DANNY Chapter 55 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ and the country's newest fashion icon and idol. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. Note to the reader: this chapter may be a bit slow or tedious, with a lot of background stuff and other details - that's because Chapter 55 is setting up things for all the chapters that will follow. I hope you guys won't get too bored.

 

  Chapter Fifty-Five: Dannie, the Fashion Plate

 
***** (Danny) *****

Tyler and I were flying back from Minneapolis-St. Paul, and should be back home in a bit. Tyler, as per usual, was behind me and keeping an eagle eye for, ummm, unfriendly sorts. And, I suppose, I was so confident in Tyler that I found myself starting to doze, and napped all the way back home.

Since I was "Dannie" at the moment, everyone was free to openly meet me at the airport, except for the fact that it was a Sunday and the following day was therefore a school day. Even so, our folks were used to it, so the entire gang was there, though we were all expected to be back home before midnight.

The group was also bigger than normal since our bodyguards were with us, too. Not an unusual thing, but it was still a bit of novelty to it. Just as well, though, since a small group of hardcore fans had trailed the gang. But with our guards around us, none bothered us too much. Of course, mindful of how we dealt with our fans, we were very polite and signed our autographs on the books and photos they proffered, and a few reproduced mini-posters. They asked why we were in the airport, of course, and, as discussed, we revealed that I went to a meeting with Blumenfeld House for a possible job.

This, of course, had our female fans jumping up and down with excitement. Eventually, though they waved goodbye and left us alone (no doubt with firm, though undoubtedly gentle encouragement from our security).

This allowed us to have late dinner at one of the small greasy spoons by the airport. (If I wasn't mistaken, it was the same restaurant where Dr. Roberts and I had some coffee and a couple of slices of pie, and I told him of my troubles.)

Nikki was her usual beautiful self, and everyone else was as noisy as ever. Tracey and Mikey were clearly an item now - something we were all still trying to get used to, as was Mel and Jerry, and Morgan and Drew (I was't sure if June was part of their relationship, though). As for the others, no one else was partnering, including Danielle, but everyone seemed fine. Looking at Fallon, though, she was making eyes at Betsy. I don't mind that Fallon was gay or if she made a play for Betsy, but I didn't know if Bets would be open to that kind of relationship. Also, Fallon might not be too considerate, in view of that. But I swear, if Fallon hurt Betsy... But I think I should give Fallon the benefit of the doubt. I guess I need to talk to her.

I told them about my time in Minneapolis, and everyone seemed very interested. Joanne had a lot of questions, as did Danielle and Tracey, but they seemed satisfied with what the Blumenfeld people agreed to. The bigger topics they asked about were the "issue" with Robin, and my need to have a personal hairdresser, wardrobe girl and makeup girl. But they were relieved that the Blumenfeld people agreed to everything. Of course, the girls looked at Joanne in a sour way coz she clearly would be my hairdresser-slash-wardrobe girl-slash-makeup girl. Envy isn't a good thing...

The guys were more practical, though, and asked about salary and benefits and such, and everyone laughed their heads off when I told them about the signing incentives they were offering. And when they heard that part of it was a car, everyone was jumping up and down, and everyone had an idea about what car it should be. Danielle said it might mean Dad would have to extend the garage, but I could help pitch in to defer the cost of it - I can take it out of my Blumenfeld salary. Heheh.

We talked some more, and thought about what we had to go through to adjust to my new job. Or jobs. I felt a bit guilty - after all, this was all my fault, but then Tracey made the comment that all of us were going to benefit from this.

"And it'll be fun!" Nikki giggled.

 
***** (Tracey) *****

Hearing Danny talk about her adventures, i mean "His!" Dammit!. Well, anyway, hearing HIM talk about his adventures in far-off Minneapolis made me jealous. Well, I think "envious" might be the better word - though both words mean the same, I think "envious" implies a less angry kind of vibe. I mean, some just had it and some didn't. And it boots nothing to be angry at that person for it. So, I guess I feel kinda sad and melancholy, thinking about my friend Danny, and wishing I could be like her. I mean him. *sigh*.

But then I felt a someone sneaking in and holding my hand. I looked up and saw Mikey's smiling face, and he gave me a wink. And that changed my mood completely.

I decided to take a chance, so I boldly pulled him closer, put my arm around his waist and rested my head on his shoulder.

He didn't try to pull away, and actually snuggled into my hug. I sighed in relief and gratitude, and felt just a bit of love. Who am I kidding. I mean a lot of love.

I turned my face around a bit and gave Mike a little kiss on the cheek, and tried to pay attention to Danny.

Listening to Danny, his little trip to the Twin Cities seemed to have been a big success, and he seems to be well on his way to becoming the next fashion idol. Or rather Dannie was. And, for that matter, "Robin" as well. Which was worrying.

I knew all about the plan: Danny made it appear to the Blumenfeld people that "Dannie" and "Robin" were not getting along, so the two weren't willing to appear in the same show at the same time. In fact, he did it so well that part of the contracts of the two models was that they will not appear on the same show, shoot or event. Also, Dannie would require her own dresser and a make-up and hair person. This would mean there would be no Blumenfeld person that would be working on "Dannie," thereby minimizing the possibility of anyone working closely to both Robin and Dannie, and thereby minimizing the possibility of recognition.

Of course the details - the mechanics of how to do that - is still up in the air.

Earlier, while we were hanging at Joanne's mom's hairdressing place and waiting for the time we needed to leave for the airport, we talked about that a little bit.

It was a foregone conclusion that Joanne would be Dannie's hairdresser and makeup artist - something that didn't endear her to the girls (or maybe I should say, us girls heehee - my therapist sez to do that more often, that identifying with my chosen gender at every opportunity was essential to the success of my RLE).

I can understand that. I mean, the opportunity to travel, to attend concerts and fashion shows, and to have a chance to meet and rub shoulders with celebrities and fashion icons - who wouldn't want that? But our envy was tempered by the fact that it was hardly a glamour job, and that Joanne was the only one in the gang who had the makeup knowledge and skill to do it. She would be working and wouldn't be able to have time for fun.As for being a dresser, that was not really needed since Danny's outfits would be selected and sized by some of the world's best fashion experts. And Joanne knew enough to dress Danny since "Dannie" and "Robin" would only be modelling ready-to-wear or "prêt-à-porter" clothes.

Mel did say, however, that it might be too much for Joanne to be both Dannie's personal dresser as well as her hairdresser-slash-makeup artist. She took Betsy's computer and found a clip. And after seeing the video, Joanne reluctantly agreed. So we needed another warm body to be part of Dannie's "entourage."

Nikki then brought up the problem of school.

"School!" Joanne reacted.

"Yeah, Joanne," Nikki giggled. "School." And she explained that, as far as she knew, minors can't miss school regardless whether they have a job or not.

"Wait a minute!" Betsy said. She pulled her computer towards her and then pulled up a page from a government website.

"According to this, per Minnesota law, kids fifteen and below can't work over forty hours in a week, and can't work from nine PM to seven AM, but for kids that are sixteen and seventeen years old, no maximum work hours but they can't work from eleven to five, except if there's parental permission."

Joanne sighed. "That's a relief." (All of us, as was Joanne, were sixteen or seventeen.)

"How about for us?" Nikki asked.

"Let's see..." Betsy scrolled. "In our state, the requirement for kids fifteen and below, maximum work hours is forty per week. For sixteen and seventeen-year-old kids, they can't work from eight PM to seven AM, and a maximum of eight consecutive hours of work per day."

"Ahhh," Joanne said.

"I suppose the laws that will apply will be the laws where you'd be working," but as far as I know, the bulk of the work will be in Minneapolis-St. Paul, so the Minnesota laws are the relevant ones."

This was all hashed over again when we met with Danny, and he bought out his laptop and scanned through his new contracts.

"Well, I don't know about Joanne, but Dad's made some restrictions for me: maximum of fifty work hours, and the schedule has to be pre-approved - special events and such have to be pre-approved a month before, and no work during holidays and exam days. How does that sound, Joanne?"

Joanne grinned. "Sounds good. Sounds great, actually."

"But, Dan," I said, "Nikki brought up another issue - Joanne can't be both your dresser as well as your make-up artist and hairdresser."

Danny looked thoughtful. "You're right. But... who?"

Betsy was clearly thinking about it. "Well... the most fashion-savvy among us is clearly Danielle..." and Danielle was about to whoop for joy, but Betsy interjected, "... but! ... But clearly there are issues if it was her - looking like Danny is clearly an issue here..."

Danielle looked dejected. "Darn..."

"So the next best among us would be Nikki..."

Nikki had a comical, surprised expression on her face, like she couldn't believe she'd get to work with Danny.

"Really?" she asked.

"Well," Danielle said, "if you want..." Danielle wasn't looking too happy, but she was agreeing.

"But you guys have to know," I said, "I can't give you top dollar. At best I can give you is like twice the hourly minimum wage... maybe fifteen dollars an hour at most, and that won't include travel time, I'm sure, and I can't give you any sort of benefits. So, are you sure?"

"Wait!" Joanne exclaimed, and turned to me. "Tracey, do we need to give up our KRPQ gigs?"

I shrugged. "I don't see why you should. So long as you don't neglect your work, then you can stay on the station's website staff."

Nikki and Joanne high-fived each other.

One of our bodyguards came over and tapped Danny on the shoulder.

"Hey, Tyler. What's up?"

"Danny, we saw a bunch of fans starting to gather near the airport lobby. I think we'd better go."

"Damn... Okay. Guys, time to book."

In short order, we all started for our cars, and Danny, Nikki, Danielle and Betsy rode with me. The consensus was that we'd all go home and just get together again after school tomorrow at the station or at Betsy's.

Danielle made a short comment that Mike should have ridden with us. I saw everyone grinning ever so slightly, and I blushed. "You guys..."

As per usual, I dropped off Betsy first, and then Nikki, and then the twins. Danny said for me to wait, and he rushed into their house, coming out in a while with a sealed envelope.

He handed it to me. "Here's Robin's contract, Trace. Can I ask a favor, and if you can send that off from the office? I can't have it sent off from here because of the address."

I nodded.

Danny and Danielle gave me big hugs and walked to their house. I waved and I proceeded to our condo.

- - -

As I got in, mom was there to give me a hug, and asked how everyone was. I said fine, and I told her everything that Danny told us. Mom nodded in the right places, which proved she was actually listening, lol.

After a lull as I took a drink of water, as well as downed a couple of my hormone pills, Mom asked something.

"Danny told me a little bit about your plans for the station," mom said. "Does the news fit your plans?"

"Oh, sure! As soon as Dannie and Robin's contracts are official, I'm gonna promo the heck out of it, and maybe look into getting our programs block-timed in some of the stations that asked about syndication."

"What do you think about becoming part of one of the networks from the east coast?"

"What? No way! we'll lose most of our shows, and..."

"But I'm sure our Nighthawk show is going to be..."

"Ummm, mom?" I began. "I have an idea about that..."

"An idea, dear?"

"What if we start up our own network now? I know it's in the plans, but I think now's the right time for it."

"You realize that we're basically putting all our eggs in one basket. Everything's on Danny. Not that I think something will happen to Danny, but what if we lose him for some reason?"

"Well, I do have some ideas for some more programs. For example, that new market that we unearthed with Dennis and Lou - maybe we can start building them up, and maybe start syndicating their program. And maybe we can start streaming our signal on the web more regularly. Also, maybe we can start building up Sally - with her upcoming gig with Blumenfeld, I think there's a target-of-opportunity there, not to mention her known to be be a close friend of Robin's."

Mom was nodding at that. "What about Harry and Talia?"

"Well," I said, "Harry hasn't really developed a following, though Talia has some solid rating numbers. I guess we need to build them up, too. Maybe we can get Harry to do some man-on-the-street stuff, and maybe we can make up a gimmick for Talia..." I started to think.

"I know that look," mom said, and looked at me suspiciously. "What are you thinking, Tracey?"

"What if we got Talia a helicopter? She could do an eye-in-the-sky kind of thing?"

Mom looked irritated. "Tracey, we don't have the money for a helicopter!"

"Oh..." I wracked my brain for an alternative. "But what if we used a drone?"

"A drone? What's a drone?"

I got out my laptop and browsed a bit. "These are drones," I said, proffering my computer with pictures of drones on the screen.

Mom looked. "Ahhh! Drones!"

"I'm sure there are some issues in terms of permits, plus drones don't have much flight time, but let me research it. I'm sure I can find some answers for us. Or we can use a van or something, and have her go around town when she airs her program. And I really think we need to start up our..."

Mom gave me me a big hug. "Those are great ideas, honey. If you can get all of our staff's ratings numbers up and establish some good presence, and drum up some interest from our neighboring radio stations, maybe I could be persuaded to start up our plans for the Piper Radio Network."

"Is that a promise, mom?"

"Hey! Who do you think you're talking to, my dear?" she smiled at me delightedly.

- - -

 
***** (Danny) *****

When Danielle and I got home, we found our folks still up.

I got big hugs from both my mom and dad, and wondered what I did to deserve that.

"So how did it go?" Dad said.

"Score!" I exclaimed, and we fist-bumped and high-fived, which dad and I did all the time.

"Did they accept it?"

"Lock, stock and barrel, pop!"

"Coolness!" Coolness? It's funny when it comes from my dad. Anyway, we did the fistbump-plus-high-five again.

"I did have a question, dad - something that we didn't think of this afternoon."

"Which is?"

"Well, I did mention that, ummm, 'Dannie' will want a make-up and hair stylist plus a dresser, but they said they can't cover their cost. Although they did add a little to the compensation package to help me cover that, but we forgot to specify that travel and accommodation costs will also be covered."

Dad thought it through. "Well," he said, "most probably they'll cover their travel costs, but I don't know if they'll take care of accommodations for them, too. But it won't hurt to ask."

"Ummm... Can you ask them for me, dad?"

"Well... chances are, they might not want to make changes to the contract since they already signed off on it... but they might be open to making other arrangements, like maybe an addendum or supplemental agreement. Don't worry, kid, I'll email them about it tonight and ask if they can reply by tomorrow."

"Dad, that sounds like we're pressuring..."

He waved his hand. "I know, I know. That's because we are pressuring them. But they'll know we're pressuring them. And they'll know we know. They won't take it against us. Besides, I can say you're gonna sign the contract regardless, so it's not like we're trying to pull a fast one."

"Okay."

- - -

It turns out dad was right - in the morning, Mindy, Sarah's assistant, sent off an email with a conforme letter: in it, they said Blumenfeld was willing to cover transportation costs and things like meals for my hairdresser-slash-makeup artist and my dresser, but they won't cover hotel costs. Seems this was a common thing since there was a form letter.

But there was a note in the e-mail from Mindy - since Blumenfeld would usually be billeting me in two-bed hotel rooms, she said my people can just bunk with me.

I signed my contract and the conforme letter right away (I had Danielle's signature down pat by now), and had dad co-sign, and mom witnessed it, and dad said he'll make sure the papers are Fedexed as soon as he gets to the office.

