by Raven Snow
Veronica maintained her smile. “We did try to call you several times. If you check your voicemail, I’m sure you’ll find a message from us there.”
Rowen knew her cousin well enough to know she hadn’t bothered with her voicemail yet. Rowen and Rose had left their fair share of messages. She wouldn’t want to take the time to listen to them and stress herself out before something like this. Rowen swallowed and kept quiet. What was going on here had dawned on her and she didn’t like it one bit.
“There was a clause in the contract you signed.” Veronica pointed back to her trailer. “I can give you a copy of it, if you like. You were only coming back tonight dependent on several factors. Rowen here was asked if she would like to be interviewed tonight. Eventually, she agreed. We tried to get in contact with you to let you know your presence wouldn’t be required tonight. We did our part. I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding.”
Margo stared at Veronica as if she trying to puzzle out what it was she had just been told. She looked to Rowen again. The betrayal on her face wasn’t hard to miss. “You went behind my back and took my job?”
“It’s not a job,” Rowen snapped. She probably should have just stayed quiet, but once she started talking it was hard to stop. “It’s just an interview. And, I’m sorry, but it was hard to refuse given what they were offering. I mean, they’re helping out at Odds & Ends. Rose is getting some really good help over at the Inquirer. I’m sorry, but… I’m not really all that sorry.”
Margo opened her mouth to say something back to Rowen. Instead she closed her mouth and settled on a glare. She turned back to Veronica. “Where’s Irene? I want to talk to Irene.”
“I’m afraid that’s out of the question,” Veronica said quickly and calmly. “She’s very busy right now.”
“Well, does she have a boss around here? I’d like to talk to someone.”
“Why don’t we have a word in my office? I’ll see if we can’t sort this out.” Veronica motioned for Margo to join her in her trailer. Some campers were drawing closer, trying to see what all the drama was going on near the WNT area. “You go on into hair and makeup. They should be ready for you.”
Rowen did as she was told, not even looking at Margo as she passed her by. She didn’t want to deal with this right now. It was awakening some nervousness inside of her that she really didn’t have time for, not if she didn’t want to be a mess on stage. It’s Margo’s own fault, she told herself. If she had just left her phone on, this wouldn’t have happened.
***
There were a couple of familiar faces in hair and makeup. They seemed a lot happier to have Rowen in their chair. They introduced themselves as Leopold and Minerva. “And you’re Rowen.” Leopold said, standing behind Rowen and fluffing his fingers through her hair. “I heard Margo outside. I thought we might be dealing with her again tonight.”
“No offense,” Minerva added quickly.
“None taken. I know she’s a handful.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Leopold chuckled.
Rowen let the two do what they wanted. She wasn’t as picky about her appearance as Margo was. Some days she went without makeup entirely. Most days she just patted on some foundation and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She didn’t even argue when Minerva asked her to change clothes.
The end product was nice, Rowen decided as she looked at herself in the mirror. The makeup wasn’t overdone, nor was her hair. It was plainly all meant to look natural on camera. It really emphasized her full lips and the waves of her thick auburn hair. Even the loose top and gauzy skirt she had been given promoted a certain aesthetic. It was meant to make her look earthy, witchy. It reminded Rowen of Lydia, albeit in a much more glamorous way. Rowen definitely didn’t disapprove. “I love it,” she told them.
Leopold and Minerva both smiled, looking terribly pleased with themselves. “We’ll have to get approval from a few more people before you go on,” said Leopold, not that he looked at all worried about that.
***
Sure enough, Rowen’s appearance was okayed. The final okay had to come from Irene Jones. “Looks great,” she said, looking Rowen up and down as she sat to get her own makeup and hair done. She smiled at the reflection of both stylists in the mirror. “Of course, they always do great work. That’s why I bring you two along.”
“Is Margo still out there?” asked Rowen sitting in a chair away from the mirrors. She hadn’t ventured outside of the hair and makeup trailer. Part of her was afraid Margo would try and confront her. She would sooner save all that for another time. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it right now.
