Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 9, What Fathers Understand

 He had to talk to Carlos and maybe to his dad.  When Prince got upstairs he started talking to his bandmates and told the what an incredible job they had done and what an honor it was to be involved with such great musicians.  Just then, Andy asked if he could see him for a minute.  He went into the catering office with him that was just off of the entryway to the kitchen.  Andy handed him an envelope that had a check in it.  Prince opened it.  "Our agreement was $500.00 per player per show.  I have added an additional $500.00 bonus for each of your 7 band members, a $750 bonus for Carlos and $1000.00 bonus for you.  I have also arranged to have all the hotel costs transferred from your dad to me for this trip.  I would be picking it up for the rest of the summer gigs anyway...we are just starting a weekend early".  "Thank you Mr. G".  "You are welcome son".  "Your sound is amazing and I am going to do everything I can to help you get to where you want to go".  Prince went to shake his hand but Mr. G. pulled him into a manly embrace.  I had some sandwiches and stuff made for your travel back to Chicago.  Make sure each driver picks up a journey box.  Will do, thanks again.  Prince stepped out into the lobby of The Private Suite Area that led to the main dining room to find all of the band members,  his parents, Mrs. G., Bella and her parents and the Rodríguezes, and Elaine standing sitting and talking.  He asked his dad if he could see him a minute.  They walked off and huddled so that Prince could tell him about the bonuses and ask if they shouldn't do something for the girls.  "Let me handle that", Royal said.  Andy had come up and was standing with his wife.  Royal asked David and Andy if he could speak to them for a minute.  Stepping into the catering office,  he told them what Prince had asked to which both men smiled.  The boy had class and a fair and generous heart.  What would they feel comfortable with. Send them each a dozen roses and a hundred bucks each was the consensus.  Royal reached into his wallet and pulled out 2 $100.00 bills and called Prince into the room.  He asked Andy for some stationary and had Prince write each of them a nice note thanking them.  Prince called Carlos into the room and told him what they were doing.  They signed the two notes from Prince, Carlos and the Band.  Royal Sr.  called Teleflora and arranged for the flowers to arrive tomorrow.  The girls were out of school for the summer and they would really be surprised.  Prince and Carlos stepped out of the room and Prince asked if he thought his dad might be trusted not to tell anyone about his feelings for Bella because he really wanted to talk to him based upon what he had brought up Carlos to believe about dating.  Carlos said he knew he could.  He wanted to change the travel arrangements back home.  "Would he let Sidney or Jeremy drive his car home so that his Dad and Carlos could ride with him"? " If one of them will drive sure".  They went and made the arrangements and Prince, Carlos and his dad rode home with Prince.  The band agreed to meet at Prince's tomorrow for lunch and to collect their earnings.  After lots of fist bumps, hugs and a kiss on the cheek of Bella and Elaine by both Prince and Carlos, shouts of see you next weekend were exchanged between the girls, their families and the departing guests.  It had been an amazing weekend with much more to come. 

