The Sauna Part 294

I squinted my eyes closed, fending off the pain in my head as the morning light filtered in through the window. My brain ached more now than it had back in college after a frat party. Damn, I’m old I heard myself say.

I shifted in bed, trying to make myself comfortable, but I soon realized that I needed drugs if I wanted to dull the pain. I sat up slowly and took a deep breath before I managed to stand, swaying as I gripped the edge of the nightstand. I groaned and Eddie raised his head, regarding me with disdain and mocking my foolishness as he stretched, yawned and curled back into a ball. No sympathy there, I scowled.

I stumbled along into the bathroom and avoided the mirror as I opened the medicine cabinet and fumbled around in the dark. I’d already decided I’d rather risk an overdose than turn on the light. Finally, I found the aspirin and emptied a handful into my palm. I popped four in my mouth and filled up a cup, swallowing hard, before grabbing the toothpaste. Brushing my teeth seemed like too complicated an endeavor, so I squeezed some onto my tongue and swallowed as I tried not to gag. It slid down my throat, joining the rest of the toxins that were swirling around in my gut. I relieved my bladder and crawled back to bed, sinking into oblivion following a prayer and an oath.

When I became conscious again, the headache had somewhat subsided and I could stand without feeling dizzy. Food was not on the menu, but coffee was desperately needed so I headed down to the kitchen where I found Eva attempting to feed the cats and make coffee.

“They kept waking me up and crying for food” she explained as I helped fill their bowls and she turned her attention towards the coffee.

“Sorry. They probably gave up on trying to rouse me and decided to try their luck with you” I apologized.

“S’okay, I needed to get up anyway. Shit, we need coffee” she grinned. “We really had quite a party last night.”

As the caffeine slowly entered our bloodsteam, we began to revive and memories of yesterday crept into our awareness. Soon we were giggling as we recounted how we’d tortured Tico and Jon and that led us to sharing various stories of sexual exploits. I learned much more than I needed to know and I wondered if I’d ever be able to look Tico in the eye ever again.

It was late afternoon when I finally felt ready to tackle the stack of mail that had accumulated in my absence. Eva decided to soak in the hot tob in lieu of a spa and I waded through email and paper requests for funds from the Foundation. It took time to sort out the legitimate requests from the dubious ones, but by seven o’clock I’d made a huge dent and I realized I was finally hungry.

We decided we’d go out to dinner and perhaps rent some movies and we drove the short distance into Pagosa Springs. After what happened to Jon and I on our first trip into town, he’d programmed our address into the GPS so all I needed to do was enter our destination where we wanted to go. We decided that good, old-fashioned greasy food was the best cure for a hangover and we headed for Sonic.

After satisfying our appetites with hamburgers and fries, we stopped at the video store and picked up several DVD’s of movies we’d both wanted to see. We both agreed on ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and ‘Postcards from the Edge’ since both Eva and I really loved Meryl Streep. We grabbed a couple of Julia Roberts movies just for good measure and I wanted to see ‘The Lord of the Rings’ again after visiting New Zealand and besides, well, Viggo Mortensen was hotter than hell.

The week flew by pretty fast as Eva and I watched movies in the evening, shopped away the blues during the day, soothed our frustrated sexual desires with junk food and ice cream and indulged ourselves with spa treatments at the Hot Springs. I managed to catch up on all the paperwork for the Foundation and Backstage while Eva entertained herself drawing sketches of jewelry designs for Tico to create. All in all, we had a wonderful time and Eva’s companionship took the edge off my loneliness while Jon was away.

I bounced some ideas off Eva for Jon’s birthday surprise, but nothing had really stuck out as a terrific idea. I wanted to do something really special to celebrate, but what do you do to surprise a Rock God that has everything? I also wanted whatever I chose to involve the guys in the band and a few hundred of Jon’s closest friends.

“What about sponsoring a huge charity fundraiser to benefit the Soul?” Eva suggested.

“I was thinking about that, but I want Jon to be able to relax and be among friends rather than have to entertain guests. Plus, wouldn’t it be rude to ask guests to pay to come to a party?” I replied, voicing my concerns.

“Well, it would if you put it like that” Eva snorted. “But…” she went on, pursing her lips.

“Yes, go on, I’m listening” I coaxed.

“Set it up as a huge birthday bash, invite only his friends and family who you think he’d want to attend and just ask them to make a donation instead of a gift” Eva smiled as she laid out her plan.

“You know, that could work” I agreed, mulling over the possibilities.

“And it would save all the guests of having to worry about what to get him” she added.

“Okay, that sounds reasonable enough. But I want a theme, something to make it more than just a big party. Something special-you know, memorable” I shared.

“Like when Elton John did the purple theme?” Eva asked, thinking aloud.

“Yeah, something like that, but …” I replied, thinking about what would be fun and different.

“Maybe a sports theme?” Eva suggested.

“No, that’s not quite elaborate enough. People would just come dressed in team jerseys or baseball caps” I answered, wrinkling my nose. “I want something more dramatic-like a masquerade ball” I explained, the seeds taking shape.

“A masquerade ball? Now that would be fun…and different…and memorable” Eva agreed.

“But…” I announced, raising my eyebrows in anticipation.

“What else?” Eva asked enthusiastically.

“To emphasize the charity piece, instead of costumes, we’ll instruct everyone to dress in Soul jerseys!” I finished excitedly.

“That sounds perfect! You could get Jon to show up in a Soul jersey, no problem, and it would be in keeping with the theme without having to divulge the secret. You could still make it a surprise party and just tell him it’s a Soul press conference or something” she breathed.

“Exactly!” I said with a satisfied smirk. “He won’t suspect a thing.”

I immediately started making phone calls, beginning with John Elway who I knew would be able to help me devise an appropriate ruse. I outlined my idea and enlisted his aid and he pledged his support and assistance. He even offered to locate and reserve an appropriate venue for the event in Denver and he’d make sure that Jon thought it was a press conference he’d be attending. He’d make sure there were plenty of jerseys for everyone who’d be attending. I thanked him for his generosity and began crafting an invitation that would spell out all of the details for all the guests.

I contacted the accountant for the Foundation and we worked out the details for setting up a separate account for all the donations. I’d ask people to send them directly to me and I’d deposit them in the account. John called me back to say that he’d found a place and gave me the details to include in the invites.

The next task I had was to make out the guest list and get the invitations out as quickly as possible. There wasn’t much time and I knew that many people would already be unavailable, but I was glad that I’d begun contacting a number of potential guests back when I knew I wanted to do something for Jon’s birthday. I’d explained that I was planning a surprise and I wasn’t sure what it would be or where, but I’d asked folks to save the date and I’d tell them the details when the time got a bit closer.

Eva and I worked feverishly to get everything done as this was now evolving into a much bigger project than I’d anticipated at first. The object now was also to raise as much money as possible, not just invite Jon’s closest circle. The guest list kept growing as we kept thinking of more and more names to add to the list, but I hesitated when it came to Jon’s family.

“Tony, of course, but definitely not Matt. I can’t not invite Jon’s father, but what should I do about his mother?” I wondered aloud, feeling dismayed. “How can I invite him and not her?”

“Shit, there’s a debacle. Why don’t you call Tony and see what he thinks. Maybe he can come up with a strategy that can keep Carol away without alienating John Sr.” she suggested.

“Good idea. I’ll call him right now” I said, holding my breath. Please, Goddess, guide me in this.