Page 51 of No Good Deed

After the group had talked for a few minutes about building up the fair, she suggested they add at least one more fair or festival. “Why not a Christmas festival with Phail flair? It’s only a few weeks before Christmas this year, but we could start small and brainstorm ideas for a bigger event next year.”

Troy spoke. “Piper suggested we could use the saloon here for movie nights leading up to Christmas. Show different classic Christmas movies over a few nights. Get some ideas for our own festival from them and have a town event, which we don’t do often enough. This year, the focus would be on us and ideas for the future.”

Excited chatter filled the saloon as people threw ideas back and forth and came up with a good start for town-wide events. The enthusiasm so far helped her completely relax. Her nerves were gone, and Piper felt like friends she’d known for far longer than a week surrounded her.

It wasn’t long before she had lists of ideas for both a Christmas festival and one in the autumn when the scenery was magnificent.

She clicked on another screen, this one showing small towns around the country and the way they tied their small communities together. “I haven’t seen Phail in the summer yet, but there are easy ways to visually remind tourists that Phail is a fun place to be. Matching flower pots, window displays around common themes, banners on the light posts. There could be fun quizzes and visual scavenger hunts posted on the website. If a person finds all the items, they might get a prize like a free hot chocolate or candy cane. Maybe a frozen treat in the summer.”

The crowd broke out into conversations again. Piper soon had more ideas and names of people who appeared to be good choices for a decorating committee.

Troy whistled to bring everyone’s attention back to them. “I know it’s already a lot to digest, but Piper has other ideas to give us a couple of places for the town to gather. They involve some demo, some elbow grease, and more money than we’ve already talked about. I’ve called dibs on one of the ideas, but I’ll let her tell you about the second.”

Piper flipped to a new screen, showing a sketch of the town from above. “Most towns and cities have gathering places. Outdoor and indoor. I want to talk about the outdoors today. If we demolished these three buildings, there would be enough space to build a park with several different areas.”

She flipped to the next screen to show the park. “A gazebo here for music and events. Over here, a splash pad and a kids’ play area. A walking and jogging path that would start and end in the park but would wander through the woods in the back. There are lots of creeks and ponds back there. At each, we could have benches, viewing areas, art pieces, scavenger hunt ideas, or even fitness challenges. Maybe even stock some of the ponds with fish and have some fishing contests.”

There was dead silence, but she couldn’t tell if that was good or bad. Her nerves roared back. “The park would be a place to host festivals, art shows, fun competitions. Some of you could host fitness or yoga classes outdoors. There could be races or games. There’s room for a multipurpose sports field at the back for soccer or baseball. We might be able to attract a food truck business or another restaurant for evening fare.”

A woman raised her hand from her seat near the back. The woman’s dog, Potato, was a large golden retriever who liked to lick Oreo’s head when they met during their walks. “I’m Janine Jeffrey, and I’ve lived here my whole life. Those empty buildings have been here for years. Decades. And no one has ever thought to tear them down. It’s a brilliant idea.”

That broke the silence, and everyone chipped in with approval and excitement. She heard a ton of variations of Why didn’t we think about that before?

Troy reached over, and squeezed her hand. “Congratulations, Piper. You’ve done it. Not only did you come up with tons of great ideas, but you’ve got the whole town excited about making those changes. Thank you.”

Piper grinned. “We did it.”

He rose and hugged her before they were pulled in different directions as people approached to talk to them both.

Piper was amazed at the reaction to the presentation. People hugged her, shook her hand, and thanked her for helping their town. She met even more people and learned more names.

For another twenty minutes, she spoke to people and added ideas to her lists, and started a new list of people willing to help. That list was incredibly long.

Her feet ached, but she was thrilled with the reaction. When the crowed started to disperse, she needed a moment to breathe, so she headed back to the kitchen where they’d blocked off a small area for Oreo. He lay on his bed with his favorite stuffed toy. The elephant was almost as big as her bulldog.

Hers.

Oreo must have sensed her presence because he opened his eyes and bounced to his feet. He yipped at her and wiggled his butt with excitement.

Laughing, she picked him up and brought him to eye level. “We did it, Oreo. Everyone loved the presentation and they have even more ideas to help us improve Phail.”

Oreo licked her nose. She lowered her voice. “I feel so good, right now. Not only was the presentation a success, but it helped me crystallize what I want. I want to stay here in Phail with Troy. I don’t know what job I’ll get, but I’ll figure out something.”

She lowered her voice further. “I’m in love Oreo. With Troy, with this town, and with you. My mom was right. Pipe dreams are the best dreams and I’m going to make mine come true.”

* * *

Troy enjoyed the reactions of the people in the saloon. They were thrilled with Piper’s presentation, and with Piper herself. She fit here, and it was now his job to get her to realize it.

Mrs. Gupta marched up to him and lifted her hand to pat him on the cheek. “You’re a good boy, Troy.”

He laughed and patted her hand. “Haven’t been a boy for a while now, but thanks, Mrs. Gupta.”

She smiled and patted him again. “And she’s a good girl.”

He nodded. “She really is.”

Mrs. Gupta nodded firmly and buttoned up her coat. “I’m glad we agree. You’re going to convince her to stay here. With us. With you.”

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