Prince took the Air Jeep up and set the speed so that he would be free to talk to Carlos and his dad.  Where to begin?  Prince told them he was crazy about Bella and knew she felt the same.  No,  there had never been anything between them that was inappropriate nor would there ever be.  The problem was that she was almost 14 and he of course was 6 years older.  He had also become sexual in college and now needed to learn how to contain himself until Bella was ready and until he married her.  He knew that was going to be tough.  He had wanted to talk to Mr. Rodriguez because Carlos had shared how he had always said if you are committed you wait on the woman to be ready so he thought that he might have some experience on how to handle this issue.  Mr. Rodriguez laughed and said "yes he had a lot of experience with it.  He said that in his culture it was not unusual to be 18 or 19 and become formally betrothed to a girl of 11, 12,  or 13.  A man would be considered a lout if he had been stepping out with another woman after being formerly betrothed and the male members of the girl's family would not have taken too kindly to that either.  He was 8 years older than his wife and had been promised to her at 19, she was 11.  They married 7 years later when she was 18 and they had now been married 25 years.  So how did he handle going without sex,  Prince had asked.  He said he spent a lot of time with his hand being busy under the covers at night but in addition to that the Catholic Church in his hometown had embraced an organization that was called Brothers of Morality.  These were older men who basically accompanied the younger ones on most social occasions or if they had to go out of town.  They provided guidance and advice and sometimes even acted as adjunct to the young man's conscious.  In the states a similar organization was called Promise  Keepers of which he was a proud member.  He encouraged him to talk to his dad about the organization.  "Why" Prince asked.  "Was his dad a member too"?  "That was for his dad to discuss with him but he did encourage him to talk to his father" , he said.  "It will be okay son.  You will be surprised at what us Dad's know and understand",  and laughed again.  Mr. Rodriguez settled into a nap in the back seat while he and Carlos became lost in their own thoughts about  what they had just  learned. 

Prince turned Sound Cloud on and one of the local news stories caught his attention.  For the third day in a row, there had been no crime in Detroit or surrounding areas.  Cities as far away as Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti were effected.  No murders, no aggravated assaults had been reported in roughly 36 hours.  In addition, people in the midst of committing crimes were reported to be stopping in the middle of them and walking away.  Some had even apologized to those they were attempting to rob or extort money from somehow.  One of those that had stopped mid-crime had said that when he stopped it was like he had waken up to the fact that what he was doing was morally wrong and that it physically caused him pain to attempt to keep moving forward in robbing the convenience store owner.  He had apologized to the owner saying his kids were hungry, he had lost his job in a layoff and he seemed to have numbed out to the point that he could even commit a crime.  He had never been in trouble before the police quickly determined.  The store owner refused to press charges but rather boxed him up some food for his children and told him to come back the next day if he was interested in a job in his store.  The police were floored but the store owner said it was the right thing to do. 

Prince smiled and sent a thought to Michael.  Are you hearing this? "Yup, great work" Michael said in thought and then said look out of your side mirror quickly.  Prince did and Michael and Sandalphon were flying in back of the car.  They quickly cloaked themselves again.  " How long have you been there".  "We have been around all weekend",  Sandalphon thought.  "Did you really think we would miss your first real professional show, even if we weren't invited"? "You know...I need to talk to you guys".  Michael laughed and thought "so finally you are going to get around to asking your Guardian Angels about sweet Bella...well that's a step in the right direction".  Prince couldn't help but laugh and Carlos looked at him and said "what's funny" ?  Prince said, "nothing just thought about something I heard at the show".  Michael said call us when you want to talk.  They continued the journey home, and soon Prince was landing in the driveway of the Rodriguez home.  Sidney was right behind them to drop off Carlos's mom.  Mr. Rodriguez and Carlos got out and grabbed their bags.  Prince got out and embraced them both.  "I will see you tomorrow Prince".  They fist bumped, Sidney got in with prince who dropped him at his home moments later. Then Prince maneuvered the short distance home.  The garage door opened at the press of the remote and he landed the car and went safely in the garage.  Royal Sr.  pulled the truck in next to Prince's car.  His and his wife's were in the second garage bay.  The tired but happy family went into the house.  Each said I am going to shower and will talk to you in the morning.  Good night each of them said, hugged and headed for their rooms.

It was good to be home Prince thought.  He would unpack and wash the dirty clothes tomorrow.  He showered, lotioned himself up which of course made him think of Bella and then went to bed.  For the second time in years he heard music in his head.  He turned on his player to some soft jazz to drown it out and went to bed and thank God fell asleep right away.  Several cities away, Bella was on her knees praying that Prince would be able to  rest and that he would find a way to address their concerns. She sent him a kiss in a thought and although she could not see him, was aware that when the kiss landed on his lips he smiled.  Bella snuggled into the covers and was asleep in just moments.