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Title: The Journey Back to Normal
Chapter 1: A Quick Gig
The screams of thirty thousand fans rose to a deafening decibel level,
but
through ear monitors they simply sounded like seagull cries over
the ocean. As
the three Hanson brothers grasped hands and bowed, the final show
of a long
and grueling tour was finally at its end. As they left the stage,
they stopped at the
curtain and gave a final wave to the thousands of hysterical fans
and then
slipped into a circle of body guards, a combination of professional
body guards,
managers, and friends needed to get them safely from the stage to
the dressing
rooms where their family was waiting.
As they burst through the door, the boys all headed for the bathroom
for a quick
washdown and a even quicker change of clothing and to quickly run
a brush
through their hair or tie it back out of the way. Even though the
show was over,
there was still at least a hour more of work left before they could
relax. Ike
grabbed two Dr. Peppers out of a cooler, threw one at Taylor and
they popped
the tops simultaneously. Twelve year old Zac was grabbing cookies
off the
table and with several in his mouth he handed over a couple of cookies
to Ike,
and then turned and traded Tay several cookies for his half-empty
can of soda
which he swallowed quickly.
Their parents looked on but overlooked the bad manners because this
was
normal. After a solid ninety-minute show the boys were exhausted.
They needed
a quick energy fix to get through the next session of interviews
and meeting with
excited fans that had won local radio contests for the backstage
privilege.
Ike wiped his mouth, looked over at his brothers for their nodding
approval and
tossed the soda can with a sweeping underhand throw into the trash
can and
went over to open the door.
The fans rushed into the room forcing the boys back up and causing
the
production manager to call for a restoration of order. This should
have been a
scary situation, but it had been repeated so many times over the
last year and a
half that the boys were used almost used to it. They laughed and
smiled and
posed for pictures and answered questions with the ease of professionals.
Because they were professionals. Even at the young ages of 17, 14
and 12 the
brothers knew they were in charge of their own careers. The outside
world
could doubt them, but they knew. It was their talent, their skills
and their love
for music that made the group a success.
Their parents were very involved with their careers but they were
there to guide
them only. Walker and Diana made their presence known, only as a
back-up, to
let the world know that they would only allow their boys to be pushed
so far. A
safeguard against the unscrupulous and unsavory factors in the music
business.
And, as usual they watched from the sidelines letting the boys natural
good
humor and personalities guide them through interviews and fan meetings.
When Taylor shook the last hand and guided the last fan out of the
dressing
room, he shut the door, leaned against it and slid down to the floor
in one fluid
motion.
"Well, it’s over. Last show last meet and greet. Good thing we had
the crew
party this afternoon cause I’m pooped!"
"Now we start all over again." Ike said. "New material, I can’t wait
to get back
into the studio."
"But only after a VACATION!" Zac yelled and started dancing across the room.
"Shhhhhhhhh....." everyone in the room mouthed in a half whisper
simultaneously. "Don’t wake the baby!"
"Sorry," Zac exclaimed with a smile and a giggle and headed for the
snack
table.
"No more junk, Zac," Diana Hanson said with enough warning in her
voice to
stop the boy in mid-bite. He looked at the candy and cookie laden
table with
longing but left it alone and grabbed another diet soda instead.
"But, I’m hungry!" Zac complained. This was normal complaint that
everyone
ignored because Zac, being a typical growing 12-year old, tended
to eat every
hour on the hour. But it was enough to galvanize everyone into action.
Ike,
Taylor and Zac started stuffing items of clothing and shoes into
duffel bags to
take back to the hotel. They passed several of them out the door
to their resident
bodyguard Jason and picked up what they could carry themselves.
Ike lifted
their little three-year old brother up and balanced him on his hip
while
balancing a bag in the other hand.
Walker carefully picked up their sleeping six-year old sister, Avery
and gently
guided a groggy nine-year old Jessica out the door to the waiting
van. Diana
lifted a baby carrier and covered a month old Zoe with a receiving
blanket to
protect her from the cold February night air.
