Chapter 8 -- The Ranch
Heather and Bob awoke early, so they gently exited the bed without disturbing the others, showered quietly and got dressed. They left a short note telling the others where to find them once they got up and dressed. Then they went out for coffee while the other three girls slept on.
In the elevator on the way down, Heather took Bob's arm and put her head close to his shoulder. She looked up at him with a big smile and let out a heavy sigh.
They stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the restaurant. Heather, still attached to Bob's arm whispered, "Thank you Honey."
"Uhh ... You're welcome Heather", with a questioning look on his face.
She giggled quietly at his lack of understanding. "Thank you for making Chelly's dream happen, Baby. She was so happy last night when I came in. I'm really sorry I disturbed you, but she was making some weird sounds."
"Yeah, she's a noisy one," Bob laughed. "I don't have a problem with the invasion, Sweetie. I know you were only looking after one of your little sisters."
Heather smiled, and nodded her head. "I know you'd never hurt any of us on purpose, it just sounded strange."
They found a bench seat right outside the door so that if any of the others showed up they'd see them before they got to the restaurant. The conversation continued. "She hadn't expected you to give her the opportunity quite so soon, Hey. She figured it would be a few months before you were comfortable with our relationship."
Heather chuckled, "Yeah, it was supposed to be a surprise. Spontaneity makes the experience just that much better. I know she wanted you badly Bobby. We talked about it at great length over the last couple years."
"She said that it might have been nothing but lust or as Judy said, 'she just wanted her pussy stuffed'."
Heather's head snapped around with a huge grin, "She told you that?"
Bob nodded with a light chuckle, "Yeah, she was telling me how she knew what she did was the right thing."
"That's so funny, I remember when Judy said that to her. I thought Chelly was going to shit her pants, but later when we talked about it she admitted that 'mom might be right'."
"Well, It doesn't matter anymore; She got stuffed last night," Bob said laughing.
Heather looked at him with warm sexy eyes, "That's what I wanted you to do," she said smiling, "I'm secure enough with you that I don't have any worries about you loving any of the four of us."
"Hey, you know that you are the woman that I want," Bob said.
"Oh yeah, I don't doubt your love for me Honey. I hope you don't doubt my love for you," she said noting that he shook his head. No doubt in his mind.
"I hope Janell will truly consider my offer. I know she'll always want to be with girls, but I also know she is very curious about the feelings we all get for a man. She says that since you have been here she gets similar feelings to what we describe, like she gets when she's looking at a prospective lady lover. Unlike most lesbians I've ever met, she is not revolted by the thought of a penis filling her. She's even expressed a strong desire to have at least one baby."
Bob was shocked, "You're kidding?"
"No, I'm not kidding. Like most women, she has this inner desire to reproduce and has said to me that she won't feel truly complete until she gives birth. I also know she doesn't want the baby conceived artificially, which means she's going to have to fuck a man sooner or later."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right, but like I said last night, it has to be her choice. I don't want anyone pressuring her, or any of you, for that matter, to do something she's not ready for or doesn't really want to do, but will do it because she feels obligated."
"None of us would do that to her Bob. We love Janell and we respect and accept her sexuality and we know that you do too."
Bob nodded and said, "Yeah, her sexuality has nothing to do with how she beats those drums into submission. I'm a typical male though, and when I look at her I just think, 'what a waste'. It's not and that's really a sexist statement, but my god Hey, Jan is an incredibly beautiful young woman."
"Ha. Yes she is, isn't she? Trust me baby, I see it too."
"Without a doubt!"
"She's already said that she feels safe around you, that you won't try to force or coerce her into anything," Heather conveyed to him softly. "I really think part of her aversion to guys is that she has seen that so many of 'us' are used, abused, then tossed aside by men. I think she is terrified of making any kind of commitment to a man, then being dumped and left alone."
"Yup, men are pigs, and every woman needs to know that," Bob said.
