Johnny Breeze & Me - 14. Goodbye and... Hello??

My second official day at the Rosemont was going to be hectic and full. The first call I received was from Carl, informing me that both homes had been thoroughly debugged and that they were now scouring the computers for anything related to the cameras. That was a relief. We were having a lot of fun at the W Hotel, but I wanted to get back home.

The first thing on my “to-do” list was to begin work on the new season that would start in the fall. I pulled out the file to see what Simon had already done. The first show on the schedule was Footloose, followed by The Wizard of Oz for the holiday show. The first show of the New Year was Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins with Forever Plaid and La Cage Aux Folles wrapping up the season. As the first season of our professional status, the Board decided to bring in “stars” for two of the shows.

Negotiations had already begun with Kenny Baker to star in Footloose. Kenny was an up-and-coming Broadway star who instead found himself in several Marvel films as a popular superhero. I didn’t care too much for the films, but Kenny was certainly lovely to look at! My cock started to fill, thinking about the hot actor, and I just shook my head and smiled. Of course, my mind went right to the possibilities since the past week had been filled with some of the wildest sex I’ve ever had in my life!

I pulled Kenny’s file and began looking through the photos and correspondence. Damn, he is fine! I also noticed that he would be in Austin in a few days to finish work on a Robert Rodriguez film. He had made plans to arrive a day early so he could visit with us here at the theatre. The other star that had already been signed was Nick Lee, a popular boy-bander who has started a very successful acting career. He was going to be starring in Assassins. I decided to contact the theatre’s PR firm and find out how the publicity was going and get the timetable for the new season announcement.

Brandon, the guy working on our account, said everything was ready to go as soon as he got confirmation that Kenny was on board. I told him I should have an answer for him in a few days. Brandon was happy to hear that and offered to send proofs over by messenger, so I could sign off on everything. He also gave his sympathy for the theatre’s loss and said he was also looking forward to meeting and working with me.

I went back to Kenny’s file, found his cell phone number, and placed a call. It went to voice mail, so I let him know about Simon and that I would be his contact point for the theatre and was looking forward to hearing from him.

After hanging up the phone, Margaret rang through to tell me that Bob called to say he would be there at 2:00 to work on the memorial service and that there was a message from JJ to give him a call whenever I had a chance. Johnny then walked into the office, holding two cups of Starbucks. “Good morning, baby. I see you’re already diving in!” He leaned down and kissed me.

“Mmmmmmm. Now, this is how I would like to start every day here at the office! Starbucks and my wonderful man!” Another kiss.

“Did you see JJ and Zach before you left the hotel?”

“Yeah, they were going to go over to JJ’s and decide what to do with the place. JJ said he wanted to sell everything inside, strip everything down to the bare walls and floors and have it redecorated so it would be their home with little or no reminder of Simon.”

“I bet Zach was thrilled to hear that.”

“You have no idea! I thought Zach was going to burst when he heard JJ’s plans.”

“So Johnny, what’s on your plate today?”

“I’m going to do my end-of-season inventory and clean up all the instruments. Eric will be in this afternoon when he finishes his day job to help out.”

“Does he get paid for his work?”

“No, he signed on as a volunteer so he could learn lighting.”

“How’s he doing?”

“He’s excellent! I know I can count on him to run a show for me whenever I need it, and he had some great ideas when I was putting up Pippin.

“Great, when he gets in, send him to me. You’re about to get a paid assistant Mr. Breeze. We’ll make him the first person to benefit from JJ’s generous endowment.”

“Don’t forget, JJ wants his new fortune to be kept on the down-low==just like Simon had done. He doesn’t want his wealth to get in the way of the friendships he’s built up around here.”

“Of course. As far as everyone is concerned, it’s the Simon Bradley Endowment. JJ has nothing to do with it.”

My phone rang, and it was Margaret telling me that Kenny was holding for me. “I gotta take this call, baby. Time to convince a movie star that he wants to be our first guest artist!”

“Who? Who is it?”

