I sat in Mabel's Soul Food Joint and enjoyed a tumbler of hot coffee when I heard the most haunting ,yet beautiful melody playing over the radio...It caught my attention in a way that nothing I'd heard in months had caught my attention. It was a trumpet solo. I play the trumpet myself...My name is Reed Nelson.
I called out to Mabel Jenkins, the sexy proprietor as she walked by...She was used to guys calling out to her when she walked by...They usually weren't asking about music. She was my friend, 88's
girlfriend and she knew my girlfriend...so If I was calling her..It wasn't about any Monkey Business.
"What's up Reed?" she asked , smiling.
" That song that just played...who was that? What was it called?" I asked.
"Reed, you askin me? You the jazz musician? That's a Satellite radio feed....You could ask my sister Anita, but I doubt if she would know...She likes it on the R& B and Hip Hop stations...I like it on the Jazz stations in the morning like this...It's soothing." said Mabel....
"You're just full of surprises girl" I laughed.
"My man is a jazz musician...I've learned to appreciate jazz since I 've been going with him." she added.
Just then, the producer, Meek Rollins walked in with the singer, Yolanda Prentis...They sat down and ordered breakfast...The tune was just ending.....I saw Meek smiling as he heard the tune end. I walked over to Meek's table.
"Heyyy Meek, what's good?" I said.
"Heyy Reed...Everything is everything....This here is vocalist Yolanda Prentis." He said pointing to the shapely young woman who was having breakfast with him. He probably didn't know it, but Downtown Rob Brown had already told me about the late night recording session and his late night "session" with Yolanda Prentis the month before...I knew exactly who she was.
"Hey man...that trumpet solo on that song was incredible...You familiar with that cut?" I asked.
"I sure am...I produced it." laughed Meek.
"What?" I said.
"Yeah...A guy named Chet Cook....He's from here, but he lives in Puerto Rico....It's called "Carlotta"...He wrote it about some woman he's strung out on." said Meek.
"He plays well..I'd love to meet him, have him write some stuff for me..perhaps we could play some dates together." I said.
"Funny you should bring that up Reed....I have a little spot down in Puerto Rico on Blue Island..I'm going down there next week..." he said.
"Listen...I'm recording him for a cut on my next CD.....He won't leave Blue Island...You should come down, bring your lady....It'll be an excellent way to celebrate the Christmas Holidays. You can meet him...He's a hell of a nice guy....Plays the Trumpet and the Piano and can compose and arrange his butt off...Maybe he'll write some stuff for you....I might even have some stuff you can do on this album man.." he said.
"Meek...It's a date babe..."I said.
Meek got out a piece of paper and wrote down an address and a phone number and passed it to me..
"When you get there, this is where we'll be staying...There will be a place for you and your lady." he said.
"Okay man..I'm on it" I said.
I rushed over to Debbie's place to give her the news. When I got there , she was talking on the phone to somebody.
"I just want to do something different for Christmas this year....You know...Hey girl, my man is here..I get back with you later okay?" she laughed and hung up. She greeted me with a long sloppy kiss..
"What's up babes?" she laughed.
"I just heard you say that you wanted to do something different for Christmas....How would you like to go with me to Puerto Rico...Blue Island?" I said.
"You got a gig? No thank you..." she said.
"It's not like that....It's not the band..it'll be me and you.....Meek Rollins has a place down there where we can stay...We can bring in Christmas together....Go out on the beach...Good Food , Drinks...the works...It'll be a nice vacation." I said.
"Hmmmmm, yeah? This doesn't involve work of any kind?" she said skeptically.
"I do have a recording date...but you can come with me to the studio...I'm going there to meet a fella...but that's it...I'm not performing live or nothing..." I said.
"Ohhhhhh alrighttttt." she said. She was happy just to be going with me and not being left behind..She told me how horny she gets when I'm on the road...so this was good...I had heard about that Ralph Scallion fella and how he was a known predator on lonely women, whether they had a man or not...I would hate for him to try and tempt Debbie! I'd have to kill him...From what I'd heard..Several people had tried to do just that already.
II-
A week to the day later, Debbie and I arrived in Puerto Rico...We took a short boat ride to the Isla De Vieques , better known as Blue Island and there we arrived at the Villa that Meek was staying in. Meek was wearing shorts and a beautiful print Shirt...He came to greet us with a drink in his hand...
"Reed...Reed...Debbie..How are you? Come on over...Here are the keys to your villa.....There is the bar, when you get yourselves settled and there is the pool over there...Yolanda is already in the water.." he laughed.
Yolanda was wearing a two piece bathing suit that would drive most men out of their minds..I tried hard not to look or to at least not let Debbie see me looking...but she had a stunning body..Downtown Rob Brown was a lucky man , getting some of that. I wondered though just what she was doing here with Meek Rollins....He was only supposed to be just her producer...Was he something more?? I knew very little about his personal life except that he had been married and was now divorced. He was supposedly living with another woman...What had become of her?
That was not my business or my problem.
Debbie and I entered our quarters...It was beautiful!! A beautiful bedroom with the window facing the beach....A living room with a nice huge sofa...a coffee table and a 50 inch flat screen TV
with cable, internet access and a Blu ray DVD player....an IPOD dock and a refrigerator filled with Beer, Wine coolers ,cold cuts and cheese. There was also a Piano in the living room. Meek knew that in addition to playing Trumpet, I also liked to play the piano...
"Well Reed...You Like?" asked Meek peeking in.
"I know I like it." said Debbie, smiling from ear to ear.
" Meek...you hooked us up royally." I said
"Okay...well come join us at the bar." he said as he left, still babysitting his drink.
Debbie and I quickly emptied our suitcases. She put on a sundress that was so sheer,I could practically see through it....She caught me looking at her and she smiled.
"I just want to make sure you keep your eyes on me and not on Yolanda Prentis." she said with a wink.
"You wear something like that and my eyes won't be the only ones on you." I laughed.
We went out to the bar, but neither Meek, nor Yolanda was anywhere in sight!! That was odd...
We had a few drinks and walked around on the beach, but still no sign of either of them.
"Deb...wait for me back at the spot..I'm gonna stop by Meek's place and see what happened." I said.
"Okay Reed" she said as she strolled back to our villa.
Once I got close to Meek's spot I realized that I probably wouldn't be seeing either of them the rest of the day.... The bed was squeaking out of control... and through the thin door I could hear the sound of kissing and moaning....
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh girl....you just kept teasing me all day in that bathing suit , walking by me like that..ouuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Meeekk....ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.....lay that pipe, ohhhhhhhhh give it to me daddy...ouuuuuuuuuuu.."
"Ohhhhhh baby that's what I'm tryin to doooooo, ohhhhhhhhhh god this is soooo gooood, sooooo damn gooooooooooooooooooood!...
" Ohhhhh Meeeek!"
"Ohhhhhhh baby...ohhhhhhhh..."
I had heard enough...I walked back to our place...Debbie was lying across the bed leafing through
some magazines...I couldn't get that melody out of my head though...I didn't want to attempt it on the trumpet...So I sat down at the Piano and picked it out and then began playing it...Naturally I improvised a bit.
"That's beautiful Reed" said Debbie, who came out of the bedroom and sat next to me on the Piano stool as I played.
I heard a knock on my door just then. Debbie got up.
"That's probably Meek" she said.
I sincerely doubted that, but I didn't say anything! She opened the door and to my surprise was
a medium built brown skinned Black man holding a trumpet.
"Hello...I just happened to be walking by and I heard you playing my song...Carlotta's song....Oh excuse me...my manners...I'm Chet Cook." he said.
(To Be Continued...)
