The Hanson family was in the studio, and were nearing a break. A very well needed break, at that. Tension was starting to build up, again between Ike and Taylor, and they needed to clear their heads. They couldn't have an uneasy atmosphere for recording. If there was, the chemistry wouldn't be there for the CD's recording.
"I wanna try that over, again," Zac announced. "I think that we could get a better sound and harmony than we did."
Tay agreed right away, "Yeah, I think we could, too."
"I think it sounds fine the way it is," snapped Ike at Tay. "We are really clear on the notes."
"Hey!" Tay defended himself. "It was Zac's idea, not mine! Don't go jumping all over me. I just agreed with him!"
"Alright, alright..." Ike backed off, slightly. "We'll try it again and use whichever sounds better..."
Between the two eldest Hanson brothers, it was constant bickering all the time. The longest they ever went for the past week without saying something nasty to each other, was two hours. That was a sheer miracle, though. It was almost as if they would never speak to each other on normal ground again. The rest of the family just didn't know what to do.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanson were sitting in another room watching their sons record, but mostly watching Tay and Ike constantly fight. They just didn't know what to do about the two of them.
Mr. Hanson turned to his wife, "Look at them, Diana. All they do is fight. What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know, honey," she sighed. "I really don't know. I don't think that there is anything we can do."
"We could always talk to them," Walker suggested.
Mrs. Hanson shook head, "No, we can't. It wouldn't do any good. We can't change the way either of them feels. Only they can."
Mr. Hanson saw her point and knew that she was right. He decided that it was for the best to let them fight, and eventually everything would die down. Hew really didn't understand what they were fighting about, anyway. All that the both of them would tell him was that it was about "creative differences". Knowing that, gave their father a feeling that all of this agruing shouldn't last much longer. -------------------------------------------------------
The brothers finally got their break, after a long 4 hours of recording. They were finally recording "In the City", just like Tay wanted. It was hard to recoprd though, with Ike and Tay continuously slapping each other's words.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Tay," screamed Ike, walking down the sidewalk.
Tay just rolled his eyes, "Oh, please! You're going to tell me that you honestly believe that I'm only mad at you because the recording of "Love Song"? You don't respect my opinion, Ike!"
Ike stopped walking, and stopped right in front of his brother, "Don't respect your opinion? What are you talking about? Your voice is heard the most in the studio!"
"Only because I'm singing!"
"Whatever, Tay," Ike retorted.
In the midst of this argument, Mrs. Hanson walked over to the boys, telling them, "Calm down, you two. Your father, Zoe, and I are going inside for ten minutes. Can I trust you guys to watch your brothers and sisters?"
Tay nodded confidently, "Of course, Mom. You know you can count on us to watch them."
"Yeah, Mom," Ike reassured her, "we'll keep a watch out for the lil' ones."
"Alright," she concluded just before walking away, "I'm counting on you, guys."
The moment their mother left, their argument resumed, Tay yelling, "Ike, all I'm asking is for you to take my suggestions every once in a while and listen to me."
Ike snapped, "I'm listening to you now, aren't I?"
Tay say that Ike had a point, but he knew his brother was only listening and not taking his words in. What Tay was saying had no importance to Ike whatsoever. It never had.
"You're only listening with your ears and not your heart!" explained Taylor. "Nothing I'm sayin' has any importance to you!"
If it wasn't important," Ike answered, "I would just walk away, Tayles!"
"Don't call me that."
"Okay...Taylor," mocked Isaac. "I still think that all this is rediculous, though."
"Then," started Tay, "why are you wasting your time talking about it to me?"
"Because, Taylor, I'm determined to prove to you how stupid and idiotic you've been acting about all of this!" shouted Taylor's older brother, Isaac.
"But," corrected Tay, "I'm not acting stupid and idiotic about all of this! I'm only standing up for myself!"
"I'm sure you are!"
Little Jessica and Avery came upto their two balistic brothers. Their shouting could probably be heard twenty blocks south of where they were.
Avery tugged at Taylor's shirt sleeve, "Tay! Tay!"
"Hold on, Avie girl," Tay said sweetly, and then turned back to Ike, "And another thing, Ike..."
Avery screamed, "Tay! Tay! Mackie's heading toward the street and we couldn't stop him!"
In shock, both Ike and Tay looked at each other. They had forgotten that they were watching their little brothers and sisiter. Tay and Isaac felt an extreme aamouny of guilt come over them both. They knew they had to rush over and get him.
"Tay, oh my gosh!" screamed Ike. "We got to get over there!"