“I’ll tell you after the details are worked out.”

“Oh, I see how it is!”

“Silly man! Come see me when you’re ready for lunch!” Johnny left to start work on the inventory, and Jason picked up his phone. “Hello? This is Jason Richardson.”

“Hi Mr. Richardson, this is Kenny Baker returning your call.”

“Kenny, thank you for getting back to me. And please, call me Jason.” Kenny explained that he has been working on a new Robert Rodriguez film and that he had been called back to Austin to reshoot a couple of location scenes. He was to begin filming tomorrow morning and was already in town.

As luck would have it, he was also staying at the W. I explained that my partner and I were staying there one more night while some work was being done on our loft. We agreed to meet at the bar in the lobby for a drink and talk about future plans.

About thirty minutes later, Margaret buzzed me and said JJ and Zach were here to see me. I asked her to send them back, and within seconds, the two boys were bounding into my office. “What’s up, guys? I was just about to call you!”

“We just got back from the house. I hired an estate auction house to come in this afternoon and take everything out. There will be nothing left of Simon in the house by the time they finish.”

Zach continued talking. “I then called my mom to get the name of the person who decorated our house when we lived here. I contacted them, and she is meeting us there in the morning.”

“Zach and I want the house to be sleek and modern on the inside with the classic look that blends in with the neighborhood on the outside. It’s gonna be so cool!”

The boys came by to tell me they couldn’t have dinner with us because they would be busy at the house. I told them not to worry—that I had a dinner meeting anyway. JJ then changed the subject to the summer camps. When he had last checked the High School Triple Threat camp, the theatre’s most popular camp for the older kids still didn’t have an acting instructor. JJ was the dance instructor, and David Herrera, one of the theatre’s music directors, was going to handle the music portion of the camp. I asked Zach to come by later this afternoon, and we could talk about things.

The boys left, and I was glad that JJ had brought up the summer camps. I pulled out the file and found the list of teachers, counselors, and aides. Most of them had confirmed, and several had not yet given a final answer. I decided to call all of them and let them know that we were going on with the camps as planned and wanted to make sure everyone was still on board.

Fortunately, all the people who had confirmed were still on board. All but two of the others declined their offers. That meant I needed to find someone to teach Broadway dance classes to the seven to twelve-year-old kids and the acting coach for the high school triple threat classes. JJ and Zach would be perfect for both!

I only had one more position to fill, and that was the camp coordinator. I needed someone to work with the parents, collect tuition, and coordinate the staff. I’ll have to ask Johnny if he has any ideas when we have lunch.

The rest of the morning was relatively quiet. Just before I was to have lunch with my amazing man, Carl called and said he was done with the loft. He just wanted to know if we wanted to keep the so-called artwork that Simon had put in. I told him he could take it and trash it. I didn’t want to look at it again.

Johnny came in right after the subs I had ordered arrived. I buzzed Margaret and told her that Johnny and I were having lunch and that I would return any calls when we finished.

Before Johnny returned to work, I told him we would be leaving today at 4:00 to go back to the hotel, change, and check out before our cocktail meeting with our movie star.

“Who is it? Won’t you tell me?”

“Sure, baby. I just wanted to make sure we were going to meet before I told you. Are you a fan of the Marvel films?

“I’ve seen a few of them. They’re a lot of fun and bring back a lot of memories, actually.”

“Well, if all goes well this evening, Kenny Baker will be our guest-star for our production of Footloose.”

“Mmmmmm, he’s pretty!”

“Hands off, Mr. Breeze. This boy’s straight as an arrow from what I’ve seen on the web.”

Eric arrived at the theatre about twenty minutes into the afternoon, and Johnny sent him in to see me. When he walked into the office, he looked somewhat nervous. I assured him everything was good, and he had nothing to worry about. We talked about his experience working at the theatre, and he sang the praises of Johnny for teaching him and, even more importantly, allowing him to grow and flourish.

