It’s Only Rock and Roll

Morris was in his office Friday morning when he received a call from an officious secretary, "The big guy will see you now." His response was unexpected.

"Tell him I'm busy and I'm expecting an important phone call. He's more than welcome to come to my office."

Said big boss did so. He was not pleased. He started to light into Morris, hinting that he was an insubordinate trouble maker. Morris cut him off.

"Sit down---and pipe down! Your behavior is entirely inappropriate. It borders on hostile work environment stuff. First, let me remind you that the moment my audit team confirmed questionable financial practices in this office, it was my responsibility---it's in my job description---to report it to the corporate controller, not the chain of command. I would also remind you, sir, that you signed off on every one of those fraudulent expense reports---not that I'm implying that you were party to the fraud but every expense report you signed off on in the last three years is going to be combed through---by outside, independent auditors.

"Let me also remind you that at the instant the corporate controller ascertained that the audit team's findings were 100% accurate and confirmed several specific incidents through an outside investigator---I ceased to be in your chain of command---which means I don't report to Rod, the cheat, and you don't sign my paycheck. All of which is essentially a moot point, since I submitted my request for a two year leave of absence in keeping with corporate policy first thing this morning and effective today---with the signed document sent at my personal expense via FedEx First yesterday---to the controller.

"It would be highly unlikely that the corporation would refuse my request and choose to simply terminate me in view of the whistle blower statutes in this state. We're done here. Your boy broke the law. With the scrutiny that all corporations are under these days---not to mention the income tax fraud implications for the company---I would expect that they will want to make an example of him and seek criminal prosecution.

"There also appears to be a conspirator---a young former intern and recently promoted manager named Molly. I have every sense that she does not want to go to jail, will claim that she was intimidated by a superior with whom she also had an ongoing sexual relationship---which she will probably also claim was coerced. That's for you---or more accurately the outside investigators---to figure out. Off the record, I don't buy it---not that you've got a chance in hell of proving that she's lying. Rod is seriously screwed---but so are you. Molly will probably ultimately skate if she's cunning enough to cooperate, perjure herself and can keep her story straight.

"Finally, my next in command is completely read-in on the entire matter. Here's the entire file. We're done here. I've never kept anything of a personal nature in this office. Here's my key and my security badge. I have no other company property in my possession. Do you have any questions?"

"No, I don't think so. I apologize for my behavior. It was completely inappropriate. I'm angry at myself---not you. I misread the man---misjudged his character. You were just doing your job and I respect that. I'm sorry you are leaving. Frankly, I considered you for the position I gave Rod but..."

"I neither dress nor schmooze as well as he does? I don't exactly have a corporate haircut? I'm quiet and introverted and don't have the gift of gab? I don't play golf? For the record, he has a second rate education from a regional state university---and a mail order MBA---and I have an MS in Accounting from Northwestern. Go figure? Look, no hard feelings. Rod had all the style to be a general manager---just none of the substance and no ethics. He's a textbook sociopath---he pulled the wool over your eyes. I enjoy crunching numbers; I actually have, in my life, demonstrated leadership ability. I could have 'handled' this office but I probably wouldn't have loved it."

"What are you going to do now, Morris?"

"Do you enjoy music, and if so, what kind?"

"Well, you might not know it from looking at me but, yes, I love music. Classic rock. Zeppelin...Aerosmith...AC/DC...the Stones, of course---why?"

"Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say! I have a hobby; I front and play lead guitar in a rock and roll band. You'd probably like what we do. We just signed a recording contract with a major record label. We leave Monday to open for the greatest rock and roll band in history through the remainder of their US tour."

"You are shitting me!"

"Not remotely. Do you remember Kate---the other intern who didn't get promoted?"

"Of course; nice girl...cute, sweet."

"Somewhere in your inbox is her notice; she just joined the band. She may just be the second best rock guitarist I've ever heard."

"Second best?"

"After me."

