~ * ~

'The stars are brightly shining . . .'

Excerpt from Rhiannon Mary Lougher's diary

'Hate is not bad, just as love is not good. But hate can kill, you say. So can love. Love can protect us, you say. So can hate. There is no good and bad in Life. These two words are what we use to justify the acceptable and unacceptable deeds in our lives. To kill is bad, to steal is bad, to cheat is bad, to lie is bad. These are the acceptable unacceptables; the good unacceptables; those unacceptables that are palatable to society's scrutinising tongue.
But there is also unacceptable unacceptables; the bad unacceptables; those acts that society abhors, yet at the same time berates itself for doing so. In our society, to be poor is unacceptable, to hold a view other than that of society's is unacceptable, to be concerned about anything other than one's self and one's money is unacceptable. Unbeknownst to ourselves, in our 'free', 'democratic' society, we are prisoners. Civilisation today is 'assimilate or be crushed'; 'don't stand out unless you're strong enough to resist'. In our society, to be different is unacceptable . . .'

~ * ~
May, 1998
New York City, New York
Second week

They were sitting in a big room backstage. Zac had already claimed the TV. The hilarious exploits of Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny had him in stitches. God forbid their mother ever find out he watched 'South Park'! Serenaded by 'Shut up Cartman!' and 'Ohmigod they killed Kenny! You bastards!', Isaac was attempting to get a call put through to Tulsa.
"Bastards!" he spat again as the operator put him on hold for the sixteenth time. Damned mechanic voices. Blah blah blah, crap crap crap, press one if you want this, press two if you want that, blah blah blah, crap crap crap, please hold the line, this message is a recording. "You don't say?" he seethed sarcastically at the elevator music now being piped down the line. Why was it that the second he actually felt like calling Tessa, he forgot all the stupid state and area codes? Was his memory trying to tell him something? Why the hell did he put up with her? Queen of Planet Bimbo indeed!
'Hurry up!'
The elevator music was getting on his nerves.
The sounds of South Park and Ike's frustrated swearing at the now-computerised telephone operator pounded in Tay's aching head as he lay on the uncomfortable couch. They'd just finished taping an interview for Rosie O'Donnell; the songs had sounded okay, but the interview. God! The same questions day after day, especially this early in the morning, tended to give him a headache. Why did the press all have to ask the same questions over and over? Couldn't they find something different to ask? He was sick of telling them 'Yes, the lyrics of "MMMBop" are deeper than most people think' - or used to think; he'd answered that one so many times everyone must have found every single nuance of deepness in it! -'We're not sex symbols, and we hope we never will be' - he hated that one -'No, we don't have girlfriends, we'd tell you if we did' - did it never get through to them that keeping the fans happy was more important right now? God forbid those screaming, crying girls should ever get angry with one of them; they'd be dead. Literally! His head gave a rather painful throb. He groaned softly. Didn't they keep any damn aspirins in this place? Didn't they keep any damn pain-killers at all? Although, the size of this headache probably needed something a lot stronger than an ordinary buy-over-the-counter pain-killer! Did they have any morphine handy? Opium? Heroin? Anything to take the pain away! A rather loud cackle from Zac sent his head into absolute riot! He cringed, forcing himself not to gasp.
"Shut the hell up Zac!" he managed to get out. Going instantly silent, Zac shot him an evil that he didn't see.
"It's a free country! I can laugh if I want to!"
"Not while I've got a migraine the size of the Grand Canyon you can't!"
"Would the both of you shut up?" Ike hissed and turned back to the phone. It had been a long day; and it was only 11am! Taylor groaned, his head hurt too much for him to even move.
"Would one of you please go and ask someone for an aspirin?" immediately Ike looked at Zac.
"What?"
"Zac go and get him something; then maybe he'll shut up," Ike murmured and resumed hissing curses at the elevator music. Groaning again, Taylor closed his eyes. It'd be another hour before his Mom came to pick him up for his appointment with the Devil. He didn't know which was worse.