As for Robin's contract, I signed it and gave it to Tracey last night so she could have it sent to Blumenfeld today. I guess, by tonight, I should be getting Robin's notarized copies as well.

I hadn't been able to wake up early enough this morning, so I wasn't able to practice with my musical instruments, but I rationalized that I could afford to miss a day, and just proceeded to get ready for school.

Mom and Danielle had been poring over the contracts, and I could feel a bit of jealousy emanating from Danielle, but nothing major, I'm sure. But it was her and the other girls' fault that I was in this position in the first place, so she had no one to blame but herself.

As I was finishing getting ready for school, Mindy texted, and asked for pictures, details and the full names of my hairdresser and make-up artist, and my dresser. She certainly was a hard-working girl.

So I sent her Joanne's and Nikki's profiles from the KRPQ website, and I promised to send her their personal cellphone numbers and email addresses in a bit. I texted the girls and asked them if it was all right. As I was putting on my shoes, the girls replied, so I sent Mindy their contact details. She thanked me and said to contact her at anytime if I had any questions, especially if it had something to do with my contract. I said I would and hung up.

- - -

Everyone in the gang had the same lunch period, so naturally we would have our lunch together. It was known that we would usually have lunch at around this time, at a specific table in the cafeteria, which is now known as UB's table, and it would always be available for our use. And if there were people there during lunchtime, they would politely let us have the table - a big difference from the time me and my buds would be stuck in one of the smaller tables on the sides, or have to eat outside in the bleachers. Gone were those days.

Only the middle tables were the ones that had enough seats for all of us anyway - at the moment, the gang was about ten, and all the tables only had room for eight except the ones in the middle, which seated twelve. And this was how I rationalized our monopolizing our table and displacing people. Still, we were one of the better-behaved groups in the cafeteria - not the quietest, but were better behaved than the JDs or the jocks or the cheerleaders - so none of the teachers or the cafeteria ladies had any issues with us.

When we get to our table, sometimes there's stuff on it - gifts for one or other member of UB, and sometimes for Drew, Mel, Nikki or Morgan, and, lately, I've started getting some, too. Jerry and Mike haven't gotten any yet, though, but they didn't seem to mind.

The gifts were nothing special - usually just little notes or cards. But some of the more forward and courageous fans would leave gifts of fan-art, CDs, little recordings, photos, poems, clothing items or even jewelry. We thought that it would be impolite to not accept the notes and little gifts, but we made it known that we wouldn't be accepting gifts of food (no one knows if they're safe or not), used or soiled clothing items, or super-expensive stuff (usually jewelry), non-family-friendly pictures, or items of questionable... quality or style or content (if you know what I mean). Eventually, this became known to everyone, and since we didn't make any exceptions, not many left those kinds of gifts anymore.

We, or whoever the gift was meant for, would post a note or something on the band's website to thank them for their gifts, and would also email a personal note to those who left email addresses. But for those gifts we didn't accept, we would leave them on the table with a little note of apology taped to them (we used to attach personal notes to them, but when I found these little notes being sold on eBay, I asked Mike to make some of those little 2 inch by 2 inch gift cards but said "We're sorry," and we would tape them onto the gift itself - totally generic with no resale value at all). Mickey would also take pictures of them, and we'd leave an automated thank you post on the band's website, and an explanation about why we couldn't accept them. If the gift was taken back by some person other than the one who left it - well, we couldn't help that.

This particular morning, there were a lot of them, and though there were a few that we knew not to accept - actually to not even touch - everything else was okay. Danielle, of course, got loads again, as did the rest of the band, and the others got a few as well. A couple of the cards, though, sealed in envelopes, was addressed to me, and I was delighted to have some Danny fans - most likely classmates who wanted to remain anonymous.

We didn't open or read any of them at the table, and Mel just put them all away in a see-through plastic hobo bag as usual (so people can see what's in it) and we'll open them later at the office or at Betsy's. It was better that way. Mike attached the "we're sorry" cards to the ones we didn't take, took pictures of them, and left them in the middle of the table.

Fallon brought some girls from of the Glee Club, but there were no seats available so they found seats at the table next to ours, which were presently being occupied by the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders didn't put up a fuss tho (probably because there were only three of them today), so Beatriz, Edna, Kalista, Ramona, Valentina, Phylicia and Eileen were able to sit. Fallon decided to sit with them.

As we had our lunch, today's topic du jour became the car that I, or Dannie, would be getting. The guys clearly had some ideas about it. They suggested cars like a classic 1965 Shelby Mustang GTO, a Dodge Charger, a Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, a big Buick GNX, and so many other big muscle cars. But the girls nixed all of them. The closest that the girls came to liking was a yellow 2010 Camaro - like Bumblebee from the movies, or a 1982 Trans-Am like the car from the old Knightrider TV show, but they didn't really like those either. Morgan tried to lobby for the Shelby Mustang, but this time I was the one who didn't like it.

"But, Danny," he said, "I thought you like Mustangs!"

"That's the thing, Morgan," I said. "I already have my Mustang. How would it look like if Danielle also had one?"

"But this is a Shelby GTO..."

I stood my ground and shook my head no.

"Dammit..." Morgan mumbled.

"Well, how about this one," Jerry suggested, and he showed us his smartphone. On it was a 1969 Chevy Corvette Baldwin GTO.

"That's super sexy," Nikki enthused.

"You like that one?" I asked her.

"Yeah. Pretty sexy." And she gave me a kiss. "Just like you."

Typically, everyone went, "oooh!" and laughed when I blushed.

"Wait, wait," Mel said, and took back Jerry's phone. After a second, she showed us another car.

"I think this is the right one. A total winner." We looked, and it looked real feminine and cute. I sorta got the feminine vibe of it, and maybe it'd fit Dannie's image. What it was was the Fiat 500 Spiaggina ’58 concept car from the 60th anniversary of the Fiat 500 back in 2018, and it used the 60th anniversary model as the base car.

I looked to Danielle and Nikki, and they were nodding like crazy. I turned to my guys and shrugged. "Sorry, boys," I said apologetically. "It's been decided." I showed them the picture.

After a while, Mike nodded and reluctantly said, "it's cute."

And it really was. The one in the picture was in sky-blue, with white accents, and it didn't have a top, making it look like it was meant for the beach, and had only a tiny smidge of an A-pillar and a vestigial windscreen. It did have a white hoop above the seatbacks, it presumably was acting as a rollbar. There were also no rear seats as the rear end was meant for storage only, complete with a fold-down tailgate. And it was tiny - it was a two-seater Fiat 500 after all, and the lines echoed the original, tiny 60s car. Plus, the chrome hubcaps and the whitewall tires emphasized the wheels, giving it a retro touch - all-in-all a cute and sexy girl-car.

As it was decided, I called Mindy, and said I had picked out a car. I then sent her the pictures Mel found as well as the website, and she said she'll look into it. I told her that classes would be over by around three so she could call me then.

- - -

After school, we went to Betsy's as usual, where we were met by Tracey, Fallon as well as the rest of the band. Tracey said there was word from Blumenfeld, that they received Robin's signed copy of the contract, and they'll be sending back my signed, witnessed and notarized copy of Robin's contract, and that I had a photoshoot this coming Sunday. Yayyy... not...

Tracey said that, given this'll be a regular thing, I needed an official apartment - somewhere where my mail can be sent, and where the IRS and the government can send mail and whatever. "I mean, you're welcome to keep on using the station as your mailing address, but eventually, you'll need a real address.

I sighed and nodded at this inevitability, but there were some practical considerations. "I guess you're right, Tracey," I said. but the place has to be reasonably near my folks' place so it won't be too difficult ducking in an out of Robin's place and then to my house."

"Yeah," Danielle agreed. "And we have to find a way to keep, ummm, unwanted folks away from the place. Like fans and such."

Betsy interjected that her folks might be able to help find me one, and left us in search of her folks.

"Well, that was helpful." Tracey commented.

Fallon nodded and smiled. "That's Betsy for you."

My smartphone beeped and I checked who it was.

"It's Mindy texting, asking if she can call me."

"Go on, Dan," Nikki said, "call her."

I dialed her number and she picked up right away. "Hey, Dannie," she said.

"Hey, Mindy. What's up?"

"I just wanted to say, we got your contract and we are having the first of your, ummm, care packages now," she giggled. "We're gonna ship it to your house and, if everything goes well, you should be getting it in a couple of days."

"Yayyy!"

"We have a problem, though. There's a bit of an issue about your car," she said. "The particular car you chose is a concept car. It was specially designed by ac company called Garage Italia for the Fiat 500's 60th anniversary last 2018, meaning it's not something that's available for sale."

"Oh, darn.." I tried to make my voice sound more disappointed than I actually was.

"Ummm, but, if your heart's really set on it, I have a suggestion."

"Yes?"

"There's a small garage near your town that one of Sarah's friends from the Tate Corporation raves about. It's a small place called Otto's Garage, and they specialize in creating custom one-off cars. Sarah's friend has had his daughter's car customized there, and they apparently do good work. Mr. Nance, Sarah's friend raves about his daughter's car all the time.

"So if you really have your heart set on that car, I can contact Otto's Garage and have him replicate that car."

"But, Mindy, that's too much work! I can just pick another..."

"No, no... I already asked Otto and he said he can get his hands one of those 2018 Fiat 500 anniversary production cars and modify them to be like your concept car."

"Sounds expensive, Mindy..."

Mindy laughed. "What do you care, Dannie - it'll be on us!"

"Well..."

"All I need is a go-ahead from you. So what do you say."

"Hold on, lemme get some opinions from the guys here."

"Guys?"

"Some friends from school, and the guys from my band."

"Ahhh! Tell them hi from me."

"'Kay. Call you back in a bit."

I hung up and I told the guys about the issue with the car.

"What?" Dale said. "What car?"

The girls explained and got the Dale and the others up to speed. Drew excitedly showed them the picture of the car, and June was all for the custom Fiat 500, but Mongo and Dale weren't too excited about it.

"But, hey," Dale said, "it's your car - we don't get a vote, and that's okay. Go for it." He hit me on the shoulder in a friendly way, as a kind of apology.

"Dale's right," Mongo said. And that's all he had to say about it... Typical Mongo. Lol.

"Okay," I said. "So, should I call her back?"

And the consensus was yes.

"Hey, Mindy," I said.

"So, what's the verdict?"

"Well, apparently, so long as Blumenfeld House is okay with it, then I'm okay with it."

"So... it's a go?"

"It's a go."

"Great! I'm gonna tell Sarah, and then I'm gonna call up Otto and green-light the project."

"How long do you think the project will take?"

"Well, Otto told me earlier that it should take about two weeks."

"For everything?"

"Yes, and Otto said he'll add a couple of extras at no cost, and he says they're easy - he's already done that for someone else's car so it won't make the build longer."

"Okay. I'm all for extras."

"So I can report to Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld that we've fulfilled the requirements of the contract, and we'll be expecting you this coming Sunday."

"Ah, okay." As friendly as Mindy was, she clearly had an objective - that of fulfilling the provisions of the contract.

"Ummm, Mindy," I said, "I have to ask, though... is Robi..."

"No worries, Dannie," Mindy interjected. "Ms. Tibbles will be asked to report on Saturday, and she'll be leaving for home just as you're gonna be doing your thing on Sunday."

"Ahhh. Okay, then."

"Thanks, Dannie. I'll be emailing you your itinerary tomorrow, as well as your plane tickets and your people's plane tickets."

I tried to be casual when I tried to find out who would get tickets. "So, how many tickets is that?" I asked as breezily as I could.

"Well, let's see - there's yours, your makeup artist Joanne, your dresser Nikki, and your bodyguard Tyler. That makes four in total. Why? Are you worried about the transportation? Don't worry, honey - the car we'll be sending to pick you up will be big enough.

"Thanks so much, Mindy. See you in six days."

See you, then!"

I hung up and told everyone about the phone call.

- - -

 
***** (Tracey) *****

With Mike's arm around me, I listened to Danny. and it sounded like the plan was working like clockwork. But as I listened, I was thinking of some of the other details that we didn't think of in this super-complicated plan of ours.

For example, if we really intended to use Danielle as a decoy, we have to find a way to make the process more smoothly. And then we were caught by surprise by Robin's and Dannie's need for mailing addresses. Which highlighted Robin's need for her own place. And the need to get her school classes set up. And all of this just to maintain her identity.

And then I thought that Dannie has all of these benefits that Robin didn't. Doesn't really matter, actually, since she was actually the same person. But, again, for the purposes of image and identity, she should at least have her own car - a car appropriate for her persona.

Betsy might be able to help with the house or apartment. And I had some thoughts about the car. As for the school angle - that's all a problem as it's more a problem of time - that Danny didn't have time for it. Guess we have to figure out how to make it happen somehow.

I remember the cars we were browsing from last night - and I thought the corvette we looked at. That one seemed to match Robin's image. I also remembered that place they were going to have Dannie's car made - Otto's Garage. But then the people ad Blumenfeld might smell something fishy if i called them up. Then I remembered Dino Cars. They owed my mom's company so maybe I can get a good deal. I think I'll call them up.

Betsy came back.

"Dan?" she said. "I think I can help you out with the house."

"Yeah?"

"Mom and dad have just finished a small gated little community a couple of blocks from your house."

"You mean that construction project near the water tower on Maple? That's your family's project?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be a gated community, and about a fourth of the houses are still available. Dad says he can get reserve one of the houses for you, and give you a good price for it. He'll even be able to put you in touch with the project's financing company and facilitate things.

"And since it's a gated community, no one can just enter, which will mean fans, or anyone else for that matter, can't just get in, which solves all of Robin's fan problems. And - get this - there are three separate powerhouses or electrical rooms at the wall boundary. They're meant for power, telephone, cable TV and Internet cabling coming into the community. But apparently two were sufficient, even considering future expansion. So, because of that, one of the electrical rooms are unused and empty."

"Ummm... so?"

"These electrical rooms have a door to the outside, so one can get in and out of the little village without being seen. So you can sneak in and out whenever you need too."

"Ooohhh..."

"How come you know so much about it, Bets," Fallon asked.

Betsy shrugged. "My dad brings me along to see all of his construction projects, and he likes it when I ask him things."

"Well, Bets, I don't have a good portfolio," Danny said. "I doubt if I can get the financing."

"What do you mean, Danny?" I said. "As Robin, you're gainfully employed, and you have this brand-new modeling gig. I'm sure the banks will approve any kind of loan you apply for."

"But Trace, it's not just the cost..."

I could sense what he was worried about. "Danny," I sighed. "I already told you - your identity papers are totally backstopped! It's totally covered. 'Robin Tibbles' is a completely authentic person insofar as the government is concerned - you can pay taxes, drive, vote, make loans, travel anywhere, buy whatever, and do anything else a normal person can do, including buying a house, and the government nor anyone wouldn't find anything wrong!"

"Well, then -"

"Yeah?"

"Pick me a nice, small place and tell your dad I'm game."

"Yesss!!!"

- - -

Over a mess of nachos and sodas, we discussed how how Danny's weekend would be managed, and after that was sussed out, Mel brought out the transparent hobo bag.

"Lots today!" I commented.

