Our Hearts' Desire (The Monkees Family Vol. 2)

Chapter 3

Micky and Gabby stumbled into the Pad giggling and out of breath from the rush of their grand motorcycle ride. What they found when they entered the rundown beach house was disconcerting to the extreme. Michael was sitting at the kitchen table staring off into space as if he had been lobotomized or struck by lightning and had lost brain function. Micky walked towards him and waved a hand in front of his face, asking "Hey, Mike, what's up? You okay?" but he got no response. He and Gabby exchanged looks of grave concern. Gabby held the back of her hand to Mike's forehead and asked him if he was feeling okay.

He suddenly came to consciousness and then stood up from his chair, took a deep breath and gave an enormous shout: "YEEEHAWWWW!!!!" He looked like a rooster at sunrise, with his chest puffed out and a red face, scraping his boots on the floor like talons.

Micky and Gabby exchanged bewildered and more concerned glances, worried their friend had gone plum loco and despaired of his loss of sanity. Mike grabbed their hands and started a happy dance that turned into a square dance do si do and his infectious jubilation spread to Micky and Gabby even though they didn't know what they were happy about, but they just joined in and began to laugh. Finally, Gabby yelled "Mike, what are we celebrating? What's happened?"

Mike came down to Earth and sat back down on his chair with a thump. "We got it. A call. A record company. A recording contract offer. Not just the single. A whole damn record. A tour. The whole thing."

Now it was Micky and Gabby's turn to go loco. They shouted and screamed and hugged each other, then Mike, then each other again. Micky shrieked "Where's Peter, where's Davy? We need to talk about this. We need details. When do they want to meet us? Have they already heard us play live, or did they just hear the demo? Spill it, Mike!"

Gabby decided that some fresh air might wake up Mike's brain and she ushered them out to the patio to talk. Just at that moment, Peter and Davy came in, staggering under the weight of numerous grocery bags. Davy was grumbling "Pete, I don't know why I let you talk me into this every bloomin' time. Why can't we make more than one trip in with the bags?"

"Because we're building up our upper body strength and saving our inner wavelengths for more important things in our lives."

Gabby caught this bit of dialogue and interjected "Yeah, like strategizing about how you're going to handle the offer for a major recording contract you just got." She was grinning with all her teeth gleaming as the two guys' expressions ranged from shock to disbelief then to pure joy. They dropped their bags on the floor and started hugging each other, then Davy asked "Wait, how do you know about this and we don't?"

"Mike just got the call. He and Micky are out on the patio. Get out there and do your thing. I'll take care of the groceries."

They each hugged her before they ran outside. She heard a collective cheer penetrate the air and smiled to herself. They were having a moment they had worked and waited for for years, and she wanted to leave them to themselves to enjoy it. After about a half hour, she poked her head out the door and asked if they wanted to call their girls or if she should, since she assumed a celebration needed to be organized as soon as possible. Mike and Pete wanted to call their girlfriends themselves and raced each other to the phone. Mike got there first and called Wendy, Gabby's best friend since childhood, who was at work at Wallichs Music City, and who acted as the Monkees' de facto music agent by virtue of the connections she had made through her job there. Peter then called his fiancée Dawn, Gabby and Wendy's roommate, at the head shop where she ran the business and just let the stoner owner think he did. Finally, Davy called his ex-girlfriend Lynda, with whom he was still close friends, at the fancy clothing boutique where she worked, to alert her. There was much squealing and shrieking audible to Gabby through the phone receiver, and the gals agreed to hurry over to the Pad as soon as they got off work.