Chapter 11

I’d been lucky with my purchases, getting four beautiful skirt suits in different colors as well as some good blouses, shoes, and more lingerie. I was also very lucky to pick up a ski jacket in bright pink for when the winter really kicked in.

Friday, I dressed in one of my outfits that I knew Josie liked seeing me in, to pick her up. She must have been watching for me because I had hardly got out of the car when she came out of the house to hug me. “Edie, I so missed you. Wait until I get you in bed, tonight.”

We went into the house, and I said hello to all her folks. Her mother hugged me and told me that she had been totally enraptured by our segment in the show.

On the way home, Josie was laughing all the way and telling me about her time with her family. She said that her mother must have ran her phone hot because she had been texted by just about every girl she had been with at high school, and hardly had time to draw a breath.

“It was good to catch up with them but most of them were a bit shy around me, as if I had moved on to a higher plane. It was weird, I had laughed and played with these girls at school, yet they now look at me as if I’m some kind of goddess.”

I grinned. “Oh, the problems of being a pop star and celebrity. Just wait until our albums hit the stores. That’s when you’ll see some real changes in people’s outlook.”

I waited until we got home to inform her of the changes in our business model. She immediately thought about the logistics and costs. She said she would now have to ask her dad to come out and give us a quote on reworking the chicken sheds, one at a time.

The first thing she said when we got into the house, after giving my folks a hug, was, “I’m sorry to be an inconvenience, but can I move back in with Edie? My time away from her made me doubly sure that we’re a couple.”

Mom laughed, “Sure you can, Josie. She’s been fidgeting and climbing walls since she dropped you off.”

So, Josie’s luggage went into the stable and was followed, in quick order, by the rest of her things. The main problem was that I had bought extra at the sales and our wardrobe almost overflowed.

As she put her things away, she looked at my new outfits and declared that I was a genius.

“Why?”

She told me that if we went into the final year at Wayne looking like we had already graduated and were working in an office, we would get better grades from the professors. “When you look successful, they’ll already be halfway to giving you “A” grades.” That night she was true to her promise about getting me into bed.

Saturday, we were back in the city, and I was showing her where I got my outfits and shoes so she could pick her own. A couple of colors had sold out of sale stock, but she ended up with a big enough discount from buying six outfits that it didn’t really affect the bottom line.

Especially when I got another two myself.

On Sunday the two of us plus my dad walked through the chicken sheds trying to see just how much needed to change and also working out how we would manage the chickens until the last batch left in a truck.

Josie suggested that we keep a few for layers and the two of us told her that was how we had started out. We could buy a dozen eggs a week and not have to hose down the veranda and patio twice a day. She suggested ducks or geese and Dad said that they shit twice as much as chickens.

Monday, we both went to the salon where Emily and Janet were working, having made our appointment in December. I endured a full-body hair removal having been without glue since after the last show at the Dude. We also had treatment on our hair. Mine had reached a good length and seemed able to be worked on. They also gave me a pedicure and manicure with top-of-the-range hard nails, so I could play the guitar without chipping them.

The other two girls were in high spirits, even if they were working so soon, after a few days off. They told us that they would see us after lunch on Thursday. The manager seemed very kind and gave us a discount when we paid, telling us that her business had grown already after some exposure from our shows and the interview.

In two weeks, we would start back in classes, so we took it easy. We both knew that we would be spending a lot of time in the stable studio, before school again.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I instructed Josie in the art of classical guitar. Once she had caught on to using all of your right-hand fingers, she started to get some good sounds.

We sat for quite a while on Wednesday facing each other, her back on her usual instrument, with me playing something and her playing it back to me. Like all guitar playing, a lot of it is making muscle memory of a range of typical chord and note shifts. She had already mastered playing by ear.

Thursday, we had a visitor in the morning. Allan turned up to join us for lunch. He told us that there were things he had to tell the others. Today would be a good opportunity to get an idea of what days we could all get together. He said that he’d been on his phone constantly since he reopened on Monday morning and there were a lot of irons in the fire.