“Don’t worry about her,” Irene said, her eyes still on the mirror. “She left a while ago.”
Rowen wondered how her cousin had left. Had it been willingly? Had someone been forced to escort her from the campground?
“We really did do our part there,” said Irene. “I hate that there was a misunderstanding. I hope you don’t think we anticipated something like this happening.”
Rowen shook her head quickly. “No, I don’t think it’s your fault at all.” Really, she blamed herself. She should have gone to see Margo herself. She should have made sure that Margo knew what was going on before she came here and embarrassed herself.
Then again, another voice in Rowen was telling her that she had done her part. It wasn’t her responsibility to drive all the way to Margo’s trailer to make sure she checked her voicemail. Margo was an adult. It was on her to act like one.
***
It wasn’t long before Rowen was walking onto a stage. It was out in the open, something that unfolded from a truck. The seats on it were large and comfortable. There was a telescope in one corner and lights in all the others. A couple of cameras were set up. People were gathering around the stage already, but Irene didn’t pay them much mind. She was talking quietly with someone on a headset while stagehands worked to mic her.
A microphone was clipped to Rowen’s own collar. “You good to go?” asked Veronica, appearing from seemingly nowhere with her clipboard in hand. She nodded to the glass and pitcher of ice water on the table next to Rowen’s chair. “Do you need anything else? Lemon? Coffee?”
Rowen managed a smile despite the nerves suddenly swimming around in her stomach. She wasn’t used to anything like this. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“Are you sure? Remember, you’re going to be out here the whole night. You’ll get some breaks, but they’ll all be short ones timed with the ads.”
“Maybe some coffee later then, I guess?” Rowen didn’t trust herself to drink any coffee, not with her nerves as shot as they were.
Irene must have noticed Rowen’s discomfort. “Don’t worry,” she said, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. “This is all very laid back. Forget about the people watching. Pretend it’s just us having a conversation.”
Rowen wasn’t sure she could manage that. It was sort of hard to ignore all the people standing around the stage, never mind how many people would be watching the live stream. Even then, it wasn’t like your average conversation required prescreening. It wasn’t often you had things you weren’t allowed to say.
“All right, here we go,” said someone near the camera. Voices rose all around Rowen, making checks and the like. All at once someone was counting down. Irene sat up a little straighter in her chair, putting on a smile just before a man with an ear piece silently pointed to her.
“Hello there, all you night owls! I’m your host Irene Jones, and you’re watching World News Tonight.” She motioned to Rowen. “I have with me here Rowen Greensmith, a local expert on the paranormal.”
Rowen opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it. It wasn’t like she was here to directly contradict Irene. Instead of speaking, she just smiled into the camera.
“We’re on night two of our UFO watch. We’ll be here all night, watching the skies for signs of intelligent life.” Irene looked to Rowen. “What do you say? Think we’ll see a
nything tonight?”
Rowen looked to the sky. It was hard to see a whole lot from where she was. The brightness of the stage lights got in the way. “I’m not sure,” she admitted.
That probably wasn’t the response Irene was hoping for. Rowen realized that a bit too late. “But you have seen the lights we’ve heard so much about. The original footage was uploaded first to your blog, correct? The Lainswich Inquirer?”
Quickly, Rowen nodded. “Right. I’ve seen the lights myself. I couldn’t tell you what they were exactly, but I’ve definitely seen them with my own eyes. They were showing up nightly for a while. They could easily show up again.”
Irene smiled, clearly more pleased with that response than the previous one. She looked back out across the crowd and then to the camera. “Well, folks, you heard that. Brew yourself some coffee, bundle up with us in front of your computers, and stay up with us tonight as we continue watching the skies here on WNT.”
***
The whole thing was rather boring, even on stage. At the very least, Rowen didn’t stay nervous for long. Things were too tedious. It was like watching a New Year’s Eve show for hours, where there was no promise of an eventual musical guest or even the main event of a giant ball dropping.
