Kind Of Woman (Mirage Era: Part 1)

It Was Close To Being In Heaven

Château d'Houerville
"The Honkey Château"
Houerville, France
Thanksgiving Day,
Thursday, November 26, 1981
8:00 pm
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Only Stevie Nicks would insist upon having Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday, while staying in a château in France with three people who were English.

"It's not just Thanksgiving, Linds!" she'd argued two days earlier when he'd laughed at her insistence on having Celine, their French-born chef, prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal for them. "It also happens to be the thirty-sixth birthday of one Mr. John Graham McVie! We are so doing this!" Her little giggle at the end of her declaration had melted his heart more than he'd ever admit, even to himself.

"Beast Of Burden" by The Rolling Stones was playing from the stereo in a marathon of the band's entire body of work as the five members of Fleetwood Mac and their producers - as well as Julie McVie who'd flown in for her husband's birthday - scarfed down a brilliantly-prepared turkey dinner. Stevie had insisted that everyone dress up, she herself wearing a black crushed velvet dress that twirled when she danced...he'd discovered that when Mick had twirled her around to "19th Nervous Breakdown" earlier while they'd been enjoying drinks and appetizers and a bit of impromptu dancing. He tried to ignore the lyrics that were all-too appropriate as she'd spun herself right to a coffee table littered with cocaine for another line...

"Oh, who's to blame...That girl's just insane...Well, nothin' I do don't seem to work; it only seems to make matters worse for me..."

"Now this is what we should be doing every single night!" Stevie declared, hoisting her glass of wine into the air where she sat at the table in the proper dining room. "It's like in the Twenties, when all the great literary and political minds of the era would sit down to big, lavish dinners and discuss the works and art and everything...like Paris!" Her eyes lit up as she got an idea and announced it all in real time. "Let's all get in the car and go to Paris! We're right here!"

"Stevie, I'm full of turkey and potatoes and I am not getting into any cars right now," Mick said with a chuckle. "We're doing a good job making our own fun here, I'd say."

"You're no fun," Stevie said, fake-pouting. She turned to John and said, "You are the birthday boy, John...what do you think? Should we all go to Paris tonight?"

"Not when there's a comfortable bed with my name on it all we still have a stocked liquor cabinet," John said, and everyone laughed, Stevie's idea vetoed.

"Well let's at least go back to the fun we have set up in the living room, at least," Stevie said, tossing her napkin onto the table and rising from her seat. The song on the stereo changed then to "Heart Of Stone". She held out her hand to Mick, her usual partner in crime where cocaine was involved, and said, "Mr. Fleetwood, you in?"

"Now that is a much better suggestion," Mick said, and he stood up and took her hand as everyone else slowly followed along. Lindsey watched as Stevie twirled and danced her way into the living room, her hand in Mick's, knowing exactly what she was up to. If the party never stops, nothing bad that's happening is real.

"What's different about her?...I don't really know...
No matter how I try I just can't make her cry...'Cause she'll never break, never break, never break, never break this heart of stone..."

Stevie was first to the mirror on the coffee table, followed by Christine, then Mick. Richard announced he was going upstairs for awhile, Ken disappeared into the den to call his girlfriend, and John took Julie for an after-dinner walk around the grounds of the house, Stevie calling after him to come back in an hour for his cake and calling him Birthday Boy.