Melody Singer accepted the towel given to her by the stagehand and dabbed her face with it lightly. She nodded a quick thanks to the young girl and headed towards the small room the cafe had given her to use as a dressing room. Opening the door, she was not surprised to find a stout but sturdy-looking old man searching through her purse with harassed mumbles.

"Managers are not supposed to go digging through their client's bags," Melody said, letting the door shut with a soft click.

"Right now, I'm your grandfather who can't stand to hear your nonsense rap music ringtone," the old man replied. "Aha!" his hand emerged from the large bag, silver prize in hand.

"But it's not ringing right now."

"It might again. So I'm stopping it before it gets a chance." He rapped it against the dresser roughly.

Before her grandfather could permanently prevent her phone from ringing, Melody quickly snatched it away and pressed a button on the side to switch it to vibrate mode. She'd check her missed call later. Five songs in a row was fun, but not always easy with those hot lights beamed directly on her. And even though her outfit was airy, it didn't keep the sweat from coming and she had to keep running backstage in between each song to quickly wipe away any drops.

Now done with her morning cafe gig, she wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel they were staying at and take a shower before her afternoon show at a school picnic.

"Grandpa, I need to change, so if you don't mind," Melody said with a wave towards the door.

Her grandfather rubbed his bearded chin but made no move towards the door. Instead, he sat down on a metal chair and motioned to the couch. "I am back to being your manager right now," he said.

Melody sighed and sat down, knowing what was coming. She bent down to undo the straps on her shoes as her grandfather started to talk, only half-listening as she kicked off the heels.

Always the same thing. She had the voice, but not the emotion behind the words she sang. Since love songs were the most popular and most requested, that's what she sang. And while the audiences always cheered for her, a real pro would be able to tell right off the bat that she herself hadn't any experience about what she sang. And therefore, her singing lacked true strength and conviction which caused her to fail at being one with the song.

"Singers don't just sing the song," her grandfather said as Melody recited the next words silently in her head. "They become the song and in order to become the song, you must experience what is being said in the lyrics."

"Yes Grandpa."

"And because you have no real experience in this, you won't be able to rise higher in your career. Do you want to continue singing in these small towns and country cafes the rest of your life?"

No of course not. What self respecting and aspiring young talent would want that? Of course she wanted more, to be up on the big stage with camera crews all focused on her voice and journalists wanting an interview and adoring fans crying for autographs. But her grandfather and manager claimed that her singing still lacked that true oompf needed to fight it out in the big league of entertainment.

"-you must quickly experience love and heart break and pain and happiness in order for you to become a true shining star!" Melody heard her Grandfather say as she zoned back into the one-sided conversation he was having.

"Which is why," Melody said standing up. "I've signed up for this town's match making service."

"Eh?"

"She's supposed to be an excellent matchmaker and I think she's about my age. A lot of people have found their matches with her so I decided to give it a try," Melody said.

"Wonderful!" her Grandfather exclaimed jumping up with the exuberance of a young man. "You must find your match so you can sing the happy love songs. Then have your heart broken so you can sing the painful songs."

"Uh huh. That's the plan," Melody replied dully. the old man walked towards the door and left, talking to himself about how great this would be for her performances.

Right, my performances, Melody thought with a heavy sigh as she began to undress. All she had to do was fall in love then manage to have her heart broken to be the best.