"Yep!" she nodded. "Let's see - let's start off with a big one. Here's one addressed to the band." She brought out a gift-wrapped box roughly the size of a bread bin.

As per usual, Mike took a picture and Jerry, wearing a pair of blue disposable nitril gloves (I know, I know - it's overkill, but I was the one who suggested it, k?,) opened it. Inside was a portable DVD player - and not one of those cheap ones, either - plus a DVD.

"We have to return that DVD player..." Danielle said. Jerry nodded and put it away for the usual thing, while Betsy took the DVD and plopped it into the DVD player attached to the room's TV. It turned out to be a very nice copy of the concert as well as the TV show, with a cute note from one of our fans at the end. Clearly, we'll keep this.

There was also another box, which turned out to contain a bunch of very-well-drawn portraits of all the band members, and we were surprised that there were an extra ten portraits (which makes fifteen in all) - that's because it included the rest of the gang, plus me and Janet. The only one missing was Robin. (Morgan's and Danny's portraits were especially well done, by the way.)

There was a little note, and, apparently, the girl (for it was a girl) was equally a fan of Morgan and Danny as she was a fan of UB. That was a little bit unusual. I suppose it's because Morgan is a jock in their school, but according to everything I've heard, Danny has not been anything but a geeky nerd at their school. So I had to wonder why. Hmmm...

Anyway, Mickey said he had a friend that can have the pictures framed, and with urging from me, he called his friend.

This time, "Robin" also got a couple. This had started happening after the fire over at the Jackson Building, and after Robin came out on Youtube. Most of Robin's fans send their little gifts and things to her directly care of the radio station, but sometimes some kids send them through Danny and his gang, like today. Today, it was a couple of framed pictures of Robin - one from her hosting the KRPQ launch, and another of her carrying firefighter Lucas Hoskins down the fireladder during that fire.

And so it went, as each of the packages were opened. Our "clubhouse" (actually a room in Betsy's house) was starting to accumulate a lot of these gifts from fans. But that's fine.

The last one to we opened was this little gift-wrapped packet of 2R-size photos - it was all of Danny, and Danny-as-Dannie and Danny-as-Robin. But as we leafed through them, there was a sinister tone throughout - most of the pictures were obviously taken surreptitiously and some of them were from places only the gang knew about. What was a bit creepy were pictures of "Robin" and "Dannie" on their trips to Minnesota, like pictures at the airport, or Dannie walking in the park, and of her or Robin entering an office building, as well as of Dannie's afternoon meeting with Sally, where they discussed their contracts. The pictures were clearly taken with a telephoto lens through the restaurant's picture window while "Robin" and Sally were chatting and eating.

Some of the pictures were scary: in some of the pictures of Robin and Sally, Sally's face was burned off, like with a cigarette or a match, and there was one that was taken at a little coffee shop, presumably in Minneapolis, where Dannie was chatting with a girl behind the counter at the coffe shop: the girl's face had been burned off, too. There were also a few pictures of the entire gang having dinner or something, and Fallon's face had been burned off, too.

"Oh, my god!" I exclaimed.

"Janet," Danny said in a chilling monotone. "It's got to be..." I've only heard Danny talk like that a couple of times. She was mad. Really mad. I wouldn't want to be the target of that rage, that's for sure.

I picked up the picture - the one with "Robin" and Sally, and contemplated it.

"Oh, my god..." I said again.

- - -

Later that night, before mom got home, I looked up Dino Cars in my mom's files and called them up. It turns out that they had a franchise nearby, and I called them. Despite it being a little late, someone answered. When I dropped mom's name and mentioned PiperCorp, the guy in charge, someone named Charlie, took the call.

I explained why I was calling, and he said he had a line to some classic Corvettes. It seemed that 1969 Corvette coupes ran to as high as twenty-five to fifty thousand, but Charlie said he could get one for twenty-five. However, he also had a line to a fixer-upper that he could get for fifteen. And to get it up to showroom condition, it'll only cost about five. I had some ideas for some changes, though, and he said that would cost an additional five thousand or so. So a total of twenty-five in all. Essentially, the change I asked was to make the corvette a 2+2 instead of keeping it as a two-seater, but preserving the car's body-lines. That means there would be two small seats at the back, allowing four people to sit in the car instead of just two. The changes also included replacing the tires with 70s era vintage-style rims and tires, and a different kind of paint job - something stock but unusual; something people don't see Corvettes in a lot.

Charlie said he had a complete set of pristine rims from a junker they got which could easily be rechromed, and he also said they could change the color of a car to a tangerine-kind of paint job, similar to the factory "Monaco orange" (the most uncommon of the Corvette's stock colors) but flashier and brighter: there was this off-the-shelf "kandy copper" paint from FLX Paints that was excellent for it, and since it was off-the-shelf, it would be cheap, and there would be no need to mix colors. I also asked if he could upgrade the electronics so it'd have the proper kind of radio, a charger for gadgets, an all-electronic dash and so forth. Charlie said all of that would be available off-the-shelf, too, and it'd be easy to retrofit all of that.

I was confident they'd do a god job since I name-dropped mom's name and PiperCorp: I knew Charlie and his people won't be pulling any fast ones.

All-in-all it'd be twenty-five thousand. And if I can convince mom, then that means "Robin" would be set up with a car in two weeks. I left my name and number with Charlie, and promised him I'd call him up either later tonight or tomorrow morning, and let him know if it's a go or not.

Soon after that, mom came in, and gave me a big kiss on the cheek.

"How was your day, honey," she asked and i told her everything - about Danny's new contracts, especially about Danny's mailing address issues and how Betsy can set her up with a place of her own.

"So complicated, this modeling thing of Danny's..." mom said.

"I know. But it'll help me out a lot if Danny pushes through with it, mom! It'll give the station a leg up, and maybe open up new franchising and syndication opportunities, and..."

Mom raised her hands in surrender. "I know, honey! I know."

"Oh, mom... also..." Then I explained to her about the car. I showed her a picture of a Corvette.

"How much is it again?" she asked as she looked at the picture.

"Twenty-five grand?" I cringed.

"Hmmm... that's a lot of money, Trace..."

"I know, mom, but Danny needs it. Or, rather, Robin does. And I think it's a small investment in our biggest asset."

"I will agree to the car if you can get... Robin to sign a three-year contract with us."

"Mom..." I said, worried that Danny might feel pressured, and think that the things we did for her might have strings attached.

"Wait a minute, Trace," mom said. "I know what you're thinking. And it's not about Danny owing us. The car is like an incentive to get 'Robin' to sign with us. Because we need him - just like the signing bonuses 'Dannie' was offered by Blumenfeld. And you have to tell it to her that way, because that's what it is."

"Mom..."

Mom gave me a hug. "I love Danny, too, Trace. I would never hold over her anything she's done, much less let the cat out of the bag. You know that. This is just business. And 'Robin' is free to not sign the contract. And we would never make a big deal of it. And we'll just be here in this same position we're in now."

"Well... well..."

Mom giggled. "What - made you even think I'd do something like that?"

I sighed and gave her a smile.

"Sorry, mom."

"And, like I said - this is business. So you better think up a good contract that is fair, that your station can handle, and that Robin will be okay to sign."

"Okay, okay. I will... wait... 'My' station?"

Mom smiled widely. "I checked with our lawyers. And they said it's okay to make you KRPQ's new station manager, as well as the assistant vice-president of the new Piper Communications Corporation in charge of new business development."

"Ohmigod..."

"Now, as the president and CEO of Piper Communications, I am giving you instructions to proceed making plans for the establishment of PiperComm's new business lines and...

I grabbed her around the neck and hugged the stuffing out of her.

- - -

 
***** (Mrs. Piper) *****

I was so pleased to see Tracey so excited, and was glad I made the decision. I knew she could do the work, but I was worried about the timing, and that she needs to not let her schoolwork slide. But that's a topic of conversation for another time.

I got the lawyers to get the paperwork for PiperComm going, and, maybe, in a month or two, PiperComm is going to be a reality, and then we can start with the real work.

In the meantime, I better help Tracey get the foundation for PiperComm ready, and make sure her plans for KRPQ come to fruition.

As I watched Tracey babble on in excitement, it was like she was channeling the stereotype flighty teenage girl, an I knew, in my heart of hearts,I've finally, one-hundred percent accepted that she was a real girl. And I watched my girl chatter on in both amusement and pride.

And then she stopped.

"Honey?" I said in some concern. "Is something wrong?"

"Mom," she said, "I better tell you about these pictures the gang got this afternoon..."

to be continued...

 

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DANNY Chapter 56 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ and the country's newest fashion icon and idol. And today is the first day of Danny and Robin as Blumenfeld House’s newest models. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.   Note to the reader: This is a continuation of the still-unfinished story, Danny, so I’m sure you’ll need some background info to make heads or tails of this. Therefore, feel free to read the story. The link is https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14774/danny . Thanks!

 

  Chapter Fifty-Six: Tooling Around Town

 
***** (Danny) *****

It’s my first day as a Blumenfeld model, and because of the details of my contract (actually, my two contracts – both as Robin and as Dannie), I can only do work… or maybe “we” can do work only on weekends because of school. So, Ed Blumenfeld and Sarah Rhodes did a lot of pre-work, and used as much of the production material from the previous shoots. This meant that the only remaining stuff were Robin’s and Dannie’s parts. They had to do that to max our shots.

It’s early Saturday morning. Sally was with me as she was part of my photoshoot, and Kelly was there as my bodyguard. And Joanne was with us as well, as my makeup artist and dresser. Originally, Joanne was supposed to be Dannie’s makeup person but after talking about it some more, Robin needed more assistance than Dannie – Dannie could actually be more her natural self – no colored hair - so, after some additional negotiations, Joanne was now Robin’s makeup artist and dresser, while Nikki was now Dannie’s dresser (leaving Blumenfeld’s makeup people to take care of Dannie).

PiperCorp lent one of its HondaJets to Blumenfeld, and Blumenfeld basically just pays for the fuel. Sure, that was the only cost that Blumenfeld paid for, but it was Mrs. P’s way to make it appear in her books that they were charging for the use of the jet and not just letting them use it for free. Besides, as Tracey explained to her mom, with the additional income for the station that exposure will bring, it’s more than an equitable exchange.

Admittedly, there’s lots more things that go into the operation of a plane than just expensive than the cost of fuel of a commercial jets. Tracey gave me some numbers: a 747 consumes about 3,600 gallons per hour, but then commercial jets have between 200 and 850 passengers. For the PiperCorp jet, it consumes about 90 gallons of A-1 jet fuel per hour, and a maximum passenger capacity of seven. So if a commercial jet maxes its passenger capacity at 850, the HondaJet has the same fuel consumption per commercial jet passenger, but it was over four times as much.

So, after a short talk, Sarah (through her assistant Mindy), agreed to the cost of fuel times four, which wasn’t much at all. They rounded up to $4,500.00 per flight to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Still more expensive than a regular plane ticket (even divided with seven passengers), but Mindy said that means they weren’t hamstrung by flight schedules and airport restrictions.

Anyway… after that boring detail…

Joanne, Sally, Kelly and I were in Mrs. P’s jet. It was Saturday, 4AM and we were on our way to Minneapolis. It had to be that early because the call time was 8AM.

No flight attendants, of course, but there was a fully-stocked cooler and three cargo containers with a dozen pre-packed meals each.

I tried to ignore the food and waited for the others, but Kelly was smiling at me with a knowing look. I gave her a questioning look, trying to ignore her. She went to the cargo box, brought out four meals and handed one to each of us.

“Thanks,” I said.

I opened the box and it had a croissant-wich with bacon, a fried egg and hollandaise sauce. There was also a little Ziploc with apple slices. Nice.

I ate it like a sandwich while the rest used knives and forks. Everyone looked at me with amused expressions, and I smiled embarrassedly.

Kelly went to the rear of the cabin and got a big thermos of coffee and several ginormous paper cups.

I got one and filled it up while the others just filled them halfway. Apparently, that's what you do on a plane. Sally drank hers black, though, while we had cream and sugar.

We were all excited about the trip, although Joanne and I were half-worried as well.

All of us were in on the secret, except for Sally, so all three of us made an effort not to let the cat out of the bad.

Sally was new to Joanne and Kelly, but Kelly was a little stand-offish, as befitted my bodyguard, so Sally didn't push too much to chat her up. Joanne, of course was another thing, and volunteered a lot of stuff about the gang with Dannie and Sally. One thing you have to give to Joanne - she still kept everything straight, including THE secret.

Sally was curious about the whole Robin-Dannie “feud” but Joanne was completely neutral.

“I’m friends with both Robin and Dannie," Joanne said, "and Dannie won’t mind me working for Robin. Or vice versa.”

“Wonder how Sarah feels about it,” Sally said.

“according to Dannie, and Robin," Joanne nodded to me, "Ms Rhodes was fine with it. She also had Mindy, her assistant, check the contracts and made the changes needed.”

“Fast work.”

I stood up to get another boxed meal, but this time from the other containers. Wonder what else there was.

“So, what’re you doing, Boss?” Kelly grinned.

I gave her a razzberry. “Shut up, Kelly.”

 
***** (Mindy) *****

I was worried. As usual. I was at the airport at at six thirty – that wasn’t usual. A cellphone call from the PiperCorp pilot said that they were ahead of time, and should be arriving before seven.

In any case, another call said that they had landed and was taxiing to hangar L-25, where Blumenfeld House had rented a slot for the weekend.

I had our limo driver proceed to the hangar, with the SUV trailing us, and we arrived just in time to see the girls debarking from their plane.

I stepped out, waved and ran towards them. I guess I was excited to see Robin. I hugged Robin, and welcomed them back to Minneapolis. I got Robin’s bags and lead them back to the limo. It wasn’t a stretch limo, but a standard limo can accommodate six to eight passengers. What we got was a Lincoln, which could accommodate six.

Our drivers got everyone’s luggage and put them into the SUV, and everyone got into the limo. I was pleased Robin was wearing Blumenfeld fashions. And she wore them well. Very well, indeed. Sally was also pretty elegant in her own outfit, but I did notice it wasn’t Blumenfeld. That has to be fixed. Joanne was also pretty good-looking, but she was not in Sally’s league, much less Robin’s. Kelly was okay, but she was deliberately dressed down in casual clothes, with a jacket, jeans and boots. In her line of work, I suppose part of the job was not to attract attention. She took the front passenger seat so I got to sit with the others.

We went to Blumenfeld House and started going through the plans for the day with Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld. I’m surprised at how Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld greeted Robin – I mean, I haven’t seen how excited those two were about a model.

Robin and Sally stayed with us to go over the plans for today. Joanne went with the director and the wardrobe & makeup people to discuss their side of things.

In less than an hour, we went to the little college we picked in the original shoot.

I had Sally change first, though, and we picked some of the clothes we had in the studio: can't have our models wear the competition's fashions, after all. Also, Sarah had Robin and Sally in a snazzy sports car. Sarah rented a shiny gunmetal gray 2009 Lexus LFA, so when the paparazzi and Robin's fans see her and take the inevitable pictures, they'd be in the sports car. Sarah explained that they wanted her in a newer and better sports car, but none could be rented on such short notice. Robin said a Lexus was pretty okay already.