Eric was thrilled when I suggested that his intern days were over and that he would immediately join the paid staff. He was even more thrilled when I told him he was the very first to benefit from the Simon Bradley Endowment. We shook hands, and I sent him back to the theatre to help Johnny out.

Bob arrived shortly after I met with Eric, and we began work on the memorial service. We both agreed that it was somewhat surreal working on a memorial service for a man neither of us had much respect for after the weekend’s discoveries. Bob made an excellent point in that there were hundreds of people whose lives were positively touched by Simon and that we needed to make the memorial service for them more than anyone else.

The youth program director had sent an email saying that the children would like to perform “What I Did for Love” for the service. She had already contacted all the parents, and the majority were a “go” for the special performance. Bob suggested that I be the master of ceremonies for the service since I knew Simon the least, and that would allow me to remain more neutral in my comments.

Bob also felt that JJ, if he felt like he could, might like to sing something as well. On the other hand, he would understand completely should JJ decide he would rather not. I sent JJ a quick text and asked him what he thought. Instead of texting back, JJ called. Margaret put the call through, and I put him on speaker. “Hi, JJ. I have you on speaker here. Bob and I are working on the memorial service and, although it’s completely your choice, Bob thought it would be lovely if you could sing something.”

“Well, I’ve already been talking to Zach about it. Despite all the horrible things we’ve found out, the fact is that he gave me a life I would have never been able to have. The more we talked about it, the more I realized that because of what happened, I could sing and be a lot less emotional through it all. So yeah, I’ll sing.”

“Do you have a song in mind?”

“Definitely. I would like to sing a solo version of “For Good” since it has so much more meaning for me now than ever before.”

I wrapped up the call. “Okay, kiddo. Let me know if you have a change of heart, okay?”

“Will do, Jason. Talk to you later.”

We decided that instead of one long eulogy, three short ones would better represent three different areas of the theatre. Bob would represent the Board of Directors, Calvin would represent the actors, and Margaret agreed to represent the volunteers. We contacted the company that shot the archival videos of all our shows, and they agreed to put together a montage of the different shows Simon directed over the years.

We decided to make the service completely non-religious since Simon was not a religious man at all. I wrote up an announcement and press release and sent it out. By the time we finished, it was nearly 4:00, and Johnny knocked on the door.

I invited him in, telling him that Bob and I were just finishing. I explained to Bob that Johnny and I were meeting Kenny over drinks and possibly dinner to finalize the agreement to have him star in Footloose. I told him that I had no idea how far the negotiations had gone with Simon and that Kenny’s file gave no clue. Bob told me to do whatever I needed to do to make the deal happen.

We headed back to the hotel, and I soon learned the one thing about Austin I would grow to hate—the traffic. What would have usually been a fifteen-minute drive ended up taking forty minutes, and we had to rush just to shower and change. We would have to check out in the morning.

I was the first to be ready, and I was waiting in the living room for Johnny to finish. When he walked out of the bedroom, he took my breath away. He decided not to pull his hair back, and it was hanging free over his shoulders and down. It turned out he didn’t have an extra tie, and the one he was using had broken. I told him I loved the look and hoped he would do it more often. He commented on my newly-developed hair fetish and gave me a quick kiss as we made our way to the elevator.

As we left the elevator and headed to the lobby bar, we found Kenny standing at the entrance. I was surprised that he was only about 5’5”, but damn! It was the sexiest 5’5” I’ve ever seen! He was wearing skin-tight Levis, brown cowboy boots, and a brown leather vest with no shirt. His pecs were powerful, and his arms were very muscular. He was definitely looking like a perfect, studly “Ren.” Apparently, the boy was already auditioning. Johnny and I both stopped and gasped as we took in the sight of a very sexy Kenny Baker.

Johnny leaned in and whispered to me, “Don’t forget, he’s been dating a former Bachelorette. The boy is straight.”

“I know! I know!—dammit!”

We walked up to Kenny, and I extended my hand as I approached. “Kenny! Jason Richardson. So nice to meet you!”

