Tags
Brenda Fiedler, Bryan, CBS 2, Emergency Preperation, Interview, Marcy Jones, Mary Beth, Roger Quane, Sandy, Tinfoil Series, Venture Crew 1846, Winnie the Shmoo
Winnie was in the shower before Bryan and greeted him as he entered. “So, how was it? Tough, huh?”
Bryan had always had a tinge of body modesty, which was something he had worked hard to overcome. For the most part he had been successful, entering the communal shower naked barely bothered him at all, but he still found conversing with men while dressed in nothing but skin off-putting. “Very. You told me to pace myself, Cassandra told me to pace myself and I just didn’t listen. I’m gassed.”
“Wait until tomorrow! First time I did this class I left with my arms shaking. I was embarrassed that a woman showed me up! That was just the beginning! My legs and gluteus maximus were sore for two days and when those finally stopped hurting I realized how much my stomach muscles hurt! And I work out! Amazing how great of a workout we can get just using body weight and gravity, huh? No weights required.”
Bryan got under the shower head and let the warm water pour over him. He knew that a cold water shower now would reduce muscle aches later but he didn’t care. The warm water was too enticing and immediate pleasure at the price of future discomfort seemed like too great a bargain to pass up. He relaxed beneath the warm water jets for five minutes before he pumped soap into his hand and hit the hot spots of groin and underarms then rinsed and turned the water off. Back at his locker he realized that he hadn’t brought a towel with him so he used the cloth tote bag he’d stored his clothes in to dry off as effectively as he could.
Winnie was mostly dressed and was finishing a Half-Windsor knot and asked, “Bryan? You can rent a towel here you know?”
“Oh, I’ll be alright, thanks. I’ll have to bring one next time.”
“So, you’re coming back? Good for you! My first class was on a Friday and I didn’t come back until the next Wednesday. I needed all five days to recover! Well, maybe I’ll see you around,” he said as he slipped on his jacket, grabbed his belongings and left.
“Well,” Bryan said to himself, “at least he didn’t offer to shake hands with me standing here in my birthday suit.” Finished dressing he went to the mirror, ran his fingers through his auburn hair, straightened his clothes and went to the reception area. Mary Beth was still at her desk but there was now a somewhat large woman with a large camera there and with her was another rather petite blonde woman who looked vaguely familiar.
“Pardon me,” he said to the three women. “Mary Beth? I’m going to run out to Cassie’s car for a sec. Would you please let her know that I’ll be right back?”
“Sure, Bryan,” Mary Beth said with a smile.
The blonde gal said, “Bryan Tiernan? Marcy Jones, CBS two,” and extended her hand. “I’ll be interviewing you today. This is Brenda Fiedler, she’ll be on camera. Can we chat just a minute before MS Priam joins us?”
Bryan took her hand and noted that her handshake was dead center between a gentle, more ‘feminine’ one and a commanding constriction. “Nice to meet you MS Jones. I have to go out and grab some breakfast that I left in the car. I’ll be right back,” he replied.
“Mind if I tag along? I’d like to get some background.”
“Tell you what, give me four minutes to get out there, snarf down my waffles, and I should be back in in less than five. We should still have time before our eight thirty start, okay?”
“Sure, Mr. Tiernan, we can do that. Do you mind if I call you Bryan?”
“Nope. Almost everybody does. I’ll be right back, Marcy.”
Bryan ate quickly and left his bag in the car. By the time he returned the news team was nowhere to be seen. Mary Beth looked up, smiled and pointed down the hall. “They’re down there. In studio D. They asked that I send you down.”
“Is Cassie with them?”
“Yes, Sandy came out about the time you cleared the exit door. They’re waiting for you,” she added.
Checking the wall clock he said, “Thanks, Mary Beth!” and walked down the hall in the direction she had indicated. “I guess ten minutes early is the new late,” he mumbled to himself as he quickly covered the distance to studio D.
Sandy’s red tote sat just inside Studio D’s door. She and Marcy were chatting while Brenda set up lights and she had her back to Bryan. He again took an appreciative glance at her legs and posterior. Cassie was probably ten years older than Marcy, who was a knockout herself, but in Bryan’s eyes Sandy’s beauty outshone that of the even blonder reporter. “Hormone glasses,” he whispered, remembering what Cassie had said to him just two hours earlier.
Bryan walked up to the trio and said, “That’s better. I needed to eat something. Cassie here tried to kill me for my insurance money in her fitness class. What did I miss?”
“Not much. I’ll ask you some questions and just try to answer them as naturally as you can. When you answer keep your eyes on me, not the camera, okay? It looks much better that way, I promise! Don’t worry about the order of the questions because we’ll likely remix the video just a bit to make a more cohesive segment, the glory of not doing this live like I usually do! If you two are ready and Brenda’s ready we can begin. Oh! Are your phones off? Or silenced, I don’t care which.”
Sandy’s was but Bryan had to turn his off. The interview took about fifteen minutes and concentrated primarily on what they had done to save Roger’s life and where they had received their first aid training. Both of them had gotten in little plugs for Venture Crew 1846 and Troy Carter. Darcy asked what they both did for a living and where they’d been going that morning as well as a few other incidental personal questions.
The interview seemed innocuous enough and Marcy asked them questions both separately and as a couple. “Okay, nice,” she said as Brenda flipped off the spot lights. “That should give us something to work with. We’ll mix in some footage from yesterday and we should have a sixty second segment here, maybe even ninety. Thank you both! You guys did great.”
“Glad to help,” Cassie replied. “Spreading the word about emergency prep is something that’s important to both of us, isn’t it, Bryan?”
“Very. The more people who know what to do in an emergency the fewer lives that will be lost. Will you send us a copy of the segment? You have our emails.”
“I will, if you’d like. It should air tonight on the five o’clock broadcast,” she answered.
“That would be lovely,” Cassie said. “Nice to meet you, Marcy. Thanks, Brenda!” she hollered to the camera woman with a wave and a grin. “Ready, Bryan?”
“Yep. Thanks, Marcy. Thanks, Brenda,” he said and then scooped up her red bag from the floor as they headed outside.
They stopped at the reception desk and Cassie held up her index finger to Bryan indicating that she wanted to wait for Mary Beth. Mary Beth was on the phone and she held up her index finger in the same way to acknowledge that she knew they were waiting for her. “Okay, thanks for calling! We’ll see you here at noon then. Goodbye,” she said into the phone before returning the cordless to its charging cradle. “So! How was it? Good?”
“Yes. I think so! Thanks for letting us do it here. I hope you get a little return on your investment,” Cassie said reaching over and squeezing the other woman’s hand.
“Oh, no problem at all! And like you said, maybe we’ll get a little traction out of this. Bryan, it was great to meet you. Will we see you back here?”
“Yes, for sure! But maybe not till next week!” he said, nudging Sandy. “She’s a beast!”
“More of a lion tamer if you ask me.” Her phone rang again and she said, “Gotta’ get this. I’ll see you Friday, Sandy.”
“Bye, Mary Beth,” Sandy replied with a smile.
“Traction?” he asked, as they made their way over to Sandy’s car. “Here’s the keys,” he said, handing them to her.
“You don’t want to drive?”
“My arms are shaking, thanks. Are you hungry? I’m famished. Do you have time to come back to my place for some breakfast?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” was her quick reply as they climbed in the car and drove the short distance back to Bryan’s. “Taugeco Fratinoj could use a little plug, that’s why we did the interview there. Marketing is an insidious beast, and so’s my appetite.”
keithakenel 