Prologue #2
“I’m sure a lot of you are probably wondering what I have in mind,” she said, “so I’m not going to keep you in suspense.
You all know about two of our most famous alumni, Luke Carter and Mikey Smiles.
Well, I want to propose we invite them both to give a special benefit concert.
We’ll have it in June, make it the big start to our summer season, and we’ll make sure it’s streamed, too, with a donate button to make it easy for folks to give money.
If ticket sales go well and the donations come in and we hit our goals, we should have enough money to get the Center back in the black and onto a solid footing and, if we’re very lucky, to even get the repairs we so desperately need. ”
Brenda hadn’t really meant to blurt it all out, but she was glad now she’d done it. At least it was all out in the open, and she had a feeling somehow it was all going to turn out okay.
Unfortunately, the members of the board, including and especially Kristen (of course), didn’t seem to be on-board with her idea. At all.
“Now Brenda,” Kristen said, her tone sweet but with an edge to it, “we all know how much you love this place and want to see it succeed, but come on. We’ve all seen the figures.
” Here she gestured at the folders in front of the rest of the board, folders which contained the balance sheets telling just how bad NACA’s woes were.
Brenda gritted her teeth. She might have come up with the idea of a benefit concert on the fly, and she might have just thought it up a few minutes ago, but she was fully committed to it, now. She’d be damned if she let any of the people on the board keep her from seeing it through.
Kristen, however, had a few more things to say.
“I think we’d all love to see the Center return to its glory days, but let’s be real.
That’s just not going to happen. We need to move out of the past and into the future.
Besides, how can you guarantee anyone would even be interested in a concert from those two?
Mikey hasn’t been a household name since he was with the Heartthrobs, and Luke is… well, we all know what Luke is.
“I think it’s a much better idea to sell the property to those who’ll use it for a good purpose and make a little bit of money for the foundation in the process. Just imagine, we could use the money to do some more good for the community. I think we can all agree that would be good, right?”
Brenda noticed a disturbing number of agreeing nods around the table, which made this whole experience even more frustrating.
Just take a few deep breaths. You know you’ve got a good idea.
“I know everyone around here has the same desire,” Brenda said, even though it wasn’t true.
“And I know a lot of us here value the history of the Center.” Also not true.
“And I know we’re all proud of what Luke and Mikey have both been able to do.
Sure, Luke’s been out of the public eye, but he’s the same proud son of Marshall County he’s always been.
And Mikey has been hitting it big lately with his new memoir and his new album is getting some buzz.
So, I think you might be just a bit mistaken, Kristen. ”
Kristen shut up, though she didn’t look too happy about being corrected.
“However,” Brenda went on, “perhaps we can go forward with my idea and, if it doesn’t work and we don’t manage to get in the black by the end of the concert, we sell the location. I think the Center–and Mikey and Luke, for that matter–deserve every chance they can get.”
It tasted bitter to even admit selling the location was a possibility, but she knew it was what was necessary to get the board to agree to the other part of the plan.
Brenda had just enough faith in Mikey and Luke to think it might actually work.
If it didn’t, and if the concert was a flop–or if they didn’t want to participate at all–then she’d just have to suffer the humiliation of being the person who’d done all she could but had still managed to drive the Northern Appalachia Center for the Arts off of the cliff.
I’m willing to take the risk, she thought. If there’s even a chance this place might be saved, then by God I’m going to take it.
She wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought she could see the nods of agreement shifting in her direction. Perhaps the energy was flowing her way.
“Alright,” she said, seizing the initiative, “let’s take a vote. I’m sure we all have better things to do than sit here and argue all day. All in favor of the benefit concert, raise your hands.”
She’d learned the hard way it was always better to strike while the iron was hot in these situations.
Slowly but surely the members of the board started to raise their hands. There were just enough for her to win the day, but what mattered was she did carry the day.
“Okay, then,” she said, and she decided to be a bit magnanimous, to throw a bone to those who hadn’t won.
“We’ll go ahead and get the ball rolling.
Once we have the contracts and everything in order, we’ll make sure we set a firm deadline for the concert.
If we don’t have the money at exactly the moment the concert ends, if we’re even a penny short, then we’ll sell the building. ”
She probably didn’t have to go so far but, to be honest, she would be just as happy to put this whole thing behind her as quickly as possible if it failed.
The board didn’t have much else to do, and so they started to go their own ways. For a split second she thought Kristen might actually come over and challenge her but, instead, the other woman just gave her a glare and kept walking.
Brenda was honest enough with herself to know she’d pushed for the concert just to thwart Kristen. If it succeeded and NACA was able to stay open, she would never not rub it in her face.
However, she really did want to give both Luke and Mikey the chance to boost their careers.
And, truth be told, she also wanted to give the two of them a chance to get together again.
Even though she’d never said as much to either of them when they were at NACA, she’d known they had a thing going on.
It was kind of hard to miss, with how much time they spent together and how they looked at each other any time they were in the same room.
Something, though, had driven them apart, and as far as she knew the two of them had hardly spoken to each other since.
Be careful about matchmaking, she warned herself. Sometimes things don’t work out quite like you plan.
And sometimes they do, she immediately reminded herself. I’m going to give both NACA and its two most famous graduates the second chance they deserve.
With that happy thought in mind she went back to her office and prepared to make some very important calls.