2021
© 2000, Julie Orlando
“Mom!!”
Lori looked up from the
computer screen at the sound of her daughter calling her – hollering at her,
really – from the other end of the house. Her school only had a half-day this
Friday, so she was home early.
“Up here, Kimmy!” she
hollered back.
Kim appeared at the
doorway to the study, rolling her eyes. “Mom, please! I’m 14 now.”
“Sorry… Kim,” she
amended with a light smile. “But you’ll always be my Kimmy.”
“I know.” She sounded
resigned, but Lori knew she was only playing.
“So what’s up?”
“We’re doing a project
in Family Life class, and I need some old pictures for the presentation.”
“Pictures of….???”
Kim moved farther into
the room and plunked herself down on the leather sofa that lined one wall. “We’re
on the ‘children’ unit, so we’re supposed to look at how the addition of a
child can change a family. First children, second or third siblings, whatever.
But since I’m an only child, that narrows down that one for me.”
“Sure,” Lori said,
saving her work on the computer and shutting the screen down. “Do you want just
pictures, or other props too?”
The young brunette
brightened. “Other props would be cool! What’ve you got?”
“Why don’t we take a
look?” They got up, and Lori led the way down to the storage room in the
basement.
While they walked, Kim
kept speaking. “I’d also like to talk to you and Dad. Y’know, get some ideas of
what life was like pre-Kim, as horrible as that sounds.” Lori shot her daughter
a wry look, and was rewarded with a playful elbow to the arm. “What *did* you
and Dad do before I came along?”
The 40-something woman
sighed melodramatically. “Oh, we sat listlessly, day in, day out, staring at
the walls. *Pining* for the day when you might grace our lives….”
“Ha, ha, Mom.”
Lori laughed, a light,
delicate sound. “We found plenty enough to keep us busy. What with all your
dad’s touring, plus his production and clothing company, he could hardly turn
around without penciling it into the schedule first. I was still doing the freelance
writing thing at that point, so I toured with him a lot of the time. And when
the group wasn’t on the road, we just tried to live as normal a life as
possible.”
Kim didn’t have the
chance to comment on that, as they’d arrived at their destination. “Here we go,
your doorway to yesteryear.”
The room they were in
was lined with shelves, all bursting with photo albums, video tapes, and
various pieces of memorabilia and nostalgia from Lori and Chris’ past. The
centre of the room was littered with labelled boxes and a few loose items.
Kim just stood in the
doorway and looked around the small room for a moment. “Wow,” she finally said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really looked around in here.”
The short-ish blonde
woman shrugged. “You’ve never had a reason to.” She paused, then: “Well, you
were born in oh-seven, so why don’t we start with oh-five? I’ll take an album,
you can start on one of the boxes.”
The two found clear
spots on the floor to park themselves and dug in. Kim opened the lid of the
first box that she’d found labelled ‘2005’. She pulled out a scrapbook from the
top of the pile inside. It had “*NSYNC” written neatly on the front in large
letters. “This is the name of that group that Dad was in, isn’t it?”
Lori smiled fondly at
the memories that name brought up. “That’s right,” she said.
Kim giggled. “I know he
manages musicians now, but the thought of him up on stage, singing… That’s just
weird.”
“Singing *and* dancing,”
Lori corrected her daughter. “And they were good, too!” Kim looked like she
didn’t believe her mother. “They were!” she insisted. “I loved them, I had all
their CDs. That’s how I met your father, you know. At one of their concerts.”
“Oh Mom!! You were a
groupie?!?” She sounded horrified at the thought.
“No, no!” she managed to
get out through her laughter, and then she shuddered. “Ew, God no. My friend
and I had won tickets and backstage passes to their concert from a radio
station. While backstage, we ran into a couple of the guys and had the chance
to talk with them for a few minutes. Oh, who…” she thought for a moment. Her
face lit up as the memory came back to her. “JC! That was it! It was JC and
your dad. And I guess Dad and I just clicked. I met up with him after the
concert and we stayed up almost all night talking. After that….” she shrugged.
“We kept in touch, then I moved to Orlando, and I guess the rest is history.”
Kim was looking at her mother strangely. “What?”