Veronica plied Rowen with coffee between commercials and random interviews that took place in the crowd. Even the numbers were impressive. There were roughly seventy-five thousand people watching at any given time. Irene was rather indifferent about it, but Rowen’s thoughts kept coming back to that statistic. Thousands of viewers now knew Lainswich existed. Would even more people come flooding in? Maybe not. If there was no sign of those lights tonight, maybe they would lose interest. Rowen couldn’t help but hope that would be the case.
Against all odds, Rowen’s wishes did not come true. It happened about three and a half hours into the live stream. A shout went up among the dwindling crowd. People emerged from their tents and RVs at the noise. Fingers pointed upward. Rowen herself stood and went to the edge of the stage to look up at the sky. Meanwhile, Irene didn’t miss a beat. “It seems we may have some activity here.” She went to the telescope at the edge of the stage. Some cameras turned to her, others to Rowen. There were already a few pointed toward the sky. “Yes! There it is. Do you see it, Rowen?”
Rowen could barely see it from the stage. There were indeed lights in the sky. They didn’t move quite like the others had, but it was unmistakable. Something up there was flying about in odd patterns. Within seconds, it had vanished back behind the clouds.
“We’ve finally witnessed some activity here, Ladies and Gentlemen. Astounding. Was that similar to what you experienced?” Irene stayed at the telescope while speaking to Rowen.
“It was… similar.” Rowen was still trying to process what she had just seen. It distracted her from handing out the answers Irene likely wanted to hear.
“And in what way was it different?” asked Irene without missing a beat.
“It moved a little faster when I saw it last. I believe it was also flying a bit lower.”
“Interesting. We’ll compare this new footage to yours in just a moment. I invite all of you out in the crowd who took footage to share it with us. You may very well be a part of history here tonight.”
Rowen sort of doubted all that. This didn’t feel like any more a part of history than picnicking with her family on that hill had been. Rowen was used to odd things in her life, things she didn’t much care if the public believed or not. The idea that there were people in Lainswich becoming increasingly caught up and interested in something so unusual and unlikely was difficult to watch.
***
The lights didn’t show themselves again, even as the view count for the live stream rose above a hundred-thousand. Irene didn’t seem to mind one bit. She had plenty to work with for the rest of the night. They reviewed the footage countless times as well as the footage of others. Eyewitness accounts were given, each one varying slightly from the next. Some saw the lights. Others swore they had seen a whole flying saucer. No one contradicted them. Irene was happy to let every claim go unchallenged. It probably lent itself to her brand. That way she could draw in both the conspiracy theorists and the skeptics. Rowen herself was asked very few questions after this. That suited her just fine.
Eventually, pink tinged the sky. The viewers had dropped off, and even most of the crowd had been forced to reluctantly retire to bed. Rowen was feeling the same way. She could barely keep her eyes open. Irene signed off with a smile, looking as wide awake and fresh faced as she had when they began. Rowen had no clue how she managed that.
“Great work, guys,” Irene said to everyone as soon as the cameras cut. Equipment was quickly being put away and Irene headed off the stage. “Sticking around for the after party?” Irene asked Rowen, speaking in a normal voice now that she had removed her microphone.
“After party?” Rowen repeated. The idea sounded a bit ridiculous. “You’re telling me you guys don’t go straight to bed after this?”
Irene laughed and patted Rowen on the arm. “We’re on the road a lot. You get used to odd hours.”
“Well, I think I’m ready to just go home.”
“Fair enough. You did a good job out there. I may ask you back out tomorrow.”
“Another overnight thing?” Rowen wasn’t sure she could handle that two nights in a row.
“Oh, no. This would be an afternoon interview.” Irene chuckled. “No, we have plenty to work with now. We finally have some quality footage.” Irene didn’t seem to notice or care that those words could be taken as an insult. The footage Benji had shot had been fine. At least, Rowen had thought so. “So, what do you think?” asked Irene, changing the subject ever so slightly. “Did we see an alien craft tonight?”