The forty minute drive through Denver traffic to the hotel was just
relaxing
enough to lure just about everyone to edge of sleep and they trooped
wearily
through the lobby of the Hotel. Jason was ahead, as usual but even
he was only
half-hearted looking for overly enthusiastic fans and luckily were
only a few
that had slipped through security. And even they held back the normal
screams
when Taylor motioned them to silence with a finger to his lips and
pointed to
the sleeping children. They shook a few hands but politely said
no, when asked
for autographs and followed their father into the elevator when
he motioned for
them to follow. It was late and they were tired--even the ever energetic
Zac was
walking in his sleep.
Zac and Taylor collapsed on one of the double beds in the room that
was
assigned to the two older boys, while Ike took his turn in the shower.
When he
came out both of his brothers were sound asleep. He opened the door
to the
adjoining room that Zac was supposed to be sharing with Mackie.
The little
four-year old was curled up in a knot on one of the large beds.
He left the door
open, as was about to try to wake up Zac and drag him out of their
room when
he heard a slight knock at the door. He opened it to his Mom.
"I was going to ask if you wanted something to eat?" Diana began.
"I’m okay, and those guys are zonked." Ike said.
"We need to take their boots off, but other than that let them sleep."
Diana
suggested and after they had completed the task, she covered the
boys with a
blanket and kissed each of them goodnight and then gave her oldest
son a peek
on the check and a pat on the shoulder. "Are you sad that the touring
is over?"
she ask softly.
Ike smiled. "A little, but after a little R&R we’ll be raring
to go again. It was
great that you and the little kids could rejoin us over the last
couple of weeks. I
know it hasn’t been easy, with the baby and all. It will be nice
to be back home
again."
"I agree with that," Diana Hanson said softly as she looked back
over at her
three oldest offspring. She had three of the most popular rock stars
in the world
as her sons, but they were so unaffected by their success that they
still shared a
room by choice.
Taylor woke up sudden jolt as a small foot kicked him in the mouth.
Sometime
during the Mackie had crawled into the bed with him and Zac. Zac
as usual was
hogging the covers and spread eagled across the bed while he and
Mackie only
occupied a small portion of it and Mackie was turned sideways and
tangled up
in the sheet. Taylor untangled himself from his little brothers
and stripped out of
his clothing as he crossed the room. He rummaged through his duffle
bag and
finally found a clean shirt and clean pair of jeans and swiped a
clean pair of
socks out of Ikes. One of the biggest problems with touring as far
as he was
concerned was having enough clean clothes, laundromats were a pain
but hotel
laundry service was unbelievably expensive.
Taylor took a long shower, a luxury, because he was usually fighting
someone
for bathroom time, grabbed a book and slipped out to sit in the
living room for a
little peace and quiet time before the family got up.
A half hour later he heard someone trying to open the door to their
hotel suite
unsuccessfully, so with beleaguered sigh, he got up to open the
door for
whoever was trying to invade their privacy. He surprised his Dad,
who was
juggling two large grocery bags and gallon jugs of milk and orange
juice. His
Dad smiled and handed over a bag and the milk to his son.
"You’re up early," Walker commented as they carried the groceries inside.
"Mackie joined me sometime last night." Taylor said and smiled as
his Dad
grinned. Everyone in family knew how much Mackie moved, and punched
and
kicked in his sleep. And, it was useless to try to remove him because
he would
just wander back in again.
"What did ya, get to eat?" Taylor ask diving into the bags.
As his father laid out several bags of bagels and breakfast breads,
Taylor
settled for a Pop Tart to hold him over until breakfast. Meals were
a shared
affair in the Hanson family. A tradition his mother was trying very
hard to
preserve with their busy lifestyle.
"Did the guy give you a dirty look this time?" Taylor ask referring
a unknown
"Hotel Manager". It was a long running joke in the family because
they had so
many encounters with hotel staff about bringing in their own food
rather than
using the room-service. They had had some expensive lessons learned
about
room service when they first began to travel.
"At six bucks a bagel and an extra dollar and a half for cream cheese,
he can
give me all he dirty looks he wants," Walker exclaimed. "Do want
some extra
help with your math since no one is up yet?’
Taylor looked up at his father with look of disbelief. "Its Saturday, Dad!"
Walker laughed at his son. "Sorry, what was I thinking? Homework
on a
weekend. Although you could use a little extra time on the Geometry."
"Yeah, I know." Taylor grouched and then lookup up at his father
with a
suspicious look. "You guys aren’t going to make us study while we’re
on
vacation are you?"
