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inflamed and red-raw. I rubbed my hand across my chin and felt the electric crackle of unshaven stubble.
    The elevator stopped. A bell chimed. I took a deep breath and then stepped out into the reception area of the radio station, scowling darkly with an expression like thunder.

Chapter 5.
     
    “I listened to your show last night,” Nancy Collett reclined back in her chair and steepled her fingers like an evil villain in deep contemplation. “I thought you handled yourself rather well – considering it was your first time on the air.”
    “Thanks,” I muttered with a surly grunt. “You could have told me that over the phone – when I had woken up.”
    The expression on Nancy’s face froze – a fixed smile wrung free of humor. She narrowed her eyes a little and sat upright.
    “It’s Tuesday morning,” Nancy said suddenly, and her voice snapped with new authority. “And every Tuesday morning there is an on-air announcers’ meeting, in this office, starting at 8.30am. You’re late, and I don’t appreciate your tone.”
    I flinched. “I didn’t know anything about a meeting,” I protested.
    Nancy shrugged her shoulders. “Not my problem. You should have been told.”
    “Well I wasn’t.”
    “Well, quite frankly, I don’t give a shit,” Nancy’s tone leveled and filled with menace. “That’s what happens, and you are expected to attend.” She stood up and planted the palms of her hands flat on the edge of her desk. Her fingers were long and delicate. I saw no rings, just a sparkling diamond bracelet around one thin wrist of smooth flawless skin.
    She eased herself back down into the deep chair and let out a long breath. I sat motionless – hovering on the edge of storming out of the office.
    I did nothing.
    Nancy said nothing.
    We stared across the space at each other like two gunslingers, each one bristling, waiting for the other to draw, and for long tense moments the silence drew out.
    Finally Nancy Collett sighed. “When you are on the air, I want you to try slowing down the speed of your speech,” she said with restraint. “You started off talking too fast through a few of the early calls, but got better towards the end of the night.”
    I nodded. I felt my lips pressed into a thin resentful line. “April said the same thing,” I admitted grudgingly. “I’ll work on it.”
    Nancy nodded, seemingly relieved. She tiptoed delicately to the next subject while our tempers cooled.
    “How did you find working with April? Was she helpful?”
    I shrugged. The truth was I didn’t know enough about my new job yet to tell whether the woman was a good operator, or a bad one. “She seems pleasant enough,” I said without any real enthusiasm. “She’s very vivacious. Very friendly…”
    Nancy pursed her lips into a knowing little pucker. She nodded her head. “April gives the impression that she is a wild girl – an outrageous flirt. The real April isn’t anything like that. What you saw last night was a character. It is how she presents herself to the public, not who she really is.”
    I sat back and thought about that for a moment. If what Nancy said was true, April was a highly skilled actress. She had fooled me.
    “And what about your producer?” Nancy glanced down at a sheet of paper on her desk. “You worked with Cecily last night, right?”
    I nodded my head, and then shrugged again. “Everything seemed to go well,” I said. “They both tried to make the job as easy as possible.”
    That seemed to please Nancy. She crossed her legs and swung the chair to one side so that I could see her expensive heels. “And what about the callers?” she asked suddenly, and I sensed this was the real purpose of the meeting. “Any observations?”
    I thought back to the long hours of talking to women and answering their questions. I clasped my hands together and leaned forward in the chair. “There is a lot of curiosity out there,” I said. “More than I expected, and more than Cecily