Chapter 12

Chapter 12

     Together, they walked back to the hotel room. They chatted discussing how fast they were going to zip around.
     "Why don't we start tonight, no time like the present," said the old man. "We can make our way downtown, and get some amazing views of the statue of liberty."
     "Ghats not a bad idea, and we can head down through times square tonight, it really only photographs well at night, at least in my opinion." Mike shrugged as he continued. "And we can check out the lights on broadway, which will at least make for some amazing backgrounds."
     "It's fine by me," started Sukie, "But, not too late tonight, we have a day ahead of us tomorrow that's looking to be really long."
     "Agreed,"said the old man. "I don't want us to burn out on out first night here. Plus, whatever we don't get to, we can get to when we come back in the winter."
     Mike nodded in agreement. "we'll be able to get some better camera shots too with a second camera operator as well. EspeciLly in some of those tight spaces."
     After a few more minutes of enjoying the cool spring air, they made it to the hotel. Upon entering the room, they saw that the phone was blinking, indicating a message. Sukie walked to the phone and picked it up, dialing the operator as the two men picked ip their ukulele cases and brought them into the sitting room. They had planned to jam a little in the evening before bed the next day.
   Sukie set. Down the receiver, then walked to the two chatting men in the far end of the room. The look on her face was more perplexed than anything else. "The message was from Ronin." she started, "Our new camera man will be meeting us here at six tomorrow morning. He's also to have been given instruction to be a real silent partner, not allowed to be in any of the shots intentionally, and Mike, you are our in front and behind the camera voice." after this statement, the three shared glances.
     "ronin probably wasn't one hundred percent sure of the roll I sent him earlier." said Mike, shrugging. "Ronin, he's a big perfectionist, so everything he gets always has to be up to his standard, which really is a good thing, bit he's never willing to sacrifice anything to get exactly what he wants."
     Sukie nodded, "He'll tweak things till they're just right, and I think this actually will work. A second camera man, in this case will be much more fluid than A tripod, and will help promote the reality if the moment."
     "But wait," started the old man looking as perplexed as ever. "How on earth did ronin get the footage from before already?"
     Mike laughed for a moment. "I dck the cameras memory every night into the computer. Ronin reviews it every day and cuts out the most interesting bits and pieces. It's those pieces that get put into the final product, or at least it's those pieces that are featured the most in the program."
     "so you mean they're mKing the show as we do this?" he asked, sounding very amazed.
     "Yep," Sukie replied. "He will end up having one show for each major city we are in, and it will most likely be broken up into segments, which is why I think Ronin really got into the whole idea of speeding this project up."
     "I'm sure our sense of speed will really show through in the finished program." said the old man. "At least I hope that it keeps as exciting for the viewer as it is to us." he mused.
    "Well, I guess this puts a damper k our late night foray into the city tonight." said Mike. "Wanna go and jam tonight for a little bit before bed?" he asked while pointing at the ukulele cases in the sitting area.
     "No better time than the present," said the old man as he walked to his ukulele case. Mike and Sukie followed him, and the trio sat on the couches and chairs around the coffee table. They tuned their instruments and strummed a few chords. While mike and the old man rummaged through their bags for their songbooks, Sukie called Dow stairs to have some coffee went to the room.
     Together they played and sang some simple songs together. The trio heard a knock on the door midway through the next song. Mike walked to the door, still strumming, and  opened the door during a long rest in the music. He wheeled in the cart, then reached in his pocket  for a few bills to tip the young man at the door.
     He finally actually looked at the young man who happened to have a huge smile in his face for the first time.
     "Pete!" he exclaimed, nearly dropping his ukulele on the floor as he excitedly stepped closer to the young man. Sukie and the old man stopped playing and stood, looking at Mike who finally released the young man.
     "Man! I knew you lived here, but i never thought I'd run I to you like this!" exclaimed Mike as he nearly pulled Pete into the room.
    "Same here!" said Pete, who looked around the suite, and whistled. "Nice digs, so, I have to ask, what's going on, that you get the nicest suite in the building?"
     Mike quickly and very animatedly explained the while story. The old man shook his head disbelievingly at mike who to him resembled an overactive puppy during his recounting of the story. Mike did a short round of introductions then, Pete laughed and applauded at the end of mikes performance.
     "Wow! Good luck to you all!" said Pete as he made his way to the door. "I got to run before they start looking for me being on the job and all. Mike, I hope to see you on the jams soon!"
     "You mean, at the jam?" asked the old man. Mike and Pete laughed.
     "No, he means at." started mike, "My international uke group meets online at night, and we chat and play music to each other. It's how I know Pete."
     "Yep! You guys should join in if you have the time, the whole crew would get a kick out of meeting you guys." Mike and Pete chatted for a few more seconds at the door. Sukie and the old man returned to their coffee and ukuleles. Mike closed the door and made his way back to them at the couch. They each had a cup of coffee, and played a few more songs.
     Sukie yawned the. Looked at the clock. "Alright then, men, it's about midnight, and I think it's my bedtime."
     "midnight?" asked the old man, sounding shocked. "I don't think I have stayed up this late in nearly forever. Wow, I think I probably should cAll it a night too."
     "Well, I guess I should go to bed too, before I turn into a pumpkin," said mike. The three carefully packed away their ukuleles and songbooks, then plodded off to bed.