***

A massive amount of activity occurred in the week following that Friday morning meeting in Morris' former office. Logistics, publicity, phone interviews and promotional activities seemed to occupy every waking hour. The band played their last club date the following Friday, even though the record company had wanted them to cancel. By the next evening, they would be opening for rock legends in a major city only a five hour drive from home. Their equipment had already been broken down and sent in advance. Their leased tour bus would pick them up at nine o'clock Saturday morning.

The rest of the band had drifted off to their own homes and beds. Kate had fallen asleep on Morris' living room sofa. She had changed into that damn sundress which had crept up her shapely thighs. Morris chuckled. Certainly her stage costumes were more overtly sexy but that thin, cotton sundress made Morris's dick stir. Always the gentleman, he carefully picked her up and carried her to bed---in the guest room. They hadn't had much personal time together over the hectic week.

Kate awoke an hour or so later, at first unsure where she was. Morris had given her a tour of the house the first time she visited so she soon figured it out. She went into the bathroom, gratified to find suitable hygiene supplies. She took a quick shower and brushed her teeth. She returned to bed sans clothing to sleep. Fifteen minutes later she made a decision. She wasn't remotely interested in sleeping alone. She walked the short distance down the hall to the Master bedroom. She slipped into Morris' bed, electing to stay on the other side.

Morris had not awakened when she slipped under the covers. At some point he rolled over and quickly realized that he was not alone. In the soft moonlight streaming through the open window, he saw her. He watched her sleep for some time before rolling back over to go back to sleep. Kate stirred and made another decision. She scooted her warm body over to Morris' side of the bed and snuggled up against his muscled form.

Morris was quickly wide awake; Kate sensed it and whispered.

"Just let me touch you...for a while."

Ah, the best laid plans of mice, men and women! The feeling of Kate's soft breasts crushed against his back...the tickle of her pubic hair...one of her hands on his neck...the other across his hip. His cock was quickly hard...almost painfully so. When her hand strayed and brushed against his turgid organ and his reached back to find the smooth, warmth of her young hip and his fingers strayed to the tight cleft of her exquisite rump...

***

Clive had said six months at a minimum. The album was ready to roll. Now it was up to the band to impress the fans as an opening act for the next four weeks. There were interviews, late night TV performances, charity concerts, awards shows, the constant massaging of the appropriate radio station play lists, a follow up mini-tour and state fairs. The band just got better; the reviews were laudatory but in the end it was that one review, that one essential piece of coverage that pushed things over the top.

Think back a few years. No one went to see Bonnie and Clyde until a certain New York film critic writing for what was then the top circulation weekly magazine in the country raved almost over the top about it. The same thing happened to the first Star Wars. In the case of Bruce Springsteen, he got on the cover of the number one and two weekly news mags in the same week accompanied by gushing reviews during a particularly dismal phase in the music world. The eastern intelligentsia embraced him and he became an icon in spite of the fact that he had little or no voice, was an average guitar player, only produced three or four really memorable songs---and wouldn't have existed without a decent band and a great sax player.

It's like the whole Grateful Dead thing: "they must be good, all these really smart and famous people adore them." Come on now, we all know the truth. They had one pretty good song and then a whole bunch that sort of had the same sound and next thing you know---icons. Certainly other pieces of "entertainment" have been thrust on us by the media and to our surprise, we go to the movie or hear the artist and, lo and behold, damn, that's good! Elvis certainly comes to mind along with the early British invasion. Then again there's always Milli Vanilli and that silly white rapper with the bad hair who stole entire songs from Queen, among others---Vanilla Ice? Dr. Pepper comes to mind. We've been told our whole life that we love it...but we don't. We do love their commercials though!

And so it was that the head cheese in the world of music criticism happened to hear Nation on late night TV, arranged to hear them play on the mini-tour and decided that they were the second coming of something, or the rebirth of whatever or the new wave of modern rock and roll. They wanted a cover shoot. Quickly other magazines got wind of it and they wanted a cover shoot and interviews. Would they become the latest fad to leave the public consciousness in six months or icons?