A sense of déjà vu overwhelmed Taylor. The same dread filled him, along with a new hate. The throbbing pain of his headache had been stilled, for a few hours at least, by a double dose of codeine pain-killers. The heroin idea hadn't had that much appeal. He already hated this place so much it had stopped being 'Doctor Jones' office' and had become 'Hell's cesspit'! Silent with fury, Tay stalked into the Devil's Lair and threw himself onto the couch. Doctor Jones came through.
"Hello Taylor," she said cheerily.
"Hello yourself," he grumbled sarcastically.
"In such a fine mood this morning,"
"Ha ha!"
"Okay, down to business shall we?"
"No," she ignored him
"I had a small talk with your mother last week -"
"Small?! I sat waiting in the car for almost an hour!"
"- and she told me about your friend,"
'Friend? Does she mean Rhiannon?! Oh shit! But how would Mom . . . oh SHIT! Ike, you are DEAD!!'
"What friend?" he asked nonchalantly, his face showing nothing of what he was thinking.
"Rhiannon," he'd known it was coming, still he couldn't help but wince.
"How old were you when she died?"
Nothing, he answered.
"How old was she?"
Nothing.
"How did you feel when you found her?" In Taylor's mind, Doctor Jones' voice could barely be heard. She didn't exist. All that existed for him was that doorbell ringing. Maybe a happy memory would push everything away. That doorbell ringing, the prelude to the happiest day of his life.

~ * ~
December 24th, 1995
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Christmas Eve

The doorbell rang. Even from outside, in the middle of the biggest snow fight the civilised world had ever seen, Taylor heard it. He'd been anticipating it all day. He ducked a well-aimed snowball thrown by his Dad and ran inside.
"Tay!! Don't leave me here on my own!" Zac shouted as he watched the back door close. It had been Zac and Taylor versus Isaac and their Dad. Unfair odds, but triple the fun when Tay and Zac won.
"Hey Dad! We've got a deserter! There's only one left," Isaac called with a laugh, seeing Zac all by himself.
"Let's get him!" Walker answered in a mock-growl. They advanced on the helpless Zac.
"Uh guys, how about we call time-out?" he tried to bargain with a nervous laugh, stepping backwards, "After all, where's the fun in picking on me? I'm not as dumb as Taylor, I don't fight back because I know violence doesn't solve anything," he tried quoting the opening line of one of Walker's favourite lectures. That didn't work either, "MOMMMM!!" he screamed and ran inside. Ike and Walker ran after him.
"MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!! HELP ME!! THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!" racing into the kitchen, Zac grabbed his mother round the waist and used her as a shield as poor innocent Zac's two big bullying pursuers rushed into the room. "HELP ME MOM!!" Zac shrieked as Isaac tried to dive behind Diana where his little brother was hiding. Trying not to laugh, Diana sent a mock-angry stare at her husband.
"Why do you have to get them started?" the only reply was a helpless glance.
"MOM!!" Zac twisted away, bringing Diana around with him.
"All right you two! That's enough! Isaac leave your brother alone,"
"Yeah, leave me alone!"
"But Mom -"
"No buts. Go on," he backed off and with a highly exaggerated sigh, slumped his shoulders and collapsed into a chair. "Zac hon, would you please let go of me?"
"But Dad'll get me Mom!"
"Oh, well, we'll have to do something about that," with the biggest grin on her face, Diana turned back to her husband; Zac peeked out from behind her.
"Dad, do you promise you will not 'get', as such, your son?" with a solemn face, Walker put a hand on his heart.
"I promise," he said and looked straight at Zac, who quickly ducked back behind his Mom again.
"See Zac, Dad won't get you, can you please come out?" she smiled even more, "I feel like I'm coaxing a cat out of a drainpipe!"
"Mom!" Zac protested indignantly.
"Well, I do. Now come on, no more games. I've got to finish this roast for tomorrow," gently she pulled Zac around from behind her and turned back to the pork.
"Good Dad, good Dad," Zac murmured as he side-stepped along the bench towards the door, then bolted. Then came another shout.
"MOM! The Lougher's are here!" Taylor yelled back into the house before opening the door - his parents had taught him to always look through the side window to see who it was first - then unlocked and threw open the front door.
"Merry Christmas Taylor!" Rachael shouted as she bounded into the house, "Where's Jessie?"
"Iseult, mind your manners," Lew reminded his eager youngest daughter.
"Sorry Dad," she turned back to Taylor, "Excuse me Taylor? Do you know where your sister Jessica is?" Rachael asked politely. Rhiannon had to stop herself from laughing. Ice sounded so cute!
"Um . . . I think she's upstairs,"
"Thank-you!" Rachael called over her shoulder as she raced up the stairs towards the girls' bedroom.
"Hello Taylor. Merry Christmas," Arian smiled at the boy, "Where abouts should we put these?" and she held up four plastic bags filled with presents. Covering her mouth to stop from laughing, Rhiannon couldn't help a giggle as Tay's eyes widened staring at the immaculately wrapped presents in the bags. Carlton heard her and smiled down at her; his dark hair - cut just above his shoulder - was tucked back behind his ears and his vivid blue eyes shone. He was tall; she came up to about his shoulder. Playfully, he snaked an arm around her shoulders and trapped her against him.
"Hey! Let me go Carlton!" her protest was token only; already she'd wrapped her arms around his waist. She loved her big brother. Quickly, he let her go.
"Go on, off you go," one last hug and he was off making a bee-line for the kitchen.
"What is it about a kitchen that's so appealing to them?" she asked herself, but Taylor answered her anyway.
"The universal love affair of the world. Food," Rhiannon just giggled again and raced after her brother, with Tay hot on her heels.