I could see Josie looking quizzical. She drew a deep breath as Mom was putting the coffee on.

“Josie, dear heart, I know what you are going to say but I’ll tell you that Allan has the very best intentions toward working with us. It’s not my place to tell you why.”

She shut her mouth.

Allan looked at Dad. “You’ve told her then, Bill?”

Dad nodded.

Allan looked at Josie, “Josie, you and Edie are the two most perceptive girls in the Pixies, and you deserve to know why Edie trusts me. I’ve known Bill and Betty since the late nineties. Together they saved my life and I’m forever in their debt. Edie can tell you the rest. But you can be sure that I’ll do my best to get the Pixies into the charts and people’s minds. I’ll make money out of it. If you’re as successful as I think you’ll be, it will be a lot of money. That’s just a side issue because I really think that you girls can make it to the big time. I’ll be there to watch your backs, and help you get—and do—what you want.”

The other girls started arriving and we got them into the house and around the kitchen table with drinks in front of them. Flora had come along as well.

Allan took the floor and congratulated everyone on a very successful last six months and assured us that the next year would not be so regular with shows. But the shows we’d have would be bigger. He told us that we would be playing in Chicago on a Saturday night at the end of March, Cleveland two weeks later, and Cincinnati two weeks after that.

Each one of those shows would have us on stage for three hours. We would get paid about ten times what we had been getting at the Dude which, he said, had been a pretty good rate for a night club. There would be more dates set, once the three of us had graduated -- but no more than one a week. Travel to other cities would be by air on the Friday evening and back on Sundays so no-one should lose any work or school time. “Your lives and school come first,” he vowed.

He said that he had been negotiating with a number of promoters who had seen the TV shows and wanted us on their stages. But first, we needed to finalize the album and that would involve a photo shoot to get the cover art -- as well as advertising artwork. For that we were booked into a photo studio on Friday of the following week. The dress shop and salon would be on hand to make us look wonderful.

He then told us that the record company had requested, as we all had expected, for the Stable Sisters to go into a professional studio to remake the album with some additional tracks. He suggested that we rework everything to include tracks with the quartet and possibly the complete Pixie line-up.

There were questions on how we would get paid and who would be paying for all the photography and studio time, and he had answers for all of that.

I could see Donna wondering what was in it for him. He reiterated that he was putting up some of his company money, with the certainty that it would be returned before the middle of the year from album and show income.

He then added that anyone of us that put in extra, such as Pet with the song writing, would get extra payments to cover it. He then gave Janet a gas card to use with the van that had all of us now paying for the use of it and said that any repairs or servicing should be billed to his company. He gave her his business card.

Josie and I were smiling at this real-life business plan. The Pixies had launched a business. He then told us that he and Flora had been talking and that we would all have singing lessons before we went back on stage.

Flora added. “It’s not because you can’t sing, and sing beautifully, but because you need training so that you breathe better and are able to hold notes longer if you have to. It does improve most songs if you can extend some of the words.”

We could see the logic in that. She asked if we could use the stable studio for that, one singer at a time, for a few weeks.

He wound up his presentation, “The show that you put on at the Dude the other night was fantastic. It’s perfect for that audience and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“There were a number of very influential businessmen there that night who have also been on me in regard to sponsorships, in return for your appearances in their advertising. It will not involve all of you together. But I’ll make sure you all get equal time. You all look good in different ways that make you perfect to be a model – sporty girl, diva -- you know the sort of things I mean. You may find yourselves in photo shoots, individually or maybe as pairs and you will be paid accordingly after you each sign individual contracts with me.”

He nodded slowly before adding, “I know that you like to play and there’s no reason for you not to. I’ll see if I can get you small venues. It won’t be every week because you do need to spend the time on the groundwork.”

“By this time next year, I’m expecting you to have been nominated for a couple of Grammys -- at the very least.”

