Do You Want to Know a Secret? Read Free Page B

storm had caught Floridians and the network news division unprepared. The end of August found most of the seasoned correspondents vacationing and news management hastily assigned Eliza to the story. She had been on the air around the clock, face wet, hair blowing, raincoat flapping furiously, many times shouting to be heard over the roaring wind. Her reporting had been authoritative and controlled, and yet Eliza had also managed to convey a human reaction to the enormity of what was happening as the hurricane devastated the homes and hopes of thousands of people. She, like too many others in South Florida, had huddled in a bathtub with a mattress over her head as the walls shivered and the roof of her motel began to collapse. Eliza talked herself through the horrific night, making spiritual bargains as the hurricane winds raged. When the senior correspondents arrived the next day to survey the destruction, the story had clearly stayed hers.
    Surveys showed that the audience liked what they saw. Executive Row had been impressed. Sensing star potential, KEY News president Yelena Gregory decreed that more of the stories likely to make air were to be assigned to Eliza Blake. Eliza appeared with increasing frequency and her audience popularity and identification ratings rose. The scores told KEY management that viewers recognized, liked and tended to believe Eliza Blake. When the female anchor of the morning show, KEY to America , departed for another network, Eliza got the job.
    That’s when the migraines had started. It had all happened within a year. The anchor job, the new baby, John’s death, checking herself into Carrier. Now, four years later, the ache of losing John had become so much a part of her life that some mornings she noticed that she almost forgot the pain.
    Any other time Eliza would have enjoyed filling in for Bill Kendall. Anchoring the KEY Evening Headlines was one thing, but filling Bill Kendall’s shoes, even if only once or twice, was heady stuff. But not tonight. Tonight she just wanted to get home.
    As her heels clicked down the long corridor from the elevator to the studio, her mind turned to Kendall. Recently, Bill had been arriving late quite often. It was the subject of much staff speculation and now Eliza was concerned, too.
    When KEY News wooed Eliza away from Providence, Yelena Gregory had suggested that Eliza spend some time observing the anchorman. Bill had been an amiable and charming tour guide of the network news operation. Eliza watched as he filled the morning with telephone calls, script reviews and narration recordings. Lunch varied, Bill explained, but more often than not, it was a notable meeting with some influential type at ‘21,’ San Pietro or the Four Seasons. He said he made it a point to be back in the news center by 2:45 to go over the copy for the 3:00 radio hourly. Kendall loved radio, he had gotten his start there. He never wanted to let the radio guys down.
    Another check with Jean, another consult with the executive producer and Kendall would start to go over the contents of that evening’s broadcast. Kendall took his title of managing editor seriously. Few things were more important to him than The KEY Evening Headlines with Bill Kendall .
    Thoughts of Bill Kendall were pushed from Eliza’s mind as she mounted the anchor desk platform and slipped into Kendall’s chair, sliding her shoulder bag out of sight under the desk. The atmosphere was charged in the studio. Each of the people allowed in at this time of day had a specific function for which they were well trained and well paid. The stage manager, the floor crew, the Teleprompter operator, the makeup woman and the directorial and editorial staffs hurrying back and forth knew well their individual and collective responsibilities and executed them precisely. It was the collective one, the total product, which was called The KEY Evening Headlines , from which some got a charge and others derived their entire