Ok so I wrote this because I just felt the need to write it. Not sure if anyone will really care for it, but it just needed to be told.

I am in no way the biggest Tom Petty fan, but I do like him. After his passing I started to realized just how much his music had been a part of my life. From going to a sun baked shake in the middle of a flea market in search of cheap ass comics books (the guys were playing a best of CD) to lazy days with my late best friend watching music videos (they always managed to throw in a couple of Tom Petty videos). He was always there. One of my favorite character on King of Hill was Lucky. There were even a few road trips where his music would always find its way into the CD player. Tom Petty was a constant in my life, and when he died it felt like a piece of my childhood had been chipped away.

I felt that Luna would be someone who could tell this story. I see her as the kind of person who just absorbs music, not matter what kind, and makes it a part of her. I felt that she would take the death of pretty much pretty much any muscian in a hard way. I didn't bother to change the names of the artists I referances as I was going to be using Tom Petty's name, so it kind of became silly to try and make up fake names and such.

As always I don't own anything or claim to, and I apologize for any grammar of spelling errors.

Tom

Luna sat on her bed looking at the news story on her phone. She had read it a few times the past few days, each time the frown on her face getting deeper and the tears in her eyes rolling down her cheeks. Music was the young girls' life, ever since that first concert and watching Mick Swagger rock that stage, holding that audience in the palm of his hand with each note that broke from his voice while the guitars screamed in harmony. She was hooked, feeling like the music gods had looked down upon her and chose her to be their newest disciple. She began to listen to any and everything she could get her hands on, genres did not matter to her, she was a slave to rhythm and the beat. Not long after discovering Mick, she started to expand her musical tastes to various other artists. There was of course SMOOCH, the shear spectacle of their shows thrilled her. The lights, the make up, the special effects that all made the show seem more like an event than a concert. Then there were the bands that introduced her to metal, Black Sabbath and of course Ronnie James Dio. Both quickly became favorites of hers as she begged her father to buy her any album she came across. Luna would have her dad take her to the local used music store to search through the stacks of CD's and vinyl records, always coming home with something new and interesting. One day she came home with a best of CD from The Cure, listening to Robert Smith sing Just Like Heaven, the song on repeat for hours. There was something so sweet and tragic about the song that sat with her for days, the lyrics stuck in her mind. She was always discovering new music and new bands that she could study and follow. Then came the day she discovered Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers.

She was out with her father running errands, Lori was out playing with Leni at a friends house, while the other kids stayed home to help their mother keep an eye on the twins, even at one they were starting to fight with each other. Her father was driving to the store to pick up some groceries while listening to the radio. After a commercial where a man talked about all the great deals he was giving on used cars at his lot, the DJ came back and announced the next set of songs.

"All right everyone we are back and I got some Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, and The Who coming up. But first lets kick things of with a little Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers." The man said through the radio.

"Oh, I love Tom Petty." Her father said, cranking up the radio.

The guitar moaned to life with a musical echo that started the song off. Luna could feel it already as the notes tickled her musical senses, making her head bop back and forth with each note. She noticed that her father was doing the same, with perhaps a bit more gusto, as he bit his lower lip and had an intense look on his face as if the music were speaking directly to him and he had to focus on each and every word. When Tom kicked in and started to sing, her father started to mouth the words along with him, making it look like he was singing the song himself. This made Luan smile even more, never really seeing her father act the way he did in that moment. When the chorus came around, her father could no longer hold back and belted out the words, singing a duet with Tom.

"Heeeey baby!" Her father sang off-key. "There ain't no easy way out! Heeeey! I will stand my ground, and I won't back down. No, I won't back down."

"Dad who is Tom Petty?" Luna asked.

"Tom Petty sweetie, is one of the best all American classic rockers." Her father stated. "I loved to listen to his stuff when I was in college. I even turned your mother on to him when we started dating."

"Huh." Luna said.

"In fact he is directly responsible for you name."

"What?"

"Yeah, we had a hard time finding the perfect name for you before you were born." Her father told her. "Then one night we were listening to the radio in the car after we stopped, your mother had a craving for a triple bacon cheese from Burpin Burger. So we sat in the car and as we ate, the song Luna came on the radio. It was the first time your mother had ever heard it, and she loved it. So when you were born, the name was stuck in her head and we decided that it fit you perfectly."

