Sorry for the short chapter this week, but I've been super busy again. I'm going to get a little break this coming week and I'll hopefully get a chance to write some more on my nights off. Let me know how the story's going so far, I'd really like some feedback! Enjoy! :)
"Micky, come on and wake up! We need to get practicing before we have to leave!"
Davy's voice roused Micky from his nightmare-riddled slumber and the curly-headed boy slowly dragged himself out of bed to find that the room was empty once Davy had walked out of it. Micky glanced at the alarm clock next to his bed and saw that it was already after ten in the morning. He fumbled to pull on some clean clothes and then slid down the stair railing to see that the other three Monkees were already tuning up their instruments for a last minute practice before Jeannie sent for them and their things.
"Glad you decided to join us." Mike said to him with a weary smirk. He thumbed over his shoulder at the kitchen table where a few pancakes and strips of bacon were waiting on a plate for him. "You kinda missed breakfast, but I guess you can heat it up once we practice a few songs."
"Thanks…" Micky said, shoving his fingers into his hair to try and calm it down to its usual curliness. He took his seat behind his drums and picked up his sticks carefully, his terrifying dreams from the night before still vivid in his mind. He played around on his drumheads for a few minutes as the other three boys warmed up their voices and instruments for their quick practice.
"I thought love was only true in fairy tales…" Micky started to sing as his bandmates struck up the beginning of one of their favorite songs. Before they could reach the last chorus, they were interrupted by a sharp knock on their door.
"Hold on second, guys…" Mike said as he broke off the last chord on his guitar. He unplugged it from the amp beside him and crossed the room anxiously to answer the door.
"Gee…if that's Jeannie already sending for us…" Davy murmured glancing down at his watch. "She's a little early…it's not quite 11 yet. Didn't she say noon?"
"If I remember right, yeah." Micky said, biting his lip worriedly. Mike threw one last glance over his shoulder at his bandmates and then opened the door.
"Oh, hello Mr. Babbit…would you like to come in?" Mike asked, his voice instantly turning higher pitched and involuntarily innocent. The Monkees' landlord pushed himself into the boy's pad and looked down his nose at where the other three teens were in their places with their instruments.
"Little early to be practicing, isn't it, boys?" He asked skeptically. "Business picking up again?"
"Uh…well, not exactly…" Mike said from the man's left. Mr. Babbit raised an eyebrow at the nervous boy and crossed his arms in front of his chest critically.
"Oh no?" He said. Mike looked at the ground and scratched his ear as he fumbled for a response.
"We've just got a small gig this afternoon…it's nothing major, just a little something a friend cooked up for us." Micky said softly. Mr. Babbit swung his gaze over to the drummer and sniffed.
"Well that's just wonderful, isn't it?" He said, his voice dripping slightly with sarcasm. "Where is this gig going to be?"
"Oh well, we don't exactly…"
"It's down the beach. You know, that little place over a few miles that way…" Micky pointed, interrupting Mike.
"Lots of people…" Davy added, nodding casually.
"Oh really?" Mr. Babbit said, eyeing each of the boys questioningly. "A buddy of mine owns a place down that way, what did you say it was called?"
"It's not the one you're thinking of..." Micky started quickly, his improvisation skills instantly leaping into action. "It's…someplace new."
"Yeah, we hadn't even heard of it before yesterday." Mike said seriously. Mr. Babbit's eyebrows knit together in thought. His gaze darted between each of the boys as they spoke, and finally he shook his head with a smirk.
"You kids don't have anything planned, do you?"
"No, we do…I know it sounds like we don't, but we really do…" Micky said, trailing off.
"Would we be rehearsing if we didn't?" Davy argued with a slight pout.
"Right." Mr. Babbit said, his smirk etched deeply into his face.
"Uh, hello? Is this where we pick up some Monkees?"
The four boys all turned to see a newcomer standing in the open doorway, a short man in vintage looking Arabian clothing. He smiled sheepishly at the confused expressions that faced him.
"Who are you?" Mr. Babbit asked for the boys. The man stood up straighter and bowed slightly forward.
"My name is Adiba and I am here to take the Monkees to their party." He said, once he had finished his polite bow.
"Oh, Jeannie sent you?" Mike asked, relieved at not having to answer to any more of their landlord's bombardment. The costumed man nodded once more with a polite smile.
