The Start of a New Day



NOTE: Again, I do not own these characters.


I was very tense and timid on the elevator. I was told 14th floor of the Criterion Building was the place that I needed to be. I was uncomfortably nervous, and I also just so happened to be the only on the elevator.
At this point I craved not only a cigarette, which I had given up a few months prior to my trip, but also a nice whimsical trip off the elevator and a plane ride back to Illinois. I had never in my life worked for radio. I watched the elevator light rise up and up to the 14th floor. DING! The elevator door flew open, I sucked in my pride, clutched my briefcase, and walked into the station.
As I walked in, I noticed that the station looked more like an office than a radio station. I glanced to my left and saw a booth surrounding by sound-proof glass. I went back to the right and walked up to first desk I saw a person sitting at.
"Hello, I am looking for a Mr. Jimmy James."
The man looked up at me. "Oh, hi-you must be the new temp?"
"No," I said. This man looked very young, and very goofy might I add.
"Ah, you must be the great Audrey Lane?" I heard the voice and turned my head.
"Jimmy James, I presume?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, Mr. Jimmy James of Jimmy James Incorporated. You can call me Jimmy-or Mr. James."
"Alright," I continued, "Mr. James, I am the one Lucinda Walsh sent to help your station."
"Oh, yes, Ms. Lucinda Walsh, number twelve."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, it's an inside joke."
I smiled at him as he lead me into the station manager"s office.
"This is Dave Nelson, he is the station manager. You can call him Dave, or David, but my favorite name is Pumpkin." I gave a nervous chuckle. "Dave, this is Audrey Lane, you two will be working together to get our ratings out of the hole."
I was starting to finally understand my purpose of the trip. And it quickly infuriated me because I was not an advertising agent or an executive producer. I had produced news promos for my station in Illinois, but never had anything been as big as trying to help get ratings up.
I gave a big smile and held out my hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Nelson."
He grabbed my hand for a shake, "No, the pleasure is all mine."
"Well, I will leave you two to work on the project together." said Mr. James, he was starting to walk out of the office as he said to me, "Dave will fill you in on the job responsibilities and everything else. He's a good guy, and I trust him enough to leave you in his hands."
He left the office.
Dave took a drink out of his coffee mug and turned to sit behind his desk. "Well, Audrey, it certainly is an honor to be having someone of your caliber working for us here at WNYX."
"Thank you very much," I said, "but let me tell you that I have never worked in radio before and I really have no idea why I am here."
"I can give you the details of that," I sat on the couch in front of his desk. "Mr. James said that our ratings stink, which they do. I wanted to take care of it myself, but he said that he knew someone who could help us and that this person owed him a favor anyway."
"I am assuming that this person was my boss."
"I assume that also." he smiled. "I had not heard anything after that, and today you show up. So, apparently you are the one that is here to help us."
"Okay," I said, still reeling from the information I had been fed earlier.
"Well, I have followed your work and I loved that piece you did on Dateline about the Siamese twins linked at the head." I gave a smile of gratitude. "Well, enought about me making an ass out of myself, let me call a staff meeting and introduce you to the people that you will be working with the most."
He called the staff meeting and everyone gathered at the conference table outside of his office.



Part 3