Allan then left us. We had a bit of conversation about what he had said. It was agreed that we’d heard a lot of good things. Not playing every week would be a nice rest. Pet asked if any of us could add to writing songs. Josie said that the two of us could look at it, perhaps adding lyrics, if she came up with some music. Emily was happy to help out, especially if she could concentrate on things for the quartet.

We then went into the studio and just played whatever came into our heads for more than two hours. We felt immense relief, knowing we still had it in us. We enjoyed just playing a lot. Hugs, smiles, and kisses overwhelmed everyone. Josie and I booked for singing lessons for tomorrow, as long as I collected Flora, and then Janet would come over after work for her.

Friday, I went and got Flora and while she was in the studio with Josie, I made a phone call to arrange a visit to my doctor on Monday, their first day back seeing patients.

For the next three days, Josie and I spent a lot of time in the studio. We doodled with random tunes, making subtle changes to some, and rejecting others. In the end we had six new songs on the computer and Josie’s phone. I’d written down the music, and then started thinking about other instruments for them. Orchestration was something I’d never tried before -- and it wasn’t easy. We sent the files to Pet, to check over.

She came back to tell us we were doing really well for beginners. But there were two that might have us in court if we did them live or recorded.

She said that one of us must have heard the original song sometime, and it had stuck in the mind. That was all right. It left four that she thought we could adapt into the new playlist.

Pet told us not to worry, it happened to everyone. It was only a problem when the original artist complained. We could, she said, get away with playing them at small parties.

On Monday, Josie and I went to see my doctor and have a serious talk. I undressed for the doctor, who seemed happy to see me -- without glued bits this time. She did say that my breast area still showed signs of nubs. They were no bigger than before.

Josie affirmed that I was able to get hard and ejaculate, but she explained that it took a bit of work. Both women giggled. The doctor agreed to our request and gave me a letter for a clinic that would take and store sperm.

Josie called the number we had been given. We were given a time that very afternoon to see them. It was across town, so we stopped off in the city for a little window shopping and lunch.

At the clinic, I filled in a lot of forms, agreed to their fee should my sperm be viable, and then Josie helped me collect a sample for them. It was a fairly long process, not satisfying her first. But her mouth and hand eventually did the job, and we had a little, well, a bit bigger than that, sample which they sealed and whisked away.

I would be contacted by the end of the week if the tests showed my sperm to be suitable for impregnation. That night I did the part that I had not been able to do in the clinic, and then we both went to sleep satisfied.

For the rest of the week, we messed around in the studio during the day and in bed during the night. It was cold now with winter kicking in, at last. We just dressed in jeans and sweaters and had the heater in the studio running.

By Friday, Josie had become quite good at classical guitar and even started to follow the notes in my music books. I found myself writing down music that I could hear in my head, and then trying it out on the piano.

Together, that week, we made tremendous strides in our musical careers. I had decided that, once my degree was out of the way, I would try to enrol in the music course that Pet had finished, if I had enough time.

Thursday, we got a text on Josie’s phone from the clinic. We had given them her number because I hardly ever turned mine on. They asked us to come back and finalize my contract with them. My sperm count was good enough to save.

They asked me to abstain from sex until then, as they wanted to collect a back-up sample. We texted back with agreement of the appointment, and then kissed with the notion that it wouldn’t lead to bed.

“Edie, my love, do you mind if I stop taking my pills? It would be wonderful if we can make our baby naturally.”

I nodded – a fatherly nod. That evening, at dinner, I asked Mom what she thought about the idea, and she smiled. My father just spread some of his mouthful of food on the table.

When we had patted his back and got him breathing again, Mom said, “Look, girls, if that’s what you want then to go for it. I’m happy that you’ve been so careful up to now. But, if you do have a baby Josie, you have a couple of very willing grandparents, who’ll be behind you every step of the way.”

Friday morning, we were up and about early, skipped breakfast, and then went off to the photographer’s studio for the shoot that Allan had arranged.