"We'll be right out!" Peter called to him excitedly, turning to begin putting his guitar in the case by his side. Adiba nodded and then turned to leave the boys to their hurried packing. Mr. Babbit was silent for a moment as the Monkees ignored his presence in the haste of gathering their instruments and equipment.
"Well uh…Maybe now you'll be able to catch up a bit on your rent payments." He finally said, a dumbfounded look replacing the scowl on his face.
"Yeah, well, we really appreciate the loan you've been giving us these past few weeks, Mr. Babbit." Davy said, trying to get on the landlord's good side.
"No one else would be as generous as you've been toward us. You're a really good guy, caring about our situation and all." Peter added with a wide smile. Mr. Babbit raised his usual snarl upward into a half smirk.
"Yeah, yeah…" He said. "Just hope it goes well for you boys. I'll expect to hear all about it when you bring me my check over the weekend."
The boys all smiled sheepishly at the man as he gave a little wave and let himself out, Mike following close behind him. As soon as the door closed behind him, Mike leaned against it and stared his fellow bandmates down with a worried expression.
"We've really gotta put our all into the performance this afternoon, guys." He said seriously.
"You know we will." Micky said as he clicked his drum case shut. "We always put our heart into everything."
"Would you be needing any assistance, Monkees?" Adiba asked, peeking into the pad once the landlord had left.
"Oh…sure, man. Here, these are ready to go, I think." Mike said, handing both his and Peter's guitar cases to the waiting man. "Hey, that's a neat costume you have on there. I'm guessing the party is Arabian Nights themed again tonight?"
"Oh…yes sir." The man said with a wink, bowing absently as he took the heavy guitar cases from the taller boy.
"Cool!" Peter said. "This reminds me of the time you were going to marry that princess, Davy!"
"Yeah…" Davy said, shaking his head at the memory. "I didn't really like the fact that, like any other adventure we've had, the relatives just wanted to have us all killed, though."
"Hey, we've already established that this isn't going to turn out to be one of those things! Don't worry!" Micky said, clapping a hand on the shorter boy's shoulder as he passed by carrying two of his drums in their cases. As he turned his back on the other three boys to follow Adiba out to the waiting car, his hopeful smile faded slightly as he recalled the worries that had caused his nightmare the night before. He had only a few seconds to dwell on it before he rounded the corner and could see the form of their transportation.
A large extravagantly decorated wagon sat before him with two large horses standing impatiently tethered to a nearby street sign. Adiba was just stepping down from placing their guitar cases in the back and he laughed joyfully as he noticed Micky's stunned reaction. He met Micky and took his drums from him with a knowing smirk.
"Jeannie said you would be surprised!" He laughed, nudging Micky out of his daze.
"Hey Micky, do you want to bring these new drumsticks just in case, or are you…oh, wow…." Davy said, stopping as he reached Micky's side. The two horses whinnied and stomped impatiently, giving off a light tinkling noise from the golden bells that lined their halters. They both even turned to see Davy as the shorter boy immediately walked over to them. Adiba laughed at the boy's reaction and began telling him about the animals as Micky turned back to quickly retreat into the Monkees' pad.
"Uh…Mike…?" Micky said, trying to once more shake himself out of his stunned daze.
"Yeah, Mick? You almost ready?" Mike replied, lifting his amp into his arms with a grunt.
"She sent a horse-drawn carriage for us."
"A what?" Mike followed Micky as he beckoned him outside to see where Davy was still in deep conversation with Adiba about the horses. Mike set his amp down on the sidewalk outside and put his hands on his hips thoughtfully.
"Don't you think this is pretty realistic for a party?" Micky asked him. Mike shrugged after a moment and then stooped to pick up the amp and head for the wagon.
"If Jeannie's friend has enough money for an extravagant party and details like this, then surely there will be a large crowd there!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right, but…" Micky trailed off hesitantly, watching as Mike headed towards the driver and Davy who seemed to be in the process of talking Adiba into letting him ride one of the horses.
"Man, we didn't get to rehearse for the rehearsal! We'd better get going, Micky!" Peter said as he rushed past the drummer carrying a microphone stand under each of his arms. Micky stood where he was for another few moments, pondering the thoughts that were overloading his mind.