The dinner table was loaded with food, the fire burned warmly, the decorations on the tree sparkled. Grace was said and the feeding frenzy began.
"You sure know how to cook chicken Mom!" Zac complimented, ripping the delicious skin off with his already greasy fingers and stuffing it into his mouth.
"Use your knife and fork hon," Diana gently reminded him. Rhiannon looked around the table as she spooned the mashed potato and gravy to her lips. Taylor, sitting beside her, was busy shovelling everything on his plate down his throat. Same with Isaac and her brother. Somehow sensing her gaze, Carlton glanced up at her and smiled. She smiled back. It wasn't often her brother noticed her, but tonight seemed to be one of her lucky nights. Rachael and Jessie were deep in conversation, gossiping about Barbies no doubt! Avie was pretending to feed her grey, stuffed elephant, secretly sneaking the raw snow-peas for herself, while young Mackie was delightedly watching the aero-spoon fly straight into his mouth. He half-shrieked, half-laughed after he'd swallowed and Diana gave him a huge smile.
"That's my boy!" she murmured, wiping the remnants of the last few air-crashes off his face. Covering a giggle by chewing on some chicken, Rhiannon rolled her eyes as she listened in to the adults' conversation. Did they ever talk about anything interesting? Damn politics again; how boring!
"Mom?" Taylor asked and pushed his empty plate away slightly, "What's for desert?"
"Chocolate covered brussel-sprouts," he made a particularly unattractive face.
"Don't be gross! What are we really having?"
"Okay, okay, we're having broccoli and ice-cream,"
"Mom!" smiling rather indulgently, Diana chuckled.
"Blackberry or apple pie, which one do you want?"
"Apple," he answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Apple what?"
"Please?" could she resist or could she not? That was the question. Taylor turned the baby blue eyes on his mother at 10,000 watts. She sighed.
"Has anyone else finished?" both Ike and Carlton's heads shot up, "Well, I already assumed you two. Anyone else besides these three walking garbage compacters?" the three walking garbage compacters smiled with pride. Carlton turned to his sister, winked, and glanced at her empty plate.
"Mrs. Hanson, Rhee's finished too," a little stunned that she hadn't noticed. Rhiannon laughed. Which stared off Zac, which started off Mackie, which started off the whole table.

The lights on the tree blinked on and off slowly in the darkness; all the pinks and blues and greens and yellows. They glinted off the metallic wrapping of the presents. The open fire roared, warming everyone huddled around it. Wrapped in blankets against the cold, but more because it was fun, they all sat, telling stories, roasting marshmallows and drinking coffee or hot chocolate. Smiling, Rhiannon rested her head on her brother's shoulder and pulled the blanket they shared tighter around them. It didn't get much better than this! Everyone listened as Ike told Avery a story about the North Pole and the adventures of one awkward little elf, Patch, who got himself in all kinds of trouble just trying to help everyone else. But, no matter how much trouble he caused, the other elves always forgave him because he was Patch, and he was only trying to help. Ike was making it up as he went along, but Avie didn't notice - or didn't care - because she hung onto every word.
"So he crawled into his bed, like all good little elves do, and soon fell asleep, where he dreamt of growing up to be just like all the other elves. But he knew that, come morning, he would get himself into more trouble, but he knew he would be forgiven, because he was Patch, and he was only trying to help," he looked down at his sleeping little sister, "Continued next Christmas," everyone chuckled softly so as not to wake Avie.
"Here," gently throwing off the blanket she shared with her husband, Diana gathered up her youngest daughter.
"Momma?" the little girl murmured, still asleep, not even aware she was speaking.
"Come on Avie honey, bed time,"
"Night Momma," and she ceased muttering as Diana carried her up the stairs.
"Dad?" Taylor asked quietly.
"Yes?"
"Mackie's asleep too," he gestured to the infant nestled on his lap, "Should I take him to bed?"
"If you want," Walker answered, barely keeping the smile from his face. Did the boy know what he was volunteering himself for? Obviously not. Standing up, the blanket fell from Tay's shoulders. He sent an inquiring look at Rhiannon. She stood up too.
"I'll help,"

