Chapter 10

When I came up for air we kissed again and I knew that I had done something that Lesley may approve of, except there was no way I was going to tell her. We got him zipped up again and we went back onto the dance floor for a while, until I told him I had to work in the morning.

I saw Molly and Julia and went over to them to tell them I was going back to the hotel. Julia said she would be in later, but Molly said goodnight to her guy and joined me in the taxi back. On the way she pulled me to her and kissed me.

When she pulled away, she said, “Well, someone had a very good time tonight. I hope you saved some for me.”

I was thinking hard as we went back to the hotel. I had crossed a line and I wasn’t sure I liked it. I was sobering up quickly as the events of the evening cleared my addled brain. I was a guy, dammit! I have had more women than you can count. Those tours with the bands had been a happy hunting ground. So many girls wanting something extra from their night out. I had always bought a couple of dozen tour tee shirts and got the band to sign them before we took off. I never got left with any,

In my room we undressed slowly while kissing and went to bed naked and I was ready to do anything she wanted. I had my second bout of oral sex for the night but this time it tasted very different.

About four in the morning, she was kissing me and moaning as she rode me to a very different climax. I don’t know what she was thinking of, but I was on my back and wondering about how it felt for her, something that had never crossed my mind, before. The weight of her on me felt right, somehow, and I experienced a rolling shudder of my own.

She borrowed the towelling robe in my ensuite to wear to her own bedroom and I just lay on my back, thinking until I dozed off. When I woke the sun was shining in on me and I needed to pee.

While in the ensuite I showered and washed my hair. Getting dry and using the supplied hair drier while brushing my locks I saw myself in the mirror and the only thing not female about me was my dangling bit that just looked out of place. I dressed carefully as it was to be a working day and went down to the hotel dining area to see if I could find something to eat.

I had to smile as the rest of our evening crowd were there having brunch. I think that I may have been the best dressed there until Molly walked in to join us. She, like me, had put on her favourite off-duty dress and she looked radiant.

Unusually she walked up to me at the buffet and kissed me on the lips,

“Thank you for last night, my darling, if it takes sucking a guy to get you to be that loving we had better get one as a warm-up man.”

That caused me to laugh out loud. “With you, sweet thing, a warmup man is not needed, just someone afterwards to throw the bucket of ice on us.”

She nodded and whispered, “I agree, we do create a lot of heat together and I’m getting addicted to you.”

We had missed the band having breakfast and just did what we had to do that day up until we were dressed, made-up and ready to be picked up for the first show. The show was in the big arena that had been built for the Olympics and the set-up was again with the stage at one end with the audience either in the stands or on seats on the playing surface.

When our dignitaries arrived, I was surprised to see that the ‘Ironman’ was among them but not in my group. The one in my group who looked a little shocked was my suck-buddy from last night who turned out to be a very senior member of the current opposition. I just smiled and treated him like everyone else and he relaxed.

The first half was, as usual, glorious and I was identifying with the women in the lyrics more every time I heard them. The biggest difference, being Sydney, was that no-one wanted to leave at the break, so we had a big crowd down in the large room with the food and drink.

Lesley did not give me a hug and a kiss this time and I wondered about that, until I saw her laughing with the ‘Ironman’. When it was time for the band to go and change, I was near them.

She said, “CeeCee, darling, could you make sure Carson gets back to his seat.”

I nodded as she left, and Carson gazed at her going. “That is sure some sexy woman. Not saying that you all look great; but she has something else going for her.”

I had the thought that she certainly had more than he knew.

After the second half we didn’t let any fans in, much to cries of disappointment, and when Lesley came back after changing; she and Carson left early. This was a template for the next four shows, Lesley not at the breakfasts but turning up for lunch looking flushed.

Molly and I spent every evening together in either my room or hers, perfecting our movements until we could play each other like a fiddle. It was something I had steered clear of in the past, a relationship with the crew can lead to bad situations, but I just didn’t care anymore. I, for the first time in my life, was truly falling in love.

At the end of the last show, we had an extra party because it had all gone very well. The band had cemented its’ status as legends, and we all had been invited to come back at Mardi-Gras time and ride a float.

The shock-jocks who had tried to belittle the band had been howled down and everything looked good. We had a day off which was really needed, and the following day Molly flew us to Canberra.

This was another sporting ground, but we were only here for two shows. The major difference for the crew was that the groups that we looked after were all Federal politicians for both shows. The Government were there for the first show, and the opposition for the second show. Neither of them would allow their disgust to keep them from trying to enjoy the second half but I expected that hardly any of them really ‘got’ the lyrics in the way they should have.

We had two days more in Canberra to give the stage erectors time to get the Sydney stage put together in the Melbourne Cricket Ground where the band would be doing another five shows.

As a group the crew all went to the National Gallery where we tried to make some sense of ‘Blue Poles’ a very famous bit of art when the Government had purchased it for a stupid amount of money but, as it was now worth more than ten times that cost, no-one complained about the price anymore, even while no-one really understood it.