Even Clive was nervous and he was the godfather when it came to obtaining free, top of the line publicity. In the end they all agreed they were pretty much over a barrel---you don't turn this guy down or his magazine so they went along, scheduling the album release seventy-two hours after the weekly hit the streets.

In the end, it worked. A year later, they were headliners who could fill any venue regardless of size. Their first album set all time records. They would become such a phenomenon within two years that they could pick and choose and not have to live on the road. They're second, third, fourth...well, let's just say they made a lot of money for everyone and the band never had to worry about day jobs again. Yet, as one might expect, there were rocky moments in their individual lives.

Guess who never told mom and dad that they had quit their day jobs and gone on the road with a rock and roll band? Each of the others had gotten around to it before the big cover story came out. Kate and Morris had waited until the bitter end. In a break in their road activity, the made plans to visit their respective parents together.

There were other issues to be discussed. "Hi, mom. Hi, dad. Guess what? I play guitar in a rock and roll band! Yep! Quit that pesky day job. Oh, by the way, this is the man/woman I've been fucking for the last few months---he/she plays in the band too! And we're in love! And we want to get married!"

They'd wanted to wait until they were unquestionable successes, when there could be no question that they had made the right decisions. Early the following week two fathers would walk out to their respective mail boxes and peruse the cover of a magazine that each had subscribed to for decades. And there would be this posed picture on the cover. Kate would be wearing something revealing and...well, very tight. Morris would be in a tight body shirt and leather pants and...long hair. They'd all have the rock-and-roll look on their faces. The gig would be up. The two fathers would flip to the page with the cover story and begin to read the short bios on each band member. Each would hurry to the kitchen screaming his wife's name.

It was a Thursday morning when the two lovers boarded Clive's G550. He had offered the use of the plane without hesitation. He liked these kids and liked them a lot. It was the least he could do for them in their hour of need. The respective parents lived about three hundred miles away from each other, less than an hour by jet. They knew their progeny were coming for a long overdue visit; they knew said offspring were in the company of a member of the opposite sex. Some announcement of an engagement was expected and neither set of parents was anything other than excited and pleased about the prospect of welcoming a new son or daughter-in-law into the family. Thursday and Friday night at Kate's home; Saturday and Sunday at Morris'.

***

"Kate, give us your flight information and we'll come pick you and your friend up. It's a hike to the airport, almost an hour and a half and with this winter weather we've been having it can be a frightful drive."

"Mom, we're not flying commercial...private jet. We're coming into the County airport---the one across from the big quarry. It can't be five minutes from the farm. I'll call you when we're in the air but we should be there around three."

"Oh...okay. Well, anyway, your father is so excited that you're coming home for a visit! It's been so long since you've been home."

"Love you, mom."

Fifteen minutes out, Morris turned to the woman he was so hopelessly in love with. "Got a plan yet?"

"Not a clue. It's not like my parents hate rock-and-roll---they grew up in the sixties! Hell, they introduced me to Led Zeppelin. It's just...they didn't want their only daughter playing it...living it. How many times did daddy say he couldn't wait for the day when I made vice president? It didn't matter vice president of what, just a business card with his little girl's name and the title under it."

"Clive gave me these before we left," he said, pulling two articles out of his bag. "they're advance copies of the magazine article---with the cover pictures and everything."

"So, you're thinking maybe, I just flip 'em on the coffee table and wait to see how they respond?"

"Well, that's at least a plan. Look, hon...you know we're good. You know we made the right decision. You know I love you."

"That I do, father of my unborn children!" she said, falling into his arms.

Morris' hair was loose, not slicked back but his attire was conservatively casual. The $70 mil jet pulled right up within twenty feet of where Kate's parents were standing. The two lovers descended the short steps with their small bags in hand. The plane would leave but return two days later. Introductions were made and hugs exchanged. Small talk was made on the short drive home.

Sleeping arrangements were explained. Kate helped her mother fix drinks as Morris and his soon to be father-in-law settled into the expansive great room in front of a crackling fire. Small talk continued.

"So, Morris, my wife seems to have told me that you are a CPA but...ah, you're not doing that kind of work right now?"