 
***** (Robin) *****

I drove as fast as traffic laws allowed (under instructions from Sarah), and the full-throated V8 engine roared. Despite that, I drove carefully, with nary a close call. We arrived at the campus, but I didn’t know where the shoot was, so I headed for where I saw trucks and other stuff were being set up.

We roared onto the set (I was told later to refer to the location as the “set”), and Sally and I stepped out. There was a loud cheer and scattered applause from the people at the edge of the set, held back by tape and several security guards. I wore Blumenfeld boots two sizes larger that my size, which allowed me to put in some lifts. I was now several inches taller than Dannie. Sally and I weren’t the same height, but closer now.

Kelly came up, this time sporting a severe black suit, with a black tie and dark wayfarer sunglasses. She looked like someone from MIB, but stylish. She was the stereotypical secret service-type security, but was looking super-badass. She stayed behind and to the side of us.

Stopping a few feet from the line, Sally and I waved, which got the people going crazy.

“Good morning, everyone!” I said. “My name is Robin, and this is Sally. We’re from KRPQ radio.” Everyone applauded.

“We’re here to help with this year’s Blumenfeld Fashions’ new catalog. We appreciate your support. So we thank you, and Blumenfeld thanks you. Hope you enjoy the day, as we’re sure we will, too.”

Sally and I then approached the crowd and shook hands. We also signed pictures and other things that they wanted me to sign - no one asked for Sally’s signature so I asked her to sign the pictures with me. And when I did, everyone asked for her signature as well. Some asked about Sally, and I told them she was KRPQ’s main news reporter in charge of entertainment and fashion news, and other things.

We walked away and waved. As we went to the area where all the action was, Sally hugged her.

I hugged her back. “Hey. What was that about?”

“Thanks for that, Robin.”

“What?”

“You got them to ask for my signature, too.”

“I did no such thing!”

“Sure, sure.” She pulled me in closer and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

 
***** (Mindy) *****

It was a long day today, but everyone worked hard, especially Robin – Robin was a trouper. For the shoot at the campus’ main library, the Liberal Arts building, and one of the main lecture halls, Robin changed up to a dozen times, and her girl, Joanne, was right there to keep her looking fresh and well turned out despite the multiple changes. The other girls changed a lot as well but not as many changes.

Sarah also took pains to pick the same models in the original shoots, as well as the same makeup, hairstyle, and outfits, so the shots from the original could be incorporated seamlessly with the new ones today.

There were a dozen or so shots that were special for us: these were the ones where Dannie would be digitally pasted with the shots with Robin. So Robin was shot in such a way that Dannie could be combined into the same picture without trouble.

Aside from the shots on campus, Robin had shots out on location in (1) one of the city’s main highways, (2) walking among regular people on the sidewalks of downtown Minneapolis, (3) at the airport, with a backdrop of a commercial jet taking off (that required some precise timing), (4) at the park with the giant cherry and bent spoon, and (5) in one of the fancy restaurants downtown.

Despite the many locales, we didn’t shuttle Robin to them. Instead, we had Robin, with Sally as her passenger, drove herself using the fancy sports car we gave her. It was one of Sarah’s brainstorms, and allowed anyone who knew her to see her and possibly take photographs. It wasn’t like they had prearranged for people to be at the venues, but Sarah was hoping.

In any case, there were a few fans. I don’t really know what Sarah was thinking. Robin was just a DJ from a small little radio station in some small nowhere town so how could she have fans out here? But, even so, there were a few. How they found out, I didn’t know, but Ed’s dad said once, fans can do anything.

In any case, Robin, and Sally, gamely signed autographs and posed for pictures. And some curious bystanders who were there noted the beautiful girl in her Blumenfeld outfit, took pictures as well, and a few asked for autographs as well. Maybe that’s all Sarah wanted to happen.

I saw how Robin conducted herself, and she was far friendlier and more professional than our other girls. And with Joanne’s help, Robin was able to keep up with the grueling pace. I’m wondering how Dannie will handle the same pace tomorrow. I don’t know how her assistant, Nikki will do. But then she was just her dresser – we were going to take care of Dannie’s makeup. Ed actually preferred that Dannie had a dresser. That way, allegations of any kind of harassment would be less likely, especially since Dannie was still a minor.

As for Robin, she was having a blast, and was enjoying herself immensely.

As for the other models, after an initial frostiness, they had quickly warmed up to Robin. In the modelling world, jealousy and catfights were a common thing. And the rumors in Blumenfeld that Robin (and Dannie) were going to be the new image models for the house’s Young Adult and Young Professional lines. As far as Sarah and Ed were concerned, Robin’s beauty and elegance were, and her moves and poses were just what Blumenfeld needed. It remains to be seen if Dannie will do as well tomorrow.

We finished the day at around nine PM, doing the park shoot at twilight, and then the restaurant shoot in the evening. The last thing we had was a short dinner at a big fancy restaurant which was within walking distance to the hotel where we had billeted our models, plus Kelly. Joanne was sharing Robin’s room, though. Sarah offered to book Joanne in her own room next shoot, but the girls said that they preferred to share a room.

At the dinner, the girls were rowdy, as usual, but the restaurant was used to that, so they had us in a large function room separate from the other patrons. Like most models, they were a boozy bunch. But Joanne and Robin didn’t drink much except for a couple of token drinks. I had to give Robin credit, though, because she had a way of nursing her drink such that she appeared to be drinking and keeping up with the others. As for Joanne, she just had a token drink or two, owing to her underage status. Kelly, of course, didn’t drink – she was a more-than-competent bodyguard. Ed asked what agency she came from, because he was thinking that hiring from them might be something to consider.

The girls were singing to something from Dua Lipa, and Robin proved to be a good singer, as well as dancer, and everyone was following her lead.

Before things really got out of hand, at around eleven or so, Sarah called for attention and broke up the party. There was another shoot tomorrow, after all. After some groans and protests, the party broke up at around 11:30.

Sarah and Ed made it a point to talk with all the models, and they had a long talk with Robin and Joanne. They were all praises and said that the day went very well, indeed. They predicted that the catalog would be very successful. The two said good night, and I accompanied Robin, Joanne, and Sally to their rooms.

Sally went in her room and crashed on her bed (I reminded her about 8AM call time at the lobby). Kelly also said goodnight and went to her room as well.

At Robin’s and Joanne’s door, I briefed them.

“Hey,” I said. “Thank you so much for today. You two did great work. I guess I’ll say my goodbyes here. As you know, Dannie’s coming over tomorrow. She’s flying over in the same jet you’ll be flying out. You’ll be riding in the same limo to the airport that she’ll be using coming back here. Hope that’s okay?”

Robin shrugged. “Sure.”

“All the clothes you wore will be cleaned and packed, and our guys will take care of stowing them in the plane. Your producer, Tracey, said she’ll take care of taking care of getting them from the airport to KRPQ or wherever. But I have to stay here and arrange things.

“I have to stay here tomorrow and take care of things, so I don’t think we’ll see each other tomorrow. But here’s the cell of your limo driver,” I handed her a slip of paper, “and he’ll take care of things. Be sure to be outside the hotel by six-thirty, so you’ll be at the airport as the plane lands.

“Feel free to call room service for breakfast – the kitchen closes at one, and then open at four. Order whatever, it’ll be charged to the room.

“Sarah asks that you wear this tomorrow.” I handed her a wardrobe bag and a pair of shoes, “and, Joanne, please get her, you know, ready.” I shrugged. “Sorry, sweetie – that’s the life of a model.”

“No problem, Mindy.”

“So! I guess that’s it. You guys get a good night’s rest, and I’ll see you soon.” I gave them hugs, and I snuck a little kiss on Robin.

“Oh! Before I forget, here are a couple of loot bags that I put together for you.” I handed Robin and Joanne a couple of cloth bags full of goodies.

“So, good night.” I gave Robin another kiss and left to go back down to the restaurant.

 
***** (Robin) *****

Joanne and I finally went into our room. It was actually the first time for us to see our room, but it was a pretty big one with two single beds.

“Mindy’s a pretty nice girl,” I said.

Joanne giggled. “I think she has a crush on you.”

“Nahh, she’s just being friendly.”

“Wonder what she gave us?” Joanne opened the bag and there were small Blumenfeld stuff, like little perfume atomizers, a small makeup kit, and things like that.

I opened up mine, and it had identical stuff, except for a small felt box. I hid it from Joanne since she didn’t have one, and pocketed it.

Joanne decided on a shower before we worked on my colored hair and bring it back to its normal color. Joanne. I ordered a burger, two plates of fries (one for Joanne since she said she didn’t want anything else), a can of Coke Zero and four bottles of water.

As I chomped on my burger, I opened the little felt box and I almost gasped. If it was real, this little bauble probably cost more money than many people make in a year.

I took a picture of it on my phone and had an app look for it. What it found was one of the necklaces from the Disney Belle Collection. The catalog said “Enchanted Disney Fine Jewelry 14K White Gold And Rose Gold with 1/2 CTTW Diamond Belle Necklace,” and it cost about $2,000.00. Ohmigod…

Sure, two thousand bucks isn’t too expensive for jewelry, but two thousand was a big deal, especially for someone like Mindy. And I didn’t think it was costume jewelry… Oh, no…

I knew I put on Dr. Roberts’ magic formula but maybe it needed to be updated. I think, when I get home, I’m gonna have to make up a new batch.

I hid the little box in my bag as Joanne finished her shower. I finished the last of my burger and fries, and we went to the bathroom to wash away the coloring in my hair.

Joanne put a chair against the sink and I sat in the chair and leaned back with my hair in the sink. Joanne then proceeded to wash away the coloring, using the neutralizing agent that came with the product. As usual, she did a fine job and washed away every bit of the coloring. We used the same stuff we used before. It was totally safe and neutral to my hair, and it was a good hair product but the color didn’t last for any more than a few days. Because of that, Joanne said it wouldn’t become as popular as other more conventional products.

Afterward, I had a shower but didn’t use any shampoo. I felt refreshed after my shower and toweled my hair and dried myself in front of the bathroom mirror. I looked very much like my sister Danielle, except for in between my legs. Also, I had a narrower waist now, and my boobies were now larger than hers – mine were full C-cups now. I was also a smidge taller but not enough. That’s why I wore lifts every time I could today.

I can’t say I liked how I looked. I looked like a girl, and it wasn’t like I wanted to. But at least I looked good, and Nikki, my girlfriend, liked how I looked. She swore to me that looking like a girl didn’t matter to her, but I didn’t care, really. So long as she loved me, and I could continue to love her.

I put on a terrycloth bathrobe and padded into the room. I found Joanne in bed and snoring, At least she had some water and finished her fries. For me, I finished off the rest of the water and dried my hair with the blow-dryer Joanne brought – it’s best not to go to bed with moist hair, otherwise – bed-head…

Afterward, I went to my own bed and fell asleep as well.

In what felt like moments, I found myself being shaken awake by Joanne.

Though I was bleary-eyed, Joanne went to work on me. She took my hair and put it in a bun, and put one of my brunette wigs on me. With lots of adjustments, my hair looked pretty natural. Joanne then had me put on the outfit that Mindy handed me the night before. It turned out to be a knit turtleneck sweater, a long suede jacket, a pair of leggings-like linen pants, and rider boots. It allowed me to slip in lifts.

We were running late, so we rushed to make sure we had all our stuff. I texted our limo driver and said we would be out in front in ten minutes.

In a while, we were in the hangar we arrived in, and I saw Danielle by the jet we arrived in. I jogged to her and hugged her. Because of the lifts, I had to stoop a bit to hug her. We then rushed up the jet’s steps and went inside, and after fifteen minutes, I stepped out of the plane in my Dannie persona, with Nikki beside me.

“Guess I’m ready for today’s shoot,” I said.

to be continued...

 

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DANNY Chapter 57 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ and the country's newest fashion icon and idol. It’s Day Two of Dannie’s and Robin’s first photoshoot as Blumenfeld House’s newest models. This day it's Dannie’s turn. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. Note to the reader: This is a continuation of the still-unfinished story, Danny, so I’m sure you’ll need some background info to make heads or tails of this. Therefore, feel free to read the story. The link is https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14774/danny . Thanks!

 

  Chapter Fifty-Seven: Dannie On The Set

***** (Danny) *****

I was switching clothes with Danielle. We should have gotten a duplicate of the outfit for me to wear but Blumenfeld fashions were expensive. So Danielle-as-Dannie got out of her outfit in the plane’s bathroom and put on a bathrobe. I then replaced her in the bath and took off my Robin wig and my current outfit – the sweater, blazer, and boots. I then put on Danielle’s outfit, which was a Blumenfeld black turtle neck long-sleeve knitted T-shirt, a basic scuba skater skirt in bubblegum pink, black pantyhose, and a pair of two-inch pumps.

I then called out. “Nikki? Is the coast clear?”

“The pilot stepped out of the jet,” Nikki called.

“Okay.” I stepped out, and I waved Danielle into the bath, I gave her a thank-you kiss on the cheek and she closed the door.

“Wait,” Joanne said. “I better get in there.” She stepped into the bathroom, too. By now, I was used to this kind of thing – it was just Joanne going in to help Danielle with the hair and the outfit. As for me, Nikki helped me comb my back-to-red hair straight. She put some barrettes that matched my skirt in my hair and kept it pinned back from my face.

“Guys!” I called. Nikki and I are going now!”

“Good luck, Danny!” Joanne said through the door.

“Love you!” Danielle said.

“Love you, too!”

I stood at the plane’s cabin door, with Nikki’s hand in mine.

“Guess I’m ready for today’s shoot,” I said.

“Okay,” Nikki said and gave me a kiss. “Let’s go then.”

 
***** (Mindy) *****

When Dannie arrived with her dresser, Nikki, and Dannie's bodyguard, Tyler, it was like a whirlwind. The two were like a breath of fresh air. The models at the breakfast were all young, or at least young-looking - some were even actually eighteen and nineteen, though most of the others were in their twenties, but these two were actually sixteen, going on seventeen. They were actually part of our YA line's target market.

But besides that, these two were amazingly good-looking despite being young and newbies: Nikki because of her clothes and attitude and beauty; Dannie because of... I don't know... Sure she was incredibly beautiful, her clothes were an understated but incredible combination of our Blumenfeld fashions, and she comported herself with great elegance and yet with an approachable kind of aura. But it was more than that. In fashion circles, there's much talk about the so-called "X Factor," and Dannie just had it. She reminded me very much of Robin - that was another one with the X Factor.

Dannie was a little shorter than Robin, and obviously, she was a redhead instead of a brunette, but she was quite similar to Robin. I couldn't help but think they were sisters or something.

As they walked in, they grabbed everyone’s attention, and a kind of silence fell as they watched the two walk into the restaurant. One of the waiters near me said “Whoa! Who’s that?” Robin didn’t get that response. She almost did, but Danny’s impact was more than Robin's. How much more – I don’t know. My gut said not much, but I will have to tell Sarah and Ed about this because they might want to fine-tune their campaign given this info.

