Roger and I were in what was quite possibly the deepest sleep we had fallen into since we had gotten onto this bus only to be awoken by a Scrabble board, drum sticks, and all of Roger stuff falling from the overhead compartment and into the floor. It nearly gave Roger and I a heart attack as we were showered in Scrabble tiles and that damn board.

 “Jesus! What the hell! Oh my god! Shit! I…am so fuckin’ awake right now.” I sighed and put my hand on my forehead and tried to get my heart rate to return to normal. Roger shot straight up beside me and sighed heavily, looking around. He looked absolutely perplexed.

 “Oh my god! Don’t lose the tiles!” Freddie yelled from the dinette as he casually enjoyed his tea with Mary. I turned my head slowly toward Freddie and glared at him. I was almost as perplexed as Roger was at this point. There were a lot of eyes on us right now.

 “How…you…you two are…up…and…you two are up…you two are up. What the hell time is…wait…am I naked? No…okay.” I assured myself.

 “It’s 1:37. You two have been out!” Mary said. “Granted, none of us have been up that long. I’ve only been awake a half-hour.

 “God, Roger! We….we wreak of sweat and vodka. I swear, if someone came over here and licked us they would either get incredibly drunk or turned on…or both!” I said.

 John and Veronica were sitting across from Brian and Chrissie at the back table. Brian had his arm slung around Chrissie’s shoulders. She stared expressionless at the table, with her hands folded. She had hardly touched her afternoon tea. She and Brian had been awake the longest.

 “So, what we wanted to talk to you two about…” John began. He took a sip of tea. “…as you know the baby is going to be born soon.” He looked to Veronica. She took John’s hand.

 “We’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’ lately. You know, there’s a lot of decisions and things that need to be made before this baby arrives. John and I…we…we have a crib, a car seat, blankets, those necessary items.”

 “Bottles and diapers. We have lots of those.” John added. They paused a bit awkwardly.

 “O…..kay?” Brian said. Chrissie hadn’t said anything and Brian wasn’t truly certain where this was going.

 “Listen, we…we’re going to have the baby baptized shortly after he or she is born. The one thing we don’t have yet…” Veronica looked to John.

 “Www…we…Brian…Chrissie. Veronica and I would be honored to have the two of you as godparents to the baby.” He shared. They both smiled at Brian and Chrissie as Veronica squeezed John’s hands a little tighter. This request caused Chrissie to look up from the table and John, Veronica and then to Brian.

 “You…you want…us…to be…to be godparents? Godparents? Like…the kind that…the ones that…you mean like…” Brian sighed. “What are godparents?” John and Veronica laughed.

 “Well, officially, as far as the Catholic Church is concerned; you provide the child with spiritual guidance and serve as a moral beacon. Give the child someone to come to in his or her times of conflict or need.” John explained.

 “And…what is it about Chrissie and I that scream moral barometer or…spiritual leader?” Brian asked. Chrissie hadn’t yet said a word.

 “That leads me to the unofficial part. Unofficially, you give our child a listening ear, be cool, fun godparents and…teach them about sex so John and I don’t have to deal with that. Oh, and there’s be cake after the christening.” Veronica said. Brian smiled and looked over to Chrissie, a worried expression consuming him. He hadn’t heard her so quiet. Normally, Chrissie would be beyond overjoyed at such a request.

 “I’m no Catholic or nothin’ but I thought godparents had to be married?” she finally said reaching for her tea.

 “No. It’s alright. We thought about asking Roger and Lydia but…” Brian cut Veronica.

 “Whoa, whoa, whoa…whoa…you…were honestly going to ask Roger to be the godfather of your innocent child?!” Brian blinked several times and looked over the booth seats at Roger. “You wanted that…to be your godfather? The dazed thing staring at a couch, covered in magazines, Scrabble pieces and scattered cigarettes?” Brian paused, looked at John and then looked back at Roger. “I think it would have been a better choice. If anyone’s gonna’ have a spiritual experience at an unlikely time, it’s Roger.” Brian said, looking peculiarly at John and Veronica. Chrissie hadn’t said much else about the matter and Brian looked over to her a couple times.

 “We understand if it’s not something you want to do. We’ll ask Roger and Lydia because they are our next picks.” Veronica said.

 “Then we’re going to start asking other Catholics until we find some takers.” John added jokingly. Brian laughed but Chrissie remained fixated on her glass.

 “Well, I’m…I’m rather charmed you’d think of us.” He rubbed Chrissie’s shoulder. “What do you think, sweetheart?” Chrissie was mid-sip on her tea.

 “Mmm…” she started. “…yes, it’s very nice of both of you, really.” She answered rather solemnly. Brian looked to her again as he pressed his brows toward his eyes.

 “Do you…want to at least consider it?” John persisted, beginning to feel a bit uneasy that he had detonated some non-Catholic guilt bomb.

 “I don’t truly need to consider it, but…Chrissie? What….what are you…you’re not sayin’ much.” Brian laughed nervously.

