Questions answered…
I strolled, as casually as I could, over to Nat who rose to meet me, held out his hand. As we shook hands, I could hear the studio team squawking in my earpiece, demanding of Lorna “What’s going on?”
Lorna doesn’t know of course. She’s as in the dark as they are about this. It wasn’t scripted. She’s the consummate professional though. Totally unflustered on the outside. Smiling, making it look as though she does know what’s going on. Nobody seems to remember I have the earpiece in, that I know what they are saying. I’d forgotten too.
Nat’s speaking, smiling at Lorna. Turning, guiding me gently to face her as she rises from her seat and offers her hand. Nat doesn’t look flustered either.
“Lorna, may I introduce to you, and your viewers, Craig Wright, a colleague of mine from Allegheny River Military College. Craig, this is Lorna, KWT-TV’s ‘Traffic Lady’. Lorna, here’s your mystery singer…”
After shaking hands with Lorna, I gently placed my hand on Nat’s shoulder, guiding him slightly sideways, closer to Lorna, making space on the sofa for me to sit alongside Nat. Nat’s got the underlying message too. I have his back. And, being squished up along the sofa a little, he now has a tighter viewing angle on the autocue as we sit down. He should be able to see any of the prompts sent to Lorna now. That’s a double win. Nat can see the prompts, I can hear the studio chatter.
Lorna’s taking control again as she sits down. Nat’s smiling, letting her.
Out of the corner of my eye I can see Nat’s dad, still signalling to his PR aides to hold back, not to interrupt the filming. He looks as though he’s happy to let this run for while at least. Until I screw up, I guess.
I’m not going to screw up.
I’ll take my cues from Nat, let him lead our input to the interview. My dad’s not looking too concerned either but then I can never tell with him: he’d make a great card player. Mom’s looking at Nat’s mom and Elizabeth. All three of them trying to figure out what me and Nat have planned. We don’t have a plan.
“Nathan, for the benefit of our viewers, can you introduce us a little more to Craig, tell us how you met?” Lorna’s on this. Giving herself time to gather her thoughts, letting the studio team gather theirs too as Nat speaks.
Nat’s smiling, knowing he can cover this. Can continue to ‘assert his presence’ as the PR aides kept saying earlier. Without planning it, we’ve got KWT-TV off guard, responding to him.
“Sure thing, Lorna. Craig joined us in the Fall Semester at Allegheny last year, a freshman in the dorm I was in charge of. He was only with us for a month or two but he made a big impression. He’s over here now for a summer vacation, staying with us along with his folks. I spent Easter over in England – I guess you caught his accent – with Craig’s family so this is a return visit if you like. We’ve just spent a little time doing a road tour of Pittsburgh.”
Nat’s given Lorna plenty to get her teeth into. Mentioned the road trip, which was on the agenda anyway, already agreed to as fair game for discussion, but he’s also dropped into the mix that bit about his Easter holiday with us.
My earpiece is crackling again. “Work this, Lorna. I don’t know what you’ve got planned but chase it down. Go unscripted if you need to.”
Lorna doesn’t need telling. Her instincts have come alive.
“Craig, perhaps you can tell us a little about your appearance at the July 4th concert. It took us all by surprise. You weren’t on the programme at all, we were just expecting a duet between Nathan and his sister, Elizabeth.”
Bloody Hell! She’s going straight for the jugular! I thought she’d do more chit-chat with Nat, gradually lead into things, let Nat do most of the talking. I have to say something. I can’t just sit here like a goldfish, mouth opening and closing but no words coming out, waiting for Nat to step in and rescue me. He will, I know, but it won’t look good.
“Oh, it surprised me too, Lorna. I didn’t think I had the nerve to do it. I was talking with Nat’s sister, Elizabeth, backstage as the concert got underway. Humming along with her as she ran through what she and Nat were planning to sing when it was their turn. Next thing I knew, she was hauling me out on stage… I either had to sing too or look like a proper muppet.”
Well, that’s pretty close to what happened. More of a shove than a haul, I guess. I can just see Elizabeth over there, near the producer bloke. She’s smiling rather than looking as if she’s going to tear my head off. Lorna’s smiling too, chuckling quietly. I think I’ve handled that. Nat can take control again now.
