NOTE: This is just pointless filler that I thought was a good idea at first. You can skip this if you want.
My father has read some of the postcards I sent him throughout my adventures and is delighted I made it back to New York in one piece. However, I never told him of my ghost powers, or even my personal gitaroo. There are some things that should be kept from parents.
In the meantime, I got a letter from Nashville, asking me to perform on the Grand Old Opry. Naturally, I accepted. It felt good to get away from it all.
Danny and Dani, who were back from his grandpa, asked if they could tag along, and I said sure (I had two extra train tickets on me). We had lunch at a Chipotle, then got on the outbound Amtrack for Nashville.
"How was grandpa?" I asked when the train left the station.
"He was fine," said Danny "I told him about my fame as a musician-thanks to you, and he's looking foward to meeting you."
"Did you tell him about...uh...you know..."
"I did, actually. He didn't take it well. He blamed it on Dad's obsession with ghosts. For the rest of the day, I heard him curse under his breath."
"Was he suprised to meet your clone?"
"Who? Me?" asked Dani.
Danny nodded. "Yeah. He blamed it on Dad again. But Dad had nothing to do with Dani. I mean, it was a bad guy who created her!"
"I see. Who did you say your grandpa looked like again?"
"Jerry Stiller."
"Okay."
Now the train was within the Kentucky boundries.
"It's sorta chilly outside," exclaimed Danny, "What month is it?"
"October."
Then, after a while...
"Hey, how's Teriyaki Yoko?"
"Oh, she's been pregnant for like, three months now. She's been rubbing her belly a lot when she's laying down on the bed. I think she's looking foward to being a mother."
"Does she have any experience?"
"No, but I have. Back in Rodneytown, there was an incident that turned Lammy and Rammy into babies, and I got some experience out of that."
"So what's Yoko going to do?"
"Well, she was thinking of turning them back into babies, and I was thinking of getting her a Baby Born..."
"And?"
"She lost to me in rock-paper-scissors. I got her the Baby Born."
We all fell asleep for a while. Later, I felt a vibration from my iPod Touch(?). It was an Email from Egg-yolk. Danny woke up to take a look with me.
"Now what's she up to?" he asked.
"Well, I told her that there was more to fashion than that one dress that she always wears, so she decided to take action and go searching for new clothes. Looks like she took some pictures and wants me to decide which are the best ones."
I scrolled through the five pictures she sent. Two of them looked good on her, but the other three? They just seemed so...unright for her image.
In the first one, she was dressed up like a Woodstock-era hippie. I found it hard to imagine her in something like that, let alone a human/bug hybrid in general.
In another one, she was in a grey dress with a large hole for her growing belly, and a sign that read "BABY ON BOARD". I have to remind her that she still has to wear the clothes she buys even after she gives birth.
Then I found a picture of her wearing MY clothes. Why that little...
One phone vibration later, and she sent a picture of her in a new nightgown, and a pretty good nightgown too.
The train continued southward to Tennessee. We came up with plans on how we were going to present ourselves on the Grand Old Opry. We considered a revival of "The Danny Phantom Band", but we felt it wouldn't be the same without a drummer or Sam on electric guitar. So we scrapped that. Our final plan was to go out with me on guitars and banjos, and billing ourselves "Danny, Tom, and Dani."
"Why 'Danny, Tom, and Dani'?" asked Dani.
"It's like saying 'Peter, Paul, and Mary'." I explained, reminding them both of my folk roots.
And so we arrived in Nashville at dusk. At street level stood a guy dressed in black, in front of a limosine. The guy was holding a sign that read 'Thomas Fay'. 'He must be the driver the Grand Old Opry hired', I thought.
On the drive to the hotel, I took notice of a couple of junkyards with used cars for sale. I started thinking about getting a car of my own, maybe a vintage New York-loyal car, maybe like a Checker. Oh well-I'll keep dreaming.
Speaking of nostalgia, that got me thinking, next time we're in Tennessee, we should visit Graceland.
And so we arrive at the hotel. Not an anthro in signet. Feels good to get away from all.
When we got to our room, I turned on the TV. A movie on the Newport Folk Festival 1962-67 was playing. We all slouched on our beds watch. After all, Danny and Dani needed a bit of folk background before we started doing some classic folk tunes on the Opry tomorrow.
The next morning, we worked on our setlist. Danny bought with him a second guitar, but he knew he was better on piano. So I said he could just do the basic chords, while I handled the more sophisticated bits. We settled on "Come and Go With Me", "If I Had a Hammer", and of course "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
A limousine arrived just as we got out the main door. We all climbed in, and were taken to the Opry. We climbed onto the stage and played our songs. Everybody in the barn was dancing along to the little hootenanny we got going. All and all, it was a great show.
There wasn't really much to go on about what happened afterward. Basically, we just checked out and split back for New York. But what was really awesome about this little excursion was that we played the Grand Old Opry.