Chapter 58

David and Brie spent the month in Jerusalem and the surrounding area looking for a house.  The real estate agent didn't listen to what David said and got a royal ass chewing.  He took their house hunt to another real estate agency.  The new agent found them Brie's dream house within a few days of having their business.  It was a quaint little house not far from town.  It was far enough away from the hustle and bustle of a big city, but close enough that that they didn't have to travel too far to get the necessities.

The day they found the house, they'd been looking at houses all day.  Brie and David were both starting to get tired and had a dinner date with Jessi.  After the dinner date, they were all going to a comedy club where Jessi was going to perform.  She'd taken up comedy as a hobby.  Brie wanted to see if the girl had any talent.  David wasn't big on comedy and never really had been, but he was more than willing to go to watch is baby girl perform.

As they walked through the last house of the day, Brie pulled them to a stop as they walked with their arms around each other and she closed her eyes.  He looked down at her.  "What's going through your mind, baby?"

She took a deep inhale of the air around them.  "Do you feel that, David?  It feels like home." A smile broke across her face.

He closed his eyes and opened his mind to what she was talking about.  It was something that being with a massage therapist had taught him to do.  He opened up to the energy in the house and allowed himself to feel what she was feeling.  The house had a very warm, homey feeling to it.  It felt a lot like their house after they had gotten Malachai home from her parents house.  Or after they had all moved back in after the War was over.  It had the feeling of home.  He could feel it too.  He smiled.  "I do feel it.  Do you want this house?"

"Let's finish looking at it, but I'm pretty sure this is the one I want."

"Then we'll finish looking around and I'll tell the agent to start drawing up the paperwork.  I'll put the down paymet on it before we leave."

"How much are we actually going to stay here, though?"

"Probably not going to be here very much.  I plan to take you to all of the amazing places I've been to and a few that I wished we could made it to.  I want to take you diving in the Great Barrier Reef."

"That would be fun."

"I thought you'd like that idea."

"You had better believe that I like it.  It sounds like it would be wonderful.  One of the many trips we're going to take, I assume."

"Yes. One of many.:

"And I thought we were going to stay here and live quietly."

"Please.  You retired to travel with me and things have been popping up left and right so we haven't been able to travel together.  After I retire and we move, we're travelling."

She laughed.  "Whatever you say, big daddy.  I'm not going to argue."

"That's what I thought."  They continued to walk through the house in silence as they listened to the real estate agent give them all of the details: square footage, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the kinds of appliances in the kitchen.  It was all rather boring, but they listened nonetheles.

Once he was done with his speech, the agent looked at David and Brie.  "So, what do you think?"

"I think my wife was smitten with the house the moment we walked in.  So, I think we're buying it.  I would like to put a down payment on it before we leave.  We'll be coming back to purchase the house entirely in a few months", David said with a smile.

"The down payment is to reserve it?"

"Yes.  This is the house my wife wants and it's the house she'll get one way or another."

"I'll go back to the office and start the paper work.  You can come in first thing tomorrow and put down the down payment.  When were you planning to move out here?"

"Not until after April.  We have a child who's expecting their first child and I have yet to retire.   This is our retirement home."

"Nice.  Well, as I said.  You can come in first thing to pay the down payment and there won't be anything else due until you're ready to move out here."

"Thank you very much, Zeke.  We really appreciate it."

"Not a problem.  It's my job, Mr. Draiman."

---------------

After everything with the house was settled for the evening, they met Jessi and Ben at a restaurant in town.  It was an Indian restaurant in the Armeian quarter.  It hadn't been there the last few times that David and Brie had been out.  David made a point to say so.  "Where was this place the last time Brie and I were out here, Ben?"

"It didn't exsist then.  This place just opened", Ben said with a shrug.

"Is it any good?"

"Dunno, this is the first time I've eaten here."

"What good are you?" David teased.

"Apparently, not much", Ben laughed in return.

"I've eaten here", Jessi said.  "It's pretty good, to be perfectly hoenst with you.  It's not nearly as good as the real thing, but it's still pretty awesome."

"The fact that the place is called Kalima doesn't tell you it's authentic, Jessykah?" Brie asked.