Laughing, Heather responded, "You are soooo right about that! Jan saw both Chelly and me give up our virginities to someone we thought we were in love with only to be nothing more than a conquest. Both of our 'guys' dropped us within a week of us giving it up, that's why I said I'd only done it twice and that it was a big mistake. I'm not sure, but Chelly may have only done it once before last night with you. But yeah, men are definitely pigs."
Bob nodded to her, then seriously added, "We're born that way Sweetie. A man's wiring is totally different than a woman's and someday everyone will figure that out."
Heather looked at him with interest, "So true."
"A man's wiring," Bob continued, "Is very primitive, very primal. Get it up, stick it in, shoot it off, roll over and go to sleep. Period. Women need to understand that when the guy is done and rolls over to go to sleep it's not a personal rejection of her needs, he's just not programmed to take care of a woman's needs, only to breed. I think he's lacking consideration, but again, it's essentially primal."
Heather nodded quietly.
"Some men, you're welcome, have been 'trained' and rewired, but it takes a patient woman to do it. A guy isn't going to rewire on his own; he doesn't really know how. It's up to 'his' woman to teach him what she needs and wants, and then don't let him get away with the primal shit anymore. My basic rule, for me, is that 'my woman' has to come at least once and hopefully more before I can even consider it. I can totally understand bi-sexual women like you four. Most prefer girls because the only way to get the kind of intimacy they want or need in a lover is for that lover to be a female. I certainly recognize that, and I've worked really hard to change my wiring."
"You can say that again," Heather murmured.
"To be completely honest with you, I get as much pleasure out of making a woman come as I do coming myself. It's a different pleasure, but it's still a complete pleasure nonetheless. I actually had a very beautiful lesbian teach me to make love to a woman without intercourse. Granted her SO, who was bi, would usually be there to take care of me, but sometimes Terese and I would just cuddle with each other. I was very satisfied with ensuring that she was satisfied. I have an old friend that was in a very similar situation and feels the same way."
Heather looked at him with some skepticism, "You certainly do satisfy a woman, and maybe it's because I'm a woman, but it's hard for me to fathom a man making love to a woman without screwing her."
Bob chuckled at her comment; "It's not a natural thing for a man, I'll give you that, Hey. Interestingly, to make up for not allowing intercourse, Terese learned to give a blowjob. She found that she actually enjoyed it even though it was a male appendage, and in enjoying it she certainly excelled."
Heather began to laugh, "Did she let you come in her mouth?"
"Actually, yes. She loved the taste. She wouldn't consider it in her pussy under any circumstances, but would gobble it up when she could."
They both laughed, and started to get ready to go into the restaurant. "Heather, if Jan talks to you, tell her about what I just told you. As long as you're good with us bedding together, I will happily make love to her without intercourse."
"Oh no Bob, she's going to want the whole salami. Remember, she wants to have a baby at some point so you're liable to be a daddy for her. I don't think you have to be concerned about that, but I will bring it up if she wants to talk about it."
"I also want Chelly to know that I'm very willing to share you with her, pretty much equally."
"Huh?" Bob gasped.
"Yeah. I've thought a lot about it since she did what she did Bob; it was so selfless, so Karmic. I trust in your love, as I hope you trust in mine. I could not ever be jealous of Chelly, quite the contrary, I would encourage her to share with me. I love you Bob, very intensely. You are my man. What I'm saying is that if Chelly wants you to be her man too, I'm good with that. Trust me, it doesn't mean I would love you any less. You're stuck with me big fella, and if I have anything to say about it, it's going to be for life!"
Bob smiled at her and whispered, "I think I'd like that Hey. You know how I feel about Chelly and that will never diminish. My love for you will never diminish either, and to be able to love both of you in the same way would be incredible to me, talk about a fantasy come true. If push ever came to shove though, YOU are my woman! That will never change."
They stood up, stretched and walked into the restaurant, Heather changing up the subject and with a big smile, said out of the blue, "I like the name, it fits and it's catchy. The logo will work masterfully, and we can call the studios something like 'The Girls Playground'."
Bob looked at her with a smile, "I like that! If the others agree then I'll have a special sign made to put over the entrance. Instead of studio #1 we can call it 'girls playroom #1', or better just 'playroom #1'."
Heather smiled as they walked into the eatery and waited to be seated. Bob let the hostess know that there would be 3 more joining us at some point, so we'd need space for them as well, then ordered coffee for both he and Heather.
About 20 minutes later they were casually chatting away when the other three girls bounced up to the table to join them.
"G'mornin' ladies," Bob said with a smile, "Coffee?"
All three nodded their heads. The waitress was on top of things and was already right there behind them having noticed the others come in.
"Three more coffees, and I'll bring the pot for a refill on the first two," she said with a smile. She made eye contact with Bob wondering what the hell was going on, but didn't say anything.
With a huge grin Chelly asked, "Did you see the way she looked at you Bob"?
Being a guy, of course Bob hadn't seen, but three of the four girls had so they decided to have some fun with it.
When the unsuspecting waitress was heading back to the table with cups and coffee pot in hand, the girls went into their "routine".
Jan started it, "Oh come on Bobby, it's my turn tonight."
Then Heather, "Chelly got him last night Jan, but he's my man. You guys will just have to wait your turn."
The look they were getting from their waitress was priceless. It was blatantly obvious that the four foxes were with the guy, but now they're discussing who gets him next. The tall blonde he came in with seems to be "girlfriend", but with the actions of the other three it's hard to tell.
They were in one of those "U" shaped booths so when the others arrived, Jan slid in next to Bob and once it was decided they were going to play "mind fuck" with the waitress, Jan slid in even closer to Bob grasping on to his arm and laying her head on his shoulder.
Heather looked over at Janell and threw out that lower lip to pout. "Jan, he's my man, when do I get a turn?" Everyone at the table somehow kept a very straight face.
The girl almost poured coffee on the table she was so engrossed with the conversation. She looked from one girl to the next, and then at Bob while he just sat with a dumb look on his face.
Now it was Jan's turn to pout. Damn, they were all good at that one. "Heather, he may be yours but I haven't had my turn yet."
Then came the kicker from Chelly, "Get over it Jan, we all know you prefer girls. Heather shares him with the rest of us and now you want a piece too?"
That's when the whole charade broke down because Maryanne and Heather began to laugh.
To her credit, the very confused woman stood there after pouring all the coffee and whipped out her order pad and asked if they were all ready to order. Then with an evil grin she asked, "Where do I get in line?"
Heather chuckled, "He really does belong to me. We were just having fun with you after the look we saw at first, like 'What the hell is all of this'."
"Ahhh, now I get it, but what's the deal? In this city, one never knows."
"Oh, he's our bass player," injected Maryanne. Bob just nodded his head.
"Oh, ok. I couldn't figure out why four young women would be hanging around with one guy, unless he was hung like a horse," she said giving a little of the 'hard time' back to them.
Chelly chuckled and decided to put it to rest, "Yeah, he's our bass player, but we all love him and Heather does share. Well, except for Jan. She really does prefer girls, but as you can see there are three others to choose from."
The waitress just shook her head and laughed while walking away with their orders. They were sure that she was wondering what was real and what wasn't.
Bob had learned that the girls were all very good actresses and had pulled it off masterfully. He just chuckled, shaking his head, and looking at each of them around the table. "Amazing," is all he could say.
All the girls giggled at him, but behaved themselves the rest of the time they were there.
-----
Consuming a hearty breakfast and partaking of a long round of good conversation, they retired back to their suites. After a mass shower, and a very good game of grope&grabass, where, of course, Bob came out the winner. How could he lose? He was in the shower with four gorgeous women. When they were all finished, dried and dressed, they packed up their things and made ready to head out.
After checking out, they were met downstairs by the limo driver. Bob had already decided that the limo would take them to Willits. He decided to leave the chopper at the airport, it wasn't going anywhere from there, and he didn't need this one at the ranch, so it would be convenient when they came back to the airport in a few weeks.
He'd decided that he could take them out in one of the smaller birds if they wanted to see the lay of the land a bit better. He had learned to be very careful flying around the area though, because as Maryanne had noted, this was one of the prime marijuana growing regions in California. Most of the big plots were camouflaged and nearly invisible from the air. They were also usually guarded by armed "security" that didn't take kindly to over flights seeing as how that's where most of the raids came from. In their mind, anyone that flew over them was potentially hostile and there was more than one report of bullet holes in airplanes or helicopters.
The law didn't pursue them all that vigorously unless forced by the federales. The pot crop was a large part of the local economy so when one of the growers wanted a new car, he paid cash and bought it locally. When they needed groceries they went to the local market and picked up what they needed, so they put a lot of the income they were making into the local economy. I guess the only real downside to the whole economic scenario is that they weren't paying taxes on the income. Well some were, but that was more a money laundering effort than civic minded contributions.
It's obvious that the lessons of prohibition weren't learned very well, because what happened then is happening now. Criminals are taking advantage of supply and demand economics the same way the bootleggers and the Mob took advantage of it during the dry years. Want the crime to lessen? The solution is obvious.
He hadn't smoked any weed for a few years. He smiled inwardly saying to himself, "Don't need it."
He did have a good internal chuckle recalling a conversation he'd had with his father a lot of years ago about LSD. Of course the old man was trying to tell Bob that he didn't need drugs to get high, "Just get high on life," he'd said.
Uh huh. Bob's response was, "I do get high on life dad, but I've gone to places on that drug that you can't get to on life!" The old man gave up, but he didn't stop drinking, high on life indeed.
Once in the limo they made a quick stop at Fisherman's wharf to pick up some fresh fish, sourdough bread, a lot of crab and some shrimp. That was going to be dinner and maybe lunch for the next few days. You can't get seafood any fresher than at the wharf! Bob had long had the habit of sending someone down to the city at least once a week for fresh seafood and bread.
The air tour of the bay area would just have to wait for another day.
The pleasant drive was about two and a half or three hours up highway 101 from the hotel. The girls marveled at the beautiful scenery in Northern California. Quite a change from the asphalt jungle and concrete strips they were used to in the LA area. Up here you can actually see stars in the night sky.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean celestial stars.
They couldn't believe the driveway they had to drive up to get to the huge wooden gate. Bob had already ordered a large redwood sign for over the studio that announced to people they were entering "The Girls Playground", which after a very short discussion the girls all said they liked. The sign was presently hanging at the entry gate. They also bought off on the name for the band at the same time. There wasn't much debate, so it was apparent that they had thought about it and talked overnight.
Eventually the sign over the gate would adorn the studios. For now it looked good at the entrance, which would soon have another large sign proclaiming you were entering "The Ranch" as the girls affectionately named it. When they pulled up to the house, all four of the girls gasped at the size and layout they could see from outside. It was like a huge Lincoln log castle. They already loved it!
I'll save you the description of the place for the most part; some will be described in brief as things transpire. Suffice it to say, it was a 9 bedroom 6 bathroom, very large, very nice, not overly ornate or auspicious, 9500 square foot log cabin in the middle of a redwood forest.
The bedroom layout easily met the girl's approval. They were all practically connected to each other, and the master was huge. Each had a shared bathroom between them. The bath and shower areas were huge! Each shower was six foot by eight foot, slate tiles, bench seats, and multiple electronically controlled shower heads, including a couple of large rain heads in the ceiling all fed by a demand heater so it could run for hours without running out of hot water.
The way Bob had figured it Chelly and Janell would share a bathroom. Maryanne and Heather would be the other pairing, but Bob hoped that Heather would share the master with him. Since Janell and Maryanne's rooms had adjacent doors Maryanne could walk through Janell's room to share the shower with her and Chelly. Later, Maryanne would change that a little, but that's getting ahead of things.
