Competition for 'The Top'

"Um...no. Never," she said.

"Well, this is gonna be a real treat!" Josh told her, never having even considered she might find 'guns' offensive. To Marines, a 'gun' was a smooth-bore weapon like an artillery piece, while pistols and rifles were 'weapons' and 'bullets' were 'rounds'.

As they checked in at the front desk, the man behind the counter recognized Josh and Sarah immediately.

"Semper Fi, Guns!" he said, unaware 'the gunny' had recently been promoted.

"Hey, Jake. What's new?" he said without correcting him.

"Same old. Hold on, I'll go get your weapons. The .45 for you and the 9mm for the young killer, right?"

Debbie winced as Sarah said, "I want to shoot a .44 magnum, but my pops won't let me!"

"Well, he's the boss, young lady. Hold on and I'll be right back to get whatever the beautiful young woman here wants, okay?"

"Take your time, Jake!" Josh told him.

"Jake is a former Marine, Debbie," he told her.

"Wonderful," she said flatly.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her again.

"Oh, sure," she told him in the same tone of voice.

"Okay," he replied knowing everything wasn't okay but not understanding why. Josh had never met anyone in his life who thought guns were 'bad', and it had never crossed his mind to ask Debbie if she thought they were.

"What do you want to shoot, Ms. Tomlin?" Sarah asked her.

"I...don't think I want to shoot a gun," she said quietly.

And that's when it finally hit him.

"Debbie? Do you maybe want to talk privately?" Josh asked quietly.

"I think that would be a good idea," she told him.

"We'll be right back, honey," he told Sarah.

The two of them stepped outside and Josh asked what was bothering her.

"Guns. Guns bother me," she told him.

"May I ask why?"

"Because they kill people, Josh. That's why!" she told him as though it were something he should also intuitively know.

"Debbie, I've been around weapons—guns—all my life, and I've never seen a gun kill anyone. Ever," he told her politely. "I've seen people use guns to protect themselves, but I've never seen a gun do anything without a person holding it when loaded."

"You've been to war, right? How can you not have seen guns kill people?"

"I'm sorry, put it's people using guns, not the guns themselves. Knives, clubs, and SUVs don't kill people, either. But people can use them to do harm to other, but the guns never do anything by themselves," he said, trying again to find a way to help her see the difference.

"You're just not getting it!" she told him as the anger welled up inside her. "Guns kill thousands of people every year. The statistics don't lie!"

"Tell you what. Let's go back inside and look at every 'gun' in the store. If any one of them can even move by itself, I'll give you a win," he said trying to be lighthearted.

"You're missing the point, Josh!" she said again.

Debbie was clearly very upset so Josh tried something else.

"Debbie, I didn't hide who I am. I came to school in uniform. You have to know what that represents, and yet you asked me out. Did you honestly think I'd be against guns or share your point of view? I'm not being mean or critical. I'm just asking a question."

"I...I don't know what I thought," she told him. "I guess I was hoping it wouldn't come up. You looked so...handsome in your uniform, and maybe I just got caught up in some kind of...I don't know...some kind of fantasy or something. It's bad enough that you use them, but I can't believe you'd bring your 14-year daughter to a place like this!"

"Sarah and I took a self-defense class together last year just in case she's ever in a situation where she has to defend herself. We come here for the same reason. If someone breaks into our house when I'm not there, how long do you think it would take the police to arrive after dialing 911?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is guns are not the answer!" she said coldly.

Josh, who had been nothing but kind and polite said just as politely, "Would you like me to take you home?"

"Yes, but I don't want to ruin the day for Sarah," she told him.

"Jake is an NRA-certified instructor. He'll keep on eye on my daughter."

"You'd leave your daughter here? Alone? With guns?" she said, barely able to contain herself.

"I don't want to argue with you," Josh said quietly. "I can take you home or I'll pay for a cab if you'd prefer."

"I don't need your money or your charity," she said snidely. "I'll get home just fine by myself."

"All right. If that's what you'd like," he told her calmly.

"What I'd like is to get rid of guns altogether!" she told him. "And the NRA!"

"Is there anything I can do before I go back inside?" he asked ignoring her comments.

"Not unless you want to join me in the 21st century where civilized people recognize the danger of private citizens owning guns."

Debbie's hands were shaking and Josh knew it wasn't from the cold.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your afternoon, Debbie," he told her.

"It's Ms. Tomlin to you!" she said before getting her phone out to call a cab.

