I woke up very early Sunday morning to see my bedside clock flashing 12:00. At least we had power back. I gently got out of bed, being careful not to disturb Sleeping Beauty next to me, the dream I'd had about him last night still vivid in my memory.

We were kissing passionately, limbs intertwined, pressing as much of our bodies against each other as we could...

I mentally slapped myself round the face. 'Stop it - he's only twelve, for God's sake...'

'Yeah, but what a twelve year old...' my dick replied...

As I was pulling my trainers on, Zac stirred. "Where am I?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with the backs of his hands. "Oh, mornin', Dean. Did we sleep here last night?"

"Yeah. Snow was still falling. Kevin didn't think we had a hope in hell's chance of making it back to Birmingham with the roads how they were yesterday..." I walked over to my window and pulled the curtains back. It was a grey morning, but the snow had now turned to heavy rain again. Looking down at the drive, the snow had started to melt a bit, but there were still large drifts around. "What d'you want for breakfast?"

"Dunno. What you got?"

"How about a traditional English fry-up? That'll get the cholesterol into your veins! I'll need a hand, though..."

An hour and a broken plate later, Zac and I served what had to be the least healthy breakfast to my parents and Kevin ever: Bacon, fried eggs (sunny side up, of course), French toast, toast, grilled tomatoes, potato cakes and copious amounts of coffee and orange juice.

To my surprise, Kevin didn't seem to have too much of an appetite, but Zac made up for it. He shovelled the food away so fast I couldn't believe all of it was going into his mouth.

After his fourth round of toast he finally announced he was full, much to the relief of everyone around him, who'd finished quite a while earlier. When he noticed everyone was watching him, he simply responded with "What? Most important meal of the day!"

After breakfast, my mother the miracle worker presented me with a kit bag filled with clothes. "There should be enough to last you the next week..." she said, implying that there never would be, so do your best!

I thanked my mum and headed outside with Zac and Kevin to the car.

After some shovelling and shoving, we managed to get the Range Rover out on to the freshly snow-ploughed road. I had to explain to Kevin that, although it was a 4x4, it could get stuck just as easily as the next car as it had road-only tyres on it, so allowing the snow to get stuck in the tread.

Once we were out on the main road, the conditions improved somewhat thanks to gritting lorries and snowploughs, so allowing us to make a fair pace down the A38 towards the NEC.

Now I saw why Zac had to eat so much - he had to be the most hyperactive kid I'd ever met. He literally couldn't sit still! He could also talk like no one else I'd ever met - me often going for minutes on end without saying a word. Not that I minded, of course: this was an easy way for me to catch up with what Tay'd been doing in the previous four months. As it turned out, not a whole lot. Most of the time they'd been in Tulsa, going to school like "regular" kids, the only break being the recording of the "Snowed In" Christmas album.

Through our (rather one-sided) conversation I good a good impression of Zac - sure he had a very 'in-yer-face' character, but he was damned clever as well - I never realised he wrote, composed and sung "Lucy"...

Very soon we'd pulled into the NEC and were making our way round to the back of the Arena - one of Birmingham's premiere venues: host to such things as UK Gladiators, Microsoft's "Vision of the Future" tour and even U2...

We pulled up next to a convoy of trucks and trailers with the Hanson logo on them. Just as we arrived, Tay and Ike walked out of the stage door. Spotting the car, Tay grinned and ran over. As I got out, he grabbed me and gave me a huge hug, and I realised how much I'd actually missed him.

"Dean, man, it's so great to see ya again..."

"You too, Tay. How's life? Busy?"

"That's one way you could put it... Did shit-head here give you any hassle?" Tay asked, grabbing Zac in a headlock and giving him a noogie from hell.

"Lemme go!" yelled Zac, limbs flailing in a futile attempt to release himself from Tay's grasp.

"Nah - no trouble at all. He was fast asleep within an hour..."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Not!"

"Too!" I yelled, enjoying the sheer stupidness of the situation.

Tay interrupted us. "C'mon. Dean, I'll show you around..." and, so saying, took my hand and pulled me off towards his trailer.

"Woooooo, Taylor's got a boyfriend!" taunted Zac.

"So? Better than you'll ever do," retorted Tay.


On to Chapter Five

Back to Chapter Three

Chapter Index

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Email the Author - dean@meta4.org

Touring with Hanson is © 1998 by Dean Lidster. This work may not be duplicated in any form (physical, electronic, audio, or otherwise) without the author's written permission. All applicable copyright laws apply. All individuals depicted are fictional with any resemblance to real persons being purely coincidental.

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