by Liz Thomas
Annie nodded.
“Seeing how the rest of the world lives,” he continued. “Like looking in on people in their apartments as we ascended.” Annie looked slightly embarrassed. Like she was being accused of being a peeping tom. “You don’t know them. You don’t know how they live. But just for a brief moment you get this quick glimpse.” Annie nodded again. “We don’t know how the rest of the world lives, Annie, because we don’t see it like the rest of the world does. Now, a case could be made either way, that that is good or bad. I think it is good. The whole world should live like we live. Comfortable in our beds at night. Warm in our houses. Money in our pockets to go see one of my concerts. But a lot of the world doesn’t have those things. And some would say that it is our fault that they don’t. But it’s not. It’s their governments fault. I did my part to spread happiness throughout the world, and I feel good about doing it. America spreads democracy. We spread prosperity throughout the world. We don’t terrorize other countries. We liberate them. And I feel good about that. I feel good about what I’ve done.”
“Interesting, huh? Even fun. Exhilarating. The world gets smaller for you. You’ve seen more of it. The ways of people start to come into focus. And when you are a part of the United States military, you know that, for the most part, you’re doing good in the world. You’re helping people. Oh, I know there is a lot of bad press about the US armed forces out there. But mostly it’s just that. Bad press. I’ve seen articles in the New York Times that flat out lie about the military. I’ve seen articles about my very own company, accusing us of killing civilians. I know for a fact that it is a lie. Made up. They do it because they are trying to paint the military in a bad light before the world stage. God knows what the hell they are thinking. Just like rock stars too. The press makes us seem like bad people. But just the same, I didn’t see any of that, and I was a huge part of it. We did good. We helped people throughout the Middle East. I felt good about what I did. I felt bigger than myself and way bigger than anything I could have done with the money my family had. Being a rock star is thrilling and I love to hear people chant my name but serving my country is better.” And then Kip swallowed and said, “Okay Sammy.”
Suddenly the helicopter broke away from the stern face of the statue of liberty and went into a dive. Annie’s stomach lurched inside and she gripped Kips hands, digging her nails into his flesh. He let her, without pulling his hands away. She screamed a short yelp.
In seconds the helicopter was nose down toward the open water, heading straight for it. Then it pulled up at the last second and skimmed across the surface. Annie could see when tears weren’t obstructing her vision, the water ripping by just feet below the skids. The helicopter zoomed at high speed, and Annie was pinned tight back into her seat.
“And then there are times like this, Annie. Shear, Stark, terror! And it happens just as fast as that. From peace and happiness in knowing that you are seeing the world and making a difference to the people in it, to shear horror and helplessness with your life in the hands of others, and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.”
“Kip, Please!” Annie screamed between clenched teeth. Blood was being drawn from kips hand by her nails. Kip just beamed into her eyes, trying to gauge her reaction. Then he realized he’d made a mistake. He made his point. But he feared he’d gone too far. “Okay Sam, that’s enough,” he said to the pilot.
The helicopter slowed and pulled up gently. In seconds they were at a higher altitude and a more moderate speed. The pilot was an expert and handled the craft with a sure hand.
Kip could see Annie relax, then look embarrassed.
Kip leaned forward and hugged her. “I am sorry, Annie. I didn’t know you’d take that so hard. Please forgive me.” Annie hugged him back and took a deep breath. “I was trying to make a point and show you how I felt sometimes. I didn’t intend to scare the shit out of you as much as I did.”
Annie pushed back and looked kip in the eye. “My God, Kip, I am not cut out for that kind of shit. I would never have been a good soldier.”
“Warrior.” Kip corrected her. “We call ourselves warriors in the Marine Corps. Not Soldiers. Soldiers are in the army.”
Annie shook her head.
“I would have never realized things could be like that,” she said. “I mean, I have seen war movies. But always from the comfort of my couch. I would never have realized the terror that you have experienced.”
“Oh, it is much, much worse, Annie,” Kip said, looking back out the window.
“I can’t imagine how things could have been more terrifying than that,” Annie said.
Then without looking at her, Kip said, “Well, that’s because we didn’t actually crash.”
Annie held Kip’s hand as they trotted across the roof of the McNamara building toward the lobby. Once inside, the doors closed automatically behind them and the wash from the helicopter stopped buffeting them around. Someone with a Sampson Flight logo on his shirt ran toward them and unhooked a cue rope, allowing them to bypass the people milling around the lobby. He nodded as Kip walked by, leading Annie by the hand.
“Kip,” Annie said. “How do you do that?”
“What is that?” Kip asked.
“Just get what you want anytime you want it.”
Kip smiled and exaggerated smile at her. “I’m charming!” he proudly exclaimed.
Annie laughed. “You are that!” she said. “But I mean it. You just got us on that flight without any reservations or anything. And I don’t think Sammy the Pilot was susceptible to your charm when he agreed to nearly dive us into the water, probably breaking all kinds of FAA rules that would cost him his license.”
Kip blushed. “Yeah, he probably did break a few rules there, huh? But hey, don’t we all?”
Annie put her hands on her hips and cocked one to the side. “Really?”