When Heather walked in to look, Bob asked, "Would you like to stay in here with me sweetie?"
"Will there be room for Chelly to join us?"
"Chelly will always have room with us, Baby."
Heather looked around at him and with a few tears starting to run down her face, answered, "Yes, then I would like that very much."
Bob smiled at her and said, "Great! I'll have the staff move most of your things into this room."
Heather looked at him with a questioning look, "Huh?"
Now with a serious look Bob replied, "I didn't presume anything Heather. You have a separate room just like everyone else, but I'm elated you'll join me in this room."
Heather looked at him with a smile, "Well I suppose that's going to be a good idea when the others want to partake of your loving. Unless I'm specifically invited, I'll need a room. I'm certainly not a voyeur."
Then with a giggle, "I certainly won't be jealous either." Looking at him noting a questioning look, she reiterated, "I know you love me Bob, even after such a short time, I'm very secure in that. Maybe it's because I've needed someone to latch on to since my folks died, but the way you have treated me makes my heart sing joyfully."
Bob whispered to her, "You deserve nothing less Hey. I've never felt this way about anyone, and in my mind I've found my 'Soul Mate'. I'm so in love with you it seems crazy sometimes when I think about it, I truly love you with all my heart."
"I know," she replied. "And I'm secure in that so if you want to love the others, I have no problem with it. I know that having sex with them isn't going to change your feelings for me, any more than it would diminish my love for you, so it's all good!"
She added softly, "I also believe that when you do love the others, you will love them the same way you love me. I wouldn't want any less for any of them. I know they will all do everything they can to please you in the bed too Bobby, so you have to let them."
He nodded, "I don't know any other way, Hey."
"I also know that it would not be just 'meaningless sex' for any of you, especially Janell. I have a feeling that Janell is going to surprise us all when she decides to "try a man". It certainly won't be meaningless for her!"
"It won't be meaningless for me either Heather," he said softly. "Jan is a very beautiful woman Hey, and deserves to be treated that way. Don't take it the wrong way, but besides you, she's the one that intrigues me the most sexually. Maybe it's the 'unattainable' factor, but as deeply as I love you and Chelly, I could also seriously love Janell if she will let me."
Then he added, "I don't know how you feel about "meaningless sex", you know just a fuck with no real feeling in it. A quick orgasm or two, take a shower, get dressed and leave probably never doing anything with that person again."
She nodded with a laugh, "That sounds pretty accurate to me!"
He chuckled then finished, "That kind of sex, sex just for sex's sake, is really nothing more than overly complex masturbation. It's really less trouble to take matters in your own hands... literally!"
Heather laughed out loud, "I'll have to remember that one, overly complex masturbation, so true!"
"Bobby, when I asked you about room for Chelly, did you understand what I was really asking?"
"Umm. I don't know, Hey. There will always be room for Chelly. I have no issues with that."
Heather looked into Bob's eyes so she knew he was paying attention to what she was going to say. "Bobby, I meant will there always be room in our bed and bedroom for Chelly? I was serious when I said I would share you with her. I think you have enough love to take care of both of us."
"Hey, are you saying that you want Chelly to move in to the room with us?"
"If she wants, yes."
"Oh, ok. I guess I really don't have any issue with that. You know I love Chelly very much, so if you are comfortable with that, I'm good. Just remember what I said though, if push ever came to shove, YOU are my woman."
"I understand Bob, but I don't think it would ever come to that. Chelly and I respect and love each other too much to let something like that happen. I would never want you to have to make that choice."
"Me neither," agreed Bob. "So, do you want to tell Chelly that she can move into the master with us?"
"I think so," Heather said thoughtfully. "It will have less questions surrounding it if I do it. If you did, she'd wonder if I was ok with it, and I want her to know that up front. I think it's also a very good idea to keep our separate rooms."
"I agree, he said nodding. "Should we rearrange Maryanne and Jan to be next to each other?"
