Prophet (3 page)

“YOU HAVE TURNED
your eyes from the slaughter you have championed! You have robbed the innocent of their lives!” said the man on the planter. “The Lord formed our inward parts. He wove us in our mother’s womb, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made!”

That was all some of the crowd needed to hear. Hiram Slater was a pro-choice governor, and this was a pro-choice crowd. Things started getting quite vocal.

“You’re at the wrong rally, bub!”

“Keep your bigoted views away from my body!”

“Would somebody pull him down from there?”

And through all the shouts and threats “Hi-yo, Hiram!” never missed a beat.

Leslie thought she heard a question through her earpiece. She held her hand over her other ear. “Say again please.”

It was Rush Torrance, producer of the 5:30 newscast. “John still needs a scripted question to close your package.”

“Um . . .” Leslie looked behind her at the crowd coming to a rapid boil. “Things are changing kind of fast around here. He might want to ask me about the abortion issue . . . you know, how that might be affecting the climate of the rally.”

“So . . