Gypsy Road

Livin' Fast

The next day goes by quickly. We spend most of it sleeping in and walking the streets of Germany. By 7:00 PM, we are on a flight to Paris. It's a super short flight, just under 2 hours. When we arrive in the beautiful city of Paris at about 9:00 PM, we stare in awe at the breathtaking view of the Eiffel tower and the city below outside of the balconies of our hotel rooms. We'll be staying in a fancy upscale hotel in the heart of Paris for the next two days. Eric and I share a very spacious, romantic suite. Of course, I am sure he arranged this with Dan. There's no way he wouldn't have. We are in the city of love, after all.

"God, I swear it gets more beautiful with every place we go." I sigh to Eric.

"Me too." He smiles a little.

We walk back into the room, and I let my eyes mull over the entirety of the room once again. Directly to my right is a huge bed with soft red sheets, to my left a large entertainment center with a radio, cassette player, and TV that rests in its entirety along the wall, and next to it is doorway leading to the spacious living room, and directly in front of me is a narrow hallway leading to the door as well as the bathroom about halfway down and to the left. The lighting is fairly dim and the air is just about the right temperature--maybe just a little cool from the constant running of the air conditioner. But other than that, the suite we'll be living in for the next couple of days is outstanding.

"Look what I found in Tom's coat pocket." Eric pulls out a cassette tape from his pocket. He hands it to me and a piece of black electrical tape, written on with a silver ball point pen is placed across it's front. It reads: DEMOS: FOX ON THE RUN 1983-85.

"Oh my God, Eric! Where the hell did he find this? I thought we sent out all our copies to other record companies ages ago!!" I cry, the shock and excitement of his discovery filling my voice.

"I did too, but apparently he kept one somewhere." A small smirk plays across his face.

"Well what are we waiting for? I wanna hear it. Christ, I don't think you guys have even played any of those songs since the beginning of '86."

"We haven't, but damn I wish we have played them since then. Some of these were really good, you know. I wish we'd professionally record a few but I'm afraid that probably won't work."

"Yeah. But hey at least we still have them recorded like this."

"That is true," Eric replies as he puts the tape in the player, making sure the label isn't in the way. Instantly as it plays, I remember the first song like no other. It was in the back of my brain somewhere, but I hadn't thought about it until now. Its title was "From The Pan Into The Fire." After the track finishes, we go through until we've listened to them all. And we certainly lost track of time doing so. It was already dark when we got here, so we didn't expect time to pass so quickly. I throw a glance to the clock. 11:08 PM. Wow, we really did get distracted.

"Damn. As much as I would love to pull an all nighter, we need our sleep. Especially you." I sigh.

"Yeah I know." He rubs the back of his neck and grimaces.

"But if you really want, we can stay up. It's not like we have to be anywhere until late afternoon tomorrow." I give him a wry smile.

"Nah, it's okay. You're probably right, we do need to catch up on lost sleep."

I nod in agreement and he flips off the overhead light. I scurry over to the closet and change out of my clothes into something more comfortable. When I return, Eric is already in bed, the dim lamp light gleaming a faded orange on his pale skin. I slip in next to him and pull the sheet up around me. I curl myself up next to him as I usually do, and his strong arms loosely wrap around me. I close my eyes and hear him switch off the bedside lamp. He sighs heavily and settles back down. I slow my breathing and soon I am asleep. For the first time in a while, I dream something significant enough that hopefully I can actually remember it after I wake. I see a green forest, hazy sunlight coming through the trees in odd shapes. I can hear my heart pounding in my ears, can feel my feet pounding against the soft ground as I run. Ahead of me I see a figure. As I get closer I can see it's a man. He props his hand up on his hip and laughs. I feel my lips curl into a smile and I throw myself into his arms. He whirls me around and then sets me back down. The man is Eric.