Another Chance Book I of III

Book III-Chapter 32, A Time of Change

"Well you have heard it from the expert Manhattan. Thank you for that enlightening report Andrea. We will return with news highlights after this commercial".

As soon as they went to commercial, Elaine and Carlos were banging on Prince's door. When they came in they saw that Prince was watching the same Cloud Stream channel they had been. "Man...did you hear that story", Carlos asked. Bella had put on a robe and was sitting up in the bed. Prince had done likewise but was sitting on one of the 3 chairs in the room. "Yes", Prince said. "We've got all the right stuff"...the two of them said together as they fist bumped and said "Praise the Creator". "And you Carlos are the best drummer in the world", Prince said. "And our women are as good as those dancers in the American ballet Theater", Carlos said! They fist bumped again and said" Praise the Creator"! There was a knock at the door. "Room Service" the waiter said from the hallway. In all the excitement, Bella and Prince had forgotten all about breakfast. We ordered too Carlos said. When Prince went to the door he saw that there were two waiters and two rolling tables. "What is the second order" Carlos said. When he heard the answer, he said "yup, that's ours". The two men signed their charge slips and the waiters rolled both tables in Prince and Bella's room. As they were taking care of the charges, both Prince and Carlos's phones rang. "Get that for me Bella", Prince said...Carlos's phone was in his pocket.

"Royal's line" Bella said. "This is Carlos", Carlos said. "Yes, this is Andrea Williams with the New York Times. I would like to speak to Royal Anderson", please. "One moment please" Bella said. "Yes" Carlos said. "Yes we may have interest in being on Good Morning America but we are getting ready to fly now. May I suggest that you call Andy Grady of Grady Entertainment in Detroit on Monday and he can give you our availability. Oh you are welcome. Thank you"! She put the phone on mute and said "Prince it is that reporter, Andrea Williams from the Cloud Stream show". "Prince that was Good Morning America", Carlos said. "Yes I heard" he said. "Well done Baby", Elaine said. Carlos lit up like a Christmas Tree. Prince took the call from Andrea. "This is Royal". "This is Andrea Williams of the New York Times and I wanted to congratulate you on the concert last night and to arrange to see you sometime today for an interview". Thank you for the compliment, but I will not be available today for an interview as we are returning to LA today and need to get ready to fly. "Well couldn't you book a later flight", Andrea asked sounding slightly annoyed. "No, not this time. My parents and those of my lady are here as are my drummer and his lady's folks. We will be leaving together. I would be happy to chat with you, but you will need to call Andy Grady to make those arrangements". He is listed under Grady entertainment in Detroit and is very aware of our schedules. Please feel free to call him on Monday and thank you again for calling and for your kind words". "Okay" Andrea said and Royal disconnected the call. Bella hugged Prince..."very smoothly handled", she said. "Thank you Mama...let's eat". The phones continued to ring with Christian and Andy calling and all of the Dad's. They had all seen the show. Prince and Carlos filled them in on the conversations and Andy said he would handle it. He also said it was time to consider installing an assistant on board as part of his company to handle these types of bookings. He would talk to Christian about it and get back to Prince. Christian was really excited about the coverage and in the New York Times...and even more so about The Good Morning America opportunity. Of course they would do an interview...he would talk to Andy about that. They decided to turn the phones off until after they had eaten and they then enjoyed the leisurely breakfast they had planned, albeit in their individual rooms. This was going to be some ride Prince thought. But he and Bella would take it together with their very best friends. Bring it on he thought and took another sip of the excellent Carnegie Hotel coffee. He and Carlos then rolled the tables back out into the hallway and Carlos and Elaine went back to their room to dress. Bella and he went to take a leisurely shower and purposely left their phones off, just in case.

Bella blew her hair dry and styled it into a messy French braid. She put on a pair of purple pants with a gold shell and a purple jacket with gold braid on the shoulders. Prince was wearing dark purple shirt over dark grey pants and his grey and purple jacket. He picked out his short Afro having applied some olive oil to it. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Bella was always astounded at how beautiful he was physically no matter how often she looked at him. He truly was blessed by God when he had been created. She had never seen a more handsome man. Once she had completed dressing she busied herself with repacking all of the things they had used. Once she had checked the closets, drawers and the shelves and counter tops she sat down and turned Cloud Stream back on as she waited for Prince to finish primping. The same channel was on but the show was now one that captured national and international news headlines.

In another story this morning the announcer said, we report that not one violent crime has occurred in any of the Burroughs in the Metropolitan New York area since yesterday at 7:00 PM. It is as though the Police Blotters have gone silent. It has been reported that a similar thing is happening in California with today being the 21st Day in the curious, although very welcome streak of non-violence, in that State. All kinds of good will efforts are starting to crop up there as well with citizens reporting acts of random kindness, some that make the news and others that don't. But there is a genuine sense of love thy neighbor that seems to be developing in the Golden State. Bella listened to the story closely as Prince stood listening also. "Praise the Creator" they both said. Things really seemed to be changing. It was their hope that it would be sustained. It would be refreshing to live in a world that was kinder and gentler...more like Paradise and to raise children in such an environment Bella thought would be wonderful. It was now about 11:30 AM and time to head downstairs and get their things and the instruments to the plane. A new home was waiting for them in Los Angeles and it was time to go see it and prepare for school to start in just a few weeks. Life was moving at light speed, but somehow Bella knew that it would all be okay. The Creator was conducting this show...and she trusted Him to orchestrate it perfectly. Prince had called the bellhop who was busily gathering their bags and the bodyguards were waiting at the elevator. Prince followed the Bellhops out of the door. Bella took a final look around the room picked up her purse and walking out of the room, closed the door behind her.