The next day, like the Phantom promised, Max was asked to perform a whole concert with the songs he did yesterday and the brand-new songs she gave him last night. He was tired, but he knew T-Rax still had to do it. Only this time because he was the star of tonight's concert and it was his first concert, he didn't have to do his janitor work. He gave that job to Clarry because he trusted him enough and it was something for him to try for the first time in his life that wasn't anything to do with dancing. Even though being a janitor wasn't the most exciting job, Clarry was grateful for the job as it helped him prove to the whole world and himself that there was more to him than just a dodgy dancer. And Max was very impressed with his friend's cleaning abilities, but he never had to prove anything to him. He knew Clarry had so much qualities in him; he just lack the opportunities to prove them and Max always tried to help him seize these opportunities as much as he could.
As well as rehearsing for tonight's concert, Max also attended Miss Clarabelle's class today because he was never too proud to learn anything and he did learn new cool moves from her and he promised her that he would use them for tonight's concert, which delighted Miss Clarabelle a great deal. Then she turned to the backup dancers.
"You'd better use those new moves, too!" she warned. "Understand?"
The terrified dancers nodded their heads with fear. "Yes, Miss Clarabelle."
When the time came for him to change for the concert, Max headed for the stadium's biggest dressing room. He bumped into the stadium managers who were very happy because every seat in the stadium, including the suites, had been sold out. Max knew that would be good news for them because all the money they made, but it was very stressful and worrying for him because he had never perform a whole concert in a stadium this massive on his own before and it was a full house. He would have just stood there and let his doubts take over his mind if he didn't remember his motivation: the show must go on. When he went into the dressing room, he was surprised at what he saw: a new outfit for tonight. It was a black t-shirt, a black sleeveless jacket, blue jeans and black boots. On top of the clothes was a note.
It read, 'Excellent performance last night, T-Rax. Break a leg for tonight.'
Oh, well, here goes nothing, Max thought in his head as he put on his outfit and went out to perform.
The first act of the concert was a success. Max used half of the hit songs he used from last night as well as new ones, including You Are My Potion and What's Going to Happen In The Future? He was getting more and more confident about this rock star gig.
Max was enjoying a good rest in the dressing room when there was a knock on the door. The door opened and he saw his dad pop in.
"Oh, Maxie. I know you're restin', but there are some guests who would really like to meet ya. They're from Suite Twelve."
"Okay, Dad. Send them in."
Goofy moved out of the way to let the guests in.
"Hi, Max!"
"Hi, Max!"
Max couldn't believe his eyes. "Hi, Peg. Hi, Pistol." He was delighted to see his two former neighbours. It had been a while since he last saw them which was a couple years ago, but he recognized them. Pistol was fourteen years old and had a long ponytail instead of pigtails like she had when she was younger and the only things different about Peg was that her hair was now wavy blowouts and she was wearing black shoes, black trousers and a purple tank top.
"You were brilliant, Max," Peg said. "Can we still call you that or do you want us to call you T-Rax?"
"Call me whatever you want," Max replied. "I'm cool either way."
"You were awesome last night and you're still awesome tonight," Peg said.
"Thanks, Peg," Max said. "So, how's the pension job coming on?" He remembered that since Peg divorced Pete and she took Pistol with her to Cleveland, she got a job at a pension company.
"It's great," Peg said. "We still have a lot of satisfised customers and I'm enjoying the work."
"And how's school going for you, Pistol?" Max asked.
"She's just started high school," Peg answered. "She's very talented. She's good at sports, acting, art and music."
"You don't sing my praises that often when we're back at home, Mom," Pistol said.
"That's because I'm trying to get you to study harder!" Peg snapped.
"And how's that partner of yours doing, Peg?" Max asked. He remembered that Peg met someone else since she divorced Pete, but he couldn't remember his name or his job. He never even met him in person or at least he couldn't remember if he did. All he could remember was when and why she divorced Pete. Sometime in the summer of 1994, there was a serve warning of burglars invading Spoonerville. When Pete tried to take charge of defending the house, he went to too extreme measures when he bought whole supplies of weapons, bombs and missiles. He told no one about it except Goofy when he caught him. Pete manipulated Goofy into helping him hiding the stuff into his base by saying he was doing it his family and Goofy and his son Max and saying it was worth the fortune he spent on it. The only trouble was that he left one of the fuses that stretched from the basement to the garden and when he went to work the next day, the fuse caught alit from the boiling sunlight. Peg always said that if Goofy hadn't spotted it and didn't warn her and her children about it, they would have been blown up to smithereens like the house and all the possessions in it. The children were very upset about losing their toys, video games and food and Peg was so furious that she had to march all the way to Pete at work on foot because her car had blown up as well. Peg, PJ and Pistol stayed at Goofy and Max's for two weeks, but Pete was not allowed to step in one foot at all. Then one day during those two weeks, she decided that she had enough of Pete. She had put up with his nonsense for more than twenty years but always tried to make it work for them and their kids, but after blowing up the house and nearly killing her and their kids, she felt she couldn't take a step forward with him. She felt better when she divorced him and took Pistol with her to Cleveland, but the only thing she saddened her deeply was that her son PJ couldn't come with them and he had to stay with Pete. He would have come with them if Pete's divorce lawyers didn't manipulate the judge by saying her son would better with his dad than his mom.
"Frank is doing fine," Peg said. "He's managing the pension company very well and he's being a good stepfather to Pistol."
"No, he's not," Pistol said. "And I don't view his own kids as my step siblings."
"Pistol!" Peg warned. Then she turned back to Max. "And he's also a patron to this building. He has been for the last ten years."
"And how proud are you guys of PJ?" Max asked. "A father of two wonderful kids and a sous chef at a Michelin star."
"Oh, haven't you heard, Max?" Peg said. "He's been promoted to head chef."
"Really? Head chef of a Michelin star restaurant. Cool! When?"
"Three days ago," Pistol said.
"I know you don't care about Pete, but has he said congratulations to his son?" Max asked. "In his own way?"
"Yeah, in his own way," Peg said. "Which is nothing! Not even a 'I'm proud of you, Son'!"
Then the door opened. In walked Horace. "T-Rax, this is your fifteen-minute warning before you're back onstage."
"Thank you, Mr. Horsecollar," Max said. Then he got up and he, Peg and Pistol walked out of the dressing room. "Well, it was lovely meeting you all again and I hope I'll see you after the concert again."
"Break a leg," Peg said.
"Bye, Max," Pistol said.
"See you soon, guys." Then Max headed back to the stage while Peg and Pistol went back to Suite Twelve to watch him.