“Eh, Sammy and I go way back,” Kip finally said.
“Old friends?” she asked.
Kip looked down again. Damn, I hate admitting this stuff.
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” he said. “More like an employment relationship.”
Annie narrowed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She was at a loss.
Kip shrugged. “Sammy works for me. In fact, everyone here does,” he waved his arm around the lobby. I own Sampson Flight.”
Annie’s eyes widened. Well, that certainly explains a lot, she thought. She shook her head and pursed her lips. “Well, Kip, you ARE full of surprises.”
“Right,” Kip said leading her to the elevator. “So, when you sleep with me again tonight, you don’t have to worry about breaking your made up rule anymore about not hooking up with rockers.”
Annie laughed, blushing. “You’re so much more than a rock star, Kip,” Annie admitted.
“Exactly,” Kip said as he pushed the button for the lobby and the doors closed. Then he kissed her on the mouth and wrapped his arms around her. He body was soft and warm, despite having just come in from the roof, where the air was cold and wet. The elevator rocked slightly in the old building, but it was a welcome movement as they grinded together. Kip tangled his fingers in her soft hair and pulled her face tighter to his, then pushed her back against the mirrored wall of the elevator. Annie’s hands slid up and down his back. She let her nails scrape marks into his leather jacket.
Then the door slid open and several people started to board, and then backed off in embarrassment at the action taking place inside. Kip and Annie paused and let their eyes swing to the door, even if their mouths did not. Their lips stayed attached. Then they parted in smiles and pulled apart. They both stepped out onto the ground floor of the McNamara building laughing and breathing heavy.
“Hungry yet, Annie?” Kip asked as they left the building and headed north on the sidewalk.
“Famished!” Annie said.
“Let me take you to dinner, I know a place,” Kip said smiling at her.
“I bet you do. You know, Kip,
” Annie said as they made their way against foot traffic, “I do actually have a life.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just that I have spent the last forty eight plus hours with you. Maybe I have other things to do?”
Kip stopped and turned toward her, causing ripples in the flow of pedestrians on the way to this place or that. Annie stopped also and cocked her head toward him.
“Well, do you?” Kip asked, seriously.
Annie cracked a smile, and then they both broke out into a laugh again.
“I didn’t think so,” Kip said. They resumed their walk.
“Actually, I lied again. I have no life. Where are we going to eat?”
“Well, for what I had in mind we are not dressed right,” Kip said looking down at his jeans and leather jacket. “We should head back up to the hotel room and change.”
“Kip, I have no clothes there.”
“Ah, a dilemma,” Kip said, holding up a finger. “We could just stay there and not wear anything then.”
“True,” Annie said. “But like I said, I am famished.”
We could eat each other, Kip thought.
“Alrighty then,” Kip said spinning around on the street, looking around him. Then he spied the fix. “Come with me?” He did not wait for an answer. He grabbed Annie’s hand and led her out into traffic, which was pretty much standing still anyway, and across the street. He pulled her into a boutique.
When they walked back out onto the busy walk a half an hour later Annie was carrying her skirt, top and panties, bra and shoes in a canvas bag with the words Monshelle’s Boutique on it. She was now wearing a black backless dress with spaghetti straps that looked too thin and weak to keep her chest covered in a strong wind. Luckily the weather had lightened up. The dress was short, and she pulled it down when she stepped onto the concrete. The thing barely covered the curves of her perfect heart shaped ass. Kip saw her adjust the dress and saw a lot more flesh than he’d expected. He looked closer. Then he stepped up beside her and threw his arm around her, steadying her on the uneven pavement as she struggled slightly in her new heels.
“So, you couldn’t find any panties that you liked?” He asked, grinning.
Annie spoke without turning her head toward him. “I didn’t look for any.”
Annie sat on the sofa while Kip disappeared in the bedroom. She kicked her feet up on the coffee table and twisted her feet back and forth, admiring her new shoes. Then she looked down at her dress. She realized that everything on her body had set Kip back thirteen hundred dollars. The panties, if she had bought them, would have put the bill at just over fourteen hundred. She smiled at the thought. Her ex was an attorney, but not a good one. And her work as a freelancer didn’t bring in much income. They had lived beyond their means since the day they were married, and they didn’t live that well. She could not imagine coming home with over thirteen hundred dollars worth of clothes. The thought of it made her giddy.
Just then the door burst open and Jack barged in. His large frame filling the doorway before it closed behind him. He bounced over to Annie, who realized that the way she was sitting was giving Jack a great view, which would explain the way his eyes were glued to her thighs. She adjusted.
“Hello Jack, come on in.” Annie smiled.
Jacks eyes finally met hers, having had trouble pulling up from her short skirt. “Hiya, Annie. Uh, where’s Kip?” He looked around the room, then at the open door to his room. He started to walk that way. “Kip!” he yelled out.
“I hear you Jacky, I hear you. The whole God damned floor of the hotel can hear you,” sounded Kip’s voice from the room beyond.
“Yeah, well, I have some pretty amazing news. It’s worth shouting about.” Jack said. He stopped just before entering Kip’s room.
“Alright, let’s have it then,” Kip said. “But if it’s about a party, Annie and I aren’t coming. We have a date.”