"Please at least let us take you home...Ms. Tomlin," Josh asked again.

"Oh, great! My battery is dead!" she cried before turning her back to him.

"Give me a minute, okay?" he asked.

Ms. Tomlin refused to even look at him as he walked back inside and told Jake they'd have to try it again another day.

"What's going on, Dad?" Sarah asked.

"Libertarianism and liberalism just collided," he told her with a smile.

"Ohhh. Okay," Sarah said. "I was getting the feeling she might be anti-gun."

"Oh, yeah. And then some," he dad told her. "But she has every right to her opinion."

"I know. That's what you fight to protect."

He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head and said, "I am so proud of you. Your mom would be, too."

She looked up at him and said, "Dad? Thanks for trying."

"Trying?"

"Well, yeah. This was a kind of date, right? Even though you said it wasn't, it really was."

"I guess so," he admitted. "Wow. Talk about 'epic fail', right?"

Sarah laughed then said, "I guess I can wait until next time to bug you about the .44 magnum."

"Come on. Let's go do the right thing," the Marine master sergeant said as they headed back outside to an icy reception and a silent ride to Ms. Tomlin's who stopped Josh from bothering to come around to let her out.

Sarah said goodbye to her, but she didn't get a response other than the car door slamming.

"Well, alrighty then!" Sarah said using the Jim Carrey line from the movie Ace Ventura.

"You coming up front?" her dad asked.

"No, thanks. I'll wait until that seat thaws out," Sarah told him with a smile.

"Yeah, we may have to roll the windows down so the 45-degree air from the outside can warm us up on the inside, huh?" her dad said before they both started laughing.

By the next morning, Josh had mostly forgotten about his failed first date, and by Monday morning it was a distant memory. He knew what he believed, and he also knew people disagreed with him on virtually every possible subject to include The Second Amendment. It wasn't his place to try and convert them or change their minds. Like him, they were entitled to their opinions and beliefs no matter how strongly they disagreed.

"But she was pretty damn cute," he told himself before closing the door on the memorable episode.

Tuesday afternoon, Josh was at a local high school setting up a booth when his phone rang.

"Master Sergeant Haverty speaking," he said cheerfully.

"Josh?"

"Yes."

"Oh, hi. It's Molly. Molly Quinn. Sarah's teacher?"

"Oh, right. Yes. How are you?"

"Good. Listen, I was just calling to let you know my class has committed to bringing in 50 toys! But that's just an initial goal, okay? I'm hoping to take that to over a hundred by Christmas."

"Wow! That's impressive," he told her.

"I just wanted to let you know I was taking this seriously and that you can count on me," she said in a very sweet way.

"I have no doubt," he said with a quiet laugh. "You're a real go-getter, Ms. Quinn!"

"Molly," she reminded him.

"Right. Molly."

"So...anyway, I wanted to let you know that if you ever wanted to um...well, take me target shooting, I wouldn't go all crazy on you," she told him.

"Wow. Bad news travels fast, eh?"

"Ms. Tomlin and I don't speak too often, but yes, 'word' spread around campus pretty quickly. I wish I'd have known. I could have warned you, and...you could have asked me instead."

"It's fine," he told her with a small chuckle. "No big deal."

"Well, I'm very pro-Second Amendment," she let him know.

"Oh. That's...that's good to know," he told her, not knowing what else to say.

"So if you do need a shooting partner...or a dance partner or...just a partner, I'm available," she said in a very happy, upbeat tone of voice.

"I'll keep that in mind, Ms...Molly."

"I hope you will, Josh. And I hope to see you again very soon."

"Take care," he told her before hanging up.

"Who was that, Top?" a young staff sergeant asked him.

"You're single, right?" he asked the younger Marine.

"Divorced two years now. Why?"

"Next time I go to Sarah's school, I want to introduce you to someone," Josh told him.

"Is she hot?"

"Um...warm," Josh told him.

"I can live with warm," the staff sergeant said. "Sure. Let's do that."

A couple of days later, Josh was thinking about just calling Mrs. Winters to see how things were going, but he wanted to introduce his fellow recruiter to Molly Quinn in the hopes they might hit it off. And just as importantly, that she would forget about him.

Staff Sergeant Enrique Cruz was 28 years old, and although Josh had a hard time telling where other guys were concerned, he seemed like a decent-looking guy, and his gut told him he and Molly might be a pretty good match.

"Let's head over to Sarah's school right after noon chow today," Josh told him on Friday morning.