With no time to waste, both of them ran as fast as they could towards Mackie. Mackie was playfully making his way to a stoplight, in the middle of rush hour traffic! They were in disbelief, and thankful that he was still unharmed.
Tay ran out in the middle of the street, yelling back to Isaac, "Help me try to provoke him over!"
Dodging car after car, Ty made it over to his little brother, Mackenzie. He tried to pick him up, but Mackenzie wouldn't let him. Mackenzie still had that "toddler-talent" of slipping out of people's arms. Tay tried talking to him.
"C'mon, Mackie," Tay pleaded, as a car swurved around the two of them, "let's go on the sidewalk. It's dangerous out here."
"But, dare's nothin' ta do, over dare," he complained. "It's fun here!"
"It's not fun out here, trust me!" a nervous Taylor Hanson told his younger brother. Tay looked back at Ike as if to say, "Say something, now!"
Isaac saw Taylor's plea for help and yelled, "Mackie, we are all going to get ice cream! Wanna come?"
Isaac nudged his younger siblings to join in and start screaming about ice cream. Maybe, hopefully, this story would be convincing enough for a stubborn toddler.
Jessica screamed, "Yeah! I can't wait to get my double scoop of chocolate ice cream!"
"Me neither!" Avery chipped in. "I'm gonna get mint chocolate chip with sprinkles on top!"
Zac chipped in, too with, "I'm getting cookie dough with chocolate syrup!"
The latter was ackie's favorite and he could never resist it. His mouth watered just at the mention of it. Zac was hoping that Mackie would cave.
Tay turned back to his pint-sized little brother, and asked, sweetly, "Want to go for ice cream, lil' buddy?"
"No!"
Tay cringed, and became frustrated, "Mackie, c'mon! Cookie dough ice cream...with chocolate syrup on top?"
"You promise?" questioned the almost 5-year old.
"Yeah, I promise," at this point, Tay would say anything to get Mackenzie off the street. The car were coming too close for his own comfort.
This time, when Tay picked Mackie up of the gravel, Mackie let Taylor hold hi,. Gratefully, Tay made his way towards the sidewalk with his little brother in his arms. As they stepped carefully onto the sidewalk, Taylor exhaled a sigh of relief. Withstanding 31,000 screaming fans seemed bland compared to trying to get Mackie out of the middle of the street. Taylor handed his younger brother to Isaac.
"We gotta go to the Ice Cream Factory now, you know that, right? We just can't lead him on like that," Tay whispered.
"I know, I'm gonna go tell Mom, now. C'mon...." -------------------------------------------------------
At the ice cream store, Tay and Ike were sitting in a booth while they were waiting for Jessica and Avery to get out of the line to pick up their ice cream.
Tay licked his strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone, "Hey, Ike?"
"Yeah?"
"I was thinking on the way over here," explained Tay.
"I was, too," Ike stated.
"No, let me finish," Tay insisted to be heard. "I was thinking how we were fighting instead of watching Mackie. It kinda made me realize what's more important..."
"Yeah," Ike agreed, "I know what you mean. You and I were putting the least significant before our family. They are what are important in our lives."
"I'm really sorry, Ike," apologized Taylor. "If you want 'Love Song' to go on the CD, it can. I don't care, anymore."
"Really?" questioned Isaac, in disbelief.
"Yeah," Tay assured him. "It's ine with me. It's just a song."
"Well, I'm sorry, too, Tay," apologized Ike. "I shouldn't have made such a big deal out of the song. I mean, if you didn't want to record it, you didn't want to record it. I'm sorry that I kinda forced it upon you and the CD."
"Hey," smiled Tay, "it's all cool. I think from now on, we shold concentrate on the things that are most important---our music and our family."
"Agreed," Ike said, happily.
"I mean, that's what we are for, isn't it?" asked Taylor. "Our family and our music?"
"Exactly, Tay," agreed his elder brother, Isaac. "We don't have time to bicker about stupid things. We have a CD to make, and mostly importantly, a family to take care of."
The two eldest Hansons realized something extremely important today. No matter what is going on in the world, you should always look out for yourself and your family first. What would've happened to Mackie if Tay and everyone hadn't lured him back onto the sidewalk? Just the thought made both Tay and Isaac shiver. The fight between the two of them was finally over, and rightfully so. They worked together to save their little brother, Mackenzie. They both decided that they wouldn't fight for the rest of the trip, but would that actually happen?
Main Page
Chapter 13- Broken Record
Chapter 15-Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely
Tulsa's Long Road Home
I Thought I Could Trust You