"I was a CPA for almost six years---Northwestern, Masters in Accounting. I'm pretty sure it's what my father always wanted me to do...follow in his footsteps. I was good at it; truthfully I always enjoyed crunching numbers. I could go back to it, I suppose, but my hobby got in the way and I thought I owed it to myself to give it a shot...chase a dream, so to speak."

"Hobby?"

"More accurately a job, now---a career I believe. Music."

"That's really interesting! Kate always had a love of music. She had her own band back in high school---did she tell you that? They were really good! But I think we both know the chance of a high school band guitarist and singer ever really making it is..."

"Slim to none?"

"Something like that. I used to love to hear her play---never missed one of their gigs. Hopefully some day after she gets herself established in the business world she can get back to her music...as a hobby...something she just enjoys doing."

"What kind of music do you like, sir?"

"Call me Ed. Just about anything other than rap and most current pop music. Jazz, Classical, Country---and of course rock and roll."

"Rock and Roll?"

"Seventies stuff, AC/DC, Zeppelin, the Stones...some of the newer stuff...The White Stripes, Maroon 5---although their recent album really sucks..."

"You know the White Stripes? They've got a knew album coming out any day."

"I already downloaded the single---liked it a lot! Hell, son, I'm not a fossil. Here, take a look," Ed said, handing Morris' the iPod Nano™ from his shirt pocket.

Morris absently ran his finger around the wheel on the little MP3 player. Pretty eclectic, definitely rock, good jazz, a little country and then he got to the Ns. The band had released three songs to iTunes™. His future father-in-law had downloaded all three of them. He thought they had released potential album art work; apparently Ed had never looked that closely at the tiny photo or bothered to read the verbiage.

"This is a pretty new band; no album yet. Nation. What do think of 'em?"

"First new rock and roll I've heard in damn near twenty years that got my motor running. I'll get you some headphones if you want to listen. They're good son, damn good. Like the second coming...like it's the seventies again---only different. They're not just some wannabe cover band. They're unique."

"Does your wife---Kate's mom---share your taste in music?"

"Oh, hell, yes. Morris, Kate knew we never disliked her music---even encouraged her back in high school. But at some point you have to grow up and just face reality. Get a good education and a career---a job---with some real security and opportunity for advancement. I wonder what is keeping those girls with our drinks! We've got a good life here---a farm that is finally large enough to put some money in the bank every year. Did Kate ever tell you I taught her to play the guitar---bought her first one?"

"She never shared that fact."

"Look, I played in a band---my daddy had a conniption! In those days, rock and roll was the devil's music---and he needed his only son to take over the farm not chase a pipe dream. So, that's what I did. No regrets---oh, hell, yes, a couple every now and again."

"I'll go see if I can rustle up some refreshments, Ed, then maybe you an I should take a walk or whatever."

The two women stopped talking as Morris entered the kitchen. No one seemed to be either crying or frowning---that was a good sign.

"Any chance we could get a drink around this place?"

"We're sorry! We're talking and---how are you and daddy doing?"

"We're doing just great. We're going to go take a walk and talk."

"Whatcha talking about?"

"Music. How about you folks?"

"Men...one man in particular...two men more accurately."

"Don't let me interrupt."

Morris returned to the great room, handed Ed his drink and the two men wordlessly put on light jackets and walked outside to enjoy the unexpected early winter warm spell. Ed spoke first.

"Anyway I can help you get started with what's on your mind, son?"

"Well, let's see. Let me start with the easy part first. Kate and I used to work in the same office. We've been seeing each other for the last five months. We actually work very closely together in our new jobs. I'm head over heels in love with her, she feels the same way about me and I intend to marry her at the earliest opportunity assuming her daddy has no problems with it. Which is to say, I'm asking for permission to marry your only daughter."

"That was the easy part? She's not pregnant, is she?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"I'm honored that you'd ask. Pretty old fashioned and very decent. You seem like a decent fellow. You both have good educations so I have no doubt you'll figure out a way to put food on the table. Children?"