"Sure thing, Top. You gonna hook me up with this 'warm' school teacher of yours?"

"She's not mine, but she is Sarah's. And yeah, I do want to introduce you."

The school secretary smiled when the two Marines walked up to her wearing their dress blue uniforms.

"Oh, wow. There's two of you today! Lucky me!" she said with a big smile.

"We may have to arm wrestle for your attention," Josh told her with just as big a smile.

"That won't be necessary, gentlemen," the older, rather unattractive woman replied, clearly embarrassed by the flattery.

She looked both ways then said quietly, "You can both have me!"

Both men laughed politely before Josh asked if he could see Mrs. Winters.

"I think that can be arranged," she told him, still smiling.

"Oh, is Ms. Quinn in class right now?" Josh asked.

"Let me check."

A few seconds later she said, "No. This is her planning period. She'll either be in her room or the teacher's lounge."

"Give me one minute, okay?" he asked her before leading SSgt Cruz down the hall toward both rooms.

They peeked into her room and it was empty, so they headed down to the teacher's lounge where Molly was eating a salad while going over some lesson plans.

"Hey there!" Josh said.

"Oh, my! Hi, Josh!" she said very happily.

"Molly? I have someone I'd like you to meet. This is my good friend, Enrique Cruz."

"Rick," he told her as she looked at him for the first time.

"Well, hello there...Rick," she said smiling just as happily.

"Rick is my righthand man, and I was thinking maybe the two of you could work on the Toys for Tots project together."

SSgt Cruz winked at Josh indicating he thought she was cute, and Molly said, "Well, I was hoping you and I could get better acquainted, but Rick seems like a very...nice person, so...sure. I'd like that!"

"Great. Well, I'll let you two get acquainted while I talk to Mrs. Winters."

Rick sat down and started chatting with Molly, and by the time Josh got back to the front desk, the principal was waiting for him and welcomed him into her office.

"All of my teachers were more than happy to help out. Even those who aren't as supportive of the military as I am," she told Josh. "We have a goal to bring in 5,000 toys from the school before Christmas."

"Five-thousand?" Josh repeated.

"The majority of our students come from upper-middle class and a handful from very upper-class families. Once a few of our more...involved...moms get a sense for the kind of competition this will inspire, they'll be clawing at one another to out-raise everyone else. Trust me on that, okay?"

"I will," Josh said still trying to believe any school could bring in that many toys in that short a time period. "We try to wrap all of them, too. That's a whole lot more money and time."

"Don't worry. This will catch fire. I assure you. We'll have assembly lines of moms and students and maybe a few dads in here wrapping like crazy. We got this, Mr. Haverty."

Josh thanked her sincerely before they agreed on a weekly phone call from then on unless a meeting was warranted.

He wanted to give SSgt Cruz some time with Molly, and that gave him time to call Sierra and let her know how things were going.

"Josh! I'm so glad to hear from you. I was just sitting here thinking about calling you. How are things?"

"Um, well. I guess that depends on the thing," he said lightheartedly. "I have fantastic news on the toy front. But if you were to ask me about my personal life, I wouldn't be quite as enthusiastic."

"Oh? Do tell!" she said cheerfully.

He told her about the unbelievably large number of toys from school, still not mentioning the name then explained about Saturday's fiasco.

"Oh, no. It's no big deal. I tried going on a date of sorts for the first time and it kind of...blew up in my face."

"Oh, my. That sounds awful. I hope nothing blew up in a literal sense," she said playfully.

He told her very quickly about the shooting range and Sierra said, "Well, if you'd have asked me, I'd have not only gone inside and shot with you, I'd have given you a run for your money!"

"Really?" Josh said.

"Yes, really. I love to shoot."

"You don't own a .44 magnum do you?" he asked causing her to ask why.

"Well, the other um...woman...in my life, the 14-year old, is dying to shoot one."

Sierra laughed and told him, "So that would...make her day?"

Josh got the Clint Eastwood reference immediately and laughed, too. "Sierra, if you weren't a married woman, I'd ask you to come along next time. Or even better, you could just bring your husband with us."

She was quiet for a moment then said, "I didn't mention it when we had lunch, but my husband passed away three years ago, Josh."

Josh was quiet for a moment, too, before saying, "I'm...I'm really very sorry, Sierra. I honestly didn't know."

"Yes, I know. That's because I just told you I didn't tell you," she said very sweetly. "It's okay. I don't bring it up much anymore unless someone asks me directly or there's some reason to. I still miss him, but I don't run around talking about being a widow—a word I don't much care for—unless I have to."