“Whoa—you’re Jason?” He shook his head quickly. “Not at all what I was expecting! I mean, Simon was kinda old and all. Things are definitely looking up!”

I introduced Johnny and Kenny seemed to fall under his spell. “It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Baker.”

Johnny shook his hand, and Kenny replied, “The pleasure is mine—and please, call me Kenny. That Mister stuff was fine with Simon, but c’mon guys—we’re all close to the same age here!”

We made our way into the lounge and took a table by the windows. Our waitress was fun and very flirty. We ordered our drinks and enjoyed some small talk before we got down to the reason for our meeting.

“So Kenny, with Simon’s unexpected death, I’ve been left with the task to make sure we can work out a deal so you can be a part of our production.”

“Yeah, I was sorry to hear about the accident and all, but at the same time, I have to admit that I’m relieved that I don’t have to deal with him any longer.”

“I’m sorry, were there problems with Simon?”

Kenny looked down at the table and took a breath. “I guess you could say that. You see, I want this gig more than you know. I need to get back on stage and in front of a live audience. Footloose is the perfect opportunity for me. Unfortunately, I let Simon know that, and he immediately decided to take advantage of that information.”

“You mean?”

“Yeah, he wouldn’t even begin negotiating a deal until I let him blow me. The plan was to make the deal happen on this trip, and I was completely ready to let him do what he wanted so I could get back on stage.”

“Well, I can assure you we don’t expect anything like that. If you want to be a part of the show, I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”

Johnny smiled at Kenny and said, “You know, according to everything I read about you online, you’re totally straight and dating a Bachelorette.”

“Well, yeah. What you read is correct, except we aren’t dating anymore.”

I asked our waitress to check and see how long the wait was in the dining room. She came back and said that without a reservation, the wait was over an hour. Kenny suggested we go up to his suite, order room service, and figure out the details so he could get them to his manager. Johnny and I agreed, and we were soon riding up the elevator to Kenny’s suite.

He opened the door, and we followed him into a space that was even larger and more opulent than ours. We took a seat on the sofa, and Kenny tossed us a room service menu. “Order what you like guys, this is on me—well, on the studio, actually!”

I ended up with the poached salmon, Johnny had shrimp scampi, and Kenny ordered stuffed pork tenderloin. Kenny opened a nice bottle of wine, and by the time dinner was delivered and devoured, we were all relaxed and enjoying each other’s company. Johnny and I sat on one sofa while Kenny sat opposite us. Kenny agreed to work for the union minimum if we provided him with a hotel room and a meal stipend. That was easy enough!

After the negotiations were complete, Kenny leaned forward and looked intently at me, then Johnny, then back at me. Damn, this man was hot as fuck!

“Guys, I don’t really know how to say this. And now that we’ve agreed to all the details, I just need to say something. When I arrived in Austin last night, I was completely ready to give up my cherry ass to that old man. Like I said, I was going to do whatever it took to get this gig. But now here I am, relieved that I don’t have to give it up, but at the same time, I’m looking at two of the most attractive—and nicest men I’ve ever seen.”

Johnny looked at me, and I just smiled. He leaned in and gave me a light kiss and then turned to Kenny. He took Kenny’s lead and began working the Johnny Breeze magic.

“Kenny, I would have to agree with you there. Of course, I feel like my lover is incredibly attractive, but I have to say you are certainly a sight for sore eyes.”

Johnny leaned forward and took another sip of wine. He set the glass down on the table and leaned back on the sofa, running his hands over his pecs and hardening nipples. Kenny was now getting a full view of the growing mound in Johnny’s crotch. I decided to sit back and watch the fireworks. Kenny couldn’t take his eyes of Johnny’s thickening tool.

He was in a trance and quietly said, “Johnny, will you kiss Jason again?”

“Happily.” Johnny leaned into me, took my face in his hands, and began kissing me with such passion and intensity that I couldn’t help but moan in pleasure. Kenny was staring and licking his lips while rubbing the growing erection sliding down the leg of his jeans.

