The Fire

"Okay okay, enough sappy stuff, let's get down to business, a grand tour of the farm," Sabrina said to bring the focus off of herself.

Adie watched and was amazed how easily the older woman shifted gears and turned attention to a different subject. Billie Joe looked at his wife who was looking at Sabrina. He shook his head and wondered what things Adie was thinking about.

"Okay the tour starts here," Sabrina started, "This is where the computers are. There are 3 different ones in this room alone which are connected through a home network to the Roadrunner cable modem. I had to pay A LOT of money to get Time-Warner out this far from town, but made it worth their while since everyone around ended up with cable. I have to admit, it's one of the perks of being really rich," she said with a chuckle.

Sabrina brought the group through the den and into another room that had couches and large easy boy type chairs everywhere. "This room here is the entertainment room, where I have the projection theater set up. See that window over on that wall?" She said while pointing to a tinted window. "That is the studio.
I put a window in since my band brings their families when we record. That way the kids can see Daddy and its not so bad being "parted" during recording times."

The door to the studio opened up in front of the musicians and they all gasped at the sight. There was a full band setup in place along with other various instruments hanging along the walls. A baby grand piano sat in a corner, along with a full keyboard setup next to it. Mike walked over to a double bass leaning in a corner which was almost as tall as he was. He gently plucked the strings and the deep notes resonated through the room. Tre poked into a cupboard and laughed as he found an accordion. Billie walked through the room until he found what he was looking for. A black acoustic guitar was in his hands and his face looked like a kid in a candy shop who had found his dream candies.

He strummed a few notes and grinned as he looked at Mike and Tre. They smiled back and waited for Billie to start playing. Billie started the opening chords for Redundant, and Tre and Mike fell into place playing the instruments that they picked up. Sabrina walked passed them and went to the drum kit. Green Day looked up with surprise when they heard a drum beat come in with what they were playing. Tre laughed at loud at the sight of his wife playing the drums. Billie glanced ay Sabrina and motioned for her to sing.

We're Living In Repetition.
Content In The Same Old Shtick Again.
Now The Routine's Turning To Contention,
Like A Production Line Going Over And Over And Over, Roller Coaster.

Now I Cannot Speak, I Lost My Voice.
I'm Speechless And Redundant.
'cause I Love You's Not Enough.
I'm Lost For Words.

Choreographed And Lack Of Passion.
Prototypes Of What We Were.
Went Full Circle 'til I'm Nauseous.
Taken For Granted Now.
Now I Waste It, Faked It, Ate It, Now I Hate It.

Now I Cannot Speak, I Lost My Voice.
I'm Speechless And Redundant,
'cause I Love You's Not Enough.
I'm Lost For Words,

Now I Cannot Speak. I Lost My Voice.
I'm Speechless And Redundant,
'cause I Love You's Not Enough.
I'm Lost For Words

Billie Joe smiled as Sabrina ended the song. Tre and Mike just had goofy looks on their faces. "Drummers. Great just what we need is another drummer," Billie Joe muttered to himself.

"Damn she's great looking AND she can play," Tre laughed.

"You got yourself a winner Tre, my man," Mike replied smacking the drummer on the back.

"I haven't jammed like that in a very long time. I hope that we can do it again," Sabrina spoke softly to the musicians in front of her. "Let's go there is much more to the house then this."

Sabrina led the group back into the kitchen and opened a door that no one had noticed until just that moment. "This is the play room," Sabrina said as she opened the door. When she switched on the light a kid's heaven appeared. There was an indoor play center complete with an inflated bouncy center and a plastic ball pen, a number of TVs, with a Playstation, an xBox and a DVD player were on another wall. There was a play kitchen setup for younger kids, along with tables and chairs. On the other side of the room were a few tents for 'camp-outs'.

The kids gasped and murmured about what they were looking at. They all looked up at their parents and then turned to look at Sabrina. "This play room was designed for kids in mind. When we are done the grand tour, this room is yours to play in whenever you want." That brought a collective whooohooo from all the kids.

Sabrina turned to look at the adults. "I am going to call Steph, who is the official watcher of kids for tour and here. She has a masters in childhood education and she has a staff which she calls when she has over a certain amount of kids present. She is available all the time and stays out here on the farm when kids are around. My thought of hiring her was so that Moms and Dads were able to have alone time, both here and on tour. She has been with me for the last 10 years or so, once my band started having families. Maybe once Steph gets here, you guys might want to have a camp-out tonight if your parents don't mind. That is why there are big tents in here."

Sabrina closed the door and guided her group back into the kitchen and to the mudroom where the back door was. Before going outside Sabrina hit a switch by the door and opened the heavy door to the rather mild December air.