"I understand. I'm not wild about the word 'widow-er' so, yes, I do get it."

"Yes, I know you do. I wish you didn't, but as they say 'what's done is done', right?"

"You sound like my wife. She was very philosophical about such matters. We humans can do a lot of things, but we can't stop death. At least not yet."

Sierra laughed politely then told him, "From what I hear, it may not be that far in the future where death can be pushed back another hundred years and eventually, who knows? So anyway, I am single. And I am a pretty good shot."

Without thinking Josh said, "Why don't you go shooting with us this tomorrow?"

Sierra laughed again then said, "I am very flattered. Honestly I am, Josh. But that might not be such a good idea. I'm not saying it's a 'date', but it seems awfully close to it."

Josh had never been 'shot' down before, then again, he hadn't asked a woman out since Annie so he wasn't quite sure what to think.

"Oh, okay. I'm not everyone's cup of tea, I suppose," he said at a rare loss for words.

"No. It's not that at all," she said immediately.

"Are you by chance seeing someone?" he asked, assuming that would be the reason.

"No. I'm not seeing anyone. Josh, I'm a lot older than you," she said very politely.

"I'm almost 36, and you can't be much older than that, can you?" he asked putting out a feeler.

She laughed again then said, "You are so sweet!"

As he sat there thinking about amazingly beautiful she looked, he decided to go for it.

"Tell you what. Why don't you let me decide whether or not you're 'too old' for me? Go shooting with us and let's see how things go."

"It's very tempting, Josh. I like you a lot, and I have to admit you're very handsome. Oh, and I think the world of Sarah, too, but if I told you my age, you'd be looking for an excuse to back out so fast it would make both of us dizzy."

"I'm pretty good at making my own decisions, Sierra. Why not give me a chance to do that? Unless, of course, I'm really not your cup of tea."

Sierra had been on a handful of dates, most of which were either stink bombs or just 'meh', but she'd never been out with someone more than a year or two younger than her. At 55, she was essentially 20 years older than Josh, and she felt foolish even thinking about it.

And yet she found herself saying, "Okay. Let's try going to the range, and if you're not scared off after that, then we can talk about dinner some other time. As friends."

"All right. It's a...deal," he said with a smile she couldn't see but could 'hear'.

"But I'm not going to take it easy on you just because I'm a...woman."

She almost said 'girl' and nearly laughed. And yet she had to admit whenever she talked with Josh, that's what she felt like. A girl. A girl who felt almost giddy.

"I'm really looking forward to it, Sierra. And I'll fill you in on the Toys for Tots details."

"Okay. Sounds good, Josh."

"Yes. Yes, it does," he told her unaware he was smiling. "I'll text you with the details later this afternoon. Bye, Sierra."

Both of them just sat there smiling after they hung up. Sierra's faded first as she realized it might be fun to spend time with him and his daughter, but she knew that once he became aware she wasn't just 'a few' years older, that would be the end of it.

She should have come right out and told him, but it had been so long since she'd met anyone she enjoyed being with, she decided to be a tiny bit selfish and have one pleasant afternoon. And spending even just a few hours with two very pleasant people was preferable to spending another day home alone doing crossword puzzles on her iPad.

She'd thought about getting a job many times, but her husband had left her in an incredibly good situation in terms of finances, so she spent a lot of time volunteering and helping those who were less fortunate.

That evening Josh was thinking about their phone call and smiled, a smile Sarah noticed immediately.

"What are you smiling about, Dad?" Sarah asked.

He started laughing then said, "Round Two."

"Huh?"

Josh told his daughter about the phone call to Sierra, but Sarah didn't laugh.

"I really like her, Dad."

"She says she's a lot older than me."

"Define 'a lot'," Sarah said.

"I can't. She won't tell me. I was thinking 40 but I guess it's possible she could be 45."

"So?"

"Right. So," he said and left it at that. At least as far as discussing it with Sarah as he asked himself how old would be 'too old'?

This time, when Saturday afternoon came along, Josh found himself thinking more than once, "What a difference a day makes!" or in this case, a week.

Sierra was waiting for them on her porch, and even in jeans and a sweatshirt, she looked more like a coed than...well, Josh wasn't sure, but she most definitely didn't look 45. She'd mentioned having a daughter who was on her own so even if she was say—22—Sierra could still be around 42 or maybe 45, but she most definitely did not look anywhere close to it.