Small Town Girl

room from the top of that.'

She followed Tess between two neoclassical columns into the dining room, whose ceiling created the second- story balcony that overhung the living room, and into the rear kitchen, through the French doors onto the screen porch, from where they looked down at the pool area below. Next they checked out Tess's home office, tucked behind the triple garage, then retraced their steps to the front of the house and went up the curving stairway to the second level. All the while, Casey never stopped babbling, admiring the house, exclaiming over everything. Lordy, could that girl talk. Incessantly! But Tess enjoyed it, and the feeling she got from watching her experience true luxury for the first time in her life.

In the open doorway of her own bedroom suite Casey halted and said, 'You mean I get to stay here?'

'This is your room. And that's your bath.'

'My own bathroom?'

'That's right… take a look.'

Casey entered as if it were a sanctuary, halting in the bathroom doorway, peering around it at the glass-walled shower, the marble tub, the long vanity and giant mirror. 'This is bigger than my bedroom back home. My gosh, Mac, you mean I could own a house like this someday if I make it big?'

'Someday, maybe. Why not? A major part of achieving success is believing you can.'

Casey gazed around, and said, 'I wish Dad could see this. He wouldn't believe it.' She roamed back into the bedroom and investigated the panel on the wall beside the bed. 'What's this?'

'A sound system.'

WSM country radio was tuned in, and the voice of Wynonna came softly through the speaker. 'You mean you've got it piped all through the house?'

'Well, I'm a musician.' Tess flapped her hands. 'Got to have music in the place. The components are in the living room, in the built-in cabinets beside the fireplace.'

'What's playing now? Radio?'

'Yes.'

'Can you play CDs or tapes or anything?'

'Anything.'

'So, how come your new tape's not playing?'

'It can be, in a second.'

'Well, put it on!' They clattered back downstairs, and as Casey hustled after Tess, she said, 'Hey, I really love your new album. Thank you so much for sending it to me. It's going to be a great seller. Platinum! Double platinum! Dad says so, too, and I never played it for anybody else, just him, like you said.' Tess started the tape running and Casey ordered, 'Turn it up!' The volume got rowdy and Casey started singing along. Tess sang, too. They sang all the while they left the front door open and went outside to empty the Bronco; while they hauled Casey's stuff upstairs, and hung her clothes in the closet and stashed some cardboard boxes in a corner, and set her suitcases at the foot of the bed. The tape finished and Casey yelled through the house, 'Hey, run it again! I love it!'

Tess was downstairs in the kitchen, taking out some chicken enchiladas that Maria had left in the refrigerator, topping them with salsa and cheese and popping them into the microwave. Casey bopped in and said, 'What can I do?'

'Fix us some ice water.'

The sound system was piped into the kitchen, too, and they sang along while Casey dispensed ice cubes and ice water from the door of the refrigerator, pausing to exclaim, 'Hey, way cool!' and while Tess chopped up lettuce. They sang while Tess diced some green onions and pointed to the cabinets where napkins and silverware and plates were, and while Casey set the table. They sang while they carried their steaming Mexican food to the table, and pulled out their chairs, and sat down and picked up their forks and…

And finally they had to stop singing to eat.

Being together was every bit as much fun as it had been in Mary's kitchen the night they'd discovered they really liked each other. Sometimes the music would overcome Casey and she'd break into song with her mouth full. Then Tess tried it, and some food fell out of her mouth and they both laughed, and Casey said, muffled by a mouthful of her own, 'Pretty rotten manners, huh?'

Tess, with her cheek still bulging, replied, 'Uh-huh. My momma would chew my butt good!'

'So would my dad, but what they don't know won't hurt 'em.'

When they finished their enchiladas they each ate a banana. It was easier to sing in between bites of banana, and sometimes Casey would direct with hers, as if it were a baton.

The lightning bolt struck Tess when she had half her banana still left in its skin: Casey knew every word to every song on the tape! She forgot all about finishing her fruit and fixed Casey with a stare. Casey was directing and singing at the same time, hitting only the licks the backup singers hit.

'Hey, Casey, how many times did you listen to this tape in the last six days?'

'Heck, I don't know. Fifty? Sixty? I wasn't counting.'

'You know every word, don't you?'

'Yeah, I guess I do.'

'Put your banana down and sing this with me, just the way you were.' It was a fast cut called 'Last Chance to Boogie,' with scads of words. They sat at right angles to each other at the kitchen table, inched forward in their seats, eyes locked, singing to the end of the number.

Then Tess got up and went to the kitchen speaker and lowered the volume. In the rest of the house the next cut began at full volume as Tess returned to the table.

'Why weren't you singing lead?' she asked, resuming her chair.

'Well… I don't know.' Casey looked confused, afraid she'd done something wrong. 'You were singing lead.'

'But everybody sings lead when they sing along with a song on the radio, don't they?'

Casey shrugged. 'Not me, I guess… I sing alto in choir.'

A bizarre, fortuitous, exciting idea hit Tess, but it was too soon to pose it to this seventeen-year-old girl. Whoa, she told herself, hold on! You haven't even heard her in the studio yet! But with Carla out of commission for at least one month, possibly for years, Tess needed a replacement for the tour that would begin in late June.

Frowning, Casey said, 'What's wrong?'

Tess relaxed and answered, 'Nothing. You're amazing though, memorizing all those words so fast.'

'Heck, I know the words to all your songs.'

'You do?'

'Uh-huh. I've been playing some of your albums since before there were CDs.'

'All the words?'

'What? You doubt me, woman? You don't believe that you were my idol since I was old enough to operate a record player?'

Tess decided it was time to let the subject rest for the time being. 'Come on,' she said, rising. 'Let's put our dishes in the dishwasher, then you'd probably like a little time to unpack or kick back, or maybe take a swim.'

'A swim! Wow! You mean it? That'd be great!' Carrying her dishes across the kitchen, Casey recanted, 'I really should call Dad first though. I promised him I would, the minute I got in.'

'Go right ahead. There's a phone in your room, if you want privacy.'

'Why would I need privacy?'

Casey dialed on the portable kitchen phone, and Tess listened while putting away the salsa and wiping off the tabletop. The conversation was the usual got-here-just-fine sort. Then Casey added, 'Hey, Dad, you should see this place. It's like a palace! Everything's painted either ivory or white. She's got a cream-colored grand piano in the living room, and a sound system piped into every room in the house, and there's this huge dramatic open balcony that looks down into the living room from the upstairs hall, and I have my own bathroom, and she put flowers in my bedroom, and all this fancy stuff in the bathroom-you know, like little bottles of stuff. And she's got a swimming pool! And you know what? I'm talking on a portable phone! Gol, Dad, it's way too cool.'

The conversation continued for a couple more minutes, then Casey said, 'Yeah, she's right here. Hey, Mac, Dad wants to talk to you.'