A half-hour later, the two weary children stumbled down the stairs back into the lounge-room. Who'd have thought putting a one-year-old to bed could take that long?! Mackie'd woken up the second Tay had put him in his cot, and then refused to go back to sleep. The poor kid was afraid of the dark, but Rhiannon and Taylor weren't to know that, were they? Glaring at his Dad - who had a smirk the length of a mile on his face - Tay collapsed to the floor.
"Never again," he mumbled, although no-one was listening. Sinking down beside her brother, Rhiannon lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Chuckling, Carlton took one last sip of the scalding coffee and wrapped the blue and white blanket around his sister. She was more precious to him than anything else in the world. If anything happened to her . . .
He thought she'd fallen asleep in the silence, with everyone staring at the fire, thinking their own thoughts, that he was surprised when she spoke.
"Carlton? You don't have any marshmallows left?" he laughed softly. Of course, she had to wake herself up for the marshmallows didn't she?
"I saved some just for you," and handed her the almost empty bag, with a lining of white marshmallows along the bottom.
"Thank-you," she answered, her mouth already filled. Carlton smiled down at her, then turned to look around. Of course, his parents were huddled together under a white blanket. It wasn't often they got time just to sit and be together without having to worry about work or kids or anything. And in front of a fire too! They'd hinted to him more than once that both he and his sisters had been conceived by a fire! Mr. and Mrs. Hanson sat opposite Arian and Lew under an orchid-purple blanket, murmuring to one another. He couldn't hear what they were saying, and a little something told him he didn't want to. Ike was preoccupied, writing that novel of his. He swore it'd make him famous one day, Carlton's reply was always the same, 'If you can get the damn thing finished!'. The light was pretty bad, he'd ruin his eyes.
'Oh God, I'm even starting to think like my parents!'
Instead of scaring him - like it usually did - it just brought a smile to his face. Absently he tucked the loose strands of dark hair back behind his ears; it was Christmas Eve, he could worry about turning into a carbon copy of his father ('God no!') when he got back to school. It suddenly struck him that it was too quiet. He looked over at Jessie and Rachael and immediately understood why. They were both lying on the floor under their 'blanket' - which was, in reality, the quilt off Jessie's bed - sound asleep. They never stopped talking those two! Why did girls talk so much? He glanced down at the girl curled up beside him. This one didn't. Rachael's monologues could last for hours; you were lucky if Rhiannon spoke for more than a few minutes at a time. She was so different from all the other girls he knew, including his own girlfriend ('Christ, Tessa could talk the wooden leg off an elephant!'), her words were always thoughtful, always had a slight hint of introspection and depth, they always made him think. Surely there had to be more girls out there who had as many brain-cells as his sister? A small movement attracted his eye. Taylor was curled up on his side, watching the bright flames dance with each other. It was almost spooky to watch the swirling red change his eyes from baby blue to deep purple. Despite the warmth of the fire, a slight chill crawled up his spine. From what, he didn't know.

