Chapter 75

It didn’t take a lot of time for Jake to set up the interview with Ginny Hanover.  She was more than happy to hear that the Draiman children were finally coming out about what their feelings on the deaths of their parents were and that she was the one to get the exclusive interview.

Jake called each of his brothers and sisters personally and told them that they needed to be at homestead for the interview after getting off of the phone to set it up.  No one argued.  They all just said that they would be there.  Only the siblings would be there.  Their children were staying at home, no matter where their parent was coming from.  It was easier that way to keep track of everyone and was less of a distraction during the interview.

The day of, everyone met and had breakfast together as they waited for the camera crew to arrive.  No cameras had ever been inside the homestead before unless they were a family camcorder or on someone’s cell phone.  This was a first, but it was what Jake felt needed to be done.

As their husbands and in laws ate breakfast, Jona and Delilah puttered around the house and tried to make sure that everything was in its proper place.  Delilah was as OCD about the appearance of her has as her late mother in law had been when she owned it.

After eating the guys set up the chairs the way Jake wanted them.  The four eldest would sit in the back with the quads and the final twins sitting in the front.  They weren’t trying to appeal to the camera or anything like that.  There were only four stools for the bar and there are a great many more chairs for people to sit in.

When the crew arrived they were greeted by Delilah.  “Wow”, the camera man said.  “This is amazing.  Are we seriously the first crew to set foot inside this house?”

“The very first”, Jake said as he walked into the living room.  “Our father was very strict about camera crews coming into his sanctuary.  He was a very private man and didn’t like his personal life to be on the front page of the supermarket rags.”

The statuesque woman with the camera man spoke.  “You must be Dr. Draiman.”

He nodded.  “One of three, actually.  I’m the only MD though.”

“The other two are PhD’s?”

“Yes.  You’ll meet them shortly.  I’m Jacob.  I’m the one you spoke to over the phone.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jacob.”

“Likewise.”  He looked at the crew.  “Come on.  I’ll show you to the dining room where everything is set up.  You can set up the cameras and stuff in there.”

The camera crew followed Jake into the other room.  While they were setting up Jake introduced Ginny to his brothers and sisters.  Thought his sisters had already done their makeup for the day, there was a makeup crew there to give them a touch up and get them camera ready.  The men were dusted quickly and made ready and everyone was given a microphone system to attach to their shirts with the packs clipped to the backs of everyone’s pants or skirts.

“We’re almost ready to start filming”, Ginny said to the family.  “Are there any questions?”

“We’ve all done our share of TV interviews”, Maddie said with a grin.  “This is old hat to all ten of us.”

“That’s good news”, Ginny said.  “I’m going to try to make this as painless as possible.  I know it hasn’t been that long ago since your parents passed and it’s still pretty raw.  Don’t hold back.  If the thought of a certain memory makes you cry then cry.  If there’s something that makes you laugh, then do it.  I want this to be as fun as possible, but I want it to be real.”

“You’ll have no trouble getting real here”, James said.  “There’s not a one of us that’s well- schooled in the art of bullshit.  Even the men in this family aren’t afraid to cry.”

“That’s good.  That will show the audience an element of realness to you guys.  You’re not just rock star kids.  You’re all people.”

Marc chuckled.  “We’ve been trying to convince people of that for several years now.  I know personally I’ve been trying to convince people I’m a normal guy for nearly 40 years.”

“No kidding”, Jeremiah and Meagan said.  “Our last name is both a blessing and a curse”, Meagan continued.

“For sure”, Jordan said.

Ginny smiled.  “It will certainly be interesting to hear about the blessings and curses that your last name has brought all of you.  Shall we all get situated and ready to start shooting?”

Everyone dispersed and sat down, sitting in both levels from oldest to youngest.  They all took deep breaths to steady themselves just before the segment director started counting them in.  Ginny Hanover was about to make broadcasting history, recording for the first time within the heart of the Draiman house.  This was the house that David and Brie Draiman raised the men and women sitting before her in and where most of them started their families.

Just make us proud, Jake heard in the back of his mind.  Don’t hold back and tell nothing but the truth.  He nodded slightly as he looked to Maddie, Jeremiah, and Jessi.  From the looks on their faces they’d all heard the same thing and their response was the same.  We will, Mom and Dad.  We’ll do just what you taught us to do.

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“I really just want to thank you all for talking with me”, Ginny said as the cameras rolled.  They had already gone down the line and introduced themselves.  “I know this can’t be easy for any of you.”  They all just shrugged and said that it was their pleasure.  “Now, I know that everyone asks this, but I think I have to ask the first obvious question.  What was it like growing in the house with a rock star parent?”