"No, I think there is something going on with Annie. It's just a sixth sense kind of thing. I think the cat will be out of the bag sooner rather than later."
"You want to clue me in?
"Nope", she chuckled. "You'll know soon enough. I do think we should move Jan next to us. I know Chelly will like to be with her and I enjoy making love with Jan as well. I also want Jan to have full access to you whenever she wants. I'm not sure if it will be all that often, but I have a feeling that our sexy lezzy Jan is going to want to enjoy the only man she's ever loved."
"She loves me?" Bob asked incredulously.
"Yes she does Baby, and you need to love her back. I'm going to tell you that you have a lot of responsibility with her. I think she wants to love a man, but you're the only one. She's still going to go after girls Bob, so don't think you're going to start a harem here," Heather said laughing.
Bob chuckled with her.
"I do feel like once she starts, and I know you'll do it for her right, so she'll have a wonderful experience, but once she starts, I think you'll see Miss Jan in your bed on a regular basis. Not like Chell and Me, but often enough."
"You're not kidding are you?" Bob queried.
"No I'm not Honey, I want Jan to enjoy you, and I know you love Jan very much so you will enjoy her. She'll let you know when she's ready, so just watch for the signs. When it happens, Chell and me will probably already know, so don't worry about the two of us. I think I can speak for Chelly in saying that we really want you to love Janell Baby, and love her with your heart like you do us."
"Ok Sweetie, but you know she's going to have to instigate everything."
"I'll tell her that she's going to have to show you what she wants, and let you know if you do something she's not comfortable with. You already told her that, but I'll reiterate," Heather said smiling. "Oh, and Bob. Don't be overly surprised if the first encounter is very soon."
He looked at her with a dropped jaw, but nodded his head. This was getting very interesting.
The girls spent the rest of the day wandering around the complex checking out where everything was. Together they all walked around the grounds while Bob pointed out some of the "amenities" available. The indoor/outdoor hot tub, the indoor pool with the retractable roof, the complete exercise gym and finally, up the hill just a little, the studio.
When they entered, they were totally in awe of what a recording studio was, even mostly empty. To say the girls were "Blown Away" would be understating their reaction. The girl's eyes were like those of an infant in a papoose going through a grocery store, that look of complete wonderment.
Besides the 3 rooms that would contain all of the mixing equipment, recorders and the like, there were four complete recording rooms, one of which was partitioned off so that one or all the girls could play a part without the sound bouncing off of walls or ceilings etc. There was also a smaller room in between that partitioned studio and the largest studio, where there was nothing but sound walls, a couple stools and some microphone stands. Bob explained that was to record vocals. They noted that the mixing equipment that Bob had down at Chelly's was now installed in the third engineering room, which was connected to the largest room by a window. Engineering room number one, which is huge, hadn't been equipped yet, but would become the mastering stuido.
The girls looked around and noticed that their instruments were sitting in the big room, but that identical sets were already in each of the other large rooms. Janell would have to place her drums where they were comfortable for her, Chelly would have to place her instruments in the order she liked and cable them, but other than that it was, "Flip the switch, tune up and begin to play".
Bob hadn't planned any studio time for this first day, but the girls just walked through the door and began to turn things on while Janell began her set up.
"I hadn't planned on you guys having to play today," Bob said quietly.
All four girls looked up at him with big smiles. It was Maryanne that said, "We haven't played in ... like ... a week Bob, and we love to play. You don't have to play or record anything, we just want to play for a little while."
Bob nodded his head then turned around to set up the board and the recorders for what was going to be an improv jam session, duration unknown.
When he had all of that set up, he went into the room with the girls, picked up his guitar, and made sure it was in tune. Then one at a time, he tuned all of the other bass guitars that he used. His axe of choice was always his Fender Jazz Bass, but he had a Washburn with 5 strings, a Ricky with 6 strings, and a Hoffner violin style for softer tones.