It was located in the industrial area in a big building that looked fairly ordinary from the outside but was magnificent inside. It featured changing rooms galore. When we finally saw the inside of the studio it was like a microcosm of many different worlds.

The ladies from the dress shop told us that they had been there several times when the makers wanted to get new catalogues or were starting a new advertising campaign. The manager told me that she had never seen something so elaborate as this before.

When we were all assembled, Allan introduced us to the three photographers. He told us that we would be starting out taking pictures that would grace our album and the liner notes. They would take pictures of us in a range of outfits.

He then said that after that we would have more pictures in different outfits that would be in our personal portfolios, which would be used to sell our time and image to those wanting us for advertisements.

Professional modelling is tough. I couldn’t do it day in and day out. I became hot and tired. By the time we had finished the changes, poses, and the smiling, I was ready to drop.

We carried on all day with just a short break for a light lunch. At the end of it we were back into the clothes we had arrived in, after being sports stars, pop divas, harlots, and grand dames. It had been amazing.

Allan got us all together and thanked us for our patience with something obviously so new to us. The main photographer then said that we had been a joy to work with. He hoped he would see a lot more of us.

Allan then asked us if we had worked out what we would be doing about the Stable Sisters. He wanted those who would be included to be back on Saturday, for another session with a more classical look.

Donna told him that we were working towards doing some songs with the whole group. Pet and Emily were probably the main additions to the Sisters.

Allan asked the four of us to be back the next day and to bring our violins and guitar. They already had a piano and organ available as props.

The next morning the four of us turned up, all a bit unsure with what they expected. We did a series of shots wearing elegant gowns. Some of the pictures were knee-length. Others were floor-length. All involved elegant make-up.

We posed standing by a piano with instruments in our hands and without the instruments. In others, we took our places as if we were playing. At one stage, we played one of the numbers we had performed at the last show while all three photographers crept around us, with their cameras being filled with digital images.

Pet and Emily were sent home, and just Josie and I did some more pictures. This time they had us in loving poses, heads together, looking into the others’ eyes -- that sort of thing.
Finally, Allan told us that we were now earning real money. The two of us found ourselves posing in very up-market dresses in elaborate settings, with some guys dressed as if we were at a posh party.

The final set of shots saw us both in big-skirted ball gowns with a couple of guys in tails. The photographers were very busy and extremely careful with all of the poses. We found out, before we went home, that we had just completed the shoot for a magazine spread to launch the dresses onto the high-roller market.

The next time we saw Allan, I said that it wasn’t nice that we would get extra money when the others got nothing.

He laughed, telling me that we all had side jobs which paid a similar amount so none of the Pixies were missing out. He said “Wait until the spreads get into the magazines. You’ll hardly open one without seeing a Pixie. You girls are gold.”

The middle of January found Josie and me back in school, this time dressed for success. It worked almost immediately. Instead of just being handed an envelope with our grades from last year, we were both called in to see our teachers and given our results in person, along with hints on how to improve.

The lectures also changed slightly with the lecturers speaking to us all as if they knew that there were likely prize winners in their audience. It helped us and also helped the others, including Charlie -- who, thankfully, avoided us like the plague.

The same time we went back into the recording studio to re-record our Stable Sisters album. It ended up as a mixture of duo and quartet pieces. All of the songs were original, the same as the full Pixies’ album.

They released the Pixies’ album in the beginning of February. All of us were booked at the biggest CD store in town, for a signing session. I hadn’t realized it, not listening to the radio much, or spending hours on social media, but over the past couple of months there had been an uplift of interest in the Pixies locally.

We spent several hours in the packed store with marker pens defacing the CDs put in front of us. The funniest thing was that they had a big rack of our albums with the six of us, three each side, as cardboard cut-outs in outfits taken from the photo shoot. They begged us to sign our own image before we were allowed to go home.

Marianne Gregory © 2022