She shook her head. “My
mother, going backstage at a rock concert… I guess I never thought you had it
in you.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ve got
quite a few tricks up my sleeve,” the older woman said slyly. Her eyes lit up
as an idea struck her. “Oh! I know! I’ve got tons of old videos from all the
times they were on TV. You could show a few minutes as part of your
presentation!”
“Ugh, how embarrassing!”
“What, your friends
wouldn’t think it’s cool that your dad used to be a big rock star?”
“If they were so big,
why have I hardly heard of them?”
Lori shrugged. “That’s
just the way the business works, I guess. It’s like your dad used to say – You
can be a nobody one day, a somebody the next, and a nobody the day after that.”
“Hm.” Kim mulled that
over for a second. “Were they really that big?”
“Oh, huge! They would
sell out two- and three-month tours of arenas and stadiums in under an hour.
Millions of girls had pictures of them all over their walls. And you should
have heard the screaming at any of their appearances.” Kim still looked
skeptical, but Lori could see she was coming around. “Just look in there at
some of the articles I clipped.” She gestured to the scrapbook sitting in her
daughter’s hands, still closed.
They flipped through the
book together, Kim pausing to read some of the articles, Lori pausing to
explain some of the pictures. Kim stopped and looked closely at one pinup.
“Wait a second…” she muttered “…that’s Justin Timberlake, isn’t it?” She looked
up from the book, an excited grin on her face.
“Yeah.” Lori frowned. “I
thought you knew he used to sing with *NSYNC. I’m sure we’ve talked about him
before. In fact, you’ve met him a couple times, I’m sure of it.”
“Have I really? I guess
I was too young to realize who I was meeting, or who you were talking about.”
She thought for a second. “Now that you mention it, I think I did read about
that in a magazine somewhere. I guess I never made the connection.” She shook
her head. “How could I have not made that connection???”
“Most girls don’t think
to try to connect their dads to famous singers.” Of all five of the guys,
Justin had been the only one to forge a successful solo career for himself. JC
had tried, but he found himself drawn more to the writing and producing end of
the business. Joey had made a modest name in the movie industry, and Lance and
Chris had both kept on with their growing managerial companies.
“Yeah, but still…
considering his job, you’d think I would’ve…” Kim replied absently while still
flipping through the scrapbook. “Hey,” she said, then she trailed off.
“What?”
She spoke slowly, as if
reluctant to ask her question. “D’you think I could maybe watch one of those
video tapes you talked about?”
Lori smiled. “I thought
you’d never ask.” She rose from the floor and went to the shelf of tapes,
pulling one down after a moment of thought. “This one’s from a few years before
Dad and I actually met. I was still just a fan, taping what I could off the TV,
at this point.”
They made their way up
to the living room and popped the tape in the VCR. They watched through most of
the tape, Lori skipping around to the appearances she considered to have the
best ‘Chris moments’. After a couple of hours, they had reached the end. While
the tape rewound, Lori looked over at Kim.
“Well?” she asked
expectantly.
Kim paused for a moment,
a bemused smile on her face. “They looked so *young*!” she finally said, which
made Lori laugh. Kim went on. “I never thought it was possible, but Dad was
even crazier than he is now. And what was he thinking with those braids?!?”
Lori laughed even harder at that.
“I know. Apparently none
of them really knew what he was thinking with that one.”
Once their laughter had
subsided, Kim asked a question. “Mom, why didn’t Dad keep in touch with any of
them?”
Lori thought for a bit
before answering. “He does, a bit. They all did, at first. But I guess that’s
just life. People drift apart, as much as they might insist they won’t. They
actually talked about doing a reunion at one point, but it didn’t pan out. Just
as well, I guess. Those types of things can be pretty bad sometimes.” She
chuckled a bit.
Kim spoke again, softly.
“Why *did* they break up? I mean, I know you say it’s the way the biz works
sometimes, but… was there another reason, or was that it?”
“That was partly it.”
Lori nodded slowly. “The industry’s tastes were changing. All the guys’
priorities were changing, too. It was just time to move on.”
That was the truth,
although obviously a glossed-over version of it. Lori remembered that time
clearly. It had been 15 years since Chris had founded the group, 12 since they
had ‘made it big’. Their star was still shining brightly, though not quite as
brightly as a few years prior. Justin and JC were venturing out on more and
more solo projects, when they could find the time; Joey was having to turn down
more acting opportunities due to a simple lack of time; and Chris’ and Lance’s
managerial/production companies were growing yearly, thus demanding more of
their time. In addition, Lance, Chris, and Joey were all married and were
either starting families or planning to soon. As the one who had started the
group in the first place, Chris had been the one to finally voice what they
were all thinking – it was time to consider going their separate ways. After
considering it, they decided on it. And it had been a unanimous decision,
though by no means an easy one, or a painless one either.
