Part 403
Breakfast was the usual adventure with ‘Hurricane Jesse’. Howie had explained on the way to breakfast that Jesse was headed back to Orlando to start school so no one seemed to mind her antics. In fact, they were instigating the majority of them. It was quite apparent that the entire group-Kevin, AJ, Brian, Nick, and the bodyguards-were going to miss her tremendously.
As the waitress cleared the table, Sarah pulled out a map of Portland that
had all the attractions listed. While she was looking it over, Howie said,
"We’re gonna spend the morning with Jesse. You guys are welcome to join
us."
"What is there to do?" asked Nick trying to take the map.
Sarah smacked his hand, "Back off, ‘Blondie’! I’ll tell you what there is to do if you’ll give me half a chance."
"I say we go to a zoo or something," suggested Kevin.
"Why don’t we let Sarah read what there is FIRST and then we can let Jesse decide what she wants to do?" suggested Brian.
"We need to go someplace where there won’t be a lot of people," added Kevin. "With all five of us together, people are bound to recognize us and slow us down."
As Kevin said this, two young girls came over to the table and tapped Sarah on the shoulder.
"Hi…my name is Chris and this is my friend Anitah. Aren’t you ‘Sweet
D’s Angel?"
Sarah looked up, "Yes. Is there something I can do for you?"
"OH MY GOD!" gasped Anitah. "I can’t believe we’re getting to meet you."
"We were at the show in Calgary and well, we just wanted to tell you how awesome you were, especially when you had Becca with you onstage. It was really brave of you to share your pictures and your stories."
Howie winked at her as she said, "Thank you. You recognize Becca, don’t you?"
Sarah moved to include Becca in the conversation as Chris said, "Yeah…we did. You two are women we can look up to….not like the other women in pop music, well, except Krystal. Could we get your autographs?"
"Sure," agreed Becca and Sarah.
The five guys sat in stunned silence that the two young girls were completely oblivious to them. Chris and Anitah were totally focused on Sarah and Becca and being able to talk to them.
As Sarah handed the paper she’d signed back, Anitah asked, "Are you going to be doing a CD?"
"Already in the works. My first single and video are due out October 23rd and my CD is due out the day after Thanksgiving. It’s gonna be called ‘Dreams Do Come True’."
"Cool!! We can’t wait to get it. Thank you BOTH SO MUCH for the autographs," said Chris. "We didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast."
"You didn’t interrupt anything," said Becca. "You’re both very welcome."
The two girls scurried off giggling with excitement and leaving Sarah and Becca equally excited. It wasn’t the first time Sarah had signed autographs but it was the first time anyone had sought her out over Howie. She was generally an after-thought, which never bothered her. And Becca…she’d NEVER signed one before.
Howie was just as excited for Sarah and Becca as they were and he said, "What was that you were saying about US being recognized, Kevin?"
Kevin grumbled, "Bite me, ‘D’."
"Mommy!" whined Jesse. "What are we gonna do? I wanna go NOW!"
The shrill whine of her daughter brought Sarah back to earth and she looked back at the map. This time, AJ and Nick moved so they could look over her shoulder.
"Okay, there’s the Audubon Society Nature Center and the Oregon Zoo which are outside and the Pioneer Courthouse that they say is virtually empty," said Sarah.
Nick pointed to the map, "There’s the aquarium too."
"That’s two hours away, Nick," said Sarah reading the description.
"So? Jesse loves the sea animals."
"That’s TOO far to go, Nick," said Howie. "By the time we get there, we’d have to turn around and come back."
"And I personally don’t relish the thought of a four hour ride in a van," said Sarah rubbing her stomach.
AJ pointed to another spot. "Here! The Tillamook Cheese Factory…we can teach Jesse how to milk a cow. Nick, you ought to be good at that."
"Why do you say that?" asked Nick curiously.
"Well, you fool around with Becca and she’s nur…"
"ALEXANDER JAMES!" scolded Sarah knowing exactly where he was going with it.
Innocently, AJ asked, "What?"
"You know EXACTLY what! Don’t play innocent with me!"
"Okay! Okay! Damn!! Just like a mother!" mumbled AJ lovingly.
Brian, who now had Jesse in his lap, asked, "’Squirt’, what do you want to do?"
"The ZOO!"
"It’s settled then," said Howie as he pulled out his wallet to pay the bill.
"I wanna go to the aquarium," grumbled Nick.
"Oh, grow up, Nick!" snapped Kevin. Becca shot him an evil look and he quickly added, "It’s not what we want to do, it’s what Jesse wants to do."
"Mommy, do you think they’ll have any white tigers?" asked Jesse hopefully.
"Maybe. This says they have the typical zoo animals…elephants, bears, and monkeys."
"AJ should be right at home with the monkeys," shot Becca sticking her tongue out at him as he did the same to her.
Howie smirked, "That definitely evens the score."
The bill was quickly taken care of and the group headed out to the waiting van and the waiting throng of fans who’d gathered. As they signed autographs and shook hands, Becca and Sarah got the children into the van and waited patiently for the guys.