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Chapter 31

 

SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH

Five A. M. came early, especially since sleep had come so late, and since usually he would have had Saturday off. Most of him hoped that Carol, the regular weekend morning jock, would enjoy her vacation, but a small selfish part of him prayed that she'd been harassed by insects to the point where she decided to come home. Nothing would have made that part of him happier than walking into the studio and finding her already in the chair. Dan stopped to wake up Puck on his way out to remind him that he had spots to tape later in the day; then he drove the car he borrowed from the station to work on autopilot.

Sandy hugged him when he went into the studio. "I tried to reach you late last night, but either you weren't home or you just weren't picking up. Your answering machine wasn't working."

"My whole phone wasn't working. People said it rang when they called, but it was dead on my end. The explosion did something to the wiring—the phone company is supposed to have it working again today."

"Oh. Mostly I wanted to let you know I was glad you weren't dead."

"I was pretty glad of that myself."

"The phones here have been going wild. People all over the United States have seen that video clip of Puck doing CPR and trying to save the woman. According to them, he's the greatest thing in redemption since Christ," she said.

"I can imagine. It's such a pity she didn't make it."

Sandy nodded. "Yeah. We could have had her in here, talking about how her life was saved by a devil who'd been reformed by the Great Devil Makeover—" Sandy faltered. "What? Why are you looking at me that way?"

"I just meant," Dan said, "that it was a pity she didn't live. I wasn't thinking of the publicity angle of her being saved by Puck."

"Oh. Yes. I see what you mean."

Dan got ready to take over for her. As she was getting the backpack she frequently carried instead of a purse, he turned back to her and said, "People are getting a little carried away by what a good thing we're all doing, and forgetting why we're doing it."

Sandy nodded. "In light of that, maybe I shouldn't mention the ratings."

"Ratings?"

"They came out yesterday. I can understand why you hadn't heard. Anyway, guess how we did."

"Don't tell me we got nudged by WZZV again."

"We doubled our share."

"What?" Dan looked up from his console and grinned at her. "You're not kidding, are you? And if you are, lie to me."

"I would, but I'm not. We grabbed share from every single station in this town. Even the country and urban stations."

"Yeeeessssss!" Dan leaned as far back in the chair as he could and closed his eyes.

"So it's all right to get a little carried away?"

He laughed. "Yeah. And probably all right to be a little self-congratulatory. I mean, we are doing something good."

"You bet your ass. Bernie's having T-shirts done up with little red devils on them. Sales has been on the phone ever since the ratings from Arbitron came out. All our old accounts are back, and paying more. And we have new accounts all over the place."

"It's turning, isn't it?"

Sandy tipped her head and studied him. "Turning?"

"The state. The economy. It's starting to turn around."

Sandy shrugged. "Too soon to tell. The station is, at least. But I'll bet somebody checking the numbers of people moving out of state would see a drop in that statistic."

Dan closed his eyes. Sandy's song was wrapping up. He had two minutes of advertisements to run before he did his opening sequence for the Gunga Dan morning show. "It's going to work, though, Sandy. I can feel it." He pulled his script in front of him and told her, "I believe."

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Framed