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    Jukebox Gifts: Jukebox Gifts
    Jukebox Gifts: Jukebox Gifts
    Jukebox Gifts: Jukebox Gifts
    Ebook59 pages40 minutes

    Jukebox Gifts: Jukebox Gifts

    By Dean Wesley Smith

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    About this ebook

    A bar, five friends, and a very special jukebox that lets you time travel back to a memory for the length of the song.

    What could go wrong with giving such a special trip and the gift of a second chance to each of your closest friends?

    First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1994, “Jukebox Gifts” kicked off USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith’s Jukebox Series of stories, even though the first real Jukebox Story was published in Night Cry Magazine in the 1980s.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWMG Publishing
    Release dateNov 18, 2016
    ISBN9781540128782
    Jukebox Gifts: Jukebox Gifts
    Author

    Dean Wesley Smith

    Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA TODAY bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He currently produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series staring Poker Boy. During his career he also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds.

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      Book preview

      Jukebox Gifts - Dean Wesley Smith

      A bar, five friends, and a very special jukebox that lets you time travel back to a memory for the length of the song.

      What could go wrong with giving such a special trip and the gift of a second chance to each of your closest friends?

      First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1994, Jukebox Gifts kicked off USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith’s Jukebox Series of stories, even though the first real Jukebox Story was published in Night Cry Magazine in the 1980s.

      CHAPTER ONE

      THE STEREO BEHIND the bar was playing soft Christmas songs as I clicked the lock to the front entrance of the Garden Lounge and flicked off the outside light. I could feel the cold of the night through the wood door and the heat of the room surrounding me. I took a deep breath. Christmas Eve was finally here.

      I could see the entire lounge and the backs of my four best friends sitting at the bar. I had never been much into decorating with Christmas stuff, and this year was no different. My only nod to the season was a small Christmas candle for each table and booth. Some customer had tied a red ribbon on one of the plants over the middle booth, and the Coors driver had put up a Christmas poster declaring Coors to be the official beer of Christmas. The candles still flickered on the empty tables, but the rest of the bar looked normal. Dark brown wood walls, dark brown carpet, an old oak bar, and my friends. The most important part was the friends. My four best friends’ lives were as empty as mine. Tonight, on the first Christmas Eve since I bought the bar, I was going to give them a chance to change that. That was my present to them. It was going to be an interesting night.

      All right, Stout, Carl said, twisting his huge frame around on his bar stool so that he could face me as I wound my way back across the room between the empty tables and chairs. Just what’s such a big secret that you kick out that young couple and lock the door at seven o’clock on Christmas Eve?

      I laughed. Carl always got right to the point. With big Carl you always knew exactly where you stood.

      Yeah, Jess said from his usual place at the oak bar beside the waitress station, What’s so damned important you don’t want the four of us to even get off our stools? Jess was the short one of the crowd. When he stood next to Carl the top of Jess’s head barely reached Carl’s neck. Jess loved to play practical jokes on Carl. Carl hated it.

      This, I said as I pulled the custom-made, felt cover off the old Wurlitzer jukebox and, with a flourish, dropped the cloth over the planter and into the empty front booth. My stomach did a tap dance from nerves as all four of my best customers whistled and applauded, the sound echoing in the furniture- and plant-filled room.

      David, my closest friend in the entire world, downed the last

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