Prologue
The man had shown up on their door step uninvited, but was received more hospitably then a family member. Feeling an immediate sense of panic, Kendra Carlos grabbed hold of her boyfriend's hand, which she had never desired to do before. Uncomfortably, he detached himself from her and offered the man his seat on the couch.
"This is Christopher Sabec." Diana Hanson announced to the Carlos family who had come over for supper. "He's the man we met in Texas last month. He's going to manage the boys' band now." She said smiling through a slight amount of jealousy. She had been content with watching over her eldest three sons and their little band for the past two/three years. But now, with the new baby, everything just seemed too overwhelming, and the band had been doing consistent shows for a while now.
Christopher smiled as he took a seat next to the scowling girl. He felt sorry for her. Though he had not known the family for very long, her boyfriend, Isaac, being a natural talker, had already told him all about her. "She doesn't seem to like me very much." Isaac had explained before. "But she'll do for now." He had joked, though Christopher could hear an amount of pain in the boy's voice.
The truth was, this band was going to be big. Christopher could feel it. He had felt the same feeling when he signed the Dave Mathews Band, and they became a hit almost over night. He knew this band, Hanson, could do the same. But girlfriends had no place in rock bands, they were only trouble. And since Kendra did not look as if she were going to become the next Yoko Owno, Christopher gave her less then a month before Isaac dumped her.
"You haven't met the entire family yet have you?" Isaac Hanson said excitedly rounding everyone up. The family was massive, according to Christopher, though he had been warned that families down in Tulsa produced babies like rabbits.
"This is the baby." Isaac declared with pride. Holding up a blond mopped, squirming child. "His name is Mackie. He's four months old." Christopher took a quick glance at Diana Hanson, she did not look like a mother of six with a baby that young.
"And this is Avery." Isaac continued, putting his hand briefly on the head of a little girl who looked about three or four.
"And this is . . ."
"Jessica." Another blond little girl announced, frowning at her brother for trying to speak for her. She shook Christopher's hand firmly. "I'm five and a half."
"I wouldn't have put you a day under 10." Christopher replied smiling. She seemed quite pleased with that comment.
"And that's Zac." Isaac pointed to a little boy perched on top of the couch arm who looked much like Avery only slightly more male.
"He knows who I am!" The towheaded eight- year old protested. He and his newly turned eleven-year old brother Taylor and Isaac, made up the band, Hanson. Christopher was still amazed at how the three boys got along since they were completely different in every way, aside from the blond hair, which on Isaac, was darkening.
Christopher smiled at all of the children, having already forgotten all of their names. And turned to the girl still scowling beside him.
"And you must be Kendra Carlos."
The girl seemed surprised that this man knew her name and looked at her boyfriend. Isaac shrugged,
"You should meet the Carlos' while you're here too. We do everything with them." Isaac explained. And began to introduce the Carlos parents, who surprisingly did not look as Spanish as their name.
"And this is Leena, Zac's girlfriend." Isaac joked.
"Am not!" The little girl jumped up and began beating Isaac who enjoyed every minute of it. Zac rolled his big brown eyes but seemed to be tuning everything out.
"And this is Kale and Micayla." He pointed to the children sitting on either side of Taylor. Kale was wearing shorts which showed off his above knee-sock tan. Christopher suspected he must be a soccer player. So that the tan started above wear his knee-high soccer socks ended. Micayla was very pretty but could be used as a Taylor twin if they ever needed one. "Kale's a Carlos but Mickey just lives down the street."
Kale shook Christopher's hand firmly while Micayla smiled politely but moved closer to Taylor for comfort. She was obviously quite shy.
"That's all of us." Isaac smiled proudly. Then he thought for a moment and looked down at his girlfriend. "Oh and yeah, this is Kendra." He waved her off, heading into the kitchen to get Christopher a drink. The girl only seemed partly put out by her introduction, but left the couch to sit with her brother, Kale, and his friends.
"There are too many people in our families to introduce us all together." She declared sitting down. "I don't like that guy."
"Me either." Kale piped up.
Taylor Hanson shrugged. "What's not to like? He managed the Dave Matthews band and they're really big now."
"That's just it." Kale whined. "Why do you want to get all big? I mean you already have like, two shows a month, and you totally ruled Christmas. No one else was getting work. How big do you need to be?"
Taylor's eyes sparkled as he smiled. "He thinks we could be the next Jackson 5."
"Well that's a rip." Kale retorted. "There were five Jackson's in that band but people only know Michael now. And look what's happening to him!"
"Michael Jackson's cool." Kendra interrupted.
"Like two years ago! Now everyone thinks he's weird. I think he's crazy!"
Taylor shrugged again. "Michael was like, the lead singer guy. Everyone looked at him. So if anyone's gonna go crazy when he grows up it'll be Ike. What's that got to do with me?" Taylor joked.