"Your, vacation," Walker warned with emphasis "is right in the middle
of the
semester. Yes, you are going to continue with your classes." At
his son’s groan,
he gave him a grin and a promise. "You guys will have plenty of
time to
goof-off."
At that time, Zac wandered out of the bedroom and headed straight
for the food.
But his Dad deflected him and pointed him back to the shower, all
the while,
ignoring his sons’ complaints that he was "starving to death". Mackie
was
immediately behind his big brother and the sounds of early morning
begin to
escalate as the noisy Hanson clan started preparing for another
day.
* * * *
Gathered around a coffee table laden with breakfast, with Diana and
Walker
sitting on a couch and their children either sitting on the floor
or various chairs
they held hands for moment of simple prayer and with the signal
of "Amen" six
hungry kids dove in. This was normal practice for their ‘life on
the road’. Meals
were a time for conversation, to reveal plans for the day, for joking
and
laughing. It was a time for family.
The telephone began ringing and Walker interrupted his meal to answer
it. When
he returned, two sets of curious eyes were looking at him, Zac was
rarely
interested in making plans, he just simply followed his brothers
lead. Ike and
Taylor had overhead his end of the conversation so they knew something
was
up.
"That was Joel Flanery from Los Angeles, he’s involved with a Telethon
for
Children Diabetes and wanted to know if you guys would play for
the show and
give a pitch for the cause?" Walker explained.
Ike looked over at Taylor and when he nodded, then looked over to
Zac who
also nodded. "We’re in. When is it?"
"Today."
"Wow, nothing like giving us some warning!" Ike exclaimed.
"They’ve had some celebrity cancellations. They’re kind of desperate."
their
Dad explained.
"Walk, there is no way that the boys can do it." Diana protested.
"We are
officially on vacation and Los Angeles is not where I want to go
to start
relaxing."
"I know, but Joel has done lot for us, and we owe him." Walker explained.
"I
thought, if you guys are agreeable, that we could fly in, do the
show, and then fly
straight home. Diana, Jason could take you and the kids home and
we would be
back sometime this evening."
"It makes sense, Mom." Ike injected. "It will just be a simple gig,
a couple of
songs, maybe a five minute interview. No reason to drag the whole
family
along."
"I don’t like it, but I guess its the best. "Diana agreed. "But,
what are you guys
going to do for clothing? Everything you own is dirty. I’ll be doing
thirty loads
of laundry when we get home. With help, I might add."
"We can buy new duds at the LA International," Zac exclaimed. "There
are
some real cool stores in the airport."
"Or, we can wear tee-shirts with the Telethon Logo," Ike suggested.
"I’ll bet you
there will be plenty of them available."
"That sounds like a winning idea." Walker agreed. "I’ll call Joel
and make the
arrangements."
"You just blew our new duds!" Zac complained to Ike as their Dad
left the
room.
"You’ve got plenty of clothes, you just need to learn how to wear
them and stay
out of mine!" Taylor gripped as he smeared cream cheese on another
bagel only
to have Mackie reach over and snag half of it and bite into it before
he could
stop him. "I can’t win." he complained to Ike, since he, also being
an ‘older
brother’ could sympathize.
"Quit trying." Ike suggested as he handed Taylor another bagel and
then laughed
because as Taylor turned his head and reached for the bagel, Avery
stole the
other half of the bagel that Mackie had left behind on his plate.
Thirty minutes later with the breakfast mess cleared, they were watching
television when their Dad came back with the update.
"I’ve run into a snag, guys!" Walker complained.
"How so?’ Ike ask.
"I didn’t take into account that its holiday weekend. Its the first
long weekend
since New Years and the flights are booked solid. The only aircraft
available is
a small private chartered plane and only three seats are available."
"That would work." Ike said.
"No." Walker said bluntly.
"Come on Dad. You said yourself, its a quick in-and-out performance.
No
fanfare. No one knows we’re coming. Have Joel meet us at the airport.
We do
the gig and head home, provided you can get us seats to come home
of course."
"No. Someone has to be with you." Walker exclaimed.
"Why?" Taylor questioned. "It’s not like we’d have time to get into
trouble or
anything Dad. And, if Joel meets us at the airport there will be
with someone
with us. Kids fly by themselves all the time now, even little kids.