They all chuckled.  “Believe it or not”, Jordan said, “our Dad was pretty awesome.  He wasn’t about all of the pomp and circumstance when he was at home.  He was just our Dad.”

“We could talk to Dad about anything”, Malachai said.  “I remember one night after I graduated from high school I came home early from a party.  He and I had a trip that we were taking the next day.  But, I came home because the party sucked, but I did happen to get lucky.  The girl… well let’s just say that though the sex was ok there was an element of unpleasantness to it.  I came in and as I was trying to make my way up the stairs I bumped into Dad.  He was having another one of his insomnia fits.  We talked about and, I kid you not, he gave me sex advice.”  Malachai laughed.  “The next day we flew out to Texas where I met my real father.  I’ve never made any bones about the fact that I’m not biologically a Draiman.  He’s the only father I know.  We met with the man that fathered me.  He didn’t have to go with me.  He did it because I was his son.  He raised me and loved me like I was his own.”

“Wow”, Ginny said.  “That’s pretty cool.  So, there are ten of you and you all have either an ‘M’ name or a ‘J’ name.  Do any of you know how that happened?”

They all laughed.  “Mom and Dad were asked that by everyone”, Meagan said.  “From what I understand it was sheer coincidence until we were born”, she said as she pointed from herself down to Jeremiah.  “Then they realized that they had a bit of a naming convention that they had to stick with.”

“They were actually thinking of breaking away from that with Marc and Jessi”, Jake said.

“But obviously they decided to go with them again to keep things even”, Marc laughed.

“What about your mother?  What was she like?”

“A pillar of strength”, Jeremiah said.  “When Dad was away she was the one that held us together.”

“Hell, when Dad was here she was the glue that held us all together”, James said.

“Examples?”

“When we had to go somewhere she put her massage practice on hold to make sure we got there.”

“Schedules were seriously color coated”, Makayla with a laugh.  “As we all graduated colors started disappearing from the calendars.”

“And there were several”, Maddie laughed.  “They were everywhere!”

“Sounds like childhood was well organized”, she laughed.  “What about as you were all getting married and having families of your own?”

“Mom and Dad were so awesome about that”, Jake and Malachai both said.  “I know that if it hadn’t been for our parents the day my oldest was born, I would have either done something really stupid or fallen apart”, Jake continued, clearing his throat after he was done speaking.

“What happened?”

He coughed and cleared his throat.  “My oldest child was a month premature because of a habitual reckless driver.  He T-Boned my wife’s car as she was coming home from getting my mother a birthday gift”, he said, choking on the emotion he was feeling.  This was one of his more painful memories of his parents.  “I got a phone call from a stranger on my wife’s phone telling me that she was on her way to the hospital.  At the time I was working an hour away in Denver at the VA.  I rushed home to be with my wife and hoped that there might be a way for them to stop the labor.  When I got to the hospital the doctor told me everything that was going on and my knees gave and Dad caught my arm to keep me from falling to the floor.  On the way up to the OR waiting area I fell apart.  I was afraid that I would lose my wife and daughter all in one stroke and we had only been married for eight months.”  He wiped his eyes, and tried not to let the tears biting at the back of his eyes fall.  “Mom just held me and let me fall apart, trying to comfort me.  I think I can speak for us all when I say that our mother was the strongest, most patient woman we knew.”

“I would give anything to have that kind of strength”, Jessi said.  “Mom… she watched her brother die before her own eyes and let little show to any of us.  None of us know what Dad saw but when Uncle Matt died, she didn’t crack.  She and Dad both held all of us while we cried and fell apart, but not one tear fell from her eyes.  Not that I remember seeing anyway.”

“You’re not alone Jess”, Malachai said.

“No one saw Mom crack”, Jake said.  “Not until the funeral.  That was the only time anyone saw either of them crack.”

Ginny smiled.  “Her brother just passed and no one saw her cry?  Wow.  She certainly was strong.  How did she handle not being able to travel with your father when he was on the road?”

“Oh God, like a pro.  If we missed Dad, she called him for us.  If we had something we needed to show him she’d video conference with him so that we could show whatever it was”, James said.

“What about discipline while he was away?”

“She handled it.  If she couldn’t, she called Dad and he would talk to us.  If he needed to come home he did so and took care of whatever needed to be taken care of”, Malachai said.  “There was actually a point where my wife and I were staring divorce in the face because of several different things.”  He cleared his throat.  More touchy topics- it was apparently Malachai’s turn to talk about his.  “I come over and talk to Dad about it and I get reamed.  At the time I kinda had my head up my ass and I was letting the success go before anything else- including my family.  Dad told me that I needed to get my act together, in essence.  He told me to be the man he KNOWS he taught me to be.  I look back on that and I realize he was right.  I was being stupid.”