I got Molly to sit with me on a bench in front of it and I told her to allow her eyes to look at the view outside, through the picture. After about five minutes she leaned over and kissed me.

“CeeCee, you are a wonder. When I let my eyes un-focus it was like watching flames in a bonfire. That’s the first time I have got what Pollock was attempting. Thank you for that, I am now a bone fide art critic.”

When we flew to Melbourne, I took the controls as we were not going to the main airport but one a little way away called Essendon. It used to be the main airport back in the sixties and I had flown in and out of it many times in my youth, seeing that we were arriving at my birthplace.

My folks were living just out of the city at Geelong, and I was born down there. All my early flying had been done around Victoria before I had got my chance in New Guinea flying the Islanders. Essendon was now a working transport and light aircraft hub and was, I thought, possibly busier now than it had been when the international airlines used it as a base.

We were booked into the Melbourne Hilton just off Bourke Street and not that far from the MCG. This set of shows would be the last of the year as our next venue, in Adelaide, would kick off the following year in early January.

We would have about three weeks here if we wanted to stay; otherwise, there would be the ability to fly home for Christmas. After we had cleared our passengers into busses and handed the plane over to the ground crew who would give her a good going over during the break, I stood up in the crew bus and spoke to them.

“Ladies, as you know we will be here over Christmas if we want to stay. I have access to a property which will sleep us all if you stay. We can relax and blend with the locals for a couple of weeks before continuing the tour madness. I believe there is a break in about six months before we do the final leg in the USA. Think about it and let me know as soon as you can so I can organise the property. Believe it or not, this is not the worst place in the world to spend the Christmas and New Year season.”

One of the cabin crew asked how much it would cost them and I told them that it would be free, but they would have to do some chores, like cooking and cleaning. Another asked if there was a pool and I smiled as I said there was more than enough opportunity for swimming.

At the hotel we were given our room passes and added our own outfits to the supplied ones in the wardrobe. We gathered in the dining room for lunch and there was much discussion from our passengers and the band about the arrangements for Christmas.

The bulk of the band would be flying home to be with their loved ones and Lesley said she would be staying in Sydney. Most of the dressers and make-up girls would be happy to stay in the hotel as it was not going to cost them a cent. My whole crew had decided to stay with me.

I made a phone call from the hotel and got the news I was expecting, the property would be ready for us in a week, and I was welcome to visit to check on it anytime I liked. I said that I would pop in this afternoon.

I spoke to our transport guy and organised a bus and a driver for us and then told the crew that we would visit the property this afternoon so that they can assure themselves that it would be suitable. Jim said he wanted to come along and see some county-side.

That afternoon we were driven out of the city and down to Geelong where my retirement project was. She was called Betsy Too and was a Striker 76 launch that could sleep ten at a pinch and moored in the Marina there. Originally built as a luxury fishing launch, I had her reconfigured as a cruiser, losing the big array on top and creating a more useable lower deck.

There was a master cabin, a small single to the front and two more cabins on each side, a pair of singles and a pair with double bunks. The open plan lounging, and cooking area was big enough for a dozen people and there was a flying bridge. I had planned to circumnavigate Australia in her when I retired and take a very long time doing so.

When the girls saw her, they were astonished, and Molly gripped my arm so hard it hurt. I told them that we didn’t have to stay where she was moored and could explore the Bay or even go outside the heads and along the coast.

I told them that we didn’t really have the time to go to Tasmania, but it was an easy trip. I had Betsy Too configured so that she could be handled solo if need be but a few crew members would make things so much easier.

They looked at the accommodation and the facilities and I was hugged by every one of them who told me that it would be wonderful. Molly asked me if I would remain as CeeCee, and I said that I didn’t have to if she could put up with a bald, flat-chested Chris for a couple of weeks.

She kissed me and said “Chris, I could put up with that for ever, if you wanted.”

I had to tell them how and why Betsy Too was here and explained that Geelong was my hometown and Terry had organised a Green Card for me when he employed me.

I had taken US citizenship some years ago but still thought of Geelong as home because I did not own a house or even a car in the US.

Annette wanted to see the engines so we pulled the hatch so she could look at the pair of Detroit Diesels. Julia asked how I could afford it and I told them that my family had a successful engineering business which made us a lot of money.

My father had bought up blue-chip shares in the early days which were worth many times that value today. The funds were what allowed me to fly in my teens and led to the career that I had carved out for myself.

My folks sold the business when they got too old to worry about it and had lived in a nice house overlooking the sea until they both died, not long apart, about fifteen years ago. With the good salary I had been earning for a fair number of years I was close to early retirement now, except for Terry throwing me the curved ball of management.

I had bought the launch and the only costs were for mooring and maintenance and had spent some breaks here, taking her along the coast or across the Bass Strait to King Island or Tasmania. She had new communications and radar and big enough tanks to do several hundred miles.

They were all excited at staying on board and worked out what cabins they would have. The main cabin was a bit bigger with a double bed and Molly pulled me into it, closed the door and really kissed me. If the others had not been there, we would have tumbled onto the bare mattress there and then.

Marianne Gregory © 2022