Everyone seemed to notice a change in Mike. There seemed to be a new light in his eyes, but no one knew where it was coming from. Davy knew, and he was grieved that Mike hadn't kept his promise.
Of course, the mornings were the only time Mike and Ginny were alone together. Ginny had way too busy of a schedule the rest of the day. Most of her time was spent with Peter and Nick, who had been looking at several different colleges over the week. Sometimes she would go and have tea with Mrs. Dolenz, who thought Ginny's youthful outlook on life was a refreshing concept, just not for her.
A week had come and gone quickly and it was Saturday once again. The Monkees had a gig to play at one of the local clubs, and a discussion was started about what was to be done with Peter's two younger siblings while Nick and Ginny went to the performance.
"Peter honey, Nick and I will come hear you play. However, what am I suppose to do with Ann and Chris? Chris is old enough to stay by himself and watch Ann, but I don't feel comfortable doing that in a strange city," Ginny said.
"Don't worry mom. Mike talked to the manager and explained that we had some out of town company which included children. He said that it was alright if they came just this once," Peter told her.
"Alright we get to go!" Chris said as he jumped up from his seat.
"However, we have to keep a close eye on you and you have to promise not to bother any of the waitresses or customers," Peter clarified to his brother and sister.
"We promise!" Chris and Ann said in unison.
"Well, let's go or we're going to be late," Davy said.
"Babbit's letting us borrow his car since we have so many extra people, so be careful with it, ok Mick," Mike warned.
"Mr. Babbit is doing us a favor? Is he sick or something?" Micky asked.
"Um, I have to go out with him tomorrow night," Ginny said in a disgusted tone.
"Mike, you offered Mr. Babbit a date with my mom in exchange for his car? How could you? That's so cheap," Peter said, very offended.
"No he didn't. I went over there myself and asked him if we might use the car. He said on the condition that I went out with him once while I was here," Ginny explained.
"Then how did Mike know about using the car if he had nothing to do with it?" Nick asked suspiciously.
"I told him, that's how," Ginny said.
"Anyway, let's go. Micky, you take Mr. Babbit's car. Nick, Ann, Chris, and Davy can ride with you. Peter and his mom can ride with me in the Mokeemobile. I'll take all the equipment too," Mike said.
"One problem, I'm picking up Coco. So I won't have room for all those people," Micky said.
"Well, Ann could ride with us," Mike said, knowing that Micky would want her out of his hair.
"No, I wanna ride with Micky. He's the grooviest person in the world," Ann insisted.
"I volunteer to ride with you," Davy said as he gave Mike the evil eye.
"Great," Mike thought, "Now I'll have to be extra careful how I act around Ginny."
"Now that we got our seating figured out, let's get to the gig," Peter said.
So they all got into their assigned cars. Davy sat up front with Mike, and Ginny sat in the back with Peter. In Mr. Babbit's car, Ann sat next to Micky, while Nick and Chris took the backseat.
Once at the club, the Tork family was seated at a table near the stage, and the four Monkees got busy setting up their equipment. Once they were done, they still had five minutes left before show time. Davy went of to talk to some girl, Mike was talking to Ginny off in one corner of the room, and Peter was talking to two girls he met at a peace rally.
"So Peter, who's the lady friend you've got with you tonight?" one of the girls asked.
"She's my m-, she's my older sister, Virginia," Peter lied.
"Well, you'll have to introduce us later. For now, we've got to get to our table," the other girl said as they walked to the back of the club.
"Hey, what did you say that for?" Micky asked as he jumped off the bandstand.
"It was your idea to introduce her as my sister," Peter reminded him.
"Man, I was just kidding. That wasn't a very groovy thing to do. Your mom would be so hurt if she knew," Micky said.
"I know, but she doesn't act like a typical mom. She won't here especially. Chris says mom knows all the modern dances," Peter said, a little worried.
"Hey Pete why don't you go tune up your bass? I'm going to round up Davy and Mike," Micky said.
As soon as Peter was on stage, Micky went in the direction towards Mike. He figured it would be easier to pull Davy away from a girl if he had help. Micky then heard the hearty sound of Mike's laughter. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ginny there, laughing as well. Then he saw Mike smile from ear to ear and his eyes were almost illuminated. It was easy to tell he was happy, possibly in love. Never in a million years would Micky have thought that dry, deadpan, serious Mike was capable of having carefree and giddy feelings. It was in that moment that Micky made the connection between what he just witnessed and Mike's sudden personality change.
"Man is he ever messing with fire. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when Peter finds out," Micky said to himself.
Once Micky was able to coax Davy away from his female companion, the Monkees began their hour long set. Just like Peter had said, Ginny knew her dances well. In fact she kept up well with the other young girls and blended right in. What came next though, no one expected. Just before the Monkees took an intermission, Mike went up to the microphone to make an announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we are the Monkees. What you don't know is that our bass player, Peter Tork, brought some very special people tonight. At the table in front of the stage we have Peter's two brothers, Nick and Chris Tork; his sister, Ann Tork; and his mother, Virginia Tork," Mike said. Peter's face got hot with embarrassment as the two girls he had lied to began to giggle into their hands
"Virginia, why don't you come up and sing a song for us?" Mike said, and then continued, "I'm telling you people, this lady knows how to sing."
Ginny was a little shy about going up on stage, but she eventually went up there and stammered into the microphone.
"Hi everyone, um, this is a nice club. Anyway, I'd like to sing one of my favorite songs. It's called 'These Boots Are Made for Walking'" Ginny said.
The manager went and punched in the number on the jukebox. The bass line intro came in and Ginny began to move her hips to the beat. As soon as she began to sing, Peter wanted to hide. Some people were cheering Ginny on, but some were laughing at her. Mike was so mad he wanted to kick the jukebox in, but then realized that Ginny was having fun regardless of what others thought.
At this time, Coco Dolenz was making her way back from the bathroom. She noticed Nick standing in a corner, so she waved. Nick was so embarrassed by his mom; he covered his face with a nearby menu.
At the end of the evening, Mike pulled Ginny aside to apologize.
"Ginny, I'm sorry I put you through that. I thought you would sing 'Over the Rainbow'," Mike said.
"That's not a song for a nightclub. Besides, I had fun. Thank you," Ginny said as she kissed Mike on the cheek.