The silence was shattered when Lew looked at his watch and turned to his wife.
"Arian we really better be getting home,"
"You're right," a collective sigh rippled through those who'd managed to avoid the gentle clutches of Morpheus. Taylor jerked himself awake. He hadn't really been sleeping, he'd just been half-dozing, lulled into a half-conscious restfulness. Yeah, that was it. He hadn't been asleep at all.
Gently shaking his sister awake, Carlton couldn't hold back a yawn either.
"C'mon guys," Arian whispered to them, "We're going home now," then she glanced over at the peacefully sleeping Rachael, curled up next to her best friend, "I hate to wake her,"
"If you don't want to wake her up, it's all right with us if she stays here," Diana suggested. The smile on Arian's face was grateful, but courtesy demanded a token protest.
"Oh, it's all right, I wouldn't want to put you to all the trouble -"
"Don't be silly, it's no trouble at all!"
"Well, if you're sure -"
"Of course I'm sure!"
"Thank-you Diana, you don't know how grateful I am," they continued their whispered conversation carrying Jessie and Rachael up to bed.
"All right, looks like it's just the four of us then," Lew smiled at his two eldest children, "Okay guys, out to the car,"
"Dad?" Taylor piped up, trying to hide the tiredness in his voice. "Can Rhee stay over as well?"
"It's all right with me, but you'll have to ask Mr. Lougher first," nodding, Tay put the most polite expression he could find on his face and added a slight dash of pleading to his voice.
"Mr. Lougher? Would it be all right with you if Rhiannon stayed over at our house tonight?" frowning, Lew pretended to think it over.
"Well, I don't know -"
"Please?" to hell with politeness and courtesy; the boy turned to the one thing that had never failed him. He stuck out his lower lip slightly and sent the power bills sky high with amount of electricity he sent to his baby blue eyes. It had never failed him before; once again, it was proven. Lew caved.
"If you're sure it's all right Walker,"
"It's fine," nodding in agreement, Lew turned to his son, cutting him off before he could speak.
"And I suppose you want to stay too?"
"I . . . um . . . I don't care. Whatever," sighing, Lew glanced at Walker. Carlton had been pulling this one a lot lately; the old 'I-don't-care-whatever-you-decides-fine-with-me-I'm- testing-your-intelligence-to-see-if-you're-not-so-stupid-as-to-not-know-damn-well-what- I-want-and-I'll-sulk-the-whole-time-if-I-don't-get-my-way' trick. God, teenagers were confusing! Walker nodded an okay.
"All right, you can all stay if you want," all together, Lew didn't feel too upset by that. It wasn't often he and Arian got the whole house to themselves. He'd also made sure there was wood in the fireplace . . .

Punching his pillow again, Taylor tossed and turned endlessly. Both Rhee and Carlton had ended up staying over; Tay'd planned to kick Zac out of his bed and onto the couch so Rhee could sleep there. But the way it had ended up, Tay had been the one kicked out of his bed. Zac, the little pest, was already asleep on his bed, so Carlton had gotten Tay's bed, Rachael had already claimed the spare bed hours earlier, so he and Rhiannon had been granted the lounge-room. Being the gentleman that he was, there was no way Tay was going to let his best friend - and a girl - sleep on the floor. So he had only himself to blame for being stuck on the hardest, most uncomfortable floor in the world on Christmas Eve! At least his parents had been generous enough to leave the fire going; it had totally burned out about ten minutes ago. Turning on his other side again, Tay knew he wouldn't get any sleep tonight!
"Taylor?" a small, yawning voice came from above him.
"Yeah?"
"Would you please go to sleep?"
"I can't,"
"Why not?"
"This stupid floor's too hard!"
"Well, you're keeping me awake with all your tossing and turning," she sighed and he heard her shift on the couch, "Here, sleep on the couch with me," eagerly he gathered up his pillow and blanket, then her words registered. He stared up at her in something akin to horror.
"What -?" and her eyes widened as the realisation dawned on her, "Oh! Not that! No! No, not . . . that!" Tay relaxed a little bit, but not much, "Tops & Tails?" she asked nervously, a little scared now.
"What? Oh! Yeah," he moved hesitantly and propped his pillow at the other end of the couch and stretched out, quickly pulling the blanket over to keep out the cold. Rhiannon felt his feet shoved up against her arm. They were freezing!
"You're cold?"
"You don't say!"
"Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"The fire only burnt out ten minutes ago,"
"That makes no difference you should have said something!"
"Does it matter now?"
"I guess not. Still, you should have said something," the same thought crossed through their minds at the same time.
'We're arguing like an old married couple!' They were silent for a long time, each thinking the other was asleep.
"Rhee?"
"Tay?" they asked at the same time, and both laughed.
"You first," she said
"Is this really strange to you too?"
"Uh-huh,"
"What were you gonna say?"
"I was gonna ask for a hug," it took him a second to figure out she was joking. He laughed, "I'm serious," he was stunned into silence, "Well?" even in the darkness, he knew the look she was giving him, as if she'd only asked him what the time was.
"I . . . um . . . I mean . . . I guess . . . um . . ." he sat up, thinking
'If I can endure sloppy kisses from Aunt Vicky then I can endure anything!'
Still, his heart was stepping up a beat in tempo. Feeling really awkward, he opened his arms a bit. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Rhiannon slipped her arms around him and gently hugged him. The nervousness in him subsided and he hugged her back.
"Goodnight Tay," she murmured and then slipped away and lay back down. When Taylor eventually fell asleep, it was with the biggest smile in the world.

