By
Julie
Charisma had just
gotten home from school one afternoon in early May and was fixing herself a
snack, when she heard an MTV News Brief start up on the TV. She didn’t pay attention at first, but when
she heard the words ‘Backstreet Boys’, she dropped what she was doing and
hurried to the TV.
“Backstreet Boys lead
singer Brian Littrell underwent open heart surgery this past Friday, May
eighth, in Rochester, Minnesota to repair a congenital defect. Despite minor complications, Littrell came
through the surgery with flying colors and is now recuperating at home.”
Charisma let out a sigh
of relief, suddenly remembering the dream she had had that time in class two
months before. She wondered if what she
had dreamed had really happened, or if her dreams had been wrong.
I might never know, Charisma
thought to herself, but she had her suspicions.
She tried to push those out of her mind though, reminding herself that
the important thing was that Brian had made it through his surgery and was
getting better.
***
Brian sat on his couch,
shuffling through a packet of papers that had been given to him by Johnny
Wright, one of the Backstreet Boys’ managers.
It was a schedule for their upcoming tour in the US and Canada.
Brian had just come
home the day before, after staying in the hospital in Rochester for a few days,
following his heart surgery. He had
been told that the surgery would take at least two months to fully recuperate
from. And exactly two months was
all his managers were giving him. The
first tour date on the schedule was for July eighth, in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Brian sighed and shook his head, feeling overwhelmed. He loved touring, but it worried him that
everyone was counting on him to be fully recovered and ready to go back on the
road in only two months. He felt a
surge of anger at his managers, Johnny and his wife, Donna, and also at Lou
Pearlman, the man who had created them and who now seemed to be controlling
their lives.
He felt like calling Lou to complain, but chose not
to. He was tired and achy from the
surgery still, and anyway, whining and complaining wasn’t his style. He decided he’d leave that up to his
bandmates.
***