Rowen wasn’t sure what Irene wanted to hear. She supposed it didn’t matter anymore. There wasn’t a camera on them. “I don’t think so,” she said, being blunt about it. “But I can understand why some people might think that. What do you think?”
“Like I always say, I try to keep an open mind.” Irene stopped walking and faced Rowen with an earnest expression on her face. “Thanks for coming out tonight. I’ll give you a call tomorrow. I should probably get to that party I mentioned. Everyone will be there before too long, and I like to say a few words and make an appearance. You know how it is. Your car should be parked out front, where it’s easy to get out. If you decide you’re too tired to drive and need a ride just give my assistant a ring.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks.” Rowen probably should have asked for that ride, but muscle memory got her home safe and sound. She almost didn’t remember getting into the car.
At home, Eric was asleep in bed. He was propped up against some pillows and his tablet had gone to sleep in his lap. It looked like he had been watching that interview of hers for as long as he could. Rowen definitely didn’t blame him for crashing. She didn’t even bother changing clothes herself. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Chapter Nine
Rowen woke up in the afternoon. It was almost 1:00 PM when she looked at the clock. She sat straight up in bed and groped about for her cell phone on the bedside table. Her fingers found a note first.
You had a late night, so I didn’t want to wake you. Give me a call. -Eric
Rowen picked up her phone next and called her husband immediately. After a couple of rings, he answered. “Hey, I was about to call you after one. Didn’t want you sleeping in too late.”
“This isn’t too late?” asked Rowen, even though she really did appreciate that he hadn’t woken her. If Irene did call her in for an interview she’d be in big trouble had she not slept in. Even so, she had other responsibilities. “I’m surprised Rose didn’t call. After last night, there must be a lot to do.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Eric assured her. “I’m helping out. Haven’t really opened the doors of the private investigations office since things got this busy, you know? If the cops need me for
something, they know my number.”
“Are you actually helping out or has Rose just given you busy work?”
“I’m helping out! I’m here proofreading articles and stoking Margo’s ego so she’ll keep helping out. Kinda feels like I’m a double agent over here commiserating with her.”
Rowen laughed. At the same time, she couldn’t help but find herself a little worried. “Is she still mad at me?”
“I think she’ll get over it. This is just a little bit of wounded pride. You know how she is.”
“Yeah.” Rowen sighed. “Yeah, I do.” She stood and headed for her closet. “Well, tell Rose I’ll throw on some clothes and head that way.”
“No hurry,” Eric said quickly. “Things really are fine here for the moment. Take a shower. Go eat some breakfast. I’m sure there wasn’t much time for dinner last night.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. I’ll give you a call if anything changes.”
“All right. Thanks, Babe.” Rowen took her husband’s advice. She took a shower. She badly needed it, apparently. She’d gotten hot and sweaty beneath those stage lights. She’d also worn clothes loaned to her by WNT home. Oops. She made a mental note to rectify that later.
After her shower, Rowen changed into a clean robe and headed downstairs. She made herself a bowl of cereal, gave Chester some pats on the head, and settled down on the couch. The television was still hooked up to the computer. WNT’s live stream was over, but there was a video playing on the main page. A watermark at the top said it was prerecorded, filmed about an hour ago.
Irene stood in the center of the screen looking as lively and lovely as ever. Rowen wondered how she did it. She yawned as she watched. “Last night we witnessed something truly spectacular in the skies of Lainswich,” said Irene. The footage of the lights they had seen the night before was spliced in then. There were a lot of angles of it. They had probably picked some of their favorite shots from the footage the crowd had shot. “While no one can say for certain where it was those lights in the sky came from, I can attest that they were truly something unusual. I am thankful to have been a witness to such a mysterious event. This will no doubt go down as a highlight of my career.”