He chuckled to himself when he picked up the Hoffner to give it a tune up. He'd broken a few of these guitars by playing them too hard. They were fairly fragile compared to other bass' so you couldn't really "slam" the strings like you would on a Jazz or the Ricky, but the tones you could get from the Hoffner made it a "must have".
Oh, what's a Hoffner violin style? Think of Paul McCartney when the Beatles first started out. Bob was even left-handed.
Each of the girls were absorbed in their own little worlds as they set up, tuned and played a few riffs while waiting for Janell to finish setting up.
Heather was helping Jan with the setup, and it looked like they were having a good conversation. Heads were shaking, heads were nodding and there was much laughter, but with Hey's help Janell got things together in short order.
Bob just figured that Heather was talking to Jan about some of the conversations they'd had earlier to let her know that he was good with whatever happened, and so was she. Who knows? Jan is a very beautiful girl.
They all knew that once she had the drums set up the way she wanted that she would do about five to ten minutes of stretching exercises to get limbered up. The others, over time, learned that it was a good practice allowing them to center, focus and be ready to play, so they usually joined her. It was a lot like an abbreviated session of Tai Chi.
Bob sat on his stool listening to the random notes being bantered around the room watching Janell finishing her set up. It did take her about an hour, even with Heather helping, to get things to her liking. He made a mental note to have the staff look at the setup she used and set up the other three sets as closely as they could. It would save Janell a lot of time when they went to work in the other rooms.
She played a short time making sure everything was to her liking then stood up and walked to the front of her instruments. The other girls knew that meant it was time for the stretching session. Bob watched with interest as the other three put down their instruments and moved over so that they formed a square facing each other and began their practiced routine.
About ten minutes or so later, they all came together for a group hug, and he heard Heather say, "Let's do it to it."
Somehow he had missed this process in the Garage, but he was also very sure that they had done it at some point.
All four moved to their instruments, and then looking at Bob, asked him if he was ready.
He nodded his head and slid his butt off the stool while Maryanne walked over and taped a piece of paper on his amp, Heathers amp, Michelle's keyboard, and one of Janell's taller cymbal stands.
Bob looked at the paper and smiled. It was a play list for this session. When he turned around he was met with four smiling faces.
Janell looked around and asked, "Ready?" Getting nods all around she began tapping her sticks in rhythm count. Any musician knows that's the signal and tempo of the start, so when she got to the fourth tap, all of them were in synch and began playing the first song on the list.
There were about 40 tunes on the list and by the time they'd played for a couple hours they'd gone through about half of it. Of all the music they played that afternoon, they only felt the need to repeat something twice. Much to his chagrin, it was his part that they repeated for. He'd just not played it to their satisfaction, told him what they wanted. As soon as they were finished explaining it to him and he'd nodded his understanding, without any delay, Janell was tapping her sticks to start it up.
Bob smiled. This was a tough group; they didn't accept anything less than perfection... from anyone! He liked that!
He did notice an interesting dynamic with them. It was apparent that everyone looked to Heather for leadership and final decisions if there was any "argument". Once the stretching exercises had started it was quite obvious that Janell was now in total control.
They also didn't waste any time between numbers either. Bob liked that as well. It was a good sign of their absolute professionalism and confidence in their music. They would stop every fifth or sixth song and discuss what they had done. That's usually when Bob found out he'd messed one up, and it was usually Chelly that had heard it.
Something else he had noticed. When they were playing their music, they were playing their music. There were no side discussions or anything else that didn't pertain to the task at hand. That was also a sign of their professionalism, but it was also a sign that they needed to lighten up with themselves. Bob would have to figure out some way to present that to them. He was just as serious about his music, but he was also serious about having fun while playing and "fun" was clearly not part of the girl's repertoire.
They all smiled at each other then looking at Bob, started setting their instruments down telling him it was break time and they'd come back either later today or tomorrow to finish the list and would probably add another 40 songs to the list. It was Chelly's turn to come up with the next playlists.
Bob just shook his head in disbelief. This was already working better than he could have hoped.
These Girls were very dedicated to their music.