October 15th 1996

After a few days of staying in Paris seeing the sights and roaming wherever, we took one last plane to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Wasn't Ellen from the Netherlands? Netherland? The Nether? Hmm.

It was colder here than it was in London. Even snowed a little bit. Malcolm gave me his jacket to wear as I hadn't got one even with all my luggage. "This ought to keep you warm enough, should fit'cha fine."

"Thanks Mal. You got another one you can use?"

"Right here." He pulled it out of his bag and put it on. The airport was small, which was good. Save the attention for the concerts. "How's sharin' a room with stinky Angus? You drown in his mess yet?" he laughed.

"I knew you had something to do with that!" I smiled.

"Do with what? Somethin' happen?" he asked pretending not to know.

"Malcolm..."

"Alright, so I may have listed you as a couple at the front desk, but only 'cause I knew you two are best friends and it's nice to be with someone in a place you've never been to. You ever been to Europe?"

"Never."

"Exactly. Sure you want privacy, but a friend is good to have. And since the ladies aren't here..."

"About that..."

"Yeah?"

"You all know that just because Ellen's not here doesn't mean Ang and I can-go do whatever."

"Course we know, just jokin'. Relax a little, he ain't gonna try anything ya' know."

"No, but-"

"Hey, it's okay. You're just friends," he said putting his hands on my shoulders. "But I wouldn't let Angus hear what you're saying."

"Why not?"

"The way you take all this, he might think you're disgusted with him. Then again-"

"What?"

"He may take it as a challenge. Get you to like him again. If I were you I'd take the second choice, but in the end it's all up to Angus."

We got to our hotel and I shared a room with Angus, didn't say a thing about it. I offered to take the couch this time since he took it last time but he wouldn't hear it. "It's okay, love. I can take it again. You're our guest on this tour ain't ya'?" he smiled. The concert wasn't until tomorrow so we stayed at the hotel the entire time.

Our room was freezing so we got out all the blankets and pillows from the closets and sat with them on the floor. Angus got his guitar back from the equipment and sat down with it, lightly playing the strings. An amp was set up by the couch with the guitar plugged in.

"You know you're gonna have to haul that out of here come concert time right?" I asked.

"Well I did have to haul it in, I suppose out is our only option here." I laughed. "Good thing I got you here to help, 'm not as strong as I used to be," he said leaning on me pretending to be helpless.

"You were holding on pretty tight  when I struggled away from you in Paris."

"Yeah, but now I'm tired and need a hot bath," he said.

"You can take care of that yourself." He laughed and went back to his guitar, still leaning against me.

"What's your favorite band again?"

"Beatles."

"That's right. What about us huh? You knew about us in 1975, did you like us?"

"Yeah I did. Still do."

"Good. But speaking of Beatles, you have a favorite one?"

"I've told everyone no, but if I had to pick a favorite, Ringo all the way."

"He's the drummer right?"

"Yeah. Not the most popular but I think he's great."

"Favorite song?"

"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away."

"Ringo sings that right?"

"No, John."

"Oh. See, I don't know the Beatles too much. More of a The Who guy myself. What about us huh?"

"What about you?"

"Favorite song..."

"I have several."

"And they are..."

"Girls Got Rhythm, Nervous Shakedown, Two's Up, others."

"Alright now, favorite member," he smiled at me. I looked down and mumbled. "What?"

"You," I said a bit louder.

"Me?" I nodded. "Why am I your favorite?"

"I don't know, your name is Angus, and I happen to like that name."

"Oh, thanks. Nice to know I'm your favorite." He started playing his guitar again and I immediately knew the tune. He even started to sing a little. Well, 'sing'. "Here, I stand, head in hand, turn my face to the wall... this is a song, it's been so long, since I've heard it at all..." I leaned against him a little more and closed my eyes. He didn't sound like John Lennon, but the way he did sound made me sleepy. It was rather relaxing and he sounded gentler than usual. "Hey you've got to hide your love away...hey you've got to cut your hair today..." I snickered to myself. Angus finished the song and wrapped an arm around me as I fell asleep.