"Oh, I know the owners are Indian.  They're really nice people.  But, they cook across the country rather than sticking to their region.  It's like a Mongolian trying to cook Schezwan food.  They may know what they're doing, but it's not the same as they're used to."

"Or your mother trying to cook Mexican food?" David said with a laugh.  Brie smacked his thigh under the table.  "Ow.  What was that for?"

"I make mexican food just fine, thank you", Brie said.

"I'm not saying you don't."

"What was that comment about then?"

"It was an example."

"And a jab at my cooking, butt head."

"Just your first attempts to cook Mexican when we first got together."

She laughed.  "Yeah, those were pretty bad, because it was something I wasn't used to.  But, Jessi wouldn't know anything about that."

"But Malachai would."

"Because he was the only child we had at that point. That happened before I found out I was pregnant with Jordan and Jake."

"You still owe me an apology."

"I'll apologize later."  She winked.

"You better believe it, beautiful.  And I will collect."

"Mom, Dad; really?  In public?" Jessi laughed.

"Oh, it could get worse if you like, Jessykah", Brie laughed.

"No, thank you.  I just want to eat dinner then go to my show."

"Speaking of, who got you started doing stand up?"

Jessi glanced over at her Uncle Ben and that was all that needed to be said.

---------------

After eating, they all headed to the Off The Wall Comedy Club where Jessi was supposed to perform.  Brie, David, and Ben sat near the front so that they could have a good view.  The acts that came on before Jessi were pretty funny, but when Jessi came on they were all on the edge of their seats.

Jessi's bit contained stuff about her childhood as the baby girl of a rockstar, stuff about her siblings, her parents, her nieces and nephews.  There were things that were true and things that were embellished.  There were eveing things that were flat out made up, but David and Brie had to laugh no matter what it was she was saying.  Having been there, they knew what had happened.  Some of the events weren't so funny when they happened, but when they heard Jessi's account of the sereies they couldn't help but laugh as they listened.  When she closed her act, she thanked the crowd and stepped backstage.

After Jessi had snuck back out front with her parents and uncle, she smiled and parked herself between her parents and her Uncle Ben.  "So, what did you think of the show?"

"Baby girl", Brie said as she tried to catch her breath, "that was too much.  You have a talent for telling jokes."

"I loved the way you recounted the day Miri was born.  You started it out by making things really solem and quiet as you tell the story, then when you told the part where you rubbed it in your brothers' and sisters' faces, I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard", David laughed.

"Glad you enjoyed the show", she said with a laugh.  "Now, I think I need to head to bed.  I'm tired and I have to turn in a paper tomorrow morning."

"Alright, sweetheart.  We're going to go back to the hotel as well.  We were tired before we started thinking about meeting you and Uncle Ben for dinner."

"Has the day been that tiring?" Ben asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes.  The real estate agent drug us all over town today."

"Did you find that house you're going to call home once you get out here?"

"We did.  It's a quaint little place on the outskirts of town.  It's far enough away that it's not really noisy, but close enough that we don't have to drive an hour or two to get to the market", Brie said with a smile, then yawned.

"Well, that's good.  You'll have your privacy.  I know that the last several years have meant the draw of the media to your door."

"Oh yeah, I've had to chase off my fair share of paparazzi.  I'm glad I know what I do about firearms because I've had to threaten a few of them, especially after RD got big."

"I hated that I couldn't be there for that shit", David said with a sigh.

"We've been through this, David.  You were making money.  I was holding things together at home.  That's the way things worked."

"I know.  Doesn't change the fact that I'm not happy about it."

Brie shrugged.  "Nothing I can do about that, I suppose."  She leaned in and kissed his cheek.  "Come on, let's get out of here.  I'm ready to relax for the night.  How about you?"

David smiled.  "Same here.  I'm glad that we have a jacuzzi in our room."
  He stood and offered her his hand.


"Me too", Brie said as she took his hand and stood after grabbing her purse.  After they went outside, they said their good byes to Ben and their daughter and went back to their hotel.  It wasn't long before they had started teh jacuzzi and were letting the hot water soak into their tired muscles as they relaxed.  It had been a trying, but rewarding, day.