"Now that was the young-people's play room, and here is the big-peoples' toys."

A garage door was opening as they group walked outside. When the door was completely raised, the Mike and Tre walked into their form of paradise. Inside the garage were four wheelers, motorbikes, mini-motor bikes, a number of 6 wheelers and two Harley Davidsons were parked inside. The garage bounty was completed with two beat up 4x4 jeeps that were caked with mud.

Adie and Brittney laughed as the two grown-up boys were touching everything around them. "Boys and their toys," Brittney said while laughing at her bass playing man hop onto a motorbike.

"Don't forget the helmets, boys. There is a wall full of them," Adie motioned toward a wall.

"I have died and gone to heaven," said Tre when he finally found his voice.

"Why do your have the 6 wheelers?" Mike asked looking at the huge carts. "Why not use golf carts?"

"Ummm have you looked at the mud out there? Golf carts would get stuck in the muck, while these 6 wheelers glide right though. Besides the bigger 6 wheelers are much more fun to drive around in," she answered with a wink.

"Didn't you say something about an indoor pool Sabrina?" Billie Joe spoke up in hopes of getting Tre and Mike's attention off of the toys.

"Oh yup, that's our last stop on the tour. The pool and gym building. Follow me."

The tour guide led the group back outside and walked over to a rather large building close to the house. She deftly opened the door and lights automatically came on illuminating the inside. A wrestling ring dominated the room and gym equipment was off to one side while a mirrored wall which had mats underneath it and a bar going the length of it was on the other side. The third wall was windows in which the group could see a large indoor pool and smaller kiddie pool and two whirlpools. There were two doors which read 'girls' and 'boys' which led to the pool area.

"In the locker rooms are brand new bathing suits, so just pick which one you would like and its yours. We replenish the suits every couple of months to make sure that there are a variety of sizes and styles. You would be surprised on how many people don't pack a swimsuit when they travel," Sabrina explained.

Tre was drawn to the wrestling ring as if with an invisible force. He climbed up the ropes and jumped in rather ungracefully. He motioned to his wife to follow him in the ring. Sabrina laughed as she gracefully entered the ring by grasping the top rope and jumping over. He turned to look at his wife and smiled as he assumed a wrestling stance.

"You so don't want to do that Tre, unless you can take a bump or two."

"Bump?" Tre asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Bump, a fall where you know how to land properly. Like this," Sabrina demonstrated by flipping herself head first and landing on her back with her arms out to her sides. "That is a bump Tre. It's like the first thing you learn when you begin to wrestle."

"And you would know this by?" Tre asked his wife with an eyebrow raised.

"By dating wrestlers and learning out how to wrestle," she replied with a smile trying to look innocent.

"Ohhhhhh you can wrestle too?" Tre said with an evil smile.

"Oh yea Snoo, I can wrestle," she replied with an eyebrow raised and returning the evil smile.

Upon her calling him Snoo, Tre bum rushed Sabrina, which she deftly avoided by stepping to the side. Tre looked at her and grinned. He brought his hands up to the side of his head and make a set or horns, while he snorted and pawed the mat like a bull. He let out a huge snort and lunged at Sabrina, who grabbed his arm and hip tossed him behind her. The group of friends outside the ring laughed as the drummer was trying to catch his breath.

"Mercy... Mercy... woman, I tap out to you," Tre said when he finally caught his breath.

Sabrina reached out her hand for her husband to grasp and haul himself up with. She pulled him up in a fluid motion and patted his back. "You need to learn to land properly on your back so you don't kill yourself. You are such an accident waiting to happen husband." The woman laughed as her husband pouted and stuck out his lip.

"Okay boys and girls, my home is your home. If you need something, there are phones in each room just call Jim and he'll take care of it," Sabrina said. "I have tried to make my home almost like a vacation spot, so people don't mind coming here."

"Sabrina, you haven't shown us the pond," Mike said. "I would like to see the trees."

Sabrina looked uncomfortable. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "No offense but that is hard for me to do, to go out there. I spent a lot of emotional engery today telling you all about Matthew. I don't have enough energy to walk the pond. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Sabrina. Another day maybe," Mike said as he walked over to give the woman a hug. He closed his eyes at the feel of Sabrina in his arms. He breathed in her scent of citrus fruits from the light simple perfume she wore and recognized scent of the purple flowers from her Aussie shampoo she used in her hair.

"Thanks Michael for understanding," the woman said as she broke from his hug. "Whoohoo two hugs from Michael in one day. For some reason, Michael suits you better than Mike; so I'm going to call you Michael." She smiled at him and he felt as though he could take on the world. For one brief moment in time he allowed himself to think that she was his wife and that thought made him smile.