They continued sharing their fond memories, both joyful and painful.  It was good to finally talk about it and hear what each other cherished most about their parents.  A few things they all agreed on: One, their mother was a saint and no one would ever change their opinion; two, their father was the coolest Dad ever- rock star or not; and three, there were no words to describe how much their parents loved each other.

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“So we’ve been talking about your personal relationships with your parents, and their relationship with each other.” Ginny Hanover said with a compassionate smile.  “Now I’d like to ask what I know is going to be a delicate question.  It’s been a year.  How is everyone coping with Mom and Dad being gone?”

It hadn’t been a very difficult interview until she had asked that question.  They all started clearing their throats and wiping at their eyes.  “It’s been tumultuous”, Jeremiah said upon clearing his throat.  “Personally, I’ve been trying to keep in mind the immortal words of Benjamin Franklin.”

“And what are those?”

“‘It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside, when the soul is to enter into real life; 'tis rather an embryo state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead:  Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals?’  They’ve been the only words I could think of that could give me any comfort.  Their mortal probation was over and they went together to live amongst the immortals.”

“Wow.  Profound and heart wrenching.  Have there been ups and downs?”

They all nodded.  “We’ve all had our ups and downs, individually and as a family.  It’s been difficult to enjoy the happier moments that have been happening since their funeral.”

“There have been big events since the funeral?”

“Yeah.  Life keeps going whether they’re here or not”, James said.  “My oldest just became a father and will be marrying the mother of his child soon.”

“My oldest just got married this past spring”, Jake said.  “She’s expecting her first with her husband sometime in the winter.  She also just started working as a veterinarian after graduating in the spring before she got married.  My oldest son just started working on his Masters’ degree in Psychology having gotten his Bachelors’ in the spring.  And there are many other things that have been happening.  The world didn’t stop because we were grieving.  We just had to push through.  It hasn’t been easy.  The holidays were special torture.”

“But, I have to say that we’ve been lucky to have my in laws around, especially those who live here”, Jeremiah added quickly.  “My mother and father in law have been amazing since Mom and Dad passed.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ve stepped in and kinda been like surrogate grandparents to the children of those of us who haven’t married into the family”, Jake chuckled.

“Why would they do that?”

“When they first came up from Arizona to meet everyone, my in laws told our parents that they’d wanted a large family, but didn’t have one because my father in law fell ill.  They only raised my wife and her younger brother.  Mom offered to share and let them spoil all of our children right alongside them.  Since then our mom and my mother in law were like sisters and our dad and my father in law were like brothers.  I mean, Dad let my father in law hold my son and he was born on Dad’s birthday.  My father in law later reciprocated when my daughter was born on his birthday.  My two dads”, Jeremiah said and laughed, “were always causing trouble.  Before they passed away, Dad and my father in law decided to break out the paintball guns and have target practice.”  He covered his mouth with a hand and cleared his throat to be able to speak.  “We made a day of it.  I don’t think any of us have ever seen Dad so relaxed”, he said as his voice cracked.  He coughed and cleared his throat.  “Excuse me.”

“Don’t apologize.  You have no need for an excuse.  So you all broke out the paintball guns and had target practice.  Your parents were relaxed.”

“Nothing seemed like it could go wrong in that moment”, Marc said.

“And then my daughter’s water broke”, Malachai said with a chuckle.  “Everything went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.  That night, Mom and Dad were great- grandparents.”

“They had to be so happy that day”, Ginny said.

“Oh yeah.  They’d been waiting a long time for great- grandchildren.

“What was it like after they left the country?”

“We never saw them”, Jordan said with a laugh.  “They’d tweet occasionally, and Mom did her little travel blog every time they went somewhere.  I think they went to Austraila five to ten times the whole time they were traveling.  Mom was sure to put up video blogs about all of their different activities.”

“Have any of you been going back and watching old family videos and things like that in the last year?”

“We actually did that over the holidays.  We broke out the old family movies, some during the Occupation, and laughed at all of the memories”, Maddie said.

“You had videos from during the Occupation?  How many had the other members of Disturbed in them?”

“Most of them”, Jessi said.

“It was nice to see our Uncles again”, Makayla said.

“Those funerals were no fun either.”

“Are there plans in place for a memorial for the band as a whole?”

Jake nodded.  “Yeah.  I’ve been in contact with Maya Donegan in the last little bit and plans are being made for next on the anniversary of their retirement.  We’re trying to set things up so that it will be at Millennium Park in Chicago.”

“Can you give us any details or ideas of what will happen?”

“Sorry.  It’s meant to be a surprise.  Maya and I really think that it’s important to give Disturbed fans the opportunity to say their final goodbyes.  They had their own memorials but this will be the big official one.”

“Well darn”, Ginny laughed.

