After the cryingly joyous reunion with Maria and Julian at the
ranch, they invited Wallace, his family, and the other friends up.
Kit invited Donald and some of the other vatos from Talpa, and then
the old pards from Jenny's. So you know that turned into one grande
fiesta, and the new ones could not believe they were fiesta-ing with
Jessy. Julio was much missed by Jul and Ria and the others, as was
Flee, of course, but their travelers were on the phones and on their
ways. Meanwhile, Jess lost count of the requests from the boys for
a reenactment of Beijing, but did get plenty other comments on her
heroics. And the guys from Taos were floored with Kit's apparent
metamorphosis.
        The following days, after the last of their guests went on home,
our 'migas y 'migos worked in the mine and on the new cabin,
worked on songs around the night-long bonfires in the yard, rode the
horses up Mount Essy Jessy to vista their world (yes, the last time
she had been on a horse...), flew the Mooney up from Espanola and
imbibed - night and day - in the big feather bed. How sweet can
home be, A?
        But the days went quickly and it became time for Jess to check
in with Sundance, per their Paris agreement. She did want to be in
the movies. Especially his. Well, the Danceman would certainly wait
until she played Monument, but gave her a few details of the movie
and her contract. "Dam, when it's good, it is good..." she cheered
when she got off the horn, then filled everyone in.
        Buz and Savvy made it in, and Sage and Jasmine, then Julio
and Gabey, giving Maria plenty to work on after the happy reunion
with her son and meeting Gabrielle. Then Flece and BR showed up,
joking about their world love tour interruptus. So they all practiced
the music for two days and nights and came up with some new songs,
then flew over to the Valley and, on that Saturday night around 8,
Jess walked out on stage and joined the legend, surrounded by Flee,
Cody and her "Casa Band".
        One million and a half souls had come to hear and see her, all
crowding in with the constant half-million flux. Another half-million
were late, but in the traffic jam to park. And she and the guys did a
good two and a half-hour set before taking a break.
        The concert managers asked if she would mind playing into
the morning as our troubadors passed around puros with BR in the
wings while the house band played on out on stage, weaving a
tapestry of Jessy's melodies in with the Monument and other WPG
standards.
        "I'll be repeating songs if I do," Jess answered, sounding
almost embarrassed.
        "Uh...Jessy...that's all right," one of the night's honorary head
managers, Linda Ronstat, explained right back, "or you could play
someone else's...it doesn't matter, Jess...it's you...they came to hear
you...."
        "Awww gosh, thanks...Linda," our heroine humbly answered.
        After some shots of Southern Comfort, she and the guys went
back out and Jess started with "Love Me Tender", then did "Blue
Bayou", the lyrics just coming to her like magic, or from everyone
on or off stage, and she and the band sang and played their hearts
out on that balmy July night up on that mystical high desert, coming
up on full moon again, the sight just incredible from the huge stage.
And she, Flee and Hotey kept swearing to each other between songs
that they were seeing Lion and Swan appearing and disappearing at
the mikes, singing and playing or dancing, too, while smiling over to
our guys.
        Jess called home during another break. The folks were
watching on TV, naturally. So she asked them if they had seen Lion
and Swan on stage. Well, they hadn't, of course, Ginny assuring her
daughter that she would recognize them from graduation if she saw
them. Then the Prez (yep, of the United States) called her on a
stage phone. Will just wanted to tell her how "magnificent" she was
doing and hoping that she would like to perform at the White House
real soon. Then Hua called. Yup, and Boris. And even those wild
gents, Wiley and Orv, up in Denali, Jess happy as heck to hear them.
Then the Valley was chanting for her to come back out. That was
all around midnight, as the other guys were playing away with
backup from the house band.
        Flee went back out first, to the cheers, and rejoined the pards,
complimenting the girls, especially, on how well they had carried the
vibes, and more cheers and applause rose from the multitude for the
girls and Casa. Jess wasn't taunting her audience, though. She had
really just loved hearing the voices of home and those who had
called and lost track of time. So she and Kit came back out after
Flece did her song about best friends and manages, war zones and
revolutions. Then Jess, of course, did that wholy extemporaneous
tune concerning everything after she strapped ole Gibby back on,
back out there center mike. And they proceeded on.