---------------

The next day, they went and paid the down payment on the house, gathered up their things, bid their daughter good bye until Thanksgiving, and went to the airport.  They were happy to head home to start preparing not only for the concert looming ahead, but the birth of their newest grandchild.  They were making plans to fly Jona's parents in at the beginning of March so that they could be there for the birth of their first grandchild.

But, David's first order of business was to get on the phone with the other members of the band to start nailing down the details of the final show.  They needed to start working on who was going to perform at the final show.  After getting his body to reset to being in Mountain Standard Time, he took a day that Brie was helping James with the twins and that she had an appointment with Jona for the baby to lock himself in his office and start making phone calls.  His first one would be to the other members of the band, then they would go from there.  "Hey, fellas", he said when they all answered their end of the confrence call.

"What's going on, David?" they asked in a staggered fashion.

"We have a show coming up that we need to start planning. so that we can retire in April."

"Oh, yeah.  The past year has been pretty crazy.  I totally forgot", Mike said.

"Yeah, I know.  Me too", John added.

"Trust me, I know the feeling.  I've been TRYING to forget, but Brie won't let me", David laughed

"Has she been hounding you?" Dan asked.

"Not about the show, no.  About us finding a house in Israel, yes."

"How is that going, by the way?" John asked.

"We finally found her dream house.  We just got back from looking for it, as a matter of fact."  He sighed.  "Now, back to the task at hand.  We need to decide how many other acts we want for this thing.  We need to decide what network is going to broadcast this this thing.  We need to set up the international transmission.  We need to set a DATE for the love of God."

"Well, we agreed on April, right?" Mike asked.

David flipped through the large calendar on his desk.  "Yes, that's the month we agreed on.  When in April, though?"

"Mid- April would be best, I think, so that we have the time to have everything made that might need to be made", Dan said.

"I agree with you there", Mike said.

"John makes three on that", John added.

"Alright.  When in Mid- April, so that I can start making phone calls", David said.


"After Tax Day.  Maybe the 19th or 20th?"

"Yeah, let's have our final show on 4/20 so that we can all get fucked up before hand", David laughed.

"It's just a suggestion", Mike said.

"Well, why don't we do it the 19th so that we can all get fucked up to celebrate being retired?" Dan added.

David laughed.  "Sounds good.  Danny, can you get in touch with Millennium Park to see if they have anything going on the 19th or 20th of April?"

"Not a problem.  I can get right on that as soon as we hang up."

"Great.  Can you also dig through all of the all of the Intoxication records to see if there are any bands our bands that are still recording that would be interested in being there?"

"I'm on it.  We all know that Reckless Disregard will want to be there.  You think maybe Art of Dying?"

"Get me a phone number and I'll ask them.  Or, ask them yourself.  You had more interaction with them than I did."

"What about that girl band you signed a few years ago?", Mike asked.  "The one with the vocalist that screams like a damn wild cat."

"Demonatrix?" David asked.  "I'm sure they'll do it if we ask them too."

"Yeah, they were more your project than mine", Dan asked.

"I remember.  I don't know why I had such a soft spot for those girls, but I did.  They're still recording, right, Danny?"

"Oh yeah.  They have a kick ass new album that they're putting here soon.  I think it's supposed to come out around Jake and Jordan's birthday."

"Nice.  I can't believe I lost track of them.  They were the first band we signed after the Occuapation."

"Do you have their manager's number?"

"They're a lot like us.  They manage their own shit now."

"Then do you have Natalia's phone number?"

Dan flipped through some files.  "Yes.  I have her number.  Do you have a pen handy?"

David grabbed a pen and wrote down the number.  "Great.  Thanks, brother.  I'll call her, you call Johnny.  John, how about the bands you manage?"

"They're all busy at that point."

"We could call some of the bands we've worked and toured with in the past", Mike said.

"Can you jump on that for me, Mikey?"

"Who do you want?"

"Call Matt, Lzzy, Ivan... anyone we've worked or toured with."

"How I call their drummers?"

"Whatever works, Mikey."