“It’s better that way for the fans”, Jordan said.  “And to be honest, it’s one last goodbye to all four of them from all of us kids.”

“Any guesses as to what your parents are doing on the other side?”

“My guess”, James laughed, “is that Dad, our uncles, and Grampa are driving Mom and Grandmamma insane.  Uncle Matt was a trouble maker.”

“And we’ve heard stories about how much Grandmamma loved to flirt with Dad.  It was actually rather funny”, Marc said with a laugh.  “I’m actually putting a lot of that in the movie.”

“So you’re confirming that there is a movie being shot about your father?”

“I might as well let the cat out of the bag.  We’ve been working on it for about two years now.  We’re almost done with all of the shooting and ready to go into post.”

“Now, remind me.  You’re father in law is JJ Juarez, right Marc?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he directing?”

“No actually, I am.  He’s the executive producer and he’s been teaching me all of the tricks of the trade, but I’ve been the one calling all of the shots.”

“That’s pretty cool.  How did you get all of the stories?”

“We’re all pretty nosy when it comes to Mom and Dad”, Malachai said.  “We asked them what happened when they met each other’s parents.  Mom never met Grandma and Grandpa Draiman, but Dad met Mom’s folks.  And I was there then that happened.  I saw the whole thing.”

“What happened?”

“You’ll just have to wait for the movie to hit theaters to find out”, Marc said.  “Although we’re nosy when it came to Mom and Dad we were taught never to kiss and tell.”

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Once the interview was over and Ginny Hanover was gone, they all ordered take out and had a little dinner.  “That was quite the trip down memory lane”, Marc said with a laugh.

“No kidding”, Jake said, shaking his head.  “Some pleasant memories, some not so pleasant; all cherished.”

They all nodded in agreement as they ate from their individual take out cartons.  “At least she didn’t try to be too intrusive”, Jordan said after swallowing.  “She kept the questions pretty general and respectful.”

“I don’t know if I could have dealt with someone getting that nosy about us”, Meagan said, shivering slightly in discomfort from the thought.  “I’m not used to doing interviews like that.”

“None of us are”, Maddie laughed.

“You know what I mean, Maddie.”

“Ladies, let’s just chill out”, Jake said.  “She was joking with you, Mae.”  He sighed.  “I’m glad we did it.  I really am.  Now that it’s done, it’s time for us to be more public.  No more hiding.”

“So you’re cool with us going back into the studio and releasing a new record?” Malachai asked.

“You guys could have been writing this entire time.”

“Too painful”, Jordan said, shaking her head.  “I just wanted to be with my family and cry it out.”

“That’s fine.  But now, if you want to let loose the fury of the pinned up hell cat we all know you are then go back into the studio and scream it out.”

She chuckled.  “Nice.  So, we’ll go back into the studio and let me scream.”

Jake looked at Marc.  “So the movie based on Dad’s autobiography is going into post now?”

“We’re a couple days of shooting from post, but we’re almost there.  From there it’s a couple months of editing and then the premiere.  I expect everyone to clear their schedules to be there.  It’s for Mom and Dad.”

“I agree with you, Marc.  Give us an idea of when so that we can all be there.  Anyway, it’s kind of expected of us to make an appearance.  It’s is about our father.”  He looked at Marc.  “Bro, can we talk real fast in private?”

Marc nodded and stood from his seat, following Jake to his office.  Once they were on the other side, Jake spoke.  “I’ve been talking to Maya and we were wondering if you could put together a video memorial for Disturbed.”

“No problem.  Give me an idea if what to put in it and the music you want it played to and I’m all over it in my spare time.  I won’t be doing too much in the editing process for Dad’s movie so I’ll have a lot of time to do it.”

“Great.  I’ll let Maya know.”

“And let her know that if they want personal pictures or video in the presentation, I need them as soon as earthly possible.”

“I’ll be sure to let her know.  As for the music, use your better judgment but see that it’s related to the topic at hand.”

Marc rolled his eyes.  “I know that Jacob.  Either about passing or Disturbed.  I was actually thinking about an Avenged Sevenfold song.”

He nodded, knowing the song his brother was talking about.  “Good one.  You could add ‘Darkness to the play list.  You have over 60 years of footage to sort through.”

“And you’re looking at putting this on when?”

“Around the anniversary of Disturbed retiring.”

“I’ll see what I can do.  I need the footage from everyone no later than Halloween.”

“No later than my anniversary.  Got it”, Jake laughed.

“Oh yeah.  That’s right.  No later than your 25 wedding anniversary.”

“My daughter is 24 this year.  I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Jake, she’s married and about to make you a grandfather.  That should be what you’re having trouble wrapping your head around.”

Jake’s chest shook in laughter.  “True that, my brother.  True that.”