“I guess so, Craig,” said Lorna. “And speaking of Elizabeth, I think we have some pictures of the two of you together last Fall. Isn’t that right, Tim?”
“That’s right, Lorna,” came Tim’s disembodied voice from back in the studio. “We’re just putting them up now for all our viewers to see. I think these are the ones you meant, taken last Fall at the opening of the art exhibition that was co-sponsored by Mrs Bauer at the Carnegie Gallery.”
A couple of photos have just flashed up on the autocue, then on the monitor by the cameraman. Photos of me and Elizabeth dancing. Well, to be totally accurate, me being dragged round the dancefloor by Elizabeth as part of her plan to sucker Jackson into asking her for the second dance. They must have a digital filing system linked direct to the transmission studio. There’s no way they could have had anybody rush round the studio archives for the originals and get then up on air so fast. Will would be impressed. I guess the researchers have done their bit too. That Fiona Carpenter was as sharp as a tack.
Nat’s just flexed his leg subtly against mine. He wants me to continue answering. What the sweet Fanny Adams is he wanting me to say?
“Uh, yes, that’s us. Doesn’t Elizabeth look good? I think I must have been the envy of every guy in the room that night…”
I definitely daren’t risk a side glance over towards Elizabeth again. If she’s about to chuck something at me I’d rather not see it coming…
Lorna smiled. “Your presence there at the gallery that night escorting Mrs Bauer certainly caused quite a few questions to be asked as to who you were; no-one could recall having seen you before, and you weren’t on the published guest list. Quite the man of mystery…”
Nat’s grinning. “Maybe we should put him forward as the next James Bond. He looks good in a tux as you can see…”
“And,” said Lorna, “Continuing the theme of mystery appearances, Nathan, I think you can help us with a further puzzle brought to light by our sister station up in Erie just over a week or so ago. Tim, do we have the footage to replay to our viewers?”
Of course they have the footage. Somebody in the studio is doubtless sat there with their finger hovering over the ‘play’ button, waiting just for this very moment.
“We sure do, Lorna, perhaps you’d like to talk our viewers through it as we run it…”
The monitor switched images, replacing the photos of me and Elizabeth at the gallery with the grainy, badly lit security camera footage from outside Union Station up in Erie. Nathan and I can be seen first talking with the homeless guy, then shepherding him back to the restaurant we’ve just left.
“This security camera footage came to light about ten days ago, showing two people leaving a restaurant in Union Station up in Erie,” began Lorna. “The local press there subsequently learned a little more, ran a story about how instead of just giving the homeless man some loose change, they actually took him back into the restaurant and paid for a meal for him. All attempts to identify the mystery men failed, but despite the poor quality of the pictures, we here at KWT-TV had a hunch. There seemed something vaguely familiar about at least one of them, so we set to work…”
“Indeed, we did,” came Tim’s voice, “Sent out our best investigative reporters. No mystery gets by our ‘Lorna at Large’ programme unsolved…”
Nathan’s smiling again as Lorna looks across at him. “I guess we’d better fess up, Craig, before Lorna gets out the thumbscrews…”
Nathan waited a moment, then slowly and confidently turned to look directly at the camera. At the viewers. “Like Tim said, nothing gets past Lorna. She had us tracked down, put the film evidence in front of us. We can’t deny it, it was us…”
Nat’s turned back to look at Lorna, put the ball back in her court. He’s definitely looking relaxed and in control.
“That was a very nice thing to do, Nathan,” said Lorna. “And especially so since you tried to keep the good deed a secret.”
Nat’s smiling. “Well, we were trying to keep a low profile, Lorna. After being in the spotlight for the July 4th concert and pop’s announcement that he was running for Governor, I was hoping to just slip under the radar and go off on our road trip, show Craig here all round the state in return for the great time I had over in England.”
I can butt in here. Give Nat a cue to talk some more, raise some of the points he wants to make.
“We had a great time, Lorna,” I began. Must remember to talk quietly and naturally, like the PR men were telling Nat. Just like a conversation between friends. Don’t look at the camera unnecessarily. Focus on Lorna. “I’m a Royal Marines cadet, so Nat made sure for us to take in lots of naval heritage, didn’t you Nat? We had a trip out on Oliver Hazard Perry’s brig, the USS Niagara, in Erie and then when we went over to Philadelphia we even stayed aboard the USS New Jersey.”
