understand, Alicia. I’ve got new-age gurus coming out of my ass here. Every nut-case in the world is claiming to have some sort of inside knowledge. If I put every one of them on the air, our credibility goes right out the window. This isn’t the George Noory show.”
“But, I saw this.”
“I just wish you had footage. I need something that bleeds.”
“Let me see if I can get something more out of her. In the meantime, get the wheels rolling to get this girl on the air.”
“How, Alicia? What do I pitch to L.A.?”
Alicia thought for a moment. "Our angle," she explained, "is that this poor thing is suffering from P.T.S.D. This is what's happening to our children. Get a psychologist to comment about her state of mind. We explain to parents how to talk to their kids about this. Pitch it that way. By the time you get approval, I’ll have something more. If I don’t... well, I’ll figure something out."
Hal frowned but with this, he agreed to run the story by Los Angeles. Alicia popped a few more pills and returned to her ‘office’. She found Brady sitting on her desk, playing with the girl's monitor. He couldn't get it to do anything. Sariana was examining Alicia's iPad. Alicia shooed her away, sat at her desk and began writing her piece.
"When do we address the world?" Sariana asked.
"Shortly. They'll let us know."
"What? We should do this now. It's of critical importance. The cloud has already been released. We can’t wait."
"There are procedures.”
“Your procedures do not matter. This is taking too long. It’s clear that I’ve already arrived too late...”
“Yeah, well, welcome to corporate media. We need network approval. This takes time. Be patient. Why not go look at all of our wonderful items of convenience?" Alicia said referring to the junk scattered about the store. Sariana was anxious and began to bite her nails and pace. “I’m not kidding, Sara. Go away. You’re making me nervous. I need to concentrate and get your story ready.”
“We’re wasting time. And I need to talk to you about us.”
Alicia was losing her temper. “What do you want from me exactly?! Frankly, you’re lucky I’m even entertaining this story right now. If this isn’t working out the way you planned, then why don’t you back in time and do it again, goddamnit? I mean, what the fuck?”
“I can’t,” Sariana was meek. “This is my only chance.”
Alicia calmed herself. “This is all part of the process. Hey, have you ever seen chicken and beer flavored beef jerky?”
“You and I really need to speak about why I found...”
“Sara, you need to give me just a minute, okay? Aisle three. Go look. It’s fascinating.”
Sariana was reluctantly intrigued. She took Alicia's advice and began to tour the store and think as Alicia and Brady remained at her desk.
"She seems like a sweet girl," Brady said to Alicia. She rolled her eyes and shrugged. Truth be told, Alicia was coming around to her as well. Something about the girl inherently intrigued her. She began to search Google for various doomsday prophets capitalizing on the tear in the sky. The producer was right. They were everywhere. Each more crazy than the next; selling eBooks promising to explain this whole sorted mess and offering redemption in fifty pages or less. “I’m going to make some chili,” Brady announced. “You want some?”
Alicia crinkled her nose and wrote: “Smells like dog food.”
“Tastes like it too. But I’m hungry and catering’s empty ‘til dinner.”
A half hour passed and Alicia was finally given approval to run with her story. Family counselors would be standing by in L.A. to comment after she interviewed the girl. Alicia found Sariana in the candy aisle, sitting cross-legged, eating chocolate covered raisins.
"They're ready for us," she said. "I see that even in another universe, girls are still suckers for chocolate."
"It's delicious." Sariana said with a big, chocolate
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