The other models looked at Dannie in a haughty, or perhaps snooty kind of way, but the girls were probably jealous, which was not an unusual thing for models. I guess the models were already feeling the winds of change – that Dannie would be the new star for Blumenfeld. We have to protect Dannie from that somehow.

Still, I noticed that Dannie was still trying to be friendly as she and her dresser made their way through the crush. Her bodyguard, Tyler, wasn’t too happy, but he couldn’t do much. Based on Dannie’s previous visit, Tyler was probably under Dannie’s instructions again.

Tyler was in casual clothes. Something needs to be done about that, just like what we did with Kelly yesterday.

Dannie spotted Sally, and she went to her for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Dannie spotted me and the three made their way towards me.

"Mindy!" she said and gave me a big hug. "I'd like to introduce you to my new dresser, Nikki, and you, of course, remember Tyler."

"Hi, Dannie," I said. "Hello, Nikki, Tyler." I shook their hands. "I'm glad you guys are here. On time, too. Sarah will be pleased. Follow me. "

I led the three to Sarah and Mr. Blumenfeld, and after the pleasantries, I led them to this function room I arranged for.

Tyler stayed in the back while everyone else sat around a round table. I went to Dannie and whispered to her. We then went to Tyler and explained, and Tyler went with me to get him a suit.

 
***** (Ed) *****

“What was that, Dannie?” I said.

“Oh, nothing important, sir,” Dannie said as she walked back to the table. “Mindy is getting Tyler, my bodyguard, a suit.”

“Ahhh. Well, let’s talk about today’s shoot.” The bulk of the shots for today were going to be in a high school that we arranged to use, with shots of Dannie playing volleyball, running track, in a classroom, and walking in the hallway. Then Dannie will be having shots out on location, exactly like Robin’s shots from yesterday (1) Dannie reacting to Robin from the sidewalk in by of the city’s main highways (Robin’s part from yesterday’s shoot will be digitized in, of course), (2) walking on the sidewalks of downtown Minneapolis, (3) shopping around in some supermarket and a high-end boutique (we’ll be using one of Blumenfeld’s signature outlets, of course), (4) at the park, again with the giant cherry and bent spoon, and (5) in the same fancy restaurant that we shot Robin in yesterday.

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Dannie said.

“Sorry, my dear,” I said, “but we only have today.”

“Well… we cleared it with my dad and Nikki’s dad, and we also asked permission from school, so we’re taking tomorrow off from school. So, in case you need to have more photoshoots, we can do more. Dad does insist that Nikki and I be in bed by midnight, though, and Tyler’s under instructions to make sure of that. Just an FYI.”

Sarah and I looked at each other.

“That gives us more than five extra hours of shoot time,” Sarah said.

“But that’s going to be in the evening…” I said.

“I think I have an idea, and we can make use of Dannie’s special skills…”

We talked some more about Sarah’s wild brainstorm, and she got Dannie’s and Nikki’s input. Dannie said she had to get in touch with Daniel, her brother, who was also her “manager.”

The idea was, Dannie would model as a singer, but given the short time to prepare, they had to keep it simple. So, provided they could find a nice venue, Dannie would pose as a singer – one of a pop kind of singer, complete with a guitar, and then as some kind of torch singer in some glamorous dress. Nikki did make some restrictions so that the shoot can’t be too risqué.

“Of course, Nikki. No worries on that, and I’m going to talk to Daniel and get his approval for things.”

We wrapped up our meeting, and since Sarah had to work on the extra shoot, I had to be the supervisor for the morning shoot. I think we were doing okay – we were only thirty minutes behind schedule. Haha…

 
***** (Mindy) *****

Unlike yesterday with Robin, we didn’t have a car for Dannie to use. Instead, we had an open-top convertible sports car, and with yet another brainstorm from Sarah, we asked Tyler to be Dannie’s chauffeur (with the addition of a chauffeur’s hat, it converted Tyler’s MIB-style uniform to be a chauffeur's).

This allowed Dannie to be visible and allow fans and bystanders to take pictures. Again, it wasn’t like we prearranged people to be at the venues, but we were hoping it would be like yesterday. I think we underestimated things because the locations were packed with Dannie’s fans. I wondered again, how Dannie’s fans found out about the shoot, but as the senior Blumenfeld said once, fans can do anything.

Just like Robin, Dannie gamely signed autographs and posed for pictures. And for those bystanders who didn’t know who she was, because of what seemed to be Blumenfeld’s new gorgeous model, they took pictures as well and asked for autographs.

Just like Robin, she was very friendly to her fans and handled them professionally but she was more approachable than our other Models. Nikki was a great help, allowing Dannie to switch outfits – she had maybe twice as many changes of clothes as Robin had. As for Dannie’s makeup, our people took care of that, although I heard from our lead makeup artist, Dannie didn’t need much help there, except for her hair – they had to match her coiffure to her outfit.

And, just like Robin, Dannie was having fun, and if just for that, it made the work easy for everyone. In fact, Dannie seemed to have won over the other models.

Dannie did her best to increase Sally’s role in the shoots, and Sarah said she didn’t mind so long as her star was kept happy. So Sally was with Dannie on some of the shoots that was supposed to be just her.

At around eight, We finished most of the shoots. Just like yesterday, the park shoot was done at twilight, and then the restaurant shoot immediately after. Just after, I had everyone go to the fancy restaurant we booked yesterday, which was just walking distance to the hotel. As for Dannie, Nikki and Sally, and the crew, we instead moved to one of the function rooms of the hotel. The stage was dressed to look like a concert stage, and Dannie and Sally, with Nikki’s help, changed into their outfits.

Dannie was dressed just like a redhead Dua Lipa and made poses with an electric guitar Sarah had borrowed from the hotel house band. Sally, however, was dressed like a reporter, and with a microphone, posed as if she was covering Dannie for their radio station.

Dannie switched to at least four super-sexy outfits, but the floor director and lead photographer were able to block the shoots to make them look unique.

Afterward, they lowered the room lights and redressed it a bit to make it look like a stage in a cocktail lounge. This time, Dannie wore a spectacular formal dress in green, and posed like she was again singing, and Sally again like she was covering the event. Dannie then changed into a super-sexy, formal LBD, and my jaw fell open with an almost audible snap. She was so gorgeous.

There was silence in the entire room, but in moments, they realized what they were doing, and they resumed the shoot.

The rest of the shoot went too fast, but we had to finish as fast as possible since there was the dinner to go to, still. Dannie and Sally didn’t bother to change anymore so that we wouldn’t be late.

At the dinner, Dannie had the same effect, but Dannie was preoccupied with Nikki. It was obvious that the girls were a couple, even though they tried to water it down. Everyone sent Nikki with some evil looks.

Drinks were freely flowing, just like last night, but Dannie and Nikki were very careful about sticking to soft drinks (I know because Tyler and I were keeping track).

Sally prevailed on Dannie to sing some songs and Dannie was an excellent mimic, duplicating the sound of the original singers of the songs that she picked. I need to listen to some songs from their band.

At midnight, with a signal from Tyler, I announced that Dannie and Nikki had to leave. There were protests all around, but Sarah took the mic and said it was part of her contract, and she was sure no one wanted her to get in trouble.

I surveyed the people but the protests weren’t too bad. And then I noticed someone I didn’t recognize. She saw me looking at her, and she rushed towards the exit. Gate-crashers weren’t unusual in photo events, so I didn’t make a big deal of it.

“What’s wrong, Mindy?”

“Oh, it was nothing. Just a gate-crasher. She ran out before I could start after her."

Dannie and Nikki looked at each other.

“What did she look like?” Nikki asked, and I described the blonde.

Dannie and Nikki looked at each other again. “Janet…” Nikki whispered.

to be continued...

 

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DANNY Chapter 58 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ and the country's newest fashion icon and idol. And Danny found out that he was big in Japan: apparently, Danni-Ota and Danni Otaku were actual things. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. Note to the reader: This is a continuation of the still-unfinished story, Danny, so I’m sure you’ll need some background info to make heads or tails of this. Therefore, feel free to read the story. The link is https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14774/danny . Thanks! THIS IS A JUKEBOX CHAPTER!

 

A note from the Author about Danny's Jukebox:

Chapter 58 is reviving Danny’s Jukebox. Ever since the time the first installment of the story came out in Crystal's Storysite, there have been people who have commented that I should take out the lyrics of the songs I insist on putting in as it affects the readability of the story. But, for me, the songs provide much-needed atmosphere - people can better see what I see in my mind's eye only if they hear the songs.

This is how the Jukebox works:

From time to time, you will see cartoony numbers in the text. When you see them, it means that song lyrics follow, and if the reader feels frustrated because she doesn't know the song, she can refer to the Jukebox Text File.

This file ("jukebox.pdf") contains links to YouTube files on the net, which are listed by number. If, for example, you see a cartoony number , you can copy-and-paste the link for song number 726 from the Jukebox Text File, into your browser. By doing so, you will run the YouTube video for the original song the story is referring to. This will allow you to listen to it as you read, thereby adding a new dimension to the story.

It would probably have been more convenient to put a hotlink in the story text itself, but I prefer it this way 'coz it avoids having too many links and callouts, and it's easier for me to code my text. Besides, I remember a PM years and years ago where the BCTS admin folk strongly lectured me about minimizing hotlinks to external files.

If the Jukebox is too much trouble, you can opt not to use it at all and just read the story in the conventional way. But I suspect you'll want to use it: If there are songs in a chapter, the link to the Jukebox - a small picture of a Wurlitzer jukebox     - will be at the beginning (scroll to the Title portion of the story above, where it says "THIS IS A JUKEBOX CHAPTER!"):

 
just click it and the Jukebox Text File will be downloaded to your computer.)

About songs:

In terms of copyright and fair use, quoting song lyrics is a dodgy thing, even with the application of Fair Use practices. But know three things - (1) this is a not-for-profit work of fiction, and there is no intention of profiting from the works of others; (2) song lyrics and other peoples' works are attributed, one way or another, through the mention of the singer, the author, the source of the song, or the title, but written in a way that makes the attribution part of the story's text, so this writer is able to acknowledge them and make no claims of ownership of these quoted works, and; (3) normally, this would be more than enough of a notice, but if some owners of these works ask, this writer will be will remove them immediately.

In any case, when this work is published commercially, the commercial version will strictly comply with Fair Use practices, limiting the amount of quoted text to the prescribed amount only.

 
 
Chapter Fifty-Eight: Big In Japan

***** (Danny) *****

It was over a month now since my photoshoots, and Blumenfeld House’s new fashion catalogues had been out several weeks already, as well as many Blumenfeld print and social media ads in magazines and in the net. According to Sarah Michelle Rhodes’ assistant, Mindy, she said it was still too early to see any effect on sales, but she also said Blumenfeld has had a lot of advance orders from their buyers and partners since the catalogues came out. Her boss, as well as Mr. Ed Blumenfeld himself - the fashion line’s owner, president, chief creative fashion designer and director, this year was a virtual lock already, thanks to me… lol.

Danielle, in her capacity as “Daniel,” my manager, had been getting lots and lots of offers and invitations for meetings.

As the offers rolled in, Danielle and I made the decision to buy laptops, tablets, cellphones, a couple of AT&T mobile hotspot routers (or what I call mobile wifi) and unlimited data & call plans. I also threw in a couple of VPN subscriptions (I paid for them under Dannie’s, Daniel’s and Robin’s names, and paid the subscriptions for an entire year, just to be safe).

The idea behind this was that Danielle and I, when we were being Dannie, Daniel or Robin, and we made or answered calls & texts, sent or received emails, or attended virtual meetings, nothing would be traceable to us, even if they backtrack via our devices’ MAC IDs, IMEI numbers or internet accounts: they won’t be able to track our location, and even if they identify our cellphone numbers, smartphone units or laptops, they’ll just find them registered to, or owned by, either Danielle Louise Fairchild, Daniel Lewis Fairchild or Robin Emmanuelle Tibbles. This meant that we could freely surf the net, or call, text, email or chat with anyone without worrying about giving ourselves away.

It was a big financial hit on me, but with my Robin and Dannie salaries, I could afford it, and besides, I had gotten my first paychecks from Blumenfeld, and my salary as Robin from KRPQ. I was feeling a little cocky with all the cash in my bank accounts. Still, I decided to do some belt tightening, at least for the next couple of months. Although I resigned myself to treating the guys out for a while…

- - - - -

There were no new photo shoots or indeed any events scheduled for a while. Mindy said that there were surely going to be a lot of them in a few months, once the effect of the new catalogues started to be felt in the market and the industry. But nothing at the moment. I didn’t mind because I got paid regardless. Heehee…

Anyway, Danielle was after me to look at some of the offers we’ve been getting.

As for Robin, Tracey had also similarly been fending off a lot of requests for meetings, but she wanted to talk to Danielle and me first to discuss it.

There was one email, however, that stood out from the rest.

The producers of an evening Japanese TV talk show on FujiNet TV called “Chōshoku No Bonbon” (in English - “Bonbons for Breakfast,” or “Breakfast Bonbons”) had emailed to ask if Dannie could meet with them to discuss an appearance on their show (the show was actually better known as just “Bonbon”). The appearance fee quoted was ¥4,480,000, or $30,000.00, for a three-hour interview. They also said that Dannie would be interviewed in English by their very popular fluent-English-speaking host, Aisa Sato.

Danielle, Nikki and I looked at each other disbelievingly.

“Do you think they would consent to us getting a japanese translator as part of the agreement?” Nikki asked.

“Why?” Danielle asked.

“Well, I think it would be best to know what the people around us were speaking. And it would keep us, and them, on an equal footing. If you know what I mean…”

Later, after school at Betsy’s, Danielle emailed them back and asked about the possibility of the cost of hiring a translator to be part of the package. She made it clear, though, that we weren’t saying yes to the offer. They responded promptly fifteen minutes later, and agreed, and also upped the fee to ¥5,980,000, or $40,000.00, and that, if we prefer, they will shoot the interview stateside, in any city/town/whatever of our choosing. The three of us looked at each other again, not quite believing it… But then, we found that there was a caveat – that Dannie wouldn’t grant any other interviews to other Japanese production companies, networks, or shows for at least three months…

“Ahhh!” Betsy said, reading the email over our shoulder. “I thought so!”

“I did some research, by the way,” Jerry said, “and I think I know why they want to interview you.” And he showed us his laptop’s screen. He had used Google to search for “Dannie,” “Dannie Fairchild” and “Japan,” and there were hundreds and hundreds of search results…

“You’re big in Japan, Danny-Boy!” he said. “… or should I say girl?”

And everyone laughed.

 
***** (Jerry) *****

From my research, Bonbon was actually one of the highest-rated evening TV talk shows in Japan. Also, I found that the music of Unlimited Bandwidth was becoming very popular among the younger generations. It seemed counter-intuitive since Dannie and UB was essentially a cover band, but because it was a cover band: the songs they sang were already well-known, and there were fans of these songs already. But with UB’s and Dannie’s own twist or style or flavor (I myself would have used the word “aura”), they just added to the songs’ popularity, and that was the thing.