"Well…what if this actually does turn into one of those things?" Micky murmured under his breath worriedly.
As the carriage rolled to a slow halt on the side of the street a mile or so down the beach, the four Monkees looked around in confusion.
"Hey, Adiba? Where are we?" Davy asked skeptically as he looked around at the busy section of town where a large hotel and trinket shops were lining the street.
"This is where Miss Jeannie instructed me to bring you all." Adiba said cheerfully. He leapt down from his driver's seat and grabbed for the horses' reins.
"There's Jeannie!" Peter said, pointing in relief at where a bright flash of pink had appeared from the side of the hotel. She was grinning from ear to ear as she skipped over to meet them.
Oh good, you're all here!" Jeannie exclaimed as the four Monkees hopped down from Abida's wagon, catching interested glances from the few people by on the streets. Jeannie leapt forward and hugged each of them excitedly as Adiba began to move the boy's instruments and equipment down to the sidewalk from the gold – rimmed wagon.
"Yeah, here we are! Hey…uh that was a really nice ride you got us…where did you come up with…?" Micky started to ask, but Jeannie immediately turned her head and gestured for the boys to follow her back the way she had come.
"We must get you all set up! Come with me!" Jeannie said quickly. Micky and Mike glanced at each other in surprise before looking back to where Adiba had hopped back down from the wagon where he had stacked the boy's equipment neatly on the sidewalk. The man waved them onward with a large smile.
"I will take care of this, don't worry!" He said. The boy's hurried to follow the excited blonde, and as they rounded to building they found a beach access point trailing down the side of the hotel.
"We're performing on the beach…" Davy said in awe as the boys struggled to keep Jeannie's pink form in their sights from where she was hurrying down the path.
"I've always wanted to do that!" Peter added.
"What's that?" Mike asked, squinting as they finally had a clear view of the beach and ocean.
A huge, brightly colored tent took up several yards of the upper side of the beach, and the place was already surrounded with people, all in costumes that went along with the party's Arabian Nights theme. The four boys paused at the sight, seeing animals, colors and smelling the delicious food coming from inside the place.
"This isn't just some little costume party…" Mike said slowly.
"No…no it's not…" Micky said, hugging his arms to himself as his nerves welled up once more.
"Will you silly boys hurry? There's so much I want to show you before we get you set up!" Jeannie called from the end of the beach ramp, her hands on her hips teasingly. The Monkees all resumed jogging down towards her where she laughed at their overwhelmed expressions.
"Jeannie, you really went out of your way to do all this…are you sure we're the kinda band you need for this?" Mike asked her. Jeannie giggled.
"Of course! This is all yours! Now come on, so I can give you the grand tour!"
Jeannie whirled around as she led the boys to the large brightly colored tent, and halted as two uniformed men emerged from the interior.
"Oh no…Mr. Babbit called ahead of us! He's already sent the army after us to get our rent money for the past few months!" Mike said dramatically to the other three boys. They hung back warily as Jeannie met the two men.
"You all must be the Monkees…" The taller man said as he stepped forward to offer the boys his hand in greeting. Micky hesitantly reached out to shake the man's hand and smiled at him nervously.
"Yes sir…" He said. The man nodded curtly with a smile and gestured to his side where Jeannie was beaming at the boy's reactions.
"Jeannie's told us a lot about you boys. I'm Major Anthony Nelson and this is Major Roger Healey. It's nice to finally meet you. Jeannie's been very excited about this."
"Yeah…we can tell." Mike said as he too shook Tony's hand, slightly less on edge.
"This is really amazing…" Davy said, gesturing around at the grand location of their party. "How long have you been having parties like this?"
"Oh, um…not until just recently." Roger said with a smile.
"Yes, we're not from around here." Tony added. Jeannie grinned up at him widely as the four boys looked at the three people in front of them suddenly wary once again.
"You're…not?" Micky asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, we're just visiting. We're from Cocoa Beach." Tony added quickly.
"Oh wow, so you're a long way from home." Mike said, interested. Jeannie giggled and gestured around to the crowd of animals and handlers and cooks and staff all in costume.
"Well for tonight, we're all a long way from home! Now let's hurry up and give you a tour of the place so we can get started!"