Free Tiger Moths by Sandra Grice

spoiled a really good party, you know.”
    The more he watched and listened to her, the more he wanted to know about her. Her chestnut hair was tied up in a tight pony tail so that the sharp features of her face were easily seen. She had dimples when she smiled, and she was so easy to talk to, as though he had known her forever. He thought for a moment that he could just fall in love with her right then and there. How could he be thinking such things about someone he just met? Yet his mind refused to let go of the thought that perhaps taking that punch was going to pay big dividends for him after all. He could tell his kids that his disjointed nose led him to meet and marry their mother.
    “Besides” –she went on cleaning the blood off of his face- “no one knows Casey better than me. We’ve been together for over a year now. He’s really not a bad guy.”
    His thoughts burst in his mind, leaving a gloomy disdain for his incredibly bad timing. His next thought made that completely inconsequential for the moment.
    “Kayla, you are Casey’s girlfriend? What are you doing here? You’ve got to leave now, or I do. What are you trying to do, get me killed for good?”
    “Relax, Johnny. Casey knows I am here. Like I said, we really thought you were hurt bad. He is still pissed about the guitar, but he never really meant to lay you out cold like that. This is our tent that you are in. He had to get back to campus. I stayed behind to help you out. Oh, and to show you no hard feelings, Casey left you something. Lay still; I’ll get it for you.”
    Johnny lay motionless. He could not imagine what this surprise might be. Unless it was a shovel with which he was supposed to dig his own grave.
    “Now close your eyes. I want to see the full effect,” Kayla said as she returned to his side.
    “Yep, a guilty man, getting ready to reap his consequences,” he sighed.
    “Okay now, just know that it is a second that he doesn’t use anymore, but it still sounds good. Go ahead, open your eyes.”
    “Oh my gosh. Kayla, you’ve got to be kidding me. A guitar? For me? I mean, I can pay him for it when I apologize to him.”
    “Oh no, you’ve paid enough already.” She laughed.
    “He wanted to give this to me after I…”
    “Well the truth of it is I made him come up with something to give you. Told him I was going to report his assault on you to my dad if he didn’t. I got his attention real fast. But he is the one who came up with giving you the guitar. He heard everybody talking about how into the music you were, so he thought you might like it.”
    “Like it? I love it. I’ve wanted a guitar for most of my life. I always had to borrow one when I wanted to play. I don’t believe this. It’s great.”
    She looked as if she had never seen such a smile on the face of a grown man before. He thought for a moment that he was going to wake up from a wonderful dream. Then, it was all made real when she leaned over and kissed his cheek delicately. “And that’s my gift to you.”
    He blushed, though undetectable through his dark tan. “Thank you. My first hit song shall be dedicated to you, Kayla Green. The woman who nursed me back to health and gave me a second chance.”
     



T URNING P OINT
     
    N ASHVILLE , T ENNESSEE , 1988
     
    Dale doodled vigorously on her desk calendar with her right hand, turning the pages of the thick contract with the other hand. A mild headache had seeped into her day. It was no wonder; her teeth had held this clenched position for most of the two-hour teleconference she was trying to wrap up.
    “Al, I told you this merger is worth millions of dollars, but it has to be done right. I’m not going to sell my client out just to make you happy. Look, the limited liability clause stays, period. Also, we want residuals in place as we discussed and international rights split 50-50. Now that’s the final offer. Take it or find someone else to do business with.”
    “Dale, you are not being