felt like.  She got out of the car and walked around to where Suzi was standing, with her hands on her knees.

“Do you feel better now, little one?” Diane said gently.

Suzi leaned against her friend.  Diane had become so much more than just a friend to her.  She knew that Diane knew what she hadn't been told.  Somehow, that was okay with Suzi.  It seemed right that Diane be the one to figure out Suzi's secret.

“I feel surprisingly okay considering," Suzi said.  “Considering that I just embarrassed myself.”

“You didn't embarrass yourself at all.  People get sick.  Don't worry about it.”

Diane turned her friend by her shoulders, so that the 2 women were face- to-face.  Suzi was white as a ghost from her recent exertions.  Her nose was running and her eyes were red.  She looked much younger than her age at that moment.  She looked scared and vulnerable.  Diane took Suzi gently in her arms and whispered into her ear.

“But don't you think you should tell him?”

All of Suzi's wondering and worrying from earlier that morning melted away. She knew what she needed to do, and she knew that she shouldn't delay any longer.

By that time, Bruce had joined the 2 women.  It appeared that the coast was clear as far as Suzi continuing to be sick in such a profound way.  He wanted to provide her with a hug and a kind word, if not a kiss quite yet.  Diane stepped away so Bruce could replace her in front of Suzi.

Diane said, “I could use a coffee and bathroom stop.  There is an Exxon right over there," she said, pointing across the road and to the end of the exit ramp.  “And I'll bet they have coffee.”

She walked away, giving Bruce and Suzi time to themselves.

If it's a girl, I just hope they don't name her Brandee
, she thought.
 I might get sick myself.

Bruce was perplexed, to say the least.  The last he knew, the three of them were talking about pizza.  Then Suzi got sick all over the side of the road.  Then Diane walked away, leaving the van parked on the side of that same road, apparently so she could get a cup of gas station coffee.  The world had ceased to make sense to the shaggy-haired keyboard artist.  He started to pose some questions about all of this to Suzi, but she tapped his lips with her index finger.

“We need to talk.”

Bruce looked wary.  He had been around women long enough to now that “We need to talk” was rarely followed by a trip to Disneyland. As a rule, it's the most ominous four words that a man can hear.  Bruce was no exception to this rule.

“What did I do, honey?” he started.  “Did I say something to hurt your feelings?”

Suzi shook her head.  “No, baby.  Not that kind of 'we need to talk'”.

Bruce nodded and moved a piece of stray hair that had escaped back behind Suzi's ear.  She had let it grow out because he liked it that way.

Suddenly, Suzi just blurted it out:  “Bruce, I'm going to have a baby!”

Bruce's jaw dropped.  When asked later what thoughts went through his head when she told him, he wasn't able to answer.  The thoughts came in such a wave that it seemed like a rush of wind in his ears.  The first thing that came out of his mouth was a source of amusement for him and Suzi for many years to come,

“How...”

Suzi answered him very seriously, “Well honey, it's like this.  When you put your--”

Bruce finally had his thoughts together enough to put a coherent sentence in place.  He stopped her in mid-sentence.  “I know how.  I mean, how long have you known?”

“I've suspected for about 3 weeks.  I only knew for sure this morning.”

Another thought came to Bruce.  “You've suspected for 3 weeks and you still rode the bike 130 miles an hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats?”

“Relax, baby.  There's nothing safer than miles and miles of open salt.  No traffic, no bumps, not even a corner. Besides,” she said, poking him in the chest with her finger, “When I get big and fat I won't be able to ride at all.”

Bruce's face was wreathed with a smile.  He picked Suzi up and spun her around before placing her gently back on her feet.  He kissed her, first gently, then hard, before picking her up and twirling her again. Then he stopped and looked into her eyes.

“We're going to have a baby," he said incredulously, as if it was an idea that he had thought up himself.  “I need to grow up.”

Suzi laughed.  “Don't grow up too fast, big boy.  We want to be the coolest parents on the block.”

The last twirl had moved the couple in front of the van.  From inside the Exxon station, Diane looked out the window.  Even from that distance she knew a happy spin when she saw it.  She left the gas station on the run and returned to the parents-to-be.  There, the three of them hugged each other, first in couples and then in a happy, dancing threesome.

Before they got back in the van, Bruce had an idea.

“I have a name for the baby, boy or girl," he said.  “How about Wyoming?”

Suzi laughed.  “Let's think about that one for a while.  I guess I'm just glad I didn't tell you in Vermont.”

***

The unscheduled stop outside Superior had closed the distance between the musicians and Jake and Brandee.  The gap that had been an hour and a half when they left Salt Lake City was down to just a little over an hour now. Jake stroked his wife's hair as the Sprinter motored along.  She hadn't taken her usual nap in the car.  They were talking about the future.