Breathlessly, he said, “Fuck guys, an hour ago, I was glad I didn’t have to give it up. Now I’m looking at two fucking hot men, and all I want to do is get naked with the two of you and see what happens.”

He then looked at me. “That is if it won’t jeopardize our negotiations.”

“Mr. Richardson, if we, ummm, get naked with Mr. Baker, will that jeopardize his working for the Rosemont?”

“What’s with the ‘Mr. Richardson’ stuff? After all, we’re all pretty much the same age.” I looked over to Kenny, who returned a toothy grin. Yes, he seemed to be enjoying the direction things appeared to be heading.

While keeping my eyes on the sexy movie star, I continued, “Would there be an issue with our negotiations if we got naked with this incredibly sexy man? No, I don’t think so—not at all!”

Kenny stood up and removed his vest. His body was fucking amazing. He had already removed his boots when we got up to the room earlier. Kenny undid his belt and opened the button of his jeans. He then turned around and told us to follow him. As we followed him into the bedroom, he dropped his jeans and briefs and was completely naked when he got to the door. “I want to watch you two undress each other.”

Kenny pulled the covers off the bed and climbed on. He had a nice, thicker-than-average, 7 or 8 inches, but on his small frame, it looked like 9. He was slowly stroking his cock while he watched Johnny and me undress. Every now and then, we would hear a “wow” or “fucking hot” from the bed.

Johnny lowered his pants, revealing his eleven inches. Kenny gasped and then laughed. “Thank god I don’t have to take all that!” We just smiled at each other and climbed onto the bed with Kenny.

I leaned down to his ear and whispered, “Are you sure you want this?”

“Yeah, more than I ever thought possible.”

Johnny then whispered, “If we start doing something you’re not comfortable with, just say so, and we’ll stop.”

At the same time, Johnny and I locked our mouths on each of Kenny’s nipples and began to suck, lick and chew. Kenny grabbed each of our heads and pushed us into his pecs. “Fuuuuuuck! That's amazing! I never knew—” I interrupted him as I bit his hard nipple. “Ohhhhhhhh My Goddddd!”

Kenny’s head was thrashing about on the pillows. Johnny and I eased our mouths downward towards Kenny’s rippled abs. We both outlined his cuts with our tongues and kissed each other each time we met. We both found a pool of sweet precum and licked it up. We then moved down to the sensitive area where Kenny’s inner thighs met his balls. We both licked and sucked, causing more gasps and moans as Kenny spread his legs for more access.

Kenny’s balls were already drawn up tight to his body, but we managed to each get one in our mouths and sucked and pulled. Kenny started to buck his hips and moan. Johnny and I kissed our way back up his body.

“Holy shit, guys! I’ve never felt anything like this before!”

He tried to catch his breath. “Look, I’ve never done anything like this before, but I think I definitely need to try some shit out.”

He turned to Johnny and kissed him. At first, he seemed a little apprehensive, but it didn’t take long for Johnny to work his tongue into Kenny’s mouth and work the magic I knew so well. Kenny then turned to me and kissed me without holding back at all. “Fuck, even kissing a guy is totally different. It’s so fucking powerful!”

Johnny worked his way down to Kenny’s cock and began licking it up and down like a lollipop. I leaned into Kenny and asked, “Have you ever had your ass eaten?”

“Really? Are you kidding? That’s a thing?”

I had Kenny get on all fours. Johnny slid underneath him and went back to gently working his cock. I moved down, pulled Kenny’s muscled globes apart, and began licking his crack from top to bottom. I then focused the tip of my tongue on his virgin hole, flicking it back and forth and wetting down the wisps of hair nestled deep inside his cleft. Kenny was screaming out at this point, and I had hardly begun!

I suddenly felt Kenny shift a bit, and the screaming stopped. I glanced down and noticed the boy tasting his first cock. I moved back to the task at hand, only this time I began to work my tongue inside Kenny’s extremely tight pucker. He was moaning again, and those moans were vibrating around Johnny’s massive cock.