        The legends who had been on earlier ahead of them and the
others scheduled to follow started joining in around 1 AM at Jessy's
joyous behest: Mitchell, Harris, Linda, Dylan, Clapton, Taylor,
King, Simon, Garfunkle, Rait, Buffett, McCartney, Jaggar, Sting,
John, Joel, Kristofferson, Nelson, Zep, Floyd, Eagles, God, you
name 'm. Just keep naming them. It was the hugest weekend since
the first, everyone celebrating the WPG triumph.
        The guys were still playing at first daylight and then, at Jess's
signal, they started bowing and leaving, with the fanfares, until at
the last it was just she, Flee and Cody doing the last few songs on
acoustic. Then Fleesh waved and left to the glorious cheers and
applause and whistles. And Jess and Kit, after her words to explain
why they wanted to do them, did "I Want To Know What Love
Is", then "I Still Believe In You". Then they kissed and Kit waved
and bowed his way off, to applause and cheers.
        So she did that one long, unbelievably epiphanal song
thought up right there and then and just enthralled and entranced
us all. Then she made her "adieus" to our roar and our cheers,
whistles, chants and all of it and the performers on stage took over
and came up with "Jessy", don't we know.
        Well, Kit had been downing the last of Gabey's old pain pills
along with the Southern Comfort and Frog during the breaks,
having guitared all the way through the night. But the last shots of
Comfort during Jessy's last song had definitely taken him South.
Jess was a little angry that he had played in such pain when he
slurred his explanation to her, but she kidded, "Hotey, Hotey,
Hotey...still tryin' to be poster child for liver care, I see..." and
gave him first honors on the puro as she helped him get the sling
back on and then helped him into the chopper for the couple-mile
ride over to the Oljato airstrip. Ninety minutes later, Jessy was
landing the Mooney at Truchas, the rest of the band on their way
back in the Gulfstream and Citation and, after rolling Juliet into
the barn and themselves into the cabin, Kit a little more sober,
they piled into the feathers. She, Hotey, Flee and BR. Woo!
        They let Code sleep in, not wanting to wake him when they
got up that afternoon, the shoulder wounds apparently still
claiming their energy (sure couldn't have been the hangover). Jess
had had a dream, though. Something about a spaceship company
and then an ambush of some sort, Lion and Swan riding Heart
through the bedroom again! And, of course, she was not at all
sure if it had been a dream or not.
        Anyway, she, Flece and BR filled the water tank, fed the
horses and joined everybody out on the veranda. Theirs was a
happy world up there. One very happy world. And they talked
about "old" times (months ago) and the rest. Then Kit walked
around the cabin corner and took everyone's sass as they all
started in on the Juleps together. And Gabey had some more
pain pills for Code.
        They were getting another $5o million of Gold ready to go
out. Other than that and work on the new cabin, though, they
were pretty much just kicking back for a couple of days, the
hacienda pure Heaven to them. Jess and Kit even snuck over to
Ria and Jul's room around 3 AM Tuesday morn for a couple of
"ours". Man, did the interludes rank, the feather bed one major
meeting place. And Jess would whisper "I love you" into Cody's
ear at the most unexpected times, and Kit would just melt right
into her, both of them realizing how one their souls really had
become.
        Jessy called home some more, asking the folks if they
wanted to come out. But that was a no. They were not giving
up that easily. Anyway, she set up the meeting with Sundance
and was plenty excited about that. Flece and BR filled them in
on their travels and plans, and the others gave their stories of
the week. And the WPO did not have much to worry about
anymore, it seemed, except maybe some death spasm from
war itself, of which there were some signs showing.
        Iran had come aboard, with Russia's help, and Syria was
seriously thinking about it. Iraq and North Korea were still
most intransigent, though. Israel was still in there, of course.
And the military stand down ceremonies were on a hold at the
United States. The spooks were still uncharacteristically
invisible, too. So the guys and the Execs were intuiting some
trouble. Of some sort. And Jess and Kit were telling Ria that
they were remembering her words. Because things were
definitely too good to believe.

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