”I’m afraid this is too big of a step, Shar. It’ll look too drastic. Besides, what if I don’t feel it tonight–you know, the energy.”

Sharon thought it over carefully. Jody was starting to panic, and she needed to calm her down. ”How about if you build up to it. Start with some old comfortable songs, and slowly work yourself up to the newer songs, the more energetic ones.”

Jody stared at her boots, thinking hard. She took a breath and looked up, ”That makes sense. Thanks, hon.” She gave Sharon a kiss and headed to the mike.

Jody laughed as she noticed the bar stool behind the mike. She pushed it away and greeted the party-goers, ”Good evening, everyone. It’s hard to believe another year has gone by and it’s the holiday party time of year again. Grab a beer and enjoy . . .”

Jody launched into an old rockabilly song that she would play from time to time. Right away, a bunch of women pushed some couches and chairs back and began dancing. Jody smiled.

Jody chose popular fast tunes that made the dancing crowd grow. She became more ambitious with each song, dancing more noticeably, moving her guitar around to accent lines she was singing, and letting her voice venture out of its usually very restrained limits.

When she broke after the first set, Jody got a huge round of applause. The house was hot and steamy and many women headed to the keg and the front porch for some cool air.

”You were fantastic!” Sharon said as she and Jody huddled up in a corner. ”It’ll be a piece of cake to play some new songs.”

”Are you sure?”

”Positive. You’ve made the best warm up to it that you could. Just go for it. Remember, Jo, where else but here?”

”Yeah, you’re right.” Jody shook her head affirmatively.            Several women came up to Jody to ask to buy copies of her CD. Apparently, word was getting around about it. Soon, as others caught wind of it, Jody was surrounded by about 30 women throwing $10 bills at her.

After she gave Sharon the money to deal with, Jody headed back up to the mike. She knew she needed to start the set with one of her old songs, giving it some kick in order to build on it.