Lorna’s on to that in a flash.
“We have a few more photographs for our viewers, don’t we, Tim?”
“Looks like you have spies everywhere, Lorna,” laughed Nat as the monitor flickered again and an image of Nat dishing out food to a queue of scouts popped up.
“We sure do,” responded Lorna. “Perhaps you could tell us what we’re seeing here?”
“Well, the USS New Jersey runs a programme for schools and groups like scouts, combining a ‘live aboard’ experience with an educational element mixed in. History and engineering and leadership all rolled into one, and made enjoyable. If you look in the background, you can see Craig and Noah Mason, another Allegheny cadet – you featured some of his drawings in your documentary series, Lorna – helping out too. We volunteered in the galley, serving food to all the scouts and schoolkids, and tidying up afterwards. You wouldn’t believe how much those kids could eat, and how many plates we had to wash up afterwards…”
“It certainly sounds like a hard task, and not exactly what most people would have in mind for a vacation,” said Lorna.
“Maybe not, Lorna, but it was pretty worthwhile. We got a buzz out of it, discovering what it must have been like to be serving up thousands of meals a day on a battleship, but of course we were moored up in safety with nobody throwing kamikaze planes at us. Back when USS New Jersey was in wartime service it must have been much harder. I think it’s good she’s survived as a memorial to all the brave men who crewed her, and continues to educate successive new generations about the sacrifices our forebears made.”
I can push this along a bit. Lead Nat onto the next point he’s wanting to make.
“Of course, New Jersey’s moored up just over the state boundary, but Pennsylvania has an equally important ship right in her own waters, doesn’t she, Nat?”
“We sure do, Craig.”
Nat’s looking serious now, lowered his voice a little, making Lorna concentrate to catch his words. “We’ve got the USS Olympia over in Philadelphia, Lorna, but most people don’t realise just how important she is. Not only an iconic cruiser and our flagship at the Battle of Manilla Bay, but also the very ship that brought the body of the Unknown Warrior back from Europe to be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. She doesn’t get half the attention the USS New Jersey does, and she’s in real need of some restoration.”
Lorna nodded gravely. “I understand though, that you’re planning to try and help out there too?”
“We sure are, Lorna. The custodians at the museum have a fund-raising campaign going, and we have an idea to help them raise some money. When we were on board Olympia, Noah Mason made a few sketches. He’s going to work them up into a series of pictures and we’re thinking of doing a run of limited edition prints from them, with all the profits going to the restoration fund.”
“You’ll be sure to give us here at KWT-TV a preview of Noah’s pictures, won’t you? I’m sure our viewers would be interested to see them. They certainly loved seeing Noah do a few quick portraits during our filming at Allegheny College. Very talented…”
This seems to be going well. Nat’s getting across all the stuff he had wanted to say, linked the road trip stuff together to match up with the photos that KWT-TV have. I think quite a few of those were made available by his dad’s PR team. The USS New Jersey photos definitely must have been. I haven’t screwed up either. But something seems amiss. I can see the PR advisers over there in the background, hovering near Nat’s pop. They’re looking at their watches. Looking concerned. Holding up ten fingers to Nat. Bloody hell, we’ve done our allotted time! We’ve used up the buffer. The start of the interview will now be going out ‘live’. There’s going to be no option to do any editing or it will show.
Nat’s seen the fingers. He doesn’t look bothered by it. He’s just continuing. Telling Lorna more about our trip. He’s on about Washington and Valley Forge now. Nat’s dad is stopping the aides going over to the tv producer guy. The producer knows the time is up but he’s acting as though he doesn’t.
“Isn’t that right, Craig?”
What did Nat just say? While I was busy trying to figure out what was going on over there in the background?
Nat’s looking at me.
Lorna’s looking at me.
I need to unscramble my head. Replay whatever Nat just said. Something about the opposing sides at Valley Forge. Maybe I can say something non-committal, stall for time.
