"Partners" by Robin Russell Gaiser
– “Oh, I never leave home without it. There’s danger out there.”
A whoosh of cigarette smoke and sour beer odor hit us in the face.
Robin Russell Gaiser holds degrees in English literature and psychology and a certificate in therapeutic music. An experienced multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Robin gave guitar and dulcimer lessons and performed with The Mill Run Dulcimer Band while she lived in northern Virginia. Memories of students and Band fans offer rich ideas for stories, like “Partners.” Robin is a published author of two memoirs: Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time (Pisgah Press: 2016), and Open for Lunch (Pisgah Press; 2018). A third book is underway. She and her husband live in Asheville, North Carolina. www.robingaiser.com
Author’s Talk
Robin Gaiser
Years of giving guitar and dulcimer lessons brought in part-time income before our children were old enough to attend school. Often the income was more than cash. I traded baby babysitting for our kids with a family that wanted guitar lessons for theirs. Another family with a farm and horses agreed to horseback riding lessons for our kids in exchange for guitar lessons for their daughter. And an adult friend offered her expert sewing to make clothing for me and my daughter and in return received guitar lessons for herself.
It all worked out and I enjoyed the arrangements. Then came Katie, the woman in her seventies and the main character in “Partners,” the story you will hear. Our give and take took on a life of its own. When you listen to the story unfold, I beg you to decide for yourself whether the score was even. Katie’s guitar lessons took place a long time ago but my memory of them was prompted by a writing class on character development through the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC-Asheville.
As a memoirist, details seem to stick in my head so calling up Katie for a story was easy. I excerpted and revised the full length story to meet the 800 word requirement for Personal Stories, but the whole story (with many more gives and takes) will appear in my upcoming book, The Possible Book, to be published by Pisgah Press an independent publisher here in Asheville where I live with my husband.
Pisgah Press has published both my memoirs, Musical Morphine: Transforming Pain One Note at a Time (2016) and Open for Lunch (2018). Many short stories and several poems have made their way into print and a library of CDs bear my name.
I thought I had had my fill of giving music lessons, but a gal called me four years ago and asked for Appalachian dulcimer lessons. She was a beginner. I initially said I wasn’t giving lessons anymore, but she coaxed me into a trial period for both of us. She has become a master dulcimer player and a dear friend. (She still takes lessons!).