 “There’s nothing to think about. I’m fine with it. Yes, we will be godparents to your baby.” She gave Brian one of those smiles that said ‘I’m done with this.’  “Thank you, Veronica…John…for…wanting us to do such an honor. We won’t let you down. S’Cuse me.” Chrissie’s voice trailed off as she got up from the table and excused herself to the back bedroom. Brian, Veronica and John watched her until the door closed behind her.

 Once behind the door, Chrissie left her hand on the handle for a moment before slowly slumping down into the floor and weeping into folded arms. The vibration of the bus and the noise from the back engine muffled her cries from the rest of the bus. Back outside, Brian had a most bizarre look on his face. John and Veronica looked at him inquisitively.

 “Uuhh…is…is she okay…with this?” John asked concerning. Brian cleared his throat and reached for his tea. She shot his eyes toward the door.

 “Yeah…yeah I…I mean…I guess she is. Maybe she’s…tired?” Brian didn’t understand Chrissie’s uninterested actions. “God, you two…I really am honored. I thought Chrissie would be more interested in it. I promise you. We’ll…we’ll do the things you want us to do.” Brian smiled. “It’s kinda’ like havin’ one of your own isn’t it? Aahhh, that’s stupid…no it’s not! But really, we’ll do our very best. We will.” Brian smiled again.

 “We knew you would, stupid! That’s why we wanted you two. And don’t worry about not bein’ Catholic…we’ll smooth that over with the church. This isn’t about savin’ souls, it’s about who we wanted to guide our child as an outsider lookin’ in. Kind of like an auntie and uncle.” Veronica absolutely beamed.

 “Should…should I go check on Chrissie? You think she’s sick or not feelin’ well or somethin’? Brian asked.

 “Perhaps she went to lie down for now. She’ll be okay.” Veronica assured him.

 “You know, we have an autograph session and a press conference in one hour…how the hell are we going to be dressed for this in time? Freddie asked anyone that would answer. Roger blinked slowly at Freddie. He hadn’t bothered moving the Scrabble board, the tiles the letter trays…nothing. He sat there mostly covered in stuff. He inhaled deeply, still gazing over at Freddie. He reached up and shook his sandy blonde hair around, pulling his fingers through tangles.

 “I’m ready.” He finally said looking over at Freddie.

 “No. No. No. Roger, seriously? No. This is an autograph session. You smell horrible…no…we…we smell horrible, this bed has so much sand in it, and…tons of other shit now, and you have had those jeans on for…” I thought hard for a moment. “…a long time. Go. Go get in the shower, sweetheart I love you but…go.” I insisted as I shooed Roger away from me. “Shit. I have some serious cleanin’ to do in this bus today. Roger…now.”

  Roger leaned over and kissed me. “Okay, babe.” He got out of bed and headed for the shower. Immediately, I stood up and began picking up everything that had fallen from overhead. There was no way I was would recover all these Scrabble tiles. I was gonna’ have to shake this thing out and change these before folding this bed into a couch again. Freddie laughed at the dinette table as he shared the carrots and dip with Mary that she was working on this afternoon with her tea.

 “It’s so very delightful, darling! You tell Roger to get in the shower…he goes! What else could you tell Roger to do and he just…up and do it?” Freddie asked, smiling all over. Mary had stopped eating her carrots and was staring at me momentarily.

 “Hmm…anything, I’d say.” Mary said, shooting her eyes at me and then returning to her carrots. We were about three hours away from Perranporth as I worked on this messy area of the bus. It was my own personal belief that as a mess as things were now; it would look even worse in 48 hours. Why? Well, it was simple. There was a birthday cookout fast approaching. The autograph session was taking place in a public park where the press had reserved a space. Once the bus stopped, it was gonna’ be a long day of press, meeting the fans, photo ops and the concert to conclude the night. Exhaustion would set in and so the prior day was a much welcome break before the mayhem that would be today and tonight. As for myself, Mary, Veronica and Chrissie? We had big plans. When everyone else got off the bus, we were going to lay outside in the folding chairs around the bus and harass the road crew. Okay, I was going to harass the road crew. We would be able to catch glimpses of the first autograph session from the distance of the bus and that was very endearing to me.

 Chrissie was lying on the bed in the bedroom in the back staring at the ceiling of the bus. She had been sobbing off and on now for at least fifteen minutes or more. The moment she would calm herself, she would get re-worked up and it was a vicious cycle. She turned to her side and faced the side of the bus where the upholstery met the metal. She could feel her eyes swollen and knew she needed to pull it together. She could hear Freddie talking about the autograph session and it made her a nervous wreck as she thought about the words he was saying out there: “So, Brian how many bras are you going to sign today? Hey, Brian how many phone numbers will you get this afternoon?” The laughter from the bus should have been the same sentiment that Chrissie felt. Instead, it tore her apart and made her absolutely crazy. She could feel her pulse race and her chest tighten as she laid there and battled her mind. She had probably uttered “why” in her mind at least a hundred times. The door of the bedroom came creaking open. Chrissie knew she needed to act as if she were asleep or….or anything that would hide her faded tears.