Come-on Dad,
we’re not babies. We are professionals, we ought to be able to handle
ourselves
for one day. We’ll even promise to sit on Zac."
"Hey, I didn’t do anything!" Zac complained and jumped onto his brothers
back
and tried to wrestle him to the floor.
So after a lot of discussion it was decided that Hanson would perform
at the
Telethon. Walker booked the flight to LA and secured three more
seats on a
red-eye returning flight. Arrangements were made for Joel to meet
them at the
airport and Walker drove them to the airport.
"Wow, we’ve never been on a jet this small before." Zac exclaimed
looking out
the window at a smaller passenger jet that seated fourteen.
"Make sure you take the Dramamine," Walker warned. "You may feel
more
movement in this plane than you are used to."
"Cool, just like a roller-coaster." Zac exclaimed excitedly. "Come
on guys, I
want to get something to eat, that plane looks to small to have
stewardesses."
Ike followed his brother and left Taylor behind to absorb all the
‘last minute’
behavioral lectures that their Dad was prone to give. He watched
as his younger
brother proceeded to spent the better part of his allowance on candy
and chips
to stuff into his backpack.
"Zac, if you’re taking Dramamine, you don’t need to be eating all
that junk!" Ike
admonished only to watch as his brother also filled the side pockets
on his army
style camouflage pants with gum and lifesavers. Ike shrugged, and
bought
himself a book of cross-word puzzles and bought Taylor a magazine
to read.
Finally, they were seated in the small aircraft, waved at their Dad
through the
small window and settled back for the flight. The plane was a lot
smaller than
the commercial flights they had taken before but they took their
usually places
with Zac at the window, Taylor in the middle and Ike on the isle.
The takeoff
was smooth enough. Soon they were climbing in altitude and they
settled back
comfortably for the hour and a half flight.
Forty minutes into the flight there was suddenly a jerk in the plane,
hard enough
that the boys books and magazines were dropped out of their hands
and a lady
screamed. As they bent over to pick them up there as another jolt
and a drop as
if they had hit a air pocket.
"What was that?" Zac asked looking worried.
"Don’t know," Ike said looking over his shoulder towards the cockpit.
"We must
be hitting bad weather."
"Its clear outside." Zac said looking out the window. "All I see is mountains."
"Probably the Grand Tetons," Taylor suggested and grabbed for his
book as
another jolt hit the plane.
"What the?" Ike ask with his brows furrowed together with a frown.
Just then
there was an eerie silence and he realized that the engines had
shut down.
"This is the Pilot speaking. We are experience some problems with
the plane.
Please fasten you seat belts." was announced throughout the plane.
The pressure in their eardrums increased suddenly causing them to
put their
hands over their ears to ease the pressure. The plane was losing
altitude at an
extreme rate. Ike looked back again towards the cockpit and realized
with an
unknown certainty that they were in serious trouble. There was smoke
coming
from under the door of the galley that separated the passengers
area from
cockpit. Then he leaned over to the window and watched for a second
as the
mountains seemed to be coming closer. Suddenly he unsnapped his
seatbelt and
reached over Taylor to unsnap Zacs.
"Switch seats with me fast!" he ordered.
Zac looked up at his brother but obeyed instantly. Ike dragged Zac
over into his
seat and fastened his seatbeat. Then he opened the overhead compartment
and
grabbed several small pillows and literally leaped over Zac and
Taylor and sat
in the window seat. He pushed the pillows into Zac and Taylor’s
laps. The
entire plane was shaking and moaning from the stress of altitude
descent. The
other passengers were screaming and yelling but he couldn’t make
out what they
were saying. His only focus was his brothers.
"Get your heads down, and keep them there!" he yelled. The plane
was shaking
so violently that they were barely able to stay in their seats even
with the
seatbelts. Ike grabbed Taylor’s arm. Taylor grabbed Zac’s. Then
they heard a
horrible sound of metal ripping, and felt the slam of impact as
the plane hit the
ground. They were thrown forward with such force that it knocked
the breath out
of them and then they were slammed backward as the plane skidded
across
snow covered slopes to a stop against a sheer wall of rock. Then
there was
SILENCE.