During that Summer we continued to rehearse as a band often, nearly every day. There were times when we had very serious practices, and others when the girls and I just had sex and didn’t touch an instrument. But we still took our music very serious. It was like the sex was the icing on the cake.

September came, and of course the early afternoon, weekday rehearsals ended when school started. Sometimes we played a little or fucked before Kathy’s parents came home. Her parents were OK, but they were both yuppie attorneys and they weren’t used to the noise anymore. Since they really didn’t have to hear it all Summer, they forgot what it as like. Sometimes they got a little bitchy about it. Having less time with the house to ourselves during the day also put constraints on when we could fuck.

Deirdre’s Mom had just bought a house nearby. They moved out of the small apartment they’d been living in above her Mom’s hair salon. Her salon, The Hair Cavern had become quite succesful,and now she had some money. They moved into this cool, old Victorian that had this out building with electricity that would make an awesome rehearsal studio. She was cool with us using it. When Deirdre told us about this, we were all stoked.

Kath and Deirdre talked a lot about Candace Milano, Deirdre’s Mom, how cool she was. I had not yet met her. Apparently she never married, and had Deirdre when she was still quite young, and was still only in her early thirties. She was very bohemian, not just a hair stylist, but an artist as well. She occasionally showed her paintings and sculptures in galleries downtown, and did poetry readings as well. Kath was a little jealous of the kind of relationship Dee had with her Mother. She said Dee’s Mom was more like a cool big sister, who treated her and teenagers in general like adults.

On Saturday morning, we were all going over to Dee’s house to set up the new practice room. Steve Kincaid, Kath’s Dad, drove us over there in his truck with all the gear. It seemed like he was happy that we had another place to play. Dee’s Mom had got us some soundproofing foam for the walls from a studio engineer friend of hers, which we put up. Once we set up, we each went outside to listen, and this stuff worked great. Shit we could practice here anytime we wanted. The out building even had an upstairs we could turn into a little lounge area. We wanted to go to Goodwill and find some cheap furniture for the room. It was the best punk rock kid clubhouse you could have !

We took a break and went in Dee’s house to get some sodas. Her Mom had come home from the salon, and was sitting on the living room sofa with her slightly dirty bare feet propped up on the table. She looked like a slightly older version of Deirdre. She wore a pink tank top and black shorts which showed her tattoos. She had full sleeves as well as some artwork on her legs and chest. Her hair was dyed blue. It freaked me out just how hip she looked. She even had her nose, lip and eyebrow pierced. I had never seen a parent like this in my sheltered suburban life. I wondered if Kath’s parents ever met her. They might be more than a little freaked by her too.

Dee introduced me to her Mom, who she called Candace. “Hey, great to finally meet you Rick. I’ve heard a lot about you. You can all me Candy if you want”, she said smiling. She had a strong New York accent.

“You guys have been working hard all day, and I know you all like the new studio room, so I thought you might want to celebrate. Why don’t we all hang out in here awhile. Wouldn’t you all like some wine instead of that Mountain Dew ?” Wow, I thought, somebody’s Mom offering 16 year olds alcohol ? How cool is this ?

“Dee, go out in the dining room and get that bottle of Merlot and some glasses for eveybody”, she said.

Kathy went with Deirdre and helped her. They returned with the wine, along with four very ornate, chalace like glasses and a corkscrew. Candace opened the wine and began filling glasses for everyone. When everyone had a glass of wine, Candace raised her glass and said, “Cheers everybody, here’s to the new studio room”.

We all sat down in the living room. Kathy and I sat on a love seat to the right of where Deirdre sat next to her Mother on the sofa in front of the televsion.