Turn My Page | Led Zeppelin

Sick Again

  When Vicky returned to the room, Jimmy was in the shower. She opened the door and dropped the clothes on the counter. A pang formed in the pit of her stomach. She desperately needed a shower, but taking one with Jimmy was out of the question.

  "Vicky?" his voice echoed through the bathroom.

  "Yeah, I got your clothes. I'm going to go to Rob's room to take a shower."

  Jimmy coughed violently. "Why don't you just join me?"

  "Because I need to get clean right this minute, and we'd get nothing done if I joined you. Stop being weird."

  Vicky left the bathroom and searched around the room for a bag of clothes she had purchased yesterday. She found one and left her room and made her way to the vanity room, where she asked Robert for the key to his room. He forked it over and Vicky paced to his room and showered up.

  By the time she had finished and dressed, everyone-- including herself and Jimmy-- was in the dressing room prepared to leave. 

  Vicky and Jimmy were in conversation while everyone else just talked. Jimmy turned away and hacked into a bent elbow. 

  "Are you sick, Jim-Jam?" Robert's voice echoed through the room and Vicky looked in every direction for the source of the voice. Robert was no where to be seen.

  "No," Jimmy called back, pausing in his coughing with a strained voice. He sounded confident, but Vicky had a inkling that Jimmy was trying to keep up the good bravado for his show.

  Robert walked into the room behind Vicky and put a hand on her shoulder. "He's full of it. I'm feeling a bit sixes and sevens, too," Robert told her, his voice hoarse. "Woke up this morning and couldn't feel the back of my throat. They're running us dry."

  Jimmy gave an especially harsh cough, causing both Vicky and Robert to look at the trembling man. "I got a little blood on my shirt," Jimmy told them innocently with a stuffed-up voice.

  "Well, you're damn lucky it's a red shirt," Vicky told him, examining his sleeve. "I'm calling a doctor."

  "Don't!" both Robert and Jimmy exclaimed at the same time. Vicky was shocked.

  Robert explained, "We have to tough it out, we have one more show in California after Inglewood, then we're going to Arizona. We'll see the doc some time between then, but the show must go on today." 

  With that, the roadies packed up and the band members, tour directors, and Vicky all hopped into the limo and drove through the sea of screaming fans who had managed to find out where the band was staying.

  Being behind the concert at The Forum was nothing stereotypical to Vicky. She figured that after being exposed to the environment long enough and having sex with Jimmy would have made everything... routine, natural, even boring. But she was wrong.

  Seeing the boys in their element with the excitement of being lucky enough of being back stage was more than she could handle, and she found herself tapping her foot and singing to every song. She remembered Robert and Jackie. She'd have to call them when she got back to the hotel.

  I wonder if they're worried about me, she thought. I wonder if I'm going with the boys to Arizona..

  After the concert, and after everything was picked up (mind you, this took at least 3 hours), Vicky and Jimmy were back in their hotel room sitting on the bed, Robert and Bonzo sitting on chairs with JP asleep in his room. Jimmy was half asleep, half doped on medicine and grass. He didn't look good at all, and Robert knew it.