Buster Moon was used to thinking on his feet, and this was no exception. Electricity out because the bill hadn't been paid in a few months? Not a problem for the world's most charismatic koala, not at all. Pulling out his heavy duty extension cord, he scampered outside his theater to do a little high wire finagling. A hop, skip, death defying plummet, and helpful elephant trunk later, and he had unplugged the neighboring building's electric sign and was prepared to plug his little wire in and get the show back on the road. He gleefully brought the plug down and-it was short by just a few inches. Shoot.
Moon wasn't one to give up so easily, especially not today, and he began to tug on the sturdy cord as hard as he could. One particularly sharp yank and the plug found a home safely within his neighbor's generous, unknowing power bill. He dusted off his hands and turned with a smile, watching the life return to his precious theater, one light bulb at a time.
When had yanked the wire to complete his unscrupulous electricity theft, the length snaking through the building snapped taught, knocking several books over and generally causing quite a nuisance. In the piano practice room where Johnny and Miss Crawly were, it had done more harm than that. The instant it had tightened was the same instant Miss Crawly was just about to finally take a bite of her overdue lunch, and the cord snapped up with such intensity that it smashed her sandwich into her face and pinned her against the bookshelf at a painful angle.
To say she was surprised would be an understatement, and to say she was in pain would be a truth. The twang of the extension cord had been drowned out by Johnny's practicing, and for a few blurry seconds, Miss Crawly couldn't get a breath or a plea for help out at all. The poor iguana struggled for a moment, embarrassed and trying to get herself out of the predicament, but the mayo from her sandwich smeared into her eye and made it sting, and her hands were hopelessly pinned against her own face.
Johnny was still going over the same chords, intent on making her proud, and besides a glance at the ceiling when the electricity returned, didn't notice anything at all. Until he heard a raspy little squeak and then his name, faltering and muddled over the piano chord he'd just mastered. He turned around quickly and was met with a pitiful sight. Miss Crawly, pinned to the bookshelf by an extension cord, sandwich splattered on her face and, Johnny noticed with a cold drop of his heart, tears starting in her eye.
"Johnny…" she squeaked out again, face squished, "Phlease help mwe.."
Johnny was up and over in an instant, one large hand carefully pulling the wire off of the poor old lady while the other slid between her head and the sharp corner of the bookshelf.
"Oh Miss Crawly," He muttered apologetically as he freed her, "I'm so sorry I didn't notice sooner."
She was released quickly and stood there for a minute, fruitlessly wiping bits of sandwich and a few hot tears of embarrassment from her face as Johnny kept a hand on her back to steady her.
"Let me help you get cleaned up, eh?" Johnny smiled, and waved off any protests with a shake of his head as he led her to the tiny bathroom on the landing.
For such a big guy, his movements and words were incredibly soft as he passed a washcloth soaked with warm water to Miss Crawly and gently removed her visor to wipe it clean while she took care of her face. He kept her mind off her embarrassment with funny stories she didn't quite get about his dad making him do tricks in the car, like driving around corners really fast and backing into alleys. She asked him if his dad was a stunt driver for movies, which he laughed about for some reason, and before she could ask him what was so funny, he had handed her visor back to her and told her he would meet her back in the practice room.
Miss Crawly stood on her tiptoes to see into the mirror one last time, adjusting her glass eye and giving a sheepish grin at her reflection.
"Now see there, Karen!" she laughed "That wasn't so bad, huh? You got all teary for nothing! It's just like Mr. Moon always says, you're going to shrivel up if you don't stop with the crying!"
She gave herself one last glance and nodded in satisfaction, then turned on her heel and hobbled back to the practice room, where she could already hear Johnny working away again at his song. When she entered the room, she was greeted by a cheery smile from the gorilla as he stood and helped her to her seat, which he had also cleaned and moved to a nice sunny patch near the window. She settled herself comfortably and prepared to listen to the rest of Johnny's practice when her stomach growled audibly.
Oh right, lunch. Oh well...
"Oh I almost forgot!" Johnny exclaimed, and then got up again and rustled around to the left of the piano. When he straightened up, he was holding two small Tupperware boxes.
"I uh...well I've been trying out cooking for myself recently, since it's just me now-"
He stopped suddenly, face a little sad, but the pause was so slight that Miss Crawly almost thought she had imagined it. He resumed his explanation.
"Since it's just me that wants to try out some new recipes, I mean! And well, I made some to share with you but I got kind of...eh, shy, when I saw you already had a lunch so I didn't think I was gonna bring it out today but, hey!" And he brightened up even more so, if that was possible, "It turns out it was a good day to bring it after all!"
Miss Crawly could feel some tears starting again in her eye and she blinked rapidly and mentally berated herself for being so teary today. Johnny's face went from excited to scared and he backpedaled furiously.
"Oh I-I-I mean you don't have to eat any if you want!" He clutched the Tupperware to his chest. "It's probably not even that good, I mean, I'm not that great of a cook and I uh-"
His stammering was cut short by Miss Crawly's hand on his wrist as she laughed and took a box out of his hand.
"No, no, no!" she assured him, "I do want to eat it, Johnny! I'm sorry! I was just so happy, and I'm a weepy old lady!"
She patted his hand one last time as she sat back with the food and opened the lid. Delicious smells escaped as she unveiled a neat little pile of multicolored pasta crowned with thick marinara and a small sprig of parsley. The piano lesson was put on hold for a while as the two friends ate the delicious lunch and forgot all about the incident from earlier. Miss Crawly sang praises about the meal while Johnny blushed and promised to make more, and before they knew it they were back to the lesson.
The day wound to an end and the sun started to set. Mr. Moon called everyone to a final meeting before they left for the day. Johnny had left early, saying something about helping a friend, and Moon went ahead with the meeting, giving a few words of encouragement and reminding everyone of the schedule for the next week.
The singers filed out and Moon retired upstairs, leaving his secretary to lock up. Just as she was turning the last key and walking away from the theater, Johnny came sprinting up the sidewalk to meet her.
"Oi -hff- Miss Crawly!" He panted, "I got something for you!"
He held out a small corner-mart bag, and when the iguana opened it, she found a heating pad and some pain-relief salve.
"I-uh, well I know you hit that bookcase really hard earlier and I wanted to make sure you were able to get a good night's sleep, so I found a few things that I thought would help!"
He rubbed his neck sheepishly and thumbed over his shoulder.
"Well I better get going! I have to get home and...dust…" he finished lamely.
Before he could get more than two steps, however, he felt something touch him and looked down to see Miss Crawly's wrinkly little hand in his.
"I don't think so, Johnny!" she smiled up at him in her endearing, wobbly way, "It's only fair that you come along home with me for dinner after all the help today, and I won't take no for an answer!"
She began marching ahead, Johnny's hand still swallowing her own as he was snapped out of his surprise and began to follow. He looked down at the old woman, confidently striding beside him as she talked about what she was going to make and lamented that she hadn't cleaned more, and he smiled to himself.
He realized that, even with his dad and the gang gone, he had family right here.