"Ike's already crazy." Kendra rolled her eyes. "A bunch of little girls wanted his autograph this morning at the mall." It hadn't really bothered Kendra but she still thought if they knew how boring Ike was they wouldn't be going gaga over him.
"They just like the guitar." Taylor laughed. "If I had, had bigger hands I would have played that instead of the piano."
~~~*~~~
The day went on and Christopher got to know the rest of the family better as well as their friends. It seemed like such a waste to send this kind country grown family into the corruption of the Hollywood music scene. But he figured if any family could survive L.A. This family could. The boys had already begun to experience screaming girls and recognition which was a sign of two things, one, they would be able to put off letting things go to their heads for at least a few more years and two, they would be a success, with fanatics and fainting (money giving) girls. But there were things he knew were going to get in the way.
All three boys were good-looking in their own way. Isaac was charming and a talker who one immediately felt comfortable around and when he was serious or being mature he was actually strikingly handsome, which over played the other two, who were cute in a way all little children are. The trick to having a successful band was getting the girls which ever way they turned. Which meant Isaac could not take over the band. Zac being the youngest was adorable and could get any girl around his age, seeing how Isaac looked older than his thirteen years, it was a given that Zac would be able to lure in even more than just his age group of girls once he hit puberty. But Taylor was a problem. He was cute, no denying that. In certain lights and in photos he had a talent for taking away ones breath, but that wasn't enough. He was quiet, unsure of himself and cowered beside Isaac, letting him take control. If only he could look the way he did in pictures, in real life. If he had confidence, he would seem less like the gangly little boy next door, which was how he looked in person. And become a heart-throb. But to Christopher there was only one way to accomplish that.
He explained the situation about Taylor to Isaac in very select words.
"He's shyer beside you. Now I know you've always been the one leading the band into new grounds. But you need to back off a little, just to let Taylor find his fan base."
Isaac looked at his brother thoughtfully. "He's just awkward right now, he'll grow out of it."
"He's too content to let you take the lime light. Everything needs to be equal Ike."
"He's been leading more songs lately. Once his voice changes. He's gonna sound really cool. I can shut up a little bit more . . . maybe." Isaac thought about that, remembering past failed attempts to speak less.
"If you shut up Zac will just act up, you know that, Taylor won't speak more." Christopher thought about how hyper active the eight-year-old could get. "Taylor thinks of you as older so he gives you the respect of taking over, he'll never grow in your shadow Ike."
Isaac seemed hurt by those words, not wanting his brother to have low self-esteem because of him.
"Act his age Isaac, be at his level. I've seen you do it when you're playing around at home, that's when Taylor seems the most comfortable. Act like that all the time. Once he feels equal to his older brother . . ."
"He'll begin to feel equal to everyone. He'll be a snotty brat!" Isaac followed. Christopher wished, Isaac really wasn't as smart as he was. He was barely a teen but he thought long-term.
"That's a risk, but an unlikely one. If Taylor continues like this, he will be a nerd."
Isaac looked over at his brother who was smiling politely at Kale and Micayla who seemed to be joking. Taylor acted a lot more like Micayla, but quietness could be attractive on a girl, on a boy, he'd just be trampled on. And that was already happening. A friend of Isaac's, not too long ago, had pushed Taylor into a brick wall giving him a bloody nose. Isaac had gotten the boy back for his actions. But that sort of thing only happened to geeks. If Taylor went to school, instead of being home schooled, he would be being shoved into lockers.
"Fine, whatever." Isaac shrugged. "All that means is that I get to be a little immature."
Christopher nodded. If he could find a way to keep all the boys equal, they'd be bigger than the Beatles. Suddenly a scary thought came into in mind so that he called Isaac back,
"But don't forget who you really are." He instructed imagining the oldest member of the band becoming an adult with the mind of an eleven year old. Isaac nodded indifferently. "Oh and Ike. Just to let you know, if you let Taylor take the spotlight for a while, the media might get a little . . . well . . . casual with the way they look at you. It might not be that nice."
"Oh well, sticks and stones and such." The thirteen-year old shrugged walking back to his family and friends. Just in time to catch the end of Kale's sermon on the uselessness of selling more than 100 CDs.
" . . . and what if they want you to move? Then they'll make you travel all the time."
"We travel all the time now! Remember when we moved to Washington?" Isaac interjected, then remembered he was trying to be quieter around Taylor.
"But you aren't even huge yet! It will be even worse if a record company gets you!"
"We could go on David Lettermen." Taylor smiled at the thought.
"They might make you move near David Lettermen."
"Kale." Taylor smiled at his friend. "We're not going to change. Nothing going to change." He looked at Christopher who was speaking with his parents. "Everything going to stay just like it is . . . always."