~ * ~
May, 1998
New York City, New York
Second week

"That was the closest I've ever come to sleeping with a girl," there was a ghost of a smile on his face.
"And what happened after that?" Tay opened his mouth to speak, and suddenly stopped.
'What the hell-?!'
Had he just -? Oh hell!!
"Um . . . I . . . we . . . shit . . . uh . . . it . . ." he desperately glanced at his watch, "Well, what do you know, it's time to go!" and he jumped from the leather couch and raced out of the office, out the front door and into the car. Diana just stared as the mahogany door slammed. It had looked like Tay had run as if he was being chased by a ghost. In a way, she was right. The ghosts of the past had been chasing him the whole way. And not just from Doctor Jones' office.
"What's going on?" she asked as the doctor came out into the waiting room.
"He gave himself quite a bit of a fright there," there was no humour in her voice, only concern.
"Why?"
"Because he's opening up,"

Sitting in a small side-room at New York's Planet Hollywood, Tay saw them shove a heavy chair over the door. This was going to go straight to Australia uncut, because 5 minutes was all the time they could spare, so if they screwed up, it'd be shown to millions of viewers in Australia who had tuned in just to see them. He supposed it didn't matter that much, they made so many mistakes in their live performances anyway that it had almost become the expected thing.
"How are you guys?" Ian 'Molly' Meldrum sat down in the little armchair. This guy was cool. He had a sense of humour, where so many other journalists just asked the questions and interrupted whenever they felt like it. Another pointer, this guy wasn't a journalist, he was a music reporter who actually knew what the hell he was talking about. Molly didn't care about girlfriends or religions, he asked questions about what was really important, the music. And the Akubra hat just made the whole thing!
"We're fine. How've you been?" Ike replied.
"Busy. Not as busy as you I'd imagine but anyway," Molly looked pointedly at Taylor for a second, "You all right Taylor?"
"What? Oh, yeah," he gave a weak smile, Molly still didn't look convinced.
"Anyway guys, I guess we better get started . . ."

May 17th, 1998
Melbourne, Australia
'Hey Hey, It's Saturday' Set

Daryl Sommers looked at the camera. He'd been the host of 'Hey Hey It's Saturday' for so many years he couldn't remember how bloody many there were! The camera guy cued him in and . . .
"Jeez Molly had a big week didn't he? He was in London, with Saturday Night Fever. And before that he was in New York with -"
"Hanson," came the distance voice in the crowd. He stared over, half-annoyed and half-relieved. It wasn't often that a member of the audience missed their cue that the floor manager had so meticulously gone over during the commercial break.
"Hey! That was my line!" he mumbled with a half-grin, "Who did he meet with?" and he raised his arms, signalling for the audience to respond.
"Hanson," came the largely unenthusiastic reply, serenaded by a few screams.
"And here he is, Molly with Hanson,"

May, 1998
New York City, New York
Second week

Molly:	Okay thanks Daryl, here I am, in New York, and here are the lads themselves and they've done themselves proud last night, Bottom Line, they were fantastic. I'll let them take over. Especially this one here (points to Taylor)
Taylor:	Hey everybody watching 'Hey Hey'
Isaac:	Hello
Taylor:	This is our segment, so we're just gonna sit here -
Zac:	And not do anything for -
Taylor:	About five minutes
Isaac:	Hi - we're - here - in - our - what - where's the cue cards? (laughs) - No, um, we'd like to say hey to everybody, Daryl, Dickie Nee, Plucka Duck, and yeah, like Molly said, we're in New York, at Planet Hollywood.
Zac:	And we decided, we're gonna do a song for you
Taylor:	A little piece. The single out right now is 'Weird', so we're gonna do a little piece of that. 'Sitting on the -' 1, 2, 3, 4