Luna stared down at the radio as the song was ending and Tom repeated the chorus that he and her father sang together a few minutes ago. She had always wondered where her name came from, thinking it was just something her parents thought would be a cute name give her. She pondered over the fact that she was named after a rock song, only to later be seduced into the world of music as she got older.

"Do you have the song?" Luna asked.

Her father stopped and thought for a moment, wondering if he had it on a CD somewhere. "You know I think it might be on one of the CD stuck in the visor there." He told her.

Luna pulled the visor down and looked at the small collection of discs that were placed in their little sleeves. She found the album the bared the same name of the band and slid the disc into the CD player. Her father skipped down to the ninth track. The song started with a low groan coming from an organ followed by a drum beat and what sounded to Luna like a bass. All the sounds blended into a nice mellow rhythm that made the young girl close her eyes as music took her away to the special place. Tom began to sing about a being held prisoner by a cold dark night and clouds of silver and black. He sang about the light of moon, how is fell by his window in pools of yellow and black, and he begged for a mysterious woman who bared her name to come and release him from his prison, asking her to glide down from the moon where she stayed. Luna could picture herself as this woman, draped in a sliver and black gown that flowed in the night sky as she rode a beam of yellow light down from the moon. She stopped at the window of this poor trapped soul, who begged to be released for his darkness. Luna reached out her hand, basking them both in a silver and yellow glow, before floating back the moon which hung like an ever watching eye in the still darkness of the night.

"Wow." She said, as the song ended.

"That's what your mother said after hearing it as well." Her father said with nostalgic grin.

Later one she would have another moment with Tom Petty, a moment that she considered one of her favorites. It would be about a year after that day in vanzilla with her father. Her class had all gotten to go on a field trip to the local water park for the day, they had all scored well on a test their teacher gave them and she decided to reward the kids. This was especially rewarding to Luna as she never really did well on tests, and took pride the fact she actually scored fairly high on one for once.

The day was filled with lots of fun, as Luna had spent most of the early park of the day going down the big twisting water slide dubbed the anaconda. It was a large green tube that went up about fifty feet. There was a steep drop in the begging that went into a twenty-foot vertical loop that sent you down into three sideways loops before spitting you out into the pool below. Each time going down, Luna and squealed in delight as if it were her first time.

Later, after her stomach had told her ten times down the slide was enough, she went to the snack bar which was located in the same building as the arcade. She ordered a slice of pizza and and a soda, and enjoyed her lunch as she watched the music videos they played on the TV's mounted on the walls. Afterwords she decided to scope out the arcade, finding the lure of the building air conditioning to tempting. Luna was not much for playing video games, that was something that was reserved for her dear brother who had already been able to get high scores on the games his parents bought him. Still, there was one game that she happened to enjoy, the classic Ms. PAC-Man game. Luna remembered her parents talking about the game, though they said it was even old for their time, but still managed to find some enjoyment out it. She found the game stuck near the rear of the arcade where all the less popular games found themselves. She wandered over to the game and dropped a quarter in, moving the joystick to make the little yellow character run across the screen and away from the ghosts. She never managed to make it past the first stage of the game, yet still ended up spending a buck twenty-five on the arcade classic and a having a lot of fun playing.

When the field trip was nearing its end, the kids all gathered outside the bus and lined up one by one, filing into the big yellow tank. They took their seats and when everyone was were they should be their teacher instructed the bus driver, a sketchy looking man with long dark hair and head phones hanging around his neck, to start the bus and head back to the school. The bus driver started the bus up and clicked on the radio to entertain the kids. Again there came the voice of a local DJ who talked about up coming concerts and reminded his listeners to call in for chance to win tickets to any up coming event. He then started to play a block of songs, starting off with Eric Clapton, who was singing about his lady love Layla had him on his knees and begging darling please. After a few more songs familiar guitar rift kicked in, making Luan grin. Tom Petty started to sing about a girl who grew up in an Indiana town and how she grew up tall and right. Even though most of the kids in her class were more into hip hop and rap there was still something about Tom's lyrics and the notes that floated out of the speakers that seemed to touch the kids and make them feel the music. After Tom sang about how he was tired of screwing up and his town a few kids around her chimed in and belted out the next part.