I shifted, so my cock was also in Kenny’s reach and began fingering his hole to prepare him for my cock. He only said he didn’t want to be fucked by Johnny. He didn’t mention me! Kenny shifted around and moved Johnny and me, so we were lying side by side. He began moving back and forth between our cocks as I took Johnny in my arms and kissed him deeply.

Kenny was getting quite good at cocksucking. When he realized we were both getting close, he stopped. He pushed Johnny’s legs up and down to his chest and looked at Johnny’s hairless rosebud. The look on his face was a mixture of lust and nervousness.

He slowly lowered his head and tentatively touched Johnny’s hole with his tongue. He made a “not bad” face and then dove in like a pro. I told the boys I would be right back and hurried into the bathroom. I grabbed the small, complimentary bottle of hand lotion and brought it back to the bed.

I went back to work on Kenny’s ass with my mouth and then began to loosen him up with one, then two fingers. I dug in deep and began to massage his prostate, which brought more moans that were muffled by Johnny’s ass. “You better be planning to fuck me, Jason! I need to feel your cock doing what those fingers are doing.”

I poured a generous amount of lotion on my cock and worked some into his hole. I moved Kenny so he was lying on his side and lifted his leg. “Johnny, get Kenny’s cock ready, so he can fuck you while I fuck him!”

Johnny smiled broadly. “I love how you think, babe!”

I slowly broke through Kenny’s outer ring with the head of my cock, and he groaned and tightened up. “Just push out like you’re taking a crap, Kenny. That will help you relax.”

As I began working my cock into Kenny, Johnny was coating his with lotion. That helped to distract Kenny just enough for me to slip all the way in. I held myself still as Kenny got used to the intrusion.

Johnny then slid next to Kenny and lifted his leg. “Fuck me, Kenny! Fill me up with that beautiful cock!” Kenny follows instructions quite well, and he eased his cock into Johnny.

Johnny was now adding to the moans in the room. “Oh yeah! Oh, fuck! You have a great cock, Kenny! Give it to me!” I don’t think Kenny was quite prepared for the double sensation of fucking while getting fucked. As he began to pump in and out of Johnny, he created the same motion in his own ass. It didn’t take long for Kenny to get the hang of it, and he was soon pounding Johnny while I was pounding him. Damn, he was tight!

All three of us were panting and sweating when Kenny announced he was going to cum. “Cum inside me, Kenny! I want that hot load! Kenny let out a scream as he filled my lover with his scalding seed. In seconds, I followed and filled him with my hot load.

Kenny was kissing Johnny, then me, then back to Johnny. “Johnny, give me that insane cock of yours!”

Kenny pulled out of Johnny, and my lover turned around and pointed his cock at Kenny. Kenny opened his mouth wide and took in several inches of Johnny’s, and stroked the rest of it. “Oh fuck, Kenny, I’m gonna cum! Gonna—cum!”

Kenny kept his mouth on Johnny’s cock and tried to swallow as much as he could. Quite a bit spilled out of his mouth. I leaned over Kenny and began licking my lover’s juice from Kenny’s lips and chin. Soon my softening cock slipped out of Kenny.

The three of us lay together, arms wrapped around each other and sharing light kisses. “Guys, that was fucking amazing. You did things with me I never thought were even possible.”

“You enjoyed it, then?” Johnny asked.

“Fuck yeah! I mean, I love women and having sex with them. But this was amazing. I mean, I know I’m not gay, don’t even know if I’m bi—but I sure hope we can have some more fun when I return in the fall!”

“I think that’s a definite possibility if Johnny and I both agree to it.”

“I’ll agree, don’t worry! You fuck like an animal!”

A bit later, Johnny and I dressed and made our way back to our suite. When we walked in, we could hear JJ and Zach fucking up a storm in their room. Johnny and I went into our room, took a quick shower, and went right to sleep.

The following two days were rather hectic as preparations for the memorial service geared up. We quickly ran into a bump in the road when the reservations for seats were gone within two hours.