Lori shook herself back
to the present, realizing Kim had been talking to her. “Hmm? Sorry, honey, what
were you saying?”
“I asked if you thought
Dad wished he were still performing.”
“I don’t know,” she answered
honestly after a moment. “I don’t think he misses the dancing, but performing
in general… I don’t know,” she said again.
“Well,” Kim hit ‘eject’
on the remote control and rose from the couch. “I’d better get back on track if
I want to have this assignment done by Monday. Especially since I’m spending
the night at Sheri’s tonight.”
“Oh you are, are you?”
“Oh. Um, did I forget to
ask that?”
“Yes, you did.” Kim
often forgot to ask on such occasions, mostly because the occasions were nearly
weekly, and they knew Sheri and her parents well so they never said “no” when
she did ask.
“Can I, then?” She
smiled the sweetest smile she could muster.
“Yeah, yeah. Just make
sure all your homework’s done first.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She bent
to the couch and kissed her mom on the cheek. “Can I take some pictures and
things out of the store room for my project?”
“Sure, just make sure
you’re careful with them and you put them all back where they came from when
you’re done.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “Of
course, Mom.” She paused and smiled. “And thanks for showing me this stuff
today. I guess it is pretty cool.”
‘High praise from a
14-year-old,’ Lori thought, then she said “Any time, honey.”
A few hours later, Lori
was in the kitchen preparing a late dinner while Kim was in her room. The front
door opened and a voice called out “Hellllooo?!”
“Hi, Love!” Lori called
back from the kitchen.
Kim came bounding down
the stairs, her overnight bag slung over one shoulder. “Hi, Dad.” She kissed
him on the cheek, then quickly slipped her shoes on and grabbed her coat from
the hall closet. “Bye, Dad.”
“Spending the night at
Sheri’s again?”
“Yup.”
“Have a good night. And
you behave for the Johnsons.” He waggled a finger at his daughter, who rolled
her eyes.
“I will.” She raised her
voice to carry through the house. “Bye, Mom!” She opened the door and looked
back at her dad, a gleam in her eye. “Bye, bye, bye…” she sang just before
shutting the door behind her, her giggles floating back through it.
Chris stopped,
mid-stream of taking off his coat, and stared after her for a second. Then he
whirled around and looked up the stairs, where he saw his wife standing and
looking down at him with clear amusement on her face. “You didn’t…” Her
amusement turned to outright laughter as she walked down the stairs to meet
him. “What did you two do today?”
She wrapped her arms
around the back of his neck while he wrapped his around her slim waist. “Ohhhh,
we looked through some old pictures, watched some old videos…. Don’t worry, she
asked to see all of it. I didn’t drag her into it.”
“And what did she think
of it all?”
“To quote her, she said
it was pretty cool.”
“Pretty cool, huh? Well,
if I remember, you used to think it was pretty cool, too.” He started to sway
her back and forth, slow dancing to whatever music was in his head.
“Mmmm…. I’d say I still
do.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah…”
He kissed her while they
still swayed to the imaginary music. After a few moments, she stopped moving
and looked him in the eyes, turning serious.
“Do you miss it?”
“What?” He wasn’t
expecting the question and wasn’t sure exactly what she was referring to.
“Do you miss it? The
dancing, the performing, the fans….”
He picked up the thread.
“…the touring, living out of a suitcase, never seeing my family…”
“Oh, I know you loved
the touring part of it.”
He smiled nostalgically.
“Yeah, some of it I did. And I do miss it sometimes. Fame can be a pretty good
drug.” He kissed her again, lightly this time. “But I wouldn’t trade what I
have now to get it all back again.”
“No?”
“God, no! Besides…” He
turned her around, slung an arm around her shoulders like a buddy, and started
walking her up the stairs. “…look at me now. I’ve got a wife *and* daughter who
both think I’m pretty cool. I’d be crazy to give that up!”
Her laughter joined his
as they continued on up the stairs into the kitchen where dinner waited.
The End
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