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Chapter 4
“Goldie, what in the world is going
on? There are people and
cameras outside our front door, everywhere!”
She is an early riser; I need that first cup of coffee to start a
normal mental process. “What,
Margie?” This woke me with a
start as I stumbled to the bedroom window.
Glancing at the clock I see its 6:30 in the morning, before my time
of day usually starts. It appears at this moment the whole world starts
earlier than I do. There must
be 40 people out there, vans and camera crews everywhere.
What on earth is this commotion about?
I walk down to the door to open it, straightening out my hair,
knowing I usually look like Don King in the morning.
As I open the door I see Amy Streeter standing there holding up a
microphone with hungry eyes like I just committed the biggest scam any
company president has ever committed.
Looking around I see all three stations in our area that have local
news, faces I only see on TV. I
recognize them from my channel switching at night, for my best thirty
minutes of information I can get on the 10:00 news.
I thought to myself, these people work a lot!
They report at night and up before I get up…
“Mr. Simms? Mr.
Golden Simms?” Amy Streeter spoke out with no hesitation as if she was
at a press conference and not wanting to loose her position on the floor.
“We recognize you from the Senator’s press conference yesterday
at the department store. Our
staff worked all night to learn who you were.”
I thought to myself, who did they call in the middle of the night
to learn who I was, a complete stranger to the public?
I wondered which of my friends or acquaintances ratted me out.
Ideas started swimming in my head, like maybe a close friend that
wanted to play a joke and sick the proverbial paparazzi on me.
“What made you think of the things you stated yesterday to the
Senator, Mr. Simms? Are these
your ideas, or is it something you read somewhere?”
They were all looking at me with bated breath.
I have the floor. I can
say anything, and all these cameras will record it.
I just got up, and I look rough, I know it.
It is tough to be presentable by any standards under these
conditions. And what do I
care? Why should I talk to
these folks? I know that the
press takes things out of text, and what one thing will I say that they
can make something out of to fit their political views.
TV stations are very political in thinking, remembering the Station
Manager’s editorial last night on Amy’s station with rhetoric of his
own. “These are my ideas
Miss Streeter,” attempting to paste my hair down a little.
“May we ask you some questions?” I
thought for a moment, “Sure you can, but if you could give me about an
hour, I would like to go inside and get my first cup of coffee and take a
shower. Then I can sit down
with you for a few minutes. I
do have to open my store though, so I only have a little time.
Please pardon my appearance. Miss
Streeter, I just got up. I am
self employed and my day hasn’t started yet “on my clock”.
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