Jack turned around and looked at Annie still sitting on the couch. She shrugged and pulled her lips back into a smile.
“A date? Like a dinner and a movie kind of thing?” Jack asked.
Kip finally emerged from the room, he was wearing a suit. Jacket and tie and all. His hair was slicked back, and he was holding a towel to his neck, letting it suck up the blood from the nick he’d left there while shaving.
“Yeah, Jacky, Like I said. A date.” He threw the towel over to jack so that it would fall over his head. Jack pulled it off and started spinning it in his hand, attempting to make it a weapon.
“And we’re about to be off” Kip held out his hand to Annie to pull her to her feet. “So, what’s the big news?”
Jack turned away from them slowly and let his head fall in mock rejection. “Well, if you’re about to be off and all, I guess it can wait until tomorrow or the next day,” he said.
Kip shrugged and put his arm around Annie, leading her to the door. “Okay, then.”
Jack spun around, “Hold on! Hold on! I was kidding. This really is big news. You’re going to want to hear this.”
“Alright then Jacky, let’s hear it. Like I said, we really are leaving. So spit it out.”
“Kip, I just took a message for you from Lydell,” Jack said.
Kip looked at Annie and explained who Lydell was. “Our manager. He’s in California.” Annie nodded.
“The USO has asked us to do a concert in Afghanistan for the troops that are still there,” Jack continued.
Kip was taken aback. Back to the suckiness, he thought. He didn’t smile or react in any way. His face remained like stone. He was thinking.
“Cool, huh?” Jack said, smiling, trying to gauge Kip’s lack of reaction. “I mean, I know how patriotic you are. I knew you’d love the idea.”
Finally Kip’s mind came back into the room with the others. “What did you tell Lydell?”
“Well, it’s your band, Kip. I told him I would have to run it by you. But I did say that I thought you’d be onboard.”
Kip looked down at his feet, then over to Annie. “You ready to go?” he said.
Annie nodded but looked concerned. She wondered why Kip was not as happy about the prospect as she would have thought. Or as Jack would have thought. Again, there was a lot going on inside Kip that almost no one was privy to. She wished she had her notebook right now.
Kip took Annie’s hand and they headed for the door.
“Kip?” Jack said.
Kip turned his head over his shoulder back toward Jack. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”
“But Kip, we’re kind of on a tight time frame here. If we agree, we have to leave by the weekend.”
Kip stopped and turned to him. He scratched his head. Bombs were going off inside there. What a strange dilemma he was just put into. He wanted to honor the troops. He was always telling the band and his fans to honor them. But to return to Afghanistan was something he had never considered doing. He left so much of himself back there and he had never intended to return to retrieve it. He woke up in bed sometimes even still screaming in pain at the torture he was subjected to. And that was in the relative safety of America. He wasn’t sure of returning to Afghanistan would be conducive to his mental health. He looked at Jack.
“Stage? Hardware?” He asked.
Jack nodded. “All arranged already by Lydell,” he said. Kip scratched his head again. Annie was watching him with intense curiosity, but had resigned herself to not ask any questions just yet while Kip struggled with whatever battle was obviously playing out inside his head.
“All we have to do is say the word, Kip,” Jack added.
“Lock and Stabbs?” Kip asked again.
“They are more excited about it than I am,” Jack said. “Lock just called one of the Becky’s over to celebrate.”
Kip nodded. “Call Lydell. Give the go ahead,” he said.
Jack smiled big teeth. “I think he’d like to hear from you, Kip.”
Kip looked at Annie and took her hand again. “I’m busy
. If he wants me to, tell him I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Okay Kip.” Jack said as Kip and Annie pulled the door open and headed to the hall. “Uh, you two have a nice night now. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Jacky, Satan himself would puke at the thought of doing half the shit you have done!” Kip yelled back into the room before he pulled the door closed behind him.
Cimiani’s was an Italian restaurant known for its great food, but even better known for its great views. Kip sat with his back to the curved glass so that Annie would have the window view as the restaurant rotated around the rooftop. Manhattan slowly rolled by behind kip. The lights of the city glowed with life until they disappeared to the left and the darkness of the harbor filled the window. Occasionally small flashes of activity would twinkle on the surface of the water below, betraying presence of ships and barges carrying people and cargo from one shore to another.
The curvy waitress had just brought their meals and Kip was cutting into his steak while it still sizzled on his plate. The beef here was aged 13 weeks and fired over hickory fueled flames. The restaurant was consistently voted the best steakhouse in the city.
Annie cut her steak and stacked the morsel with deep fried mushrooms. Before she took a bite she eyed Kip. “You’d think a place like this would require reservations,” she said.
Kip paused with his fork just inches from his mouth. “You’d think, huh?” he said then he shoveled in the bite. Annie held her fork with the steak at her mouth
“So, Kip, you know I have to ask,” Annie said. Kip sat back in his chair, savoring the flavor of the beef. He raised his eyebrows at her.
“Why the hesitation about going to Afghanistan?” Annie asked. “With that speech you gave me on the helicopter today, I would have thought you would have jumped at the chance to go sing for the troops.”
