Jeri was reaching for the inner door when she heard someone else enter the building.  She turned back to see who it was, but at first the glare from the sun blinded her, contrasting starkly against the black walls inside.  Once the door closed, she had to readjust her eyes again.  When she finally made out the figure, she was shocked.<br/>She heard her say,<em>”I’m Mara.”</em>and saw her hand stretched out to greet her.<br/><br/>It took her a second to get over the shock, then she stepped forward.  “I know who you are.  Who doesn’t?  You’re the lead singer in Schwarzes Kreuz!  I can’t tell you what a hard time I had figuring out how to pronounce that!”  She laughed nervously.  “I used to think it was Schwartz, like the store, and Cruise.”<em>Boy, I'm blowing it big time.</em>“Yeah, I’m Jeri.”  Instead of taking her hand, she reached around and gave her a light hug, then stepped back grinning.<br/><br/>“I can’t believe I’m going to be playing with you!  Oh, wait.  You are here to play with Eddie, aren’t you?  What am I thinking?  You’re probably here to make your own recording.”  She was babbling and she knew it, but seemed powerless to stop.  She never thought of herself in the same league with other stars.  “Wow!” she continued.  “I’m going to be playing with two famous people!”  She pointed her hands up in front of her, fingers spread, and shook them.  “It’s so freakin’ awesome!”<br/><br/>They walked into the studio together, Eddie already there, practicing  She laughed at his T-shirt.  He proclaimed himself ready to play “If Looks Could Kill,” and pointed to Mara for backup.  All of a sudden she became very anxious.  This was tall company she was keeping.  What if she couldn’t keep up?