"What's up?" Sara whispered.
"Oh nothing, I just thought I heard someone enter the arena," Ginny said.
"Want me to go check it out?" Jan asked.
"Yeah, I think you better," Ginny said with a gulp.
So Jan got up and excused herself from her friends and Mr. Dolenz. She told him that she was going to do some last minute checking. As she walked into the foyer of the huge convention hall, she stopped and scratched her head.
"That's funny," she said to herself,"I don't see anybody." Suddenly, she heard a voice from down the hall. It was a male sounding voice, quite familiar too, but Jan just couldn't put her finger on it.
"Hello, Ms. Martin? Miss Boone? Mrs. Barnett? Is anybody here?" The voice called. Jan turned toward the sound of the voice and she soon realized why it sounded so familiar. It was someone she had heard hundreds of times on television and radio. Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open.
"No, it can't be. He declined the invitation," Jan said to herself. Suddenly the man spotted Jan and smiled, glad to have found another person in the building.
"Hi, I'm Peter Tork. I'm here for the Monkees Convention, and you are?" He asked as he stuck out his hand.
"I'm-I'm-I'm," Jan stammered. She just couldn't remember her name.
Deciding that Jan had been gone too long, Ginny had sneaked out of the auditorium to see if she was alright. Not noticing Peter at first, she walked right up to Jan.
"Hey Jan, I was getting worried. What's going....WOW! YOU'RE PETER TORK! Ginny said in amazement. She then rolled her eyes when she realized how Junior High she sounded. "Welcome to the convention Mr. Tork," Ginny said as she finally regained composure. "Please excuse my outburst, I was just surprised to see you."
"That's ok," Peter said with his famous dimpled smile, "please, call me Peter. I assumed you were expecting me. I got a letter about two weeks ago saying that the other three Monkees had declined their invitations and would I please reconsider being the host. Well, I couldn't say no, not after so many people had put much time and effort into this event."
"But," Jan started. She was quickly cut off by Ginny who jumped in front of her.
"Well, I guess we got a big surprise didn't we? We weren't the ones in charge of picking the host, so it was never brought to our attention that you were to be the host," Ginny said with a grin. She hated lying, but in all honesty, she didn't have a clue what was going on.
Suddenly, Peter turned his attention to the sound coming from the auditorium. Micky was practicing "Not Your Steppin' Stone".
"Hey, that sounds like Mick," Peter said suspiciously as he headed for the auditorium.
"No!" Jan screamed, then calmed down, "It's not Micky, don't be silly! That's the music we have set up in the sound system. You must be hungry. The caterers just brought the food. You can be my taste tester." She led Peter down the hall into the Banquet Room. Once they were gone, Ginny let out a sigh of relief.
"I wonder what the devil's going on here?" Ginny pondered as she walked back into the dining/concert area. "Sara, you're not going to believe what just happened."
"Shh!" Sara hissed as she stared at Micky who was still entertaining on the stage.
"This is important!" Ginny insisted.
"Can't it just wait a few more minutes?" Sara asked in an annoyed tone.
"No, it cannot wait a few more minutes!" Ginny said, mimicking her, then changed to her normal tone. "What part of important don't you understand?"
With an irritated sigh, Sara turned toward her.
"OK, what is it?"
"Peter Tork is here!"
Sara's eyes went wide and she paled.
"Oh, uh...really?" she asked.
"Yeah! Jan's distracting him now. If he and Micky run into each other..." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Why does it have to be that way? Why can't they get along?" Sara asked.
"I wish they would, but in the meantime none of them want anything to do with the other." Ginny said. "Peter said he received a letter stating that the other Monkees had declined their invitation, so he decided to come. Who would have sent a letter like that?"
Sara remained silent and was grateful when Ginny's cell phone went off.
Ginny flipped it open and answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, this is David Jones. May I speak to either Miss Boone, Miss Martin or Mrs. Barnett?"
Ginny's mouth dropped open and she was speechless.
"Hello?" came David's voice again.
Ginny held her hand over the phone and whispered to Sara.
"It's Davy Jones! How on earth did he get my phone number?"
Sara gave a small smile and a little shrug.
"Hello?!" came David's voice once more.
"Oh, uh...sorry, David, this is Miss Boone."
"Oh good! Look, I think I got a little lost out here. Think you could guide me to the convention hall?"
"The...the convention hall?" she stuttered.
"Yeah!" he said.
"As...as in the convention hall in Kansas?" she asked.
"Uh....yeah."
"Topeka, Kansas?!"
He was silent for several seconds.
"Uh...listen, honey, is there an adult I can talk to?"
"Oh...uh...no! I mean, yes! Uh....I'll give you directions." she said.
"Well, don't worry. I mean I can always hit a gas station or..."
"No, no! It's all right! Where are you now?"
Ginny proceeded to give David directions to the convention hall, while Sara was once again caught up in Micky's performance.
After Ginny had ended her call with David, she went to look for Jan. Luckily, she was headed Ginny's way.
"Hey, Peter's done stuffed himself silly. What am I suppose to do with him now?" Jan shouted across the hall.
Ginny came over and placed a hand over Jan's mouth.
"Shh," Ginny whispered, "you don't want Micky to hear you. We've got to keep those two hidden from each other until we figure something out. Besides, we've got more problems."
"What do you mean?" Jan asked.
"Davy Jones just called me on my cell phone. I don't know how he got my number, but I have a suspicion. He's headed for the convention hall right now," Ginny told her.
Jan's eyes went wide.
"Oh no, now what? First Peter shows up out of nowhere, and now Davy? Let me guess, he got a letter asking him to reconsider hosting the convention, right?" Jan asked. Whoever had sent that letter to Peter probably sent a similar letter to Davy, and possibly Mike.
"He didn't say. All he said was he needed directions to the convention hall," Ginny said, "Man, this it going to be a disaster if those three guys bump into each other."
Suddenly, Jan and Ginny saw Sara coming their way.
"Hey Ginny, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I guess I got caught up in the excitement of Micky being here," Sara apologized.
"That's ok, I forgive you. Hey, does that mean Micky is done rehearsing?" Ginny asked.
"Yep, he said he was hungry. I told him that there ought to be some food in the Banquet Room. The caterers have already been here, right?" Sara told her friends.
"No!" Jan and Ginny screamed.
"What on Earth is the matter?" Sara asked.
"Peter is in there. I used the food as a diversion. I figured Peter was hungry from his long trip, so I sent him to the Banquet Room to try out some of the food," Jan said.
"So what? If Micky and Peter see each other they will just have to deal with it," Sara said.
"You are not getting it!" Ginny said, raising her voice. "The Monkees do not get along! It's hard for them to work together without one of them getting mad about something. Is that what you want?"
Sara was about to answer until Jan spotted a car in the parking lot.
"Oh brother, I think that might be Davy's car," Jan said as she pointed out the window.
"Oh no! Look, I'll go out and distract Davy. Jan, you get Peter out of the Banquet Hall. Sara, you try to catch Micky before he gets there. Make up something like...like the sound man needs to talk to him," Ginny instructed.
"Ok, let's pray Peter and Micky haven't already ran into each other," Jan said as she rolled her eyes.