Chapter 10

After meeting with various professionals and other musicians with home studios, hiring contractors and choosing everything from equipment to carpeting to wall panels for sound proofing, the studio was complete.

The windows were coated with a think tinting, so that the musicians and producers inside wouldn’t have to think about all the fun they could be having out in the sunshine, or swimming in the pool, and certainly not think about how late the night was getting as they worked for hours and hours on one song. The walls were covered with a padded foam material, which was a shade of dark red. It looked like someone had painted the walls with a glass of red wine, before placing abstract shaped pillows on the walls. The lights were thought up by Jean Marie. She had been playing around with a string of Christmas lights in the baby nursery one day, and had tossed them under the dresser while looking for an outlet. When she plugged the lights in, she noticed how they created an interesting effect with the shape of the dresser. So, in the studio, there was a cornice in the ceiling, and recessed into this was a string of lights. It made the ceiling look like it was suspended over the room, appearing disconnected from the walls. The carpeting was black which made it appear less worn and abused than it was. Furnishings were placed to allow people to listen to the music in the sound booth – a large chenille sofa and a lounge chair that was actually a rocking chair were behind the sound editor’s board. The musicians had wooden stools to sit on, if they needed to. All the sound equipment and recording equipment was bought through suggestions by the other musicians.

Frank had also heard about this project of Charlie’s through the grape vine. He had called Charlie up a few weeks after he found out.

“Hey Charlie – I hear you’re going to open a private recording label!”

“Aw, well, not a label – just building a recording studio. You heard about that?”

“Yeah, I was working on some paper work at the old label and someone mentioned to me that they were going to suggest to Charlie Clark that he use a soundboard that they liked. So, is it finished yet, or did you just start?”

“Well, we’re all finished actually.”

“Have you made any hits with it yet?”

“In due time, I’m sure. You should stop by and check it out, if you’d like.”

“Are you sure?” Frank had heard about his blow-up with Terry and knew that he hadn’t talked with any of the other band members since he was thrown out. “I wouldn’t be imposing?”

“Nah, it’s alright. Come on by this Friday or Saturday – you’ve got some time?”

“Ok, I’ll come by Saturday. Say hi to Jean Marie for me.”

Charlie told Jean Marie about the impending visit, and wanted to ask her if she thought they should tell Frank about the baby.

“I don’t think it would hurt anything, do you Charlie?”

“Well, you’re not really looking pregnant yet. We could wait until it was more obvious if you’d like.”

“Do you think it matters to tell him? Are you still upset with Frank?”

“I don’t think I am upset with him still, but there is a part of me that doesn’t want to forgive him, you know?”

“Well, perhaps we should wait until a little later when things have settled down for sure between you two. You do think things will settle down, don’t you.”

“We’ll see what happens on Saturday.


Frank came over bearing a basket of fruit for Charlie and Jean Marie. “My mother always told me never to visit someone empty handed!” he said, handing the basket to Jean Marie as she let him in the door.

“Please come in. Thank you,” she said to him. “Charlie’s in the living room right now, just over there.” She pointed down the hallway towards that room.

“I can hear him in there, watching the TV, huh? Hey Charlie!” He shouted across the hall as he made his way towards him. “How are you doing?”

Charlie stood up from the couch and walked towards Frank. “Hey man, long time no see.”
“Yeah – you’re looking really healthy, old man. I haven’t seen you since you had the bandages taken off. How are you feeling?”

“You really want to know, Frank?”

Jean Marie heard this and decided to make her way upstairs, to let these men have out with their past and hopefully move on with their lives. She said a silent prayer that things would go smoothly, and that Frank would understand how hurt Charlie was.

“Let’s sit down, Charlie. Let’s have a chat.”

“Well, Frank,” they both sat down in unison, Charlie on the sofa, and Frank sitting to his left on the love seat. “I have to say, the whole business with Terry taking over my spot in the band, that was real crappy.”

“Well, you're still getting royalty checks, right?”

“Yes, they are still coming. But, Frank, why did this happen? You know, Terry tried to call here a couple of months ago, but I just couldn’t listen to that asshole.”

“I know, he told me. Well, I was hoping to get to talk to you about this sooner than now,” Frank leaned back into the cushions, as he was trying to stay relaxed before telling Charlie all the gory details of what transpired without his knowledge. “You know, I want to tell you first off that I am sorry that things happened the way they did. I didn’t ever think that something like this would happen to Accelerator, and certainly not with you laid up in a hospital bed.”

“Yeah, well that makes two of us.”

“The guys, I don’t know. I think seeing you and Sheila get into that fight after the show really made them think that you were going to get rid of her. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I think you know how Sheila was making everyone feel on edge and at war with each other, especially with you.”

“She certainly was not a diplomat. I know. That’s what the fight was about actually.”

“So why didn’t you leave her then?”

“Oh, come on Frank. You knew what kind of hold she had over me. Especially back then on that tour. Things were such a mess with me and the other guys, it was like she was the only one who would talk to me after the shows. I wasn’t gonna just ditch her out of popular opinion.”

“I know, I get it. Well, looks like you’ve changed your mind about that now, with Jean Marie in your life.”

“Yeah, I think the divorce papers are being delivered to Sheila on Monday. Shouldn’t be a big surprise for her. She actually had her lawyer over here right after we got back from the hospital, to talk about getting a divorce.”

“Wow, that’s one way to welcome you home.”

“No kidding. That’s after I got the boot from the band, to get back to the subject.”

“Oh, yes. Well, so when you and Terry had your fight at the restaurant that night, I think Terry had it in his mind to either quit the band after the tour, or after the next show.”

“What a guy,” Charlie said, rubbing his hand over his shoulder.