When the director of one of Austin’s large venues called for a reservation and couldn’t get in, he asked to speak with me. It was the managing director of the Long Center. He let me know that the program for Friday evening was the Austin Symphony, and we could easily move the service to their building and seat four times the number of people.

I quickly called Bob, who agreed that it was an excellent idea and a generous offer. Margaret was great. She divided up the reservation list and sent it out to her team of volunteers. By the end of the day, everyone had been contacted and told about the venue change.

In the middle of all that, I received an email from Kenny’s manager, who agreed to our terms, and I had the contract drawn up. Publicity could begin on the Rosemont’s first professional season.

Friday afternoon arrived a lot faster than I was expecting. When Johnny and I arrived at the Long Center, I was most impressed with the work their crew had done. There was a podium off to the side with a beautiful arrangement of Texas wildflowers in front of it. Another identical podium sat on the opposite side of the stage. A 16-foot-tall portrait of Simon was hanging at the back of the stage.

The large theatre began filling up at 1:30, and by the time we were ready to start, I was told that the lobbies were also filled with people who were going to watch the service on the monitors stationed outside the doors.

I welcomed everyone and thanked the Long Center for generously opening its doors to us. I introduced myself, shared my more pleasant memories of Simon, and acknowledged that everyone in the building had their own unique memories. The first group to perform was the children’s chorus from the youth program. They sang a charming and beautiful rendition of “What I Did for Love” and were rewarded with thunderous applause.

Bob spoke for about ten minutes about Simon’s career at the Rosemont. He did a beautiful job, evoking memories from many of the people in the audience. He then introduced Margaret. God love that woman! She started her eulogy with, “Simon Bradley drove me crazy most of the time!” She got a good and hearty laugh from the crowd and then went on to tell how he had hand-picked her to start the Rosemont Volunteer Guild. She asked everyone who had ever served on the guild to stand, and I was shocked that about a fourth of the audience was standing and taking in the grateful applause they received.

Margaret did a wonderful job with her eulogy and then introduced Calvin, the actor who most recently starred as the Leading Player in Pippin.

Calvin also started his eulogy with “Simon Bradley drove me crazy most of the time. He was moody, dramatic, demanding, but most of all, dedicated.” He explained how Simon had brought a standard of excellence to the theatre and that all the actors and crew happily did everything they could to live up to those standards. Near the end of his presentation, he asked everyone who had ever performed or worked backstage in a Simon Bradley show to stand. I was shocked to see about a third of the audience stand and take in the generous applause.

Calvin wrapped up with, “Almost five years ago, Simon became the legal guardian to an extraordinary actor. Through his guidance and generosity, Simon was able to give this amazing talent a chance to shine. Ladies and Gentlemen, my friend and colleague, Mr. JJ Cobb.”

JJ sang “For Good” even more beautifully than he did the night of the cast party. He had the entire audience wrapped around every word, and by the end of the number, there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

When he finished his performance, a giant video screen lowered in front of him. Everyone was treated to an eleven-minute video montage of all the shows Simon had directed during his time at the Rosemont.

Every time someone recognized a production, there was a smattering of applause. The last show in the montage was Rent. The image on the screen was the opening of the second act where the entire cast is lined up along the front of the stage singing “Seasons of Love.”

As soon as the familiar music began, the screen was raised, revealing the entire cast from the production. They performed beautifully. The final chorus was repeated several times as the entire audience joined in and sang.

I must admit the entire service was quite moving and a proper send-off for a man who was quite an influence on the Austin theatre community. Johnny, JJ, Zach, and I were finally driving back to the loft when Johnny’s phone rang.

“Hi, Mom! What? Yeah, I knew her. Yeah, we did—once. What??!!??. She did what??? Where is he? My God! No, no—I’ll fly home tomorrow. I love you too, Mom. Bye.”

Johnny ended the call and was staring straight ahead. I was more than a little concerned. “Johnny, are you okay? What just happened?”

“I—I—I have a son. I have a seven-year-old son.”