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There were not many hours in the Bradshaw-Seresin household where chaos was not absolutely oozing from every inch of space. But what did they expect with a very stubborn five-year-old and a five-month-old baby whose favorite pastime of the week was throwing up on anyone near him?
And there were probably going to be even fewer quiet and tame moments now that Maverick had gifted Rooster a refurbished piano for his birthday.
“Remind me to send Maverick a card,” Jake muttered sarcastically as Caroline slammed her hands onto random keys. A loud and horrible noise emitted from the piano, causing everyone else, except for Caroline, to wince.
“Gentle, Care,” Rooster reminded her. He grabbed her hands before she could smash them into the keys again and potentially set off her brother, who was sitting calmly on Jake’s thigh. “You gotta be gentle with the keys, honey.”
“Can you play something, Papa?” Caroline asked, spinning around to blink her big brown eyes up at Rooster.
“Yeah, I can,” Rooster agreed, shifting Caroline so that she sat on his thigh.
Rooster placed his hands on either side of Caroline and rested his fingers on the keys, ready to play the family staple. Jake had once joked that they should start calling it the family anthem, since it was now a tradition to play it at all major family events and holidays.
“What’s the song called, Papa?”
“It’s called ‘Great Balls of Fire’, Care.”
“What does that mean?” Caroline inquired, tilting her head to the side.
“It’s something you say when you’re having a lot of fun,” Rooster explained, sharing a smile with his husband. “Your Grandpa Goose used to play it when I was small like you.”
“Did Grandpa Goose make the song?”
“No, no, no,” Rooster chuckled, shifting in his seat. “No, he just played it. A guy named Jerry Lewis made it.”
“Lewis? Like my friend Lewis?”
Bob’s son Lewis was about the same age as Caroline and the two were usually attached at the hip when the Floyd’s were in San Diego or the Bradshaw-Seresin’s were in Lemoore. They had three baby photos of the two of them together in the hallway alone.
“No, though it is the same spelling,” Rooster admitted with a shrug. “Different guy.”
“Okay. How do you play it?”
“Put your hands on top of mine,” Rooster told Caroline, hands still poised above the proper keys. Caroline placed her smaller ones on top of Rooster’s hands and giggled when he started to press down on the keys and move his hands around the piano.
“You shake my nerves, and you rattle my brain.” Rooster moved his hands around rapidly again, causing Caroline to laugh again. “Too much love drives a man insane.” Caroline held tightly to Rooster’s hands, bouncing happily. “You broke my will, but what a thrill.”
“Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!” Rooster and Hangman sang at the top of their lungs.
Caroline still held onto Rooster’s hands as he went through the rest of the verses but every time that she heard Hangman start to sing as well, she couldn’t help but watch her parents instead of the keys. Nickie laughed as well with his little baby giggle accompanied by a stuttered hand clap.
“Kiss me baby!”
As if to prove a point, Hangman leaned over and gave Rooster a big smack of a kiss. It caused Caroline to squeal and yell about cooties. Which then prompted Jake to lean over and give her a big old smack of a kiss on the cheek, complete with a raspberry that had Caroline’s squeal reaching a new, higher octave.
“Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”
Rooster grinned as he started playing the bridge. He told Caroline to hold on tight to his hands. Caroline did as she was told just as Rooster was about to start with the glisses. For every gliss, Rooster dragged Caroline with him, exaggerating the movement, and making her laugh all over again.
“You’re supposed to cheer at this part, Care,” Jake told her as Rooster continued with the bridge. “Like this.”
Jake let out a whoop, momentarily startling Nickie, who sat in his lap. But Caroline quickly let out a few of her own whoops, causing Rooster to laugh as he finished up the bridge.
“Kiss me baby! Ooh, that feels good. Hold me, baby! I wanna love you like a lover should. You’re fine, so kind. Imma tell the world that you’re mine, mine, mine, mine.”
For every ‘mine’ Rooster bounced his knee, causing Caroline to bounce with him. She let out a giggle as she continued to hold onto the back of Rooster’s hands to keep her balance.
“Goodness gracious . . .”
Rooster trailed off, turning to Caroline to finish the last line.
“Great balls of fire!” she yelled loudly, causing Rooster and Hangman to cheer and clap for her.
By Christmas there were two photos up on the top of the piano in the Bradshaw-Seresin household. One of Goose, Carole, and Maverick with little Bradley sitting on the piano with his cowboy hat back in ‘86. And one of Rooster, Hangman, Caroline, Nickie, and Maverick at the Bradshaw-Seresin piano in their living room.
In both photos the song of choice was, of course, “Great Balls of Fire.” The official Bradshaw-Seresin-Mitchell family anthem.