“Yes, Valley Forge was quite an experience, Lorna. Nathan was keen to show me all round the battlefield there, and the museum buildings too. To be honest, I did see a theme developing on our road trip. ‘Operation Independence Day’ I think you could call it. Taking me to every battlefield he could where you beat us…”
Lorna’s smiling. Nathan’s smiling. I must have got away with it. He’s going to give me some stick about it later, about not paying attention, but I’ll swat him down over that.
“Like I was saying, Lorna,” added in Nat quickly, “Me and Craig would definitely have been on opposite sides back in the Revolutionary Wars, but maybe also in the Civil War too. I’d have been a Unionist, fighting for equality and justice, but Craig’s all old-world charm and civility. That’s got to make him ideal for a Confederate, don’t you think?”
My earpiece is crackling again. The studio is speaking to Lorna. Asking her to start wrapping up, but slowly, let it seem natural.
“Well Nathan, I think that brings us nicely to the last day or two, and I believe we have some more images to accompany us don’t we Tim?”
“We certainly do, Lorna. As Nathan said, KWT-TV has eyes everywhere…”
Yeah, sure, eyes that have been told by Nat, or his dad’s PR team, where to look. I’m going to have a few questions for him about that after this is done.
A photo of me and Nat laying our wreath at the Gettysburg Memorial has popped up on screen. Lorna’s giving Nat a moment to see it, preparing a question for him.
Nat’s pre-empting her.
“Ah, Gettysburg. Yes, Lorna. Probably the most important part of our trip. Certainly, the bit I’d been most looking forward to. It’s one thing to learn the Gettysburg Address in Civics classes, but quite another thing to stand on the field itself, see that bronze plaque, see those rows of graves. Something pop said to Craig and me before we set off on our road trip was that we shouldn’t just go to Gettysburg as tourists. That we should try to understand the deeper significance behind it. Ask ourselves a question. Do Americans today still live up to the ideals enshrined in Lincoln’s words? In short, are we worthy inheritors of that legacy?”
Nat’s paused. Doing his wolf thing. Leaving the question hanging in the air. Making everyone think.
Lorna’s stretching out the silence. Playing this for all it’s worth.
I’m going to respond. Nat knows it. He felt my body tense up. I don’t know what he was planning to say, but I have something to say. His eyes are on me. Lorna’s turning her attention to me, following Nat’s eyes. Everybody in the background seems to have frozen. I can even hear my own heart beating.
“Gettysburg might have asked the question, Lorna, but we got the answer a few miles on from there.”
I can hear myself speaking, but it doesn’t seem like I’m talking. What was it the PR guys said about the camera? Only look at it if you want to speak directly to the audience, cut the interviewer out of the loop? I looked directly at the camera. Saw my face reflected in its lens. It’s now or never. I can’t screw this up for Nat.
“Nat and I visited the Flight 93 memorial. Where the passengers stormed the flight deck to prevent the terrorists high-jacking it and crashing into the Capitol Building. Gave their own lives to save something far worse. We decided if Americans are still willing to fight tyranny no matter how hopeless the odds seem, this country of yours is still in good hands…”
* * *
My earpiece is crackling again.
“And we’re cut! Lorna, that was phenomenal. We’re running this live right through to the conclusion no matter what the Governor might say. Awesome reporting. We can syndicate this. Leave the crew to pack up, get yourself back to the studio ASAP. We want you to do a piece to camera in the studio with Tim. This is going to follow straight on from the news bulletins tonight. A real human interest story, the viewers will love it…”
Nat’s dad is heading this way. The PR aides too. The producer guy is heading straight for Lorna. Everybody seems to have come alive again. Mom and dad are starting to head over here. Elizabeth too. Oh bugger, there’s nowhere to escape. She’ll crucify me…
Nat’s just casually standing up, turning to face me. I’m standing up too. I must have just copied Nat instinctively when he stood up.
“Thanks Lorna, that was good. Fair questions, but probing. Did we give you the piece you wanted? Will you be able to make a soundbite or two out of it to act as filler in your scheduling? Do we need to re-shoot anything?”
Nat’s got to know the interview went well. He might not have been able to hear what the studio said to Lorna, but he’ll have sensed it. He can see the smile on his dad’s face, the looks the PR guys are giving him. The smile on Lorna’s face. Nat’s just playing it cool. He knows he’s just pulled off the interview he’s been dreaming of ever since Harrisburg…
* * *
