And that was when she told me that she had been more impressed when I said my course of study was liberal arts than she would have been if I had said it was music. And that that was when she decided to invite me to come by her house and listen to whatever I selected from what turned out to be her very comprehensive collection of recordings. We were at the intersection then, and as we came on across the interstate highway and headed through that settlement to the Dolomite, she looked at me and said, Although I didn’t mention anything about it at the time, that was the beginning of what led up to getting you that summer gig with the band was all about. That’s why as soon as I heard that Shag Phillips was going to have to go home, I called old Joe and said, See what we can do to get our schoolboy in there as a stopgap for the summer, and Old Pro went along with old Joe on it.
So, she said, that’s how I went from making a suggestion to being knee-deep in the whole thing. But anyway, I was pretty certain that he would give me the benefit of the doubt. And when I heard his voice on the phone when he called to tell me when and where to send you up to Cincinnati, I considered my scheme was already under way, even if you had gone on to do that grad school work at the end of that first summer. Because by that time he had you checked out. So even when you decided to stay out in Hollywood that next time around, he was just as confident as I was that you hadn’t given up on grad school because you were starstruck or anything like that. On the contrary. And also by that time old Daddy Royal was in on the scheme, so when you made that trip to Europe and came back and got hitched and checked into NYU, everything was falling into place, with old Joe keeping tabs.
Come to think of it—she began, as we came up the incline to the Dolomite and pulled into her parking place at the side entrance. Then she went on, You know something? Everybody in that band knew more about why you were really in there with them than you did. Because I hadn’t said a word to you about what that bull fiddle was leading up to until now. And that was when she said, This is not what I had in mind when I had it fixed up and gave it to you, but it sure did come in handy when old Shag had to go home. That’s when it hit me. Because I remembered that I had invited the boss to hear you with the combo and right away he spotted you as being from Mobile or somewhere in old Daddy Gladstone’s territory. That’s when I decided on what I said when I called old Joe.
Then as we came on into her office and dressing room after she said what she said to Wiley Payton in the main entrance lobby and also told him to send in two tall fountain Coca-Colas, she sat at her desk and had me pull up a chair, and as we waited for the Cokes she said, We got a call from the Bossman last night and from Daddy Royal this morning, and I told him that I thought you were pleased with your class schedule and I was expecting to pick you up on the campus this very afternoon.
Then she said, So here we are. Because as soon as old Joe found out that you were thinking about taking a break from grad school studies and had an offer to do some part-time teaching down here, we both said, Hey, this could be the time. And I said, Let me be the one, and when I called the Bossman he said, Why don’t we start with Daddy Royal. So that’s the proposition old Joe laid on you.
So here we are, she said again holding up her fountain Coke again, and isn’t it just like the Bossman to set us up with a vamp? The deal is on, but we vamp till he’s ready. And you know what old Daddy Royal said? He said, That just goes to show you. He said, Once you bring up something you want him to consider and give him a little time to get around to it, that’s exactly what he’ll do.
Then he said, Yeah, I’m the vamp. He said, Don’t you always start patting your feet before you start the music? Patting your foot and sometimes also snapping your fingers? You’re already dancing before the instruments come in. See what I mean? And you can always bet when he comes in with that segue he’s ready. He’s ready. Jam, scram, or straight-ahead chronogram.
Old Daddy Royal, I said, Old Daddy Royal. Old Daddy Royal is always on the case, I said, remembering but not mentioning that already before any proposal of any kind had been brought up, he had begun showing me his memorabilia simply because he assumed that I was a special kind of schoolboy who was curious enough and hip enough to appreciate them. And when we came to the scrapbooks that included clippings and other souvenirs of his early tours in Europe he said, Now we’re coming into a territory where