“I know, he really screwed with you, too. At the hospital, after you came through and we knew you had a lot of healing ahead of you, I was panicking about the tour. Sheila and I were both. The promoters were calling us, then calling the label. And the label was calling us. Everyone was threatening everyone else. It was just ridiculous.”

“I see. A bloodbath.”

“Well, then Tim mentioned that if we didn’t finish the tour, we’d all be financially wrecked. And Terry suggested going on without you.”

There was a long few seconds of silence. Charlie was staring out the back door, looking at the water shining in the pool, refracting the sun on its surface. Frank was staring at his shoes. Finally he said, “It was all just a big snowball. Once we hit the road, Terry’s head grew bigger and bigger, if you can imagine that, and he just steamrolled the rest of the band into deciding to leave you out for good.”
“And what did you think of that?”

“I knew the fans wouldn’t like it, and I knew you would be devastated. I knew it was a bad idea. But with all three of them agreeing, and still selling out the shows, what could I do?”

“You could have stopped them, you know that.” Charlie turned to give Frank a stare.
“You know you could have stopped them."

Frank sighed. “I know Charlie, I know I let you down. I don’t feel good about it, and I am sorry,” he was looking right back at Charlie’s glare. “I am really, really sorry about it all. If it makes you feel any better, the new album is sinking out there. No one is buying it, except for the novelty factor, you know?”

Charlie nodded to this. “Well, I can’t say life has totally screwed me over. I’m healthy now, and I have Jean Marie and the new studio.”

“I hear you’re getting a lot of work in, too. I heard what you did with J.B. and with the B.E.B guys. It’s all really great stuff, Charlie.”

“Thanks.”

“Can you show me the studio?”

“Yeah, let’s take a tour.”

Charlie stood up and Frank walked behind him out to the patio. Charlie explained about the dark windows, and Frank nodded in agreement. They walked in and Frank inspected the sound board.

“This is really nice, Charlie. How many channels?”

“40. And what’s really neat is that you can save up to 90 scenes in its memory. Very cool.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Very cool.” Frank stopped and plopped down into the sofa. “This is nice. Did Jean Marie pick it out?”

“Nope, this is all my vision. Except the lights – she had the idea for that. Pretty nice, huh?”

“Ingenious,” Frank said, looking up to the ceiling.

“So, how are things going then? Are you two looking to get hitched sometime soon?”

“Well I am expecting her to get the papers soon, and after that Jean Marie and I can think about making our plans. We don’t want to get too wrapped up in things before they’re at least a little bit solid, you know?”

“I hear you. I’m sure Sheila will be professional about it all – I mean, I hope she will be.”

“Me too.”

They walked back out to the patio and sat down beside the pool.

“Let me just stick my feet in here, Charlie,” Frank said, as he took off his shoes and socks, and rolled his pant legs up.

“That’s fine with me – I‘ll join you,” and Charlie did the same.

“There’s something else I didn’t tell you earlier. Some news I just got a couple of weeks ago, that I’m pretty sure you didn’t hear about yet,” Frank said.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s about Terry.”

“No, haven’t heard anything about him lately. I basically told him never to call me again last time he tried. What’s the news about?”

“Well,” Frank swung his legs in the water, making swirls and pools around his calves.

“It’s not good.”

“Oh, just say it already man,” Charlie was tired of Frank’s pausing and thought he was being dramatic.

“Fine. Terry has cancer. Of the stomach.”

Charlie froze, and Frank turned to look at him.

“He found out about it three months ago, and his doctors think he’s going to go pretty quick.”

“What did you just say?”

Frank pulled his legs out of the pool and swung himself to look at Charlie.
“Terry has cancer and is going to die soon.”

"I can’t – I can’t believe it.”

“I know. I mean, I knew he couldn’t be doing himself any favors with the way he drinks and lives, but cancer?”

“Wow, stomach cancer. That’s terrible.” Charlie was completely stunned. It was as if the full weight of his body was coming to rest on him, and he thought he would fall into the pool. He scooted himself back from the edge and leaned on the palms of his hands. “You said he found out three months ago?”

“Yup, that’s what he told me.”

“So that’s probably why he called me. I thought he just wanted to wave his success in my face. What an idiot!” Charlie shook his head. “I can’t believe I told him never to call me again.”

“Don’t be mad at yourself, you didn’t know what he was going to say to you. I would have been angry too, if I were you.”

They sat there, beside the pool, for another twenty minutes. Nothing was said between them, as they just were quietly thinking about Terry and this lot in his life.
Finally Charlie said, “I did not think I would care about him like this, after what he did to me. But I guess I still think of him as one of my friends.”

“I think he wants to be friends again with you, Charlie. Maybe you guys should talk again?”

“Could you swing that by him, man? See what he thinks about it? I can just see him getting mad back at me and cussing me out on the phone. No – I want to see him. No phone calls, will you tell him that?”

“Yeah, sure – first thing tomorrow morning, ok?”

“Yeah, that’s great. I don’t want to try to get him to apologize to me, so tell him that. I just want us to get back to being normal with each other. I think that would be good, don’t you?”

“I think so, too, Charlie.”

Just then, Jean Marie walked out to find the two men. “Here you are. I thought you’d both taken off for Shanghai, you’d been gone for so long!”

“Hey stranger,” Charlie said to her. He got up from the pool and walked over to her, giving her a hug and a kiss. “No, we were just catching up on things.”

“Oh, good.”

“Yeah – well, now that that’s done, I guess I should just take off now,” Frank said.

“Oh, why don’t you stick around for dinner. I think we should order some food in for the night, and maybe we can eat outside – it’s so lovely out here today.”

“Sounds good to me, Frank. Come on!”

“Alright, you twisted my arm. You can tell me some more about the songs you’re working on. If you ever need representation, you know who to talk to Charlie.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure I’ll get a good deal on it too, right Frank?”