stories from the city; damon albarn

51-

It was August of 1999, meaning that Reading Fest was right around the corner. Chloe had dipped out on her family tradition of going over the past two years, probably because she was more busy settling down and making sure her children had a steady lifestyle- and while Maxis had tried persuading her to bring her children to Reading, she had no intention of doing so.

His argument for his daughter had been that "look how good you turned out." Chloe would respond with the fact that she was 90% sure she was losing her hearing and had tinnitus in her right ear. He had then told her that these days they put kids in ridiculously thick headphones if they wanted to come backstage.

In 1997 May couldn't walk. And now in 1999 she had Della- who was less than 5 months old. Not really appropriate for a concert type setting. And it wasn't like Maxis didn't get to see his grandkids, at this point they were having family dinner every week since the two had moved back into their London home, since Ewan wasn't required in LA for a bit.

But when the conversation of Reading and Leeds came up at dinner, Chloe seemed stressed out by the notion of it. "Absolutely not. I'm not taking my kids to Reading. May is only 2."

"You were younger than that and I brought you to Glastonbury and wherever else." He chimed in

She groaned "And I can't hear for shit Dad. Also, it's not appropriate. People are shooting up all over backstage."

"You turned out fine. Ewan, back me up here. You want a family trip don't you? Well, this is the Erlich family's main one. We love festivals and this would be our first time taking you along."

Chloe glares at Ewan, who's nervously picking at his food, trying to ignore the conversation at all means. Sure, he'd love to go to Reading and Leeds, have the time of his life with his wife, but Chloe did bring up a fair point. They had two kids, one of which was an infant. Finding a sitter for their rare date nights, or premieres was hard enough.

He couldn't even think of how much he'd have to charge for a weekend sitter, or for a couple of nanny's to come down. Besides. He didn't like leaving his kids without either him or Chloe. He was protective over them.

Like seriously.

He'd fired a nanny for taking photos of them and trying to give them to the paps that waited around their house. Rightfully so. And Chloe had reported that twat to the Board that had certified her

"It would be nice to go on a trip Chlo.." he says slowly

She groans "But May and Della, it was hard enough screening a sitter for tonight. Imagine dealing with that for a weekend."

Maxis jumps in "Why don't you have Kendal watch the girls? He's hesitant about coming this year since his band isn't on the lineup."

Chloe rolled her eyes at the mention of her brother, who was still, living with his dad. Despite his own successful career and the money from his trust fund- he was deciding to camp out in the Erlich estate for as long as Maxis would allow him to. It was unnerving

"I don't think I would trust Kendal to feed Della, let alone hold her." Chloe says "I mean seriously, Kendal? Really?"

Her mum jumps in "Maxis, I don't know what you were thinking with that one either. Ewan, would your folks be willing to watch them?"

He thought about it, considering the fact that his parents lived in Scotland and didn't get to see their grandkids as much as they liked to, he figured that they'd be thrilled to come stay in his home in London and watch them for a weekend. Besides, they loved May and Della and probably wanted to spoil them a little bit.

"They ought to. It's been a few months since they've seen 'em." He says shrugging

Maxis claps his hands together "Fucking brilliant! I'm excited. I'll send the tickets and everything your way. Hey, I'll even give you some extra tickets, invite your friends and all that."