Bootleg copies of UB’s concerts were circulating in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and so many other places in Japan. Enterprising individuals were able to get copies of the first Evolution Concert, the simulcast coverage of KRPQ and KRPX, the kick-off concert of KRPQ-FM, and copies of the band’s gigs at Mario’s. Also, fans were able to get their hands on the tarot-card-sized pictures of the posters from KRPQ’s Official Partners marketing campaign, and copies of the cards had been illegally mass produced and shared among UB and Dannie fans almost like baseball cards. And with the release of the Blumenfeld catalogues, especially Blumenfled’s YA catalogue, some inventive fans clipped or scanned the pictures and made cards of them, similar to the KRPQ tarot picture cards.

Among the girls, they copied Dannie’s signature red hair, with the hair combed back except for bangs hanging (barely) over one eye, and the bangles with the scarves. And all of the outfits of the girls in the band became instant hits in Japanese fashion, especially among Dannie fans. As for the outfits of the two guys in the band, they were equally as popular and lots of men copied them. In fact, there was currently a resurgence in tie-dyed shirts in Tokyo, and it was spreading to the other big cities.

As Japanese teens were apt to do, Dannie’s and the band’s fans became quite obsessed, and a new kind of Otaku was born, called Danni-Ota or Danni Otaku.

I told all of this to the others, especially to Danny, and it was like a lightbulb went off above her head, and she understood the offer from that Japanese TV program. Of course, they’d want to interview Dannie.

 
***** (Tracey) *****

I met with Danny and Danielle in our favorite Italian restaurant after school, this time my treat (care of my mom). Joanne and (surprisingly) Dale prevailed on our friends not to join us, saying that a forty-thousand dollar payday was a big deal, and they couldn’t mess it up for Danny. Nikki also made her excuses - she didn’t insist that she join us in the meeting. Confidentially, Danny told us she wanted her to join us, but she understood Nikki’s position – if she joined us, the rest of the group would resent her for it.

Anyway, as usual, we got the important part of the meeting done – the food, heehee. With these two, food’s always important. As usual, the twins ordered their usual large double-order of whatever, but for me, I ordered my usual half-order of angel hair spaghetti with meatballs, a sugar-free Italian soda, and a small sugar-free strawberry gelato: now that I had a boyfriend, I’ve become careful of my weight since people transitioning who are on hormones tend to gain weight. I’ve even joined Jerry and Mel on their Sunday morning runs to get more healthy.

As usual, the by-play between the twins was fun to watch. These two gave as good as they got, but they never took things personally. Clearly, these two loved each other.

As usual, even with my relatively small meal, these two finished in a photo-finish with me.

I ordered another Italian soda, and the twins ordered Italian sodas as well, and we started our discussion.

I brought out my laptop while Danny and Danielle brought out their new tablets: Danny’s had several stickers on the back as well as a big “Dannie” emblazoned it, while Danielle’s was plain in its original chrome. I also know Danny had another one with a black color wrap – the tablet meant for Robin.

They also had new smartphones and laptops in similar colors, and Danielle was the one who selected them: for her “Daniel” devices, Danielle selected a high-end Samsung Android phone and a big HP laptop in their original colors and casings (in keeping with Danny’s nerd vibe), Danny’s “Dannie” devices were an iPhone in a pink case and a tiny Lenovo “2-in-1” laptop in similar colors, and his “Robin” devices being a no-nonsense black iPhone and a black mid-sized “traveler” laptop. They also had brand-new AT&T cellphone numbers with unlimited monthly call and data plans, in what are called “vanity” numbers. Apparently, you could pay extra and select your own numbers, so, naturally, they picked New York numbers (for business purposes). “Danielle’s” number was +1-646-326-4353 (or 646-DANIELE) while “Dannie’s” was +1-646-326-6433 (or 646-DannieF), while “Robin’s” was +1-646-762-4600 (or 646-ROBIN00). Naturally, Danny had “Dannie’s” and “Robin’s” devices while Danielle had “Daniel’s.”

I was also told that Danny also got them two AT&T “mifis” (mobile hotspot routers) plus VPN accounts just in case they need to log into apps and etcetera.

It wasn’t completely foolproof, Danny said, but it was better than nothing, and was good enough to obfuscate their identities for most situations.

- - - - -

So, anyway, Danielle shared the email from Bonbon with Danny and I (I couldn’t stop from giggling every time Danielle said “bonbon”), and we thought that the offer was more than good, although Danny and I brought up the idea that some questions should be off the table in the interview, like Dannie’s full name and her hometown, or to bring up Daniel (the story being Daniel’s effectivity as her manager would be affected), and Robin (as their “feud” might affect Robin’s & Dannie’s work and career). Other than that, Dannie should have the option of not answering questions that she’s not comfortable with.

I was trying to find some synergies that could be brought up and get some good exposure for KRPQ, and Danny thought of a simulcast. She jumped onto her “Dannie tablet” and did some computations. Dammit, “his!”

“I just checked,” Danny said, “and ‘Choshoku No Bonbon’” (Danielle and I giggled) “airs eight PM in Tokyo Mondays to Saturdays, so, if you arrange it so that the interview is aired on their Saturday program, then that means KRPQ can simulcast it on Robin’s timeslot.”

“Hmmm…” I said, as if I was thinking it over, although I was practically jumping up and down inside.

Danny gave me a smirking look. “You don’t fool me, girl,” she said. I gave her a razzberry.

So Danielle emailed them back as “Daniel,” and we were surprised they sent a reply in fifteen minutes. They said they were agreeable to our new conditions and raised the fee to ¥7,470,000, or $50,000.00. They also gave us a phone number we could call back on and said we could call them on that number anytime. They did say they needed to have a definite answer by next week since they needed to make arrangements…

Clearly, they thought these were negotiation ploys and were behaving as if we were haggling. So we decided to think of any other issues we might have, bring them up now and get this over with, and after twenty minutes more of discussion, Danielle called the number, putting the call on speaker phone. She also switched on the recording app (“just in case,” she said).

“Ohayogozaimasu, Fujinet Terebidesu,” someone answered. Dono yo ni otetsudai sa sete itadakemasu ka?”

“Ahhh, good evening,” Danielle said hesitantly in her best Daniel voice. “This is Daniel Fairchild. I would like to speak to Masahiro Ikuhara, please.”

“Oh! Ikuhara Masahiro-san? Denwa o tenso shimasunode omachi kudasa.”

“Domo arigato,” Danielle said awkwardly.

“What did he say?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” Danielle said, “but who cares what he said?”

“FujiNet TV, good morning,” someone said in a very accented but perfectly understandable English. “This is the office of Mr. Masahiro Ikuhara. How may I help you?”

“Good evening. My name is Daniel Fairchild and I am calling with regards an email I received from Mr. Ikuhura, regarding Ms Dannie Fairchild and the program, ummm, ‘Choshoku No Bonbon.’”

“Oh! I see. Please hold.”

After a moment, a girl picked up, this one with a better accent.

“Good evening, Mr. Fairchild,” she said. “My name is Kanai. I am Mr. Ikuhura’s English translator. Ikuhura-san is on the line at the moment, please consider that you are speaking to him directly.”

“Thank you, Ms Kanai. Please greet Mr. Ikuhura for us, and please extend to him our apologies for calling so early.”

Kanai clearly relayed our message, and Mr. Ikuhura replied in Japanese, with Kanai translating almost simultaneously, like one sees on TV.

“Ikuhura-san says it’s not a problem, and he is very pleased that you got back to us so promptly. Is Dannie-san there as well?”

“Yes, Ms Kanai,” Danny responded in her best Dannie voice, “I am here. Good evening to you and Ikuhura-san.”

Kanai relayed that and Mr. Ikuhura responded, care of Kanai.

“Hello, Ms Dannie! I am so pleased to speak with you and Daniel-san. I am a big fan. How may I be of service?”

“Sir,” Danielle said as Daniel, “we are calling with regards your email about Dannie being interviewed by your Ms Aisa Sato on your program, Choshoku No Bonbon. Please know that Dannie is inclined to agree with your proposal, under the conditions that we discussed via email.”

“That is wonderful news!” Mr. Ikuhura said, care of Kanai. “May we send a contract for your signature then, and we can coordinate the details for the interview later?”

“That’s fine, sir. May we ask that the contract be in English so that we will not have any misunderstandings about the particulars of the contract?”

“That will not be an issue.”

“We’re also saying that our father needs to sign the contract as well, since neither Dannie nor I am old enough to sign a legally binding contract yet.”

There was a pause.

“Pardon me, Daniel-san?”

“Yes, sir. Dannie and I are not old enough to sign contracts on our own yet. So our father needs to sign the contract as well to make it a legally binding contract. You can verify that, sir. We can wait for an email from you later as you verify things…”

“Wait, wait! Hold on.”

“Okay, sir.”

In the background, we hear a boisterous discussion between Ikuhura-san, Kania, and several others. But in a few minutes, they were back.

“Well, that seems to be a fine arrangement, Daniel-san,” Ikuhura-san said, care of Kanai. “May we send you a draft contact then? My people will probably take half an hour to prepare it and email it to you. Would that be acceptable?”

“Perfectly so, sir, but I doubt we can respond as promptly. We have to review it, along with our father. Our father takes a while with these things. He’s a lawyer, and you know how lawyers can be…”

We heard Ikuhura-san laugh uproariously in the background.

“Ummm… I hope I didn’t say anything to offend…” Danielle said.

“Not at all, Daniel-san,” Ikuhunra said. “I am currently with my lawyers that are managing Choshoku No Bonbon. And they are all looking chagrined.”

“Oh.” We all laughed.

“Please tell your staff we sincerely apologize, sir.”

“Not at all, watashi no musuko! My people have a good sense of humor. In any case, you will get the draft, and I hope you, Dannie-san and your father are all well, and we will speak later. You have made my morning, shin'ainaru musuko yo. Goodbye!”

“Thank you, sir. And good night to you and Kanai.”

And then they hung up.

“Well,” I said, “I think that went well!”

 
***** (Danny) *****

After we had reviewed it and Dad had approved it, we sent it back with Dad’s and my signatures. In a few days, a signed and notarized copy was sent back, although the notary was a Japanese one, but Dad said that was totally fine.

So It was agreed that the interview would be in a month, on a Saturday. It would be live and therefore it’ll be around 5:45AM, and would air around 6AM, or 8PM in Japan. They specified a studio somewhere in New York and we wondered why New York, and I remembered our new cellphone numbers… which were New York numbers… Dammit! Why did we have to pick New York numbers?

Tracey was grateful for the one month, though, and it would allow her to lobby FujiNet TV to allow them to simulcast the interview on KRPQ. Mrs. P insisted that one of her VPs take care of it, though, since if it were her negotiating, she’d be at a disadvantage because she wasn’t a man. It would be even worse if Tracey would be the one since, besides being female, she was too young, and if it became known that she was transgender, too, it would be disastrous…

In any case, her VP got the deal at no cost at all, although, they insisted on one of their producer-directors to do the production, so all we really needed to do was to air it. We had to give them pre-recorded voice clips to use before and after commercials, thought, and the theme music tracks and the intro and extro. They gave us exact lengths for everything and Tracey provided them. She asked me to make the voice-over clips in my best Robin announcer voice, and we had to redo them over and over again so that it’d fit the timing Bonbon specified. We did, however, have a contract that insured all materials provided them will be destroyed and not used after the production, and that KRPQ would have full rights to the show that was produced, with FujiNet TV having the option of first refusal, and the right to use the show or parts of it, with KRPQ’s full veto authority. And so on and so forth…

Truth was, Mrs. P said it was totally to KRPQ’s advantage, because FujiNet really wanted the simulcast to happen, but they didn’t want us to mess it up, so just like typical Japanese, they “offered” to do it all for us. On our side, Tracey worked on pre-recording the commercials we had to broadcast, and we had to fill the breaks according to the lengths they wanted, so Tracey followed their specifications: Tracey provided several commercial clips according to the specifications they specified, in the order our advertisers preferred, with Danny as Robin filling in any voice-overs.

So, in the end, we were all set, and we just had to wait for them to come. The one thing we needed to do was to keep it completely confidential. It was Tracey’s idea that no one should know about it at all, except for Mrs. P, of course, and the guys. No one else in the station will know. The main reason was, we wanted to keep Janet in the dark, and stop her from messing things up. In fact, no one knew where the venue was – even the gang. The only ones who knew were the ones who needed to know.

 
***** (Tracey) *****

On the day of the simulcast, I arrived at the station very early, like 5AM. Danny, Nikki and Danielle told me they were already at the studio, and were hobnobbing with the Japanese and having a quick snack, and then Danny will be having her makeup done in a while.

As for me, at around five-thirty, I signalled through the booth’s window, and caught Lou Jefferson’s eye. He was playing a song at the moment, so it was safe for me to go in the booth. He unlocked the door.

“What’s up Trace?” Lou said.

“Hey, Lou,” I said. “On your next commercial break, Instead of the scheduled commercials, I need you to read this on-air. It’s real, and Mom’s approved it. If it’s not, you can blame me.” I handed over the sheet I had in my hand.

“Nahh,” he said, “I trust you.” He took the sheet and read it. He looked at me. “This is for real?”

“For real.”

He shrugged. “Okay.”

I went to the facing booth, the so-called production booth, and got ready. Nothing to it, really. At exactly five-thirty AM, I used the computer desktop in the booth and logged onto the app that they specified. I then plugged in the computer’s audio output into my board, and at exactly six AM, I was to zero out the audio from the booth, and then put the output from the computer’s audio to the maximum. And then I just stick around and make sure nothing happens. I told the FujiNet people that the computer was grounded and there was definitely no static in the computer’s audio output as well as in the patch cord. So I was confident.

“Okay, folks,” Lou said on his last commercial break, “Robin’s producer, Tracey, handed me a late announcement. I’m sorry, guys, but Robin’s show is pre-empted. In its place is a simulcast of FujiNet TV’s interview of Dannie from the up-and-coming band, Unlimited Bandwidth. The TV show, Bonbons for Breakfast, a very popular TV interview show in Japan, and they will be dedicating their Saturday evening show – Saturday morning for us – to an interview of Dannie of Unlimited Bandwidth. Their English-speaking host, Aisa Sato, will be interviewing Dannie, and it’ll be simulcast here on KRPQ radio. So, with that, I will be signing off, and, after this next song, stand by for Robin, and Ms Aisa Sato and her interview of Unlimited Bandwidth’s Dannie!”

A classic song from Journey started to play, and Lou started getting ready to leave. I went into his booth and thanked him, acknowledging that he had turned over the booth to me.

For me, I just waited for Six AM, and though there was a little bit left of the song, I faded it to zero, locked Lou’s board down, and then locked his booth’s door open. I then rushed back to my booth, locked the door and turned on the speakers in the booth to KRPQ’s broadcast.

I then brought out the snack I brought, and settled down to listen.

 
***** (Nikki) *****

We arrived at The Apollo Sounstage at the Apollo Theater on West 125th Street in New York for the interview. The venue was rented out, often to TV productions and crews from time to time. So FujiNet was able to rent a broadcast-quality studio-style venue.