'Sitting on the side, waiting for a sign, hoping that my luck'll change
Whoa! Oh!
Reaching for a hand that'll understand
Someone who feels the same
When you live in cookie-cutter world, if you're different you can't win
So you don't stand out
But you don't fit in
Weird'

Molly:	Now the big question is, because the rumour was you were gonna come down to Australia, touring. Now that's had to be put back slightly
Taylor:	We were actually gonna start the tour in Australia but now, it's become 'how do we get the next album out?'. So we're really just gonna do a few shows in the States and just kinda get out, 'cause we just wanna play. And then we gotta get back in the studio, so we can have a new album
Isaac:	But who knows? We may decide to come to Australia
Taylor:	We really have been wanting to and we're very excited about that. So, do not despair
Zac:	We will come eventually!
Molly:	(gestures to Zac) He's out of control. The other thing, congratulations, because now the album's over 400,000 at home, which is astonishing really.
Taylor:	Yeah, it's very good
Molly:	And Taylor, you were saying, per capita?
Taylor:	Yeah, per capita Australia is the biggest selling place, so GO AUSTRALIA! And yeah, Australia's been so awesome.
Isaac:	We love you guys, we'll just say that now.
Zac:	We luv you like this (Kisses the camera lens)
Tay/Ike:	OH GOD!!
Taylor:	I'm sorry for all the males watching this (all laugh)
Molly:	You've brought out another album, and it's all old stuff. It's fantastic, very brave
Isaac:	The reason, really, we decided to release it was because of our fans sending us so many letters, so many e-mails -
Taylor:	From Australia, from -
Isaac:	Yeah from everywhere, saying that they wanted to hear our independent recordings, because we'd talked about the fact that we had independent records, and so that's really what this is for, it's for our fans who really asked us about it and so, it's for you guys.
Molly:	When you talk about fans, I mean your websites, I mean, it takes up -
Taylor:	Yeah, it's -
Isaac:	We, we, it's incredible, we have like, we have -
Taylor:	Thanks to you guys, it's like almost, 2 million everyday. We're just trying to keep that up, we're just trying to keep the website where it's worth coming back to -
Isaac:	2 million hits a day -
Taylor:	Yeah -
Isaac:	On Hansonline
Taylor:	On Hansonline, is what our official site is called, but yeah, we're just trying to keep it where the site is worth coming to
Molly:	Well, we've gotta go, but just say one thing to the fans out there, who've been praying and hoping you'd come down to Australia. Say it, look at them -
Taylor:	(in a dumb voice) Hello! We love you!
Molly:	You luv the camera, and be serious
Isaac:	We're serious
Zac:	(softly) Guys -
Taylor:	We're just trying to compose ourselves (all look down, then look up with serious faces) Hi
Isaac:	We're Hanson
Tay/Zac:	Hi
Isaac:	And we wanna say -
Taylor:	Hey, hey!
Isaac:	Save . . . save . . . -
Taylor:	Oh God stop!
Isaac:	The camera! (Zac laughs)
Taylor:	Thank you guys, see ya!
Zac:	Bye!
Isaac:	We love you guys, see ya later!

It was around 8:00pm when the Hanson family returned to their hotel. Ike and Zac were talking animatedly about their ideas for the latest song they'd been working on to try and get it finished! Tay simply walked behind them, brooding silently.
"I've got the lyrics stashed away somewhere, we might as well go to my room and get this thing done!" Zac finished with a flourish.
"Yeah, I suppose. What'd you reckon Tay?" Ike turned around. His brother was not there, "Where'd he go?" he asked himself.
"Probably his room," even though he knew Ike was talking to himself, Zac answered anyway.
"Yeah," distracted, Ike walked back towards his brother's door. Tay had barely spoken two words to him in the two weeks they'd been here. He couldn't possibly still be pissed about being made to go see a counsellor! Taylor's grudges barely lasted two minutes, let alone two weeks! What was going on with him? Sending one last glance at Zac, Ike knocked on the door. They waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.
"Tay?" still no answer. Cautiously, Ike pushed open the door. Taylor lay on his bed, facing away from them, reading some kind of book, with what looked like a . . . forest was it? . . . on the front?
"Tay?" he began hesitantly
Nothing
"We're gonna finish off that song in Zac's room,"
Nothing.
Shaking his head with a sigh, Ike closed the door softly.

* * * *

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