The Dolenz Circus: Season One: It's Great, It's Terrific!

Episode 15 : Wherever You May Be

  Jimmy Page stared down at the over-sweetened hot tea in the plastic cup he was given. It was apparently a tourist's purchase, because 'Florida' was stamped around the rim, surrounded by cartoon parrots. Page was looking at himself in the reflection of the tea, wondering if he had always looked so unflattering at this angle. Is that really what his chin looked like? Perhaps he should tidy up his mutton chops next shave- but that was always such a hard area to shape just right.

  "Hey, Page. You want a lemon slice?"

  The magician looked up to see Roger Daltrey at the counter. He was cutting up a lemon there, and without a cutting board. The slices hit the countertop in wet splats.

  "No, thank you." Jimmy blurted. "I like my tea plain."

  From the refrigerator, another blond head peeked up. A big pointed nose was scrunched on one side, and Robert made a mean little pout to go along with it. "Nobody likes their tea plain! Otherwise it's just hot leaf water."

  "I do." Jimmy shrugged. "But you have to brew it right. If not, it's a bit bitter."

  Robert kept making a face, but ducked back into the fridge. "Well I still think it's all just ruddy leaf water 'till you get sugar involved... Oh, and Rog? Can I have a-"

  "Already got it in your cup." Daltrey called back as he put the knife in the sink.

  Plant hummed happy, and took a large plate of pre-sliced fruit out of the appliance. He brought the platter back to the table, and sat it in the middle. It was situated beside another plastic cup, this one with Huckleberry Hound sitting on a unicycle. But this cup held a various assortment of wild flowers and weeds in a bouquet.

  Jimmy Page had been cordially invited to breakfast at the Falcon's double decker car. Plant had been knocking on Jimmy's train car about ten minutes after Page had woken up, and then nearly drug him down the track by the arm. Which was about as cordial and invitation as Jimmy expected from him, really.

  The Falcon's car was the only double-decker house car on the train, so it stuck out easily enough in the lineup. Jimmy learned that this was because it housed every Falcon- they did not have separate cars. The top level contained two bunk beds, and was David and Robert's rooms. The lowest level was the living area- with a kitchen, a table, and a small antenna TV on stilts. The TV faced both the table and Roger's bunk bed, which was on the bottom. The bed above his was empty.

  Inside was a tad dated, but well taken care of. The appliances were all a decade old, and the wallpaper faded, but the three boys decorated to their own liking. This was evident in all the posters hanging on the walls, and the shelves of knick-knacks all about. But most telling was around Roger's bunk, where small shelves of various trinkets sat. Jimmy had gone up to them when he first came in, thinking they were animal statuettes, but then came to a screeching halt and had turned on his heel to look at a poster for Moby Grape instead, when he realized that every single one was actually a little decorative penis.

  To Page's curiosity, David Coverdale was not present for breakfast. He did not ask why, and no one had commented about it. But it left an uneasy feeling in the magician's stomach. He'd been wondering why Coverdale was called to Spector's side last night. Or at least why Spector had wanted him.

  The curiosity has been eating at him since the evening prior. Last night, he had indulged himself, and had gone to the train cars after he had finished practicing with Micky and his small audience. Indeed, Coverdale and Spector had gone to the third car down from the coal trailer, which was Phil's own. The lights were on, and Jimmy was able to see their shilouettes moving through the blinds. He even heard Phil's incessant whiny shouts. But he couldn't make any sense of it, and had left shortly after.