"Oh my my, oh hell yes, honey put on that party dress!" The kids all sang with glee.

Luna knew they sang it because it gave them the chance to say a word their teacher would usually scold them for saying. Yet she noticed the teacher at the front of bus had a smile on her face as she watched her students get into the song.

During the chorus a few kids began to sing again, Luna being among them.

"Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to the kill the pain." They all sang in unison. "I feel summer creeping in, and I'm tired of this town again."

What came next was a moment that would sit with Luna for the rest of her life. She closed her eyes and let the music take hold of her, rocking out to the beat. Once the guitar solo had finished and Tom began to sing again, Luna had forgotten where she was and started to sing a duet with the rock star on the radio.

"There's pigeons down on Market Square, she's standin' her underwear." Luna sang, unaware of the looks she was getting from the other students on the bus. "Lookin' down for a hotel room, nightfall will be comin' soon."

By this time even her teacher had taken notice of the young girl. She smiled and watched and listened along with the rest of the bus and Luna sang the song, still unaware she had stepped into the spot light and was now the center of everyone's attention.

When the song ended she opened her eyes and notices the whole bus looking to her, smiles on the faces of all those kids who now looked to her with wonder and amazement. She could feel herself blush as they all clapped and cheered, not aware of how talented she had been. Luna wanted to curl into a little ball and hide, embarrassed that she had just sang in front of her whole class. She had been caught a few times in the shower by her family, who said she had a lovely voice, but this was first time anyone outside of her family had heard her. The cheers and compliments started to make her feel more comfortable, giving her a healthy ego boost.

The whole trip back to school Luna sang to her classmates, singing along to whatever came on the radio that she knew. When the bus pulled into the school parking lot and shuddered to a stop, the kids all cheered for her again, many of them telling her how wonderful a singer she was. Before going back to class, her teacher pulled her aside to talk to her.

"That was really good Luna, I didn't know you could sing." She told her.

"I've never sung in front of people before." Luna said, blushing.

"Well you certainly have a talent. Have you ever thought of exploring music before?"

"A little. I mean the idea does kind of come into my head from time to time."

The teacher tore a piece of paper from off her clip board and began to write on it. She handed the paper to Luna who looked it over, written on it was a name and phone number. She looked back to her teacher with a puzzled look.

"That's the name and number of a friend of mine." She told her. "He teaches music and helps to coach young musicians. You should give him a call sometime, he could help you."

Luna looked at the note, one thought echoing throughout her mind. She had always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. There was one in particular she had her eye on every time she walked past that music store in the mall.

Now Luna was much older, and much more gifted with music. She got her guitar and had learned to play it, as well as many other instruments she had scattered around the house. She still sang, though now she would rather let Sam do most of the singing as she felt her voice was much better. She even wrote her own songs, spending hours or even days coming up with the proper notes and lyrics before playing them for anyone who would listen.

Mich Swagger had opened the door for Luna, exposing her to the world of music and joy that would follow. Later it would be Tom Petty that would get her to finally open up and share her talent with the world. He would never know the impact that he had on her, first giving her her name, then giving her the courage to sing in front of others. He managed to reach out and touch her life, never knowing that he had done so, and she would never have the chance to thank him for his gift.

Luna wiped the tears from her face as she cleared the news story from her phone. She pulled up a digital music app on her phone. She typed in Tom Petty's name and scrolled through the list of songs, stopping on Luna. She put her ear buds in and pressed play, letting the song once again take her ways as she closed her eyes, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Thank you Tom." Luna said. "Thank you for everything."

End

So the scene on the school bus was based on a real thing. When I was in school we went on a field trip, and coming back that song played on the radio. All the kids on the bus sang that part, and it was because we were able to say Hell without getting into trouble. At that age you took any opportunity to get away with anything. The teacher actually laughed, and let us do what we wanted. To this day it really is one of my favorite memories.

Rest in peace Tom and thanks for the soundtrack.