From: Lenora McCoy Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: Multiple Monkee Personalities Part 2 Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 02:27:19 -0600 Message-ID: <34D6D4E7.FD76E8E9@sprintmail.com> MULTIPLE MONKEE PERSONALITIES PART 2 Sam walked into the recording studio, shadowed by an invisible companion, to see Mike standing there, arms folded, holding sheet music. "Uh, hi Mike!" was all Sam could get out. Mike had an evil look on his face. "You're late Dolenz. Here," he shoved the sheet music in Sam's face, "You better do a smoother job on this than you did on the set today. I'm expecting to hear One-Take-Dolenz in there, not some kid who forgets his lines, get it?" Sam felt like a little kid under Mike's glare. "Yes, sir!" "Good. They'll need you in about 20 minutes, so go practice!" Mike pointed at a door labeled "Practice Room" and Sam walked in there and sat down on the chair placed in the center of the room. Al walked backwards through the closed door a moment later, his gaze fixed on something in the hall. "Al! Get your mind out of the clouds and in here right now!" "Okay, okay, Sam. Beautiful woman out there -- but she just walked up to Mike and kissed him. Damn!" "Very nice Al. You think any chance you could pull up the original recording of this song to help me?" "Oh, sure. What's it called?" "Um, 'All the King's Horses' . . . written by Michael Nesmith!" "Oh, yeah, Mike wrote a lot of songs. He had the most prolific post-Monkees career of them all. I lost count of how many solo albums he's done. Aha! Ziggy found it . . . hmm, she says it was never released on one of the original nine albums but rather was released with a collection of hits and unreleased cuts by Rhino Records in the early 90s." The practice room was suddenly filled with the strains of "All the King's Horses." Sam followed along on the sheet music. Then, when the music stopped he tried singing it on his own -- with a few tips from Al. When Mike came in, in a slightly better mood, Sam was ready. He followed Mike into the recording booth, where Peter was waiting. "All the king's horses and all the kings men . . . " * * * After recording two takes of "All the King's Horses" with Mike & Peter, and three of a song called "I Don't Think You Know Me" with Mike, while Peter looked on, Sam and Peter left Mike working on another of his songs, "The Kind of Girl I Could Love" and went home. Sam followed Al's directions to Micky's house, where he collapsed on the couch after telling Al to give him a wake-up call, early enough so he could make it to the filming location on time. * * * Al walked into the Control Room exhausted, but still humming the melody of "I Don't Think You Know Me" as he strode over to Gooshie and handed him the handlink. "Gooshie, I need to get Sam up around 4:30 AM his time. Wake me a half hour before then, kay?" "But, but, Admiral, it's almost 1 AM his time. You'll only get three hours sleep!" "Can't be helped Gooshie. In the meantime, try and get me some more specifics on the filming tomorrow." Al went to his quarters and collapsed on his bed without undressing, much like Sam had. It seemed like he had barely closed his eyes before he heard Ziggy's voice announcing the time. He stumbled out of bed, showered and got dressed in his one Monkees t-shirt, purchased by Tina for him at the concert the night before, and jeans. He grinned, thinking, "Sam will blow a fuse when I show up in jeans, gymshoes and a t-shirt!" * * * Sam drove further off the beaten path, heading for the farm, following the directions Davy had given him the night before. He still couldn't believe how odd it seemed to him to see Al show up in jeans, gymshoes, and a t-shirt. He knew he was in the right place when he spotted about a dozen trailers parked near a barn. "Kay, Sam, I had Tina watch the episode for me last night while I was in here for you, and she says that most of the filming will be done here today and tomorrow. Gooshie pulled up the shooting schedule and today you'll film most of the romp scenes, including with a horse race." Sam turned around in the parked convertible to glare at Al. "Horse race? Al, I can't race a horse!" "You don't have to. Davy, an accomplished rider, and one of the guest stars, do. You just have to blow a horn to start the race and stay on the sidelines cheering. Easy stuff." "Yeah, like every other leap I've been through," Sam muttered. "Did you go over your script for today?" "Yes, Al. Did you find out anything more?" "Not yet. I barely had time to sleep, as you did. If you think you can handle yourself for a little while, I'll go back and try to get some more info -- and check on our visitor. Seems something's up in the Waiting Room." "What?" Sam's head popped up. "I dunno. You think you'll be OK?" "Yeah, sure, go ahead. I think I can manage." "Kay." Al opened the Imaging Chamber door and left, while Sam got out of the car and headed off to the makeup trailer. * * * Al tossed the handlink onto the control console by Gooshie. "Anything?" Gooshie shook his head. Then Dr. Verbena Beeks walked up to Al and gently pulled him away in the direction of the Waiting Room. "Al, I'm concerned about our visitor. He keeps switching personalities, as if he has Multiple Personality Disorder, but he was never diagnosed with it." "Yeah, I mentioned that to Sam. He said that maybe these are characters the kid played and in his confusion from the leap, he isn't sure which character is really him." "Good theory. But, right now he's asking to see the 'head of this gang'." "'Head of this gang'? I guess that would be me. Lemme get my handlink." * * * "You!" The visitor strode toward Al, shaking his head and hunching his shoulders, "You're the dirty rat that killed my brotha!" "Cagney?" Al thought. He noticed breakfast dishes on the small table set to one side of the room and he asked the visitor, "Did you enjoy your breakfast?" Micky gave him a confused glance and then seemed to switch personalities, "Yeah, I'm still eating. Would you like to join me?" Al grinned -- he hadn't had time to eat yet, "Sure, thanks. What are you having?" "Cereal, toast, and scrambled eggs." Al pulled up a chair and sat down. He had punched a request for an extra setting into the handlink a minute ago, and as he sat, Dr. Beeks brought in a plate, bowl, glass and silverware, along with Al's coffee mug, filled to the brim with hot steamy coffee. Then, Al looked around the table, "Where's the milk?" Verbena took a look and said, "I'll get some." Micky looked up at Al with a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry, Al. I forgot about that. I don't like milk, so I never asked for any." "What do you put on your cereal then?" "Orange juice," Micky replied matter-of-factly, and punctuated his statement by eating a spoonful of cereal and orange juice. Al's stomach churned just as Verbena brought in a carton of milk and left again. Al helped himself to a little of everything, except the orange juice. "So, Al, this is some kind of top secret research project? I see that I seem to be inhabiting someone else's body." Al almost choked on his toast and had to quickly drink some coffee. "You're good. Yes, this is a top secret research project. And you're only temporarily in someone else's body. One of our scientists is taking your place right now, to set right something that once went wrong." "Oh, so we're in the future, huh? Groovy." Al was shocked at how calmly Micky said that. "Yes, we are in the future." The rest of breakfast went pretty much the same way. Al was careful not to give too much away, although Micky was very persistent. He managed to pry from Al Ziggy's theory on what Sam had to do in 1966, how Sam was doing so far, and info on Al's military career, which seemed to fascinate Micky. Al wasn't too surprised to hear a note of discontent in the actor's voice when he learned that Al had served two tours in Vietnam. "I'm just waiting for the day they try to draft me. But I'm not worried, cause they can't actually draft me." "Why not?" "I'm 4F. I had a childhood disease that left one leg 1/4 inch shorter than the other. My doctors assured me that I could never be drafted." -- Lenora McCoy, die-hard Dolenzkateer, Obsessed Leaper, Al-coholic, and Dean-drooler AlbertCalavicci@hotmail.com ZiggyQL@sprintmail.com AdmiralLenora@rocketmail.com http://www.geocities.com/Area51/4401/ Author of "Quantum Kirk" and other stories (list and/or requests by e-mail)