As we arrived, they were taking out all the visible signages from the stage, and they had started to change the color lighting scheme from generic dinner-style lighting to Choshoku No Bonbon’s standard blue theme. They then put up props and other things, including a board with Bonbon’s logo just at the back and to the right of the stage.

We had about thirty minutes for a quick chit-chat with Bonbon’s very pretty host, Aisa Sato. She was in a very beautiful kimono, and was fully in-character as Bonbon’s bubbly host. Danny had changed into his sexy new Blumenfeld dress, and deliberately avoided the bangs-over-one-eye and the bangles at the wrists. The director was a bit disappointed by that, but he let it pass. They asked who I was and I explained that I was Dannie’s dresser. They nodded in acceptance, and just asked that I remain quiet and stay out of the way during the three-hour interview. I wasn’t offended – Danielle was told the same thing.

The venue’s seating was arranged theater-style, and dozens and dozens and dozens of people came in, what we supposed were going to be our “studio audience.” They saw Aisa and Danny, and they waved enthusiastically.

Aisa and Dannie sat down to have their makeups done, and both were given very restrained but very pretty styles. Aisa and Danny waved at the audience.

As they stood, Aisa was handed a prop microphone - the overhead boom mics were more than enough, but Aisa was known to use a handheld mic hence the prop. She and Dannie stood on their marks and Aisa chatted with Danny a little bit to put him at ease.

And then, in the overhead speakers, we heard Choshoku No Bonbon’s peppy theme song, and the audience applauded. Aisa started her spiel.

 
***** (Aisa) *****

Apparently, it was not exaggeration – Dannie was indeed a gorgeous girl, even more than any American celebrity I had ever met. And you can tell she was all natural – no surgery, I mean. It seemed to me, many Americans have had surgery, but Dannie doesn’t feel like she’d had any. If she did, she had a very good surgeon and avoided the pitfall of overdoing things… But, like I said, I don’t think she had any done. I’ve seen enough celebrities to know, I think.

When I saw my director gesture, I knew it was time to start.

“Minasan, konbanwa!” I said. “The program for tonight’s Saturday show will be a little different. It's in English!” (There was some canned booing.)

I made a patting gesture. “But, wait, wait!” I pointed up to some imaginary overhead speakers. “As you can hear, the program is being dubbed! That means, everyone will not have any problems.

“There is a reason for this – actually, two: the first reason is that tonight’s program is being simulcast on American radio, specifically on radio station KRPQ - both on their AM talk station and their FM music station. Everyone say ‘hi’ to our American friends!” There was canned cheering, and the audience cheered as well.

“Just to let you know, the famous radio host, Ms. Robin Tibbles, has given up her radio program for tonight, or this morning for her. ‘Gomen'nasai, Robin-san, anata no rajio bangumi o sakidori shite shimaimashita.’” I bowed low towards the camera, in thanks to Robin.

“The second reason is because of our special guest, which I know everyone is waiting for. Just to let you know, tonight is a special three-hour live show! So sit back and enjoy my interview with the famous American singer and fashion model, Ms Dannie Fairchild!”

The lovely Dannie Fairchild stepped into the shot, waving at the camera and Bonbon’s viewers, and then to our studio audience, and then to our studio audience.

I bowed to Dannie, but, instead of Dannie bowing as well, she waited a beat for me to straighten up again, and she reached out and hugged me!

Needless to say, I was a little shocked and a bit scandalized, but she was American, after all. Also, somehow, her hug was not an ordinary hug, and I didn’t feel any kind of awkwardness about it. I actually liked it. I liked it a lot - for some reason, a kind of electricity shot through me, almost like an orgasm! Yabai! But I’m sure that was just my imagination…

Seeing my somewhat shocked expression, she stopped. “Oh, no! Hontoni gomen'nasai, Aisa-san! I didn’t…”

I shook my head and reached for her hand. “Oh, you have nothing to apologize for, Dannie-san. I am flattered. Thank you.” I reached forward and gave her a hug as well. I shivered a little bit as another, though much milder, electric thrill went through me again. Yabai!

I cleared my throat, shook myself a little bit, and continued on with the interview.

“Welcome to Choshoku No Bonbon,” Dannie-san. I am so pleased to welcome you.”

“Thank you, Aisa-san,” Dannie said. “Good evening, everyone! … or I should I say, good morning!” She giggled. “Do you know, it’s just past Six AM Saturday morning?”

“Yes, indeed,” I replied. “You must have woken up so early!”

“Yes, but that’s fine. I hope I look all right.”

“You look very pretty.” And she blushed. Heehee.

“Thank you so much…”

“Did you know that you have a lot of fans?”

“In Japan? Well, no, I’m afraid not…”

“Yes! There are what are called Danni Otaku, most of them in Tokyo.”

“What does… ’otaku?’ - what does that mean?”

“I believe it translates to, ummm, an enthusiast or a big fan. A fanatic, actually.”

Dannie gave me a look. “Ahhh…”

“Maybe we can show you some of your fans?”

“Yes, please, thank you.”

“Can we roll the clip?” I asked, and my director waved to someone off-stage. We looked at the big monitor-slash-screen right behind us on stage.

After that countdown timer thing that one sees at the beginning of a video, what followed was about a ten-minute clip (maybe longer) of various Dannie fans in what was probably somewhere near Akihabara Station. Although most otaku that hung out in Akihabara were anime otaku searching for rare anime figurines and such, lots of “idol otaku” also hang around in the Akihabara district, or what most just call Akiba. And Dannie Otaku qualify as Idol Otaku, I guess.

In the clip, we saw several girls who were obviously fans of Dannie. They were dressed in various versions of Dannie’s outfits during the KRPQ launch concert and the Evolution concert, plus the outfits that Dannie wore during her band’s gigs at Mario’s – that restaurant-club that UB sang at on Friday evenings. Most of these girls also wore bangles with silk scarves tied to them, plus most of them sported hair dyed orange, with bangs hanging over one eye, and the other side clipped back or combed back. Many of them carried guitars in colors similar to the ones that Dannie had, with other fans dressed as the other girls from the band. They also wore the outfits of the other girls in the band, and they carried guitars as well, except for a few that were more like fans of Betsy Haley, and therefore carried violins instead.

There were also a few male fans, and these mostly wore outfits that the two male members of UB wore – the most popular being the tie-dyed t-shirts that they wore that one time. One of the bigger groups of male fans were those of the drummer, Mongo. In fact, there were more fans of Mongo than the other members of the band. Except for Dannie, of course.

Truth be told, I was also a fan of Dannie’s, but I wasn’t too extreme a fan to qualify as an Otaku.

As we watched the clip, I couldn’t help but notice Dannie’s reaction. I wouldn’t say “shocked” but she clearly couldn’t believe the impact she had in Japan.

When some of the fans in the film saw our crew filming them, they started aping Dannie and the other band members, singing (mostly off-key, I’m afraid), or making believe they were playing guitars or violins or portable pianos, or air-drumming. Most of them were more into the outfits, although the more popular otaku were the ones that could actually play the guitar. I did a continuous monologue describing the video clip, in behalf of the audience of KRPQ who weren’t seeing the video.

“My goodness,” Dannie said, in awed tones. “Mongo and Dale and the girls need to see this…” she said to herself.

I giggled. “Yes, they do. And, this, Dannie-san are some of them.” I gestured to the audience, and all of them stood and cheered.

 
***** (Tracey) *****

Like everyone, I was glued to the radio, listening to Danny expertly handle herself in the interview on Japanese TV. My mom’s VP had already called Japan FujiNet TV, and made a bid to air the Bonbon episode on KRPX simulcast on KRPQ, but the one with the English voice-over. And the producers had readily agreed, asking for 40% of the advertising revenue. 40% was pretty steep, but then it was their program. The details were still to be ironed out, but it had to be fairly soon. Perhaps two Saturdays from now at the latest, otherwise we’d lose the impact of the show.

As I was listening, the security guard from the lobby called.

“Good morning, Ms Piper, this is the lobby guard. I just want to let you know that girl you warned us about - she got passed us here at the security desk.”

“Was it the girl in the picture that I gave…”

“Yes, ma’am. It’s the same girl.” Ohmigod… Janet… “I’ve called the police already and they’re on their way now, and some of my guys are on their way up. Please let your security people there know, and I suggest you lock your doors. My people will be upstairs in about five minutes.”

“Thank you. Please hurry.” I hung up and locked the lobby doors – actually, all the doors. I locked the announcer’s booth, while I locked myself in the production booth. Janet’s back… Oh, no… I couldn’t pay attention to the program anymore as I waited for Janet’s arrival. And I was all alone, too. It was a Saturday morning, after all.

In a minute or so, I heard someone pounding on the glass lobby door.

“Goddammit, open the door!” Janet yelled. “Tracey Piper, I can see you! Open the fucking door!”

I shook my head no in fear, but she continued to pound on the door. I could see her through the glass. She was disheveled and it was like she hadn’t slept in days – black circles under her eyes, a wild expression on her face, and her hair was stringy and oily and dirty, like she hadn’t had a shower in weeks.

In frustration, she yelled a berserker yell. She picked up the fire extinguisher in the hallway and heaved it through the glass door. The glass broke into a hundred shards, and she stepped into the office.

Our security guard, Goodwin, came out, baton raised, and was about to give Janet the business, but she threw the fire extinguisher at him and knocked him out completely.

She then walked to the production booth and tried to do the same thing to the booth’s window: she picked up another fire extinguisher and she tried to heave it through the window, but it was extra strong. Sure, it cracked, and it broke into spiderwebs in places, but it remained intact.

“Dammit!” she screamed.

“What do you want?” I said.

“Tell me where Danny is!” She pounded on the glass with her fist. “Tell me!” The glass started to get stained with her knuckles’ blood, but she continued pounding on it.

I shook in fear and grabbed the Taser from the control table’s drawer.

“Stay away, Janet!”

“Tell me where Danny is!” she yelled again.

“No!”

Two guards from downstairs busted in, and the lead one fired his Taser. Janet shook in electric shock, screaming, and then fell down. The guard yelled through the glass. “Are you okay, miss?”

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m okay. But you guys should take a look at Goodwin.”

“Who’s Goodwin?”

“He’s one of our guards. He’s over by the lobby door, unconscious.”

As they were talking to me, Janet, incredibly, got up. She punched one of the guys in the face, knocking him down, and she escaped back into the lobby.

“Dammit!” the remaining guard said. He checked his partner. “Out cold, but he’s okay,” he said, and ran after Janet in pursuit…

 
***** (Aisa) *****

“So, let’s talk about the rest of the band,” I said. “There’s Dale, your lead male vocal and bass guitar player, Mongo on drums, and your second male vocalist – well, everyone on the band’s a vocalist, right?”

“Yes.”

“There’s Janet on rhythm guitar, June on the keyboard, Betsy, your violinist, and your newest member, Fallon, also on rhythm guitar, while you are lead vocals and rhythm.”

“That’s correct, Aisa.”

“We don’t see Janet around anymore. Has she quit the band?”

“Ah, no. Janet has taken a leave from the band for personal reasons.”

“I hope she’s all right?”

“Before she left, she was taking some business classes and some acting lessons. I guess she’s thinking of becoming an actress.”

“She’ll do well.”

Dannie crossed her fingers. “Let’s hope.”

“Tell us how the band got together.”

“Well, I wasn’t part of the original band. The original band got it’s start with Janet and June. They were friends and classmates in high school, getting together with ideas of becoming the new hit girl band, like the Bangles or the Go-Gos of the eighties. They needed more members so they got Mongo to play the drums, and recruited Dale, Mongo’s friend to do bass.

“After graduating high school, they decided to take a year off to try and make it as a band. They thought they were missing something, and they decided to recruit a new member to be second rhythm and vocals. Which was me...”

“I hear that they actually held auditions at Mario’s?” I faced the camera. “Mario’s is a restaurant where the band plays one night a week,” I said to the invisible audience, “and it’s become a very popular place, thanks to the band.”

Dannie giggled prettily. “Yes, they did. My friends and I saw their flyers pinned to the bulletin board in school, and because of my friend Mike, I got egged on to audition.”

“Yes?”

“Yeah. I got to meet the band, and, wonder of wonders, they decided to pick me!”

“And the rest is history?”

Dannie shrugged and giggled again.

“Were you into guitars and singing before joining the band?”

“I knew how to play the guitar, but I learned on my own. And I thought I sounded good when I sang. But I didn’t really think I could be good enough to be part of a band. But it turned out the guys liked me enough that they got me. Later, I found out that I had ‘perfect pitch,’ which was pretty good for the band since tuning up was always a problem before. With me around, it was a lot easier. Heheheh.”

“That really is a wonderful thing.”

“Thank you very much,” she giggled.

“A lot of fans have questions about Janet.”

She sighed. “I understand that. Truth be told, we were all surprised. She didn’t give us any warning at all when she decided to leave the band. Before she did, though, like I said, Janet had been taking acting and business lessons. So we can only assume she’s pushing on with that.”

“You are keeping touch with her?”

“Unfortunately, we’ve lost touch with her. Not for any lack of trying. But Janet has kept away.”

“That’s too bad. Have you had a falling out?”

“I won’t hide it. We’ve had arguments, which is inevitable when you have strong personalities in the group, and Janet has her own ideas about what the band should be doing. As do many of the other members. But that’s the way it often is in life. I hope that if Janet’s having problems, though - I hope she knows we’re here for her.”

I nodded. “That’s wonderful to hear.”

“You have to be there for your friends,” Dannie said.

“Indeed,” I agreed. “Well, how about your newer band mates, Betsy and Fallon? How did they become members?”

“Betsy was a classmate of mine. She was also a violin player, and Janet had the idea of including her in the band because of her skills, and the fact that we didn’t know many good musicians that were girls. Betsy came ready-made to be part of Unlimited Bandwidth. As for Fallon, well she’s someone I knew from school as well, and since we needed a pinch-hitter to sub for Janet after her sudden departure, I asked the band if they’d consider Fallon. Fallon actually auditioned to be part of the band!”

“Auditioned?”

“Well… maybe not - it was an informal thing, where she played in front of the band during one of our get-togethers. Unlike me, where I formally auditioned. I’m sure everyone knows that already…”

“Please tell us anyway.”

“Well, my friends and I were just screw… I mean playing around in school, like I said, and my friend Mike was questioning my guitar skills. He dared me to audition for the band. He actually bet me, that I won’t pass the auditions, and of course, you can’t let that pass, so I called him on it. I mean he called me fumble fingers and a chicken!”

I laughed.

“The auditions were held over at Mario’s,” she continued - “the restaurant where the band had a weekly gig. The auditions, were tough, so I had to find a gimmick to stand out from all the others!” She giggled.

“So what did you do?”

“Well all the others auditioning were in typical audition outfits, from grunge to glam rock, to straight-up black leather heavy-metal. The few girls that auditioned were in nineties-style girl pop. So I tried my, ummm, brother’s advice: I wore a plaid shirt, but not baggy - more snug. Underneath was just a plain white t-shirt, tucked into a pair of old faded straight-cut denim jeans with torn knees and construction boots.” Dannie was very animated when she was talking, and she made her stories very interesting.

