The next day, the Pussycats and their friends went back to Mr. Barricks's club, and set up their gear on the bandstand, ready to audition for him again.
"We got a keyboardist, Mr. Barricks," Melody said.
"All right, then," Mr. Barricks said. "Let's see what you kids sound like now."
"Okay, girls, let's hit it," Josie said. "And a one, and a two . . . ."
Like at their last audition for Mr. Barricks, the Pussycats played "Roadrunner." This time, though, Mr. Barricks smiled. He began applauding once they were finished.
"This is exactly what I'm looking for!" he shouted. "You girls have got the job! I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Thanks, Mr. Barricks!" Josie shouted.
"Hmph," Alexandra grumbled.
Saturday night, Josie and the Pussycats were a big hit with the crowd. Several club patrons had heard the Pussycats before, and they all thought the addition of a keyboardist was great. When the gig was over, Alan, Alex, Alexandra, and Sebastian met the girls backstage.
"You girls sounded great!" Alan shouted.
"Yeah, that keyboard really helps the sound," Alex said.
"It helps them sound worse," Alexandra said.
"Oh really, Alexandra!" Josie shouted. "I think Linda really adds something to the group."
"Sure," Alexandra said. "An age limit!"
"Age limit?" Alex asked. "What do you mean age limit?"
"You won't be able to book them in certain clubs, Alexander," Alexandra said. "A lot of them are for people eighteen and over, and Linda's only sixteen, remember? They'll never hire them!"
"Oh," Alex said. "Gee, I hadn't thought about that . . . ."
"And you know how uptight Uncle Hank is," Alexandra went on. "You know Linda is her daddy's little girl! There's absolutely no way in the world he's going to let her go on tour with us!"
"I'm still wondering why we even let you tour with us!" Alex shouted, glaring at his sister. "But she does have a point. Uncle Hank definitely wouldn't go for that, especially during the school year."
"Maybe we should take a break from touring," Alan said. "We always seem to land ourselves into trouble when we're on tour, anyway."
"And we could use a break from it," Valerie said. "We could pick it up again during the summer, once school's out."
"But what about the club situation?" Josie asked.
"We could always play at clubs that don't have an age limit," Melody said.
"Good luck finding them," Alexandra said. "There aren't too many around."
"Looks like we're stuck with school dances, sweet sixteen parties, and bar mitzvahs," Alex said. "For awhile, at least."
"Maybe not," Linda said. "I know a place we can play a gig next Friday night. All I have to do is call my boyfriend. I'm sure he'll let us play."
"You have a boyfriend?!" Alexandra shouted. "Ha! I'll believe it when I see it!"
Linda ignored Alexandra, and ran to find a phone. Alexandra folded her arms over her chest, and rolled her eyes. Then she started laughing.
"What's so funny, Alexandra?" Valerie asked.
"The idea of Linda calling up her boyfriend to get us a gig!" Alexandra shouted. "It's probably going to be something really stupid, like a math club meeting or something like that. I can just see what kind of boyfriend Linda would have, too. Probably some nerd with Coke bottle glasses, a nasal voice and a name like Dexter or Sheldon or something."
"It's all set!" Linda shouted, coming back. "I told my boyfriend all about it, and he said we can play. We're not exactly his style, but he said we can play, anyway."
"Great!" Alex shouted.
"I can't wait to see this," Alexandra said, under her breath.
Friday night, the Pussycats and their friends met at the local community center. Several teenagers were already beginning to arrive there. The Pussycats and their friends were standing backstage, getting ready to go on.
"Wow, can you guys imagine this?" Alan asked. "A live gig in front of a ton of kids!"
"And to top it off, it's gonna be broadcasted on the radio!" Josie shouted, excitedly.
"I can hardly wait!" Melody exclaimed, giggling.
"I can't believe you managed to swing this gig, Linda!" Valerie shouted.
"I can't believe it, either," Alexandra said. "How'd a shrinking violet like you managed to pull these kinds of strings, anyway, Linda?"
"Well . . . ." Linda said. Before she could go on, the emcee for the show, Jerry Geeter (one of the city's most popular disc jockeys), came up to the group.
"Hey, cats," he said. "You all ready for the set?"
"We sure are, Mr. Geeter," Josie said.
"Please, don't be so formal!" Jerry shouted. "You guys can call me Jerry."
"We really appreciate this, Mr. Geet . . . . I mean, Jerry," Valerie said. "Linda said her boyfriend managed to set this up for us, and she said our style of music wasn't his thing, and I know it's not necessarily your thing, either, but we really appreciate it."
"If things go well tonight, we could end up with a record deal," Alex said.
"Hmph!" Alexandra groused.
"What's with her?" Jerry asked.
"I'd explain, but it would take too long," Alex said. "Got a couple of hours to spare?"
That crack earned Alex a swat upside the head from Alexandra. Linda sighed, and shook her head.
"Forgive my cousins, Jerry," she said. "They're always taking potshots at each other."
"Yeah, I get it, but I don't think the station manager would like it if the mic picked up their potshots," Jerry said. "Anyway, I gotta split, I'm on the air in a minute. Now what I'm gonna do is play a few records, and then I'll introduce the girls."
"Okay," Josie said. "We'll be ready."
Jerry went out on the stage, and started setting up for his broadcast. The Pussycats were practically beside themselves with excitement. Once they were introduced, they went out on stage, and started playing "Inside, Outside, Upside Down." The crowd was going crazy over it.
"Wow, the Pussycats are really in the groove tonight!" Alex shouted.
"You said it!" Alan agreed.
"Hmph," Alexandra mumbled. "I'll put a stop to this right away."
Alexandra and Sebastian walked away from the group, looking for a way to sabotage the act, right on the air. She spotted it almost immediately. It was a bucket full of water that a janitor had left.
"Here, Sebastian," she said, handing the bucket to her cat. "Take this, and dump it over the girls."
Sebastian took the bucket handle in his mouth, and climbed up the curtain and over the stage. The Pussycats nearing the end of the number, so Sebastian made his move. Unfortunately, he lost his grip on the bucket, and it fell out of his paws. His aim was off, too. The bucket missed the Pussycats completely, and landed directly on Jerry's head, soaking him.
"Hey!" he shouted.
"Oooh, that stupid cat!" Alexandra shouted.
"Jerry, are you all right?" Linda shouted, running over.
"Yeah," Jerry said, removing the bucket. "Just a little waterlogged. Thank goodness I went to a commercial while you were winding up your song.
"Good think you weren't near the turntables," Alan said.
"Yeah, then that would've been a shocking experience!" Alex shouted.
"You said it," Jerry said, wringing out his shirt. "All I want to know is how in the world did . . . ."
The sound of sneaky snickering from the catwalk drew everyone's attention. They looked up, and saw the Pussycats' mischevious little black and white feline mascot sitting up there, snickering his trademark snicker.
"Sebastian!" they all shouted.
"I should've figured," Alex groaned. "My dear sister must've put him up to it again!"
"Again?" Jerry asked. "He's done this before?"
"Only every time we play a gig," Josie sighed. "Of course, it never works."
"Yeah, we're used to it by now," Melody said, then she giggled.
"Alexandra . . . . ." Linda said, trying to sound calm, but the others could tell she wasn't very happy.
"What?" Alexandra asked. She looked over at her cousin, and saw that Linda had an extremely furious look on her face.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" she shouted, and lunged.
"Aaahhh!" Alexandra shouted, and took off running, with Linda in hot pursuit.
"Uh oh, we'd better stop Linda before she catches Alexandra," Valerie said.
"What for?" Alex asked. "I'd kinda like to see what Linda does to her."
"Well the rest of us don't," Alan said. "It might turn ugly."
"Good point," Alex said, and he and the others ran after Linda. They caught up with the two girls just in time to see Linda tackle Alexandra to the floor. That was about as far as she got before Alex pulled his cousin off his sister.
"Okay, Linda, take it easy!" he shouted.
"Let me at her!" Linda shouted. "Just let me at her!"
"Calm down, Linda!" Valerie shouted. "What's gotten you so upset?"
"Yeah, if it's about Alexandra nearly ruining our gig on live radio, it's no big deal," Josie said. "We finished the song before Sebastian dropped that bucket."
"She could've electrocuted Jerry!" Linda shouted. "Nobody does that to my guy and gets away with it!"
"Your guy?" Alexandra asked. "You mean you're telling us . . . . ."
"Yeah," Linda said. "Jerry's my boyfriend. That's how I was able to swing this gig."
Alexandra stared at her cousin in complete shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The others were a little surprised, too.
"You're kidding!" Josie shouted.
"You're putting us on!" Valerie exclaimed.
"No, really," Linda said. "Jerry and I are dating."
"Golly!" Melody shouted.
"Is that even legal?" Alexandra asked. "How old is he?"
"Twenty-one," Linda said.
"Are you nuts?!" Alex shouted. "You're only sixteen!"
"You can't be dating a guy who's twenty-one!" Alexandra shouted
"Come on, cool it, you two!" Alan shouted.
"How can you expect us to cool it?!" Alex shouted. "Our baby cousin is going out with an adult!"
"Alexander, I'm not your baby cousin!" Linda retorted. "I'm only two years younger than you and Alexandra!"
"But you're still just a kid!" Alexandra argued.
"What's going on over here?" Jerry asked, walking toward the group. "If you girls get any louder, you're gonna broadcast this fight coast to coast!"
"Jerry Geeter," Alexandra said, folding her arms over her chest. "A phoney stage name if I ever heard one. What's your real name? Jerry Lee Lewis?"
"Eh?" Jerry asked, giving Alexandra a weird look. "Hey, Lin, what's with your cousin?"
"I told her and the others you were my boyfriend, and she and Alex wigged out," Linda said.
"Oh," Jerry said, nodding. "Ah ha, I see."
"How'd you like to see out of a couple of black eyes?" Alex asked, raising his fist. "Who do you think you are, going out with a sixteen-year-old girl?! Why, I oughta . . . . ."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jerry shouted. "Take it easy, Alex!"
"I'll bet you didn't even know she was sixteen!" Alexandra shouted. "I bet she lied about her age, didn't she?"
"No, I knew she was sixteen," Jerry said. "Listen, kids, I gotta get back on the air in thirty seconds. Stick around until after the set, and we'll talk about this."
"I should hope so!" Alex shouted. "I can't believe this. I just can't believe this!"
"Alex, calm down, will you?" Linda asked.
"Calm down?!" Alex shouted. "You're dating an adult, and you're still a kid, and you expect me to calm down?! Oh boy . . . . if word gets out about this, it's the end for Josie and the Pussycats! Don't you know what kind of scandal this could cause, Linda?!"
Scandal, eh? Alexandra thought. Hmmm, this could work to my advantage.
"Now, now, brother dear," she said out loud. "There's no need to get bent out of shape about it."
"But you were getting bent out of shape about it yourself a minute ago, Alexandra," Valerie pointed out.
"I know, I know," Alexandra said. "But let's be calm about this. Flipping out will not do any good, after all. Now then, here's what I think we should do. After the broadcast, we'll all go over to my place and discuss this, calmly, like adults."
"All right," Alex sighed.
We'll discuss it all right, Alexandra thought. We'll discuss it with Daddy! And once he finds out, he'll call Uncle Hank and Aunt Christine, and then the fireworks begin!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would appreciate any negative comments about the age difference between Jerry and Linda to be kept to yourselves, please.