“I told Daniel I looked like a nerd,” she said, “but he explained that was the whole point – the attention will be on my singing and playing and not on how I looked.”

“Well, I don’t know – I think you’d look cute in an outfit like that.”

She looked at me, and then leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek!

“Thank you Aisa,” she said. It made me blush.

I shook myself a little bit, and tried to keep my mind on the show.

“What did you end up singing?”

“I let the band pick the songs, and ended up singing ‘Mother, We Just Can’t Get Enough’ by The New Radicals, and 'Everywhere,' by Michelle Branch. That got me through the audition. But the band also got me to sing an old eighties song - 'Love Touch,' by Rod Stewart. Excuse me! I mean Sir Rod Stewart." She giggled. “Apparently, Dale, our bass player, was a big Rod Stewart fan.”

“I really wish you can sing those songs tonight, but we can’t. Still,” I turned to the camera. “My friends, Dannie and I have a surprise for you tonight – Dannie will be singing later. It would be nice if we could have the rest of the band here as well, but that’s not possible, so we did the next best thing. But we’ll reserve our surprise for later. So please stay tuned!”

 
***** (Nikki) *****

The idea of Danny singing in the show was brought up in the exchange of emails with FujiNet, and the band offered to play, but the FujiNet people said that wasn’t possible as they didn’t have a budget for the band. Danielle explained that the band was offering to do it for free, but Ikuhura-san said that was not the Japanese way. Also, they contacted the Evolution Concert people and if the band were to play in Bonbon, they said that Unlimited Bandwidth could be disqualified from the Evolution contest. However, if only Dannie played and sang live, and the rest were pre-recorded, then the Evolution people would give the band a pass – that was what Aisa said was their “surprise” – Danny singing live, but her band being in the background, in a pre-recorded video.

I felt my phone vibrate – it was in silent mode, and Danielle and I were in the area marked safe (marked by a striped black-and-yellow line) and any calls or texts that came in won’t affect the program’s recording-slash-transmission.

“Hello?” I whispered, and it was Betsy on the line. Apparently, Betsy said, someone visited the station, and caused a lot of havoc – that someone was named “Janet…”

I listened, and I was glad no one was hurt, but Tracey was pretty traumatized. It was good that Mike was there, and he took it upon himself to get Tracey calmed down. Her mom heard that Janet caused some trouble, but she was in Seattle at the moment doing some work for PiperCorp. The guys, including Tracey, decided to downplay the whole thing to her mom for the moment, and wait for us to come back, and then we can decide how to tell Mrs. P. Because if we told her without any filter, she was liable to fly off the handle.

Betsy will also be telling Danielle, but we were not to tell Danny anything until after the show, otherwise it might ruin his interview. She asked me to pass the phone to Danielle, which I did, and went back to the edge of the marker and continued watching the interview. Janet, I thought…

 
***** (Danny) *****

I liked Aisa a lot. She was smart, professional, and knew just how to get her subjects talking. Plus, she was very cute (of course, I won’t tell Nikki that heehee). She was wearing a very beautiful flowered kimono while I was wearing one of my new Blumenfeld outfits. It was a showcase of East versus West kind of thing, and I think it made the show double-nice. Aisa was very complimentary about me, and I have to be honest, I was very flattered by the nice words and the attention.

She asked again me how Betsy became part of the band, and I told her it was the band’s idea.

“The band was looking for a kind of gimmick for our gigs at Mario’s and someone – I can’t remember who – thought to include Betsy and her violin - if she agreed to do it, of course. And Betsy’s sound, and Betsy herself, gelled with the band very well, indeed. So the gimmick became something integral to the band. Truth was, we were all set to have Betsy as part of our number at the Evolution concert, but Betsy had a family thing that she couldn’t get out of, so we struggled along in the concert without her.”

“Well, you still won without Betsy and her violin.”

I shrugged. “Well, yes,” I said, “but can you imagine it if Betsy was with us?”

Aisa nodded.

“All right,” she said. “Tell us about Fallon. How did she become a part of the band.”

“Well… when Janet suddenly left, the band was affected. Janet was one of our lead vocals and was the other rhythm guitar, so there was a big hole in the band’s lineup. We were desperate to fill it quickly, but was also conscious that our new bandmate should have the chops, and that she should gel with the band, just like Betsy. I suggested a friend of mine who I knew to be a friendly girl who sings great and could read music. It was great when we found out that she was also trained in classical guitar. The problem was we were getting overfilled with redheads!”

Aisa laughed.

“But as you see, Fallon more than earned her place in the band. We also cleared it up with the Evolution people and Fallon’s becoming part of the band was not going to affect our standing in the contest.”

“What about Janet?”

“Well… if Janet should want to come back, she is most welcome, which was also okay with the Evolution people, but the band needed to go on, and this was the only way.”

“I understand. Are you still friends with Janet?”

“Well, of course! But we haven’t really had much contact with her for a while now…”

“We’re sorry to hear that.”

I shrugged.

“Well!” she said. “We also heard that you have just become one of Blumenfeld Fashions’ newest models.”

I laughed. “I was wondering when you’d bring that up.” I shrugged. “It’s a new thing.”

“Why did Blumenfeld make you one of its models?”

“According to them, they saw my picture in KRPQ’s Partners Program advertisements, and they said they wanted me in their fashion catalogues for this year. They thought I had the right look for their YA fashion line.”

“YA?”

“Young Adult line – you know, their fashion line for older teens and young adults. Well, girls, actually: Blumenfeld only makes clothes for girls and women.”

“I understand your friend, Ms Robin Tibbles, the DJ from KRPQ, was also selected by Blumenfeld as well?”

Oh, no… There it is… What to I do now?

“Dannie?”

“Well… Robin is my friend. She did a couple of programs on the radio about the band, and we were both drafted for that KRPQ Partners Program. My understanding was that Blumenfeld actually saw her first there, and she was offered a job as a model for their young professionals fashion line first, and it was her that recommended me to Blumenfeld.”

“Well… isn’t that a good thing?”

“She and I have had a falling out. You know how it is. I don’t blame her, and she doesn’t blame me, either. But it’s irreconcilable at the moment.”

“Would it be all right if…”

“I can’t really say what it was about. Robin is a good person, and I like her a lot, but many of our points of view are opposites of each other.”

Is it really bad?”

“Like I said, it’s irreconcilable at the moment. In fact, we can’t be on photo shoots and fashion events at the same time. It’s our way of keeping the peace.”

“That’s so sad.”

I shrugged. “It’s all right, Aisa. We’ll get over it eventually. In the meantime, I’d like everyone to keep on listening to her Saturday shows on the radio. They’re pretty good. Trust me.”

She looked at me with dawning respect.

“You know, when my producer had a meeting with Miss Tibbles, she told him much the same thing. She said that you and your band were pretty great, and that she said she was a great fan. You seem to be friends.”

“Robin and I are pretty close, in fact.” I smiled.

“Well, then, I hope that your troubles are resolved soon.”

“Thank you.”

She reached my hand. “No, Dannie – I am sincere. I can see how you feel about this. I sincerely wish that you get your friend back.”

I was touched. I leaned forward and hugged her. I know hugging was not a Japanese thing, but I’m not Japanese. Lol.

- - - - -

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Aisa said, “this was a wonderful evening. Please join me in thanking the beautiful, charming and talented Ms Dannie Fairchild. But before we say goodbye, Dannie-san will be singing a few songs for all of us, accompanied by her friends from her band, Unlimited Bandwidth. We have talked with the people from the Evolution Concert, and they said that the band can’t appear in our show because of the rules of their contest. However, according to the rules, the band can actually appear, but not live - just pre-recorded. So, here is Ms Dannie Fairchild, as she sings, almost live, with her friends via videotape.”

I looked down and saw the mark I was told to stand on and faced the audience. In front of me was a small monitor, and that showed a shot of me on-stage but mirrored or reversed: that is, I would see my left arm on the right, and my right on the left. I've seen this before - it was how weather reporters saw their images on monitors so they wouldn't be too confused when they make gestures at their weather maps. Aisa went to me and handed me a wired mic.

I saw on the monitor that a video of June Bright, our keyboardist was projected to the screen on the back of the stage. She sat in what looked like a shiny-black baby piano. She was wearing a long, black formal cocktail-style dress, and she was projected to the right of me (or the left of my monitor). Our violinist, Betsy Haley, also appeared, similarly projected, but to my left (or on the rignt in the monitor). She was also wearing a formal dress, but white this time. She had her violin with her.

The effect on TV was that I was flanked by June to my right and Betsy to my left. The people in the studio cheered upon seeing June and Betsy, and they quieted down as they prepared to listen to our song.

We agreed on playing “Somewhere Only We Know” the 2004 hit by the Sussex band, Keane, but the cover we were singing was Lily Allen’s 1013 version from the ad from John Lewis.

Betsy began with a plaintive note from her violin. And then I sang, accompanying June’s ethereal piano playing. “I walked across an empty land,” I sang, “I knew the pathway like the back of my hand. I felt the earth beneath my feet, sat by the river and it made me complete. Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? I’m getting tired and I need someone to rely on.”

I paused a tiny, tiny bit, punctuated by Betsy’s violin, and continued on. “I came across a fallen tree. I felt the branches of it looking at me. Is this the place we used to love. Is this the place that I’ve been dreaming of? Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? I’m getting old and I need something to rely on.”

In the distant background, I could hear Mongo do a muted crescendo on his drums, and I sang the lonely refrain.

“And if you have a minute, why don’t we go… Talk about it, somewhere only we know… This could be the end of everything so why don’t we go somewhere only we know… somewhere only we know…”

I looked to the audience and I could see many of the crying silently. With a kind of ending denouement on the piano, courtesy of June, it sounded like the end of the song, but June continued her playing, and Betsy accompanied her.

“Ahhhh…” I sang in accompaniment. “Ahhhh…

“Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?,” I sang. “I’m getting old and I need someone to rely on. So tell me when you’re gonna let me in. I’m getting tired and I need somewhere to begin…”

And Mongo, unseen, again did a quiet crescendo. “And if you have a minute, why don’t we go… Talk about it, somewhere only we know… ‘cause this could be the end of everything. S o why don’t we go somewhere only we know… somewhere only we know…”

And as the final notes faded away, the applause rained down on me and the pre-recorded June and Betsy. The two faded away, leaving me to take the applause.

I looked into the audience, and though they were all Japanese, the sentiment of the song was universal it didn’t matter that they were Japanese. Music was truly universal.

I decided to change it up, and decided to play a brighter and more upbeat song, this time from Australia. I knew something like this might be needed, and signalled the director, as per agreement, that I wanted to play the fourth song that we had prepared – a song called “Play That, Keith” (in reference to the Australian pop icon, Keith Urban), composed and sung the New Zealand country pop singer Kaylee Bell.

Aisa saw the director’s signal and handed me my guitar. And the entire band this time magically appeared in the screen behind me.

As Mongo counted us in with a regular beat, and Dale played bass and June accompanied us on the keyboards, I sang.

“I remember we were somewhere in your car,” I sang with a country western drawl. “Yeah, I fell fast when you stole my heart… That long, hot summer that I can’t forget - I was hanging of every single word you said.”

I sang the refrain. “Had summer on the speakers out on the road - a little KU on the radio; hands out the window, sun sinking low, singing raise ‘em up, baby woah!

“I know those days go by, it wasn’t wasted time. Had a little bit of everything, making memories of you and me. Yeah, back when we were us, once in a lifetime love - can’t help but think of you; hope you think of me when you play that Keith... when you play that, Keith…

“Every kiss the perfect melody,” I sang, again to the main melody, “we went zero to crazy, baby, on repeat. Stuck in my head like my favorite song - yeah, never knew something so good could last so long…”

And then the refrain again: “I know those days go by, it wasn’t wasted time. Had a little bit of everything, making memories of you and me. Yeah, back when we were us, once in a lifetime love - can’t help but think of you; hope you think of me when you play that, Keith…

In the background, Dale and Fallon sang: “Turn it up, turn it up now; Turn it up, turn it up loud…”

And then me again – “hope you think of me like I think of you when you play that, Keith…”

I then played an an extended little bridge on my guitar, and then I had to sing again.

“… had summer on the speakers out on the road, a little KU on the radio, hands out the window, sun sinking low, singing raise ‘em up, baby woah!”

And then another refrain: “I know those days go by, it wasn’t wasted time. Had a little bit of everything, and you said that I look good in your shirt. Yeah, back when we were us, once in a lifetime love - can’t help but think of you; hope you think of me when you play that, Keith…

“Turn it up, turn it up now; Turn it up, turn it up loud; hope you think of me like I think of you when you play that, Keith. When somebody like you loved somebody like me - yeah, it sure feels good, baby, to play that, Keith.” We ended the song abruptly and the audience went delirious.

We would have taken bows as we usually did, but it was just me this time, and I made do with waving at the camera and at the studio audience.

I let the applause die down and smiled again. “In behalf of Unlimited Bandwidth, Domo arigato.” And I bowed and my Japanese audience went wild.

“Our last song for this morning is a song that I am dedicating my Mhamo from Ireland. Her name’s Rosemary, and she is the matriarch of Clan O’Caiside, our family in Belfast. I love you, Mhamo.”

Again, the entire band was on the screen again. And Mongo played us in again, and we started playing the first notes of the song “Who I am,” by Danielle Bradberry.

“If I live to be a hundred,” I sang, “and never see the seven wonders, that’ll be all right…

“If I don’t make it to the big leagues; if I never win a Grammy, I’m gonna be just fine… ‘cause I know exactly who I am…”

I then raised my singing voice. “I am Rosemary’s granddaughter, the spitting image of my father, and when the day is done, my mama’s still my biggest fan…

“Sometimes I’m clueless and I’m clumsy but I’ve got friends that love me, and they know just where I stand - it’s all a part of me - that’s who I am…”

I sang the second refrain. “So when I make a big mistake - when I fall flat on my face, I know I’ll be all right…

“Should my tender heart be broken, I will cry those teardrops knowing I will be just fine… ‘cause nothing changes who I am.”

I raised my voice again. “I am Rosemary’s granddaughter, the spitting image of my father, and when the day is done, my mama’s still my biggest fan…

“Sometimes I’m clueless and I’m clumsy but I’ve got friends that love me, and they know just where I stand - It’s all a part of me - that’s who I am…”

And it was the big finish. “I’m a singer, I’m a sinner! I’m a loser, I’m a winner! I’m steady and unstable…
I’m young but I am able…”

And I did the refrain again in a slight, hushed downbeat… “I am Rosemary’s granddaughter, the spitting image of my father, and when the day is done, my mama’s still my biggest fan…

“Sometimes I’m clueless and I’m clumsy but I’ve got friends that love me, and they know just where I stand, It’s all a part of me - that’s who I am - that’s who I am!”

And we ended on a high.

I waved to everyone, and waited for the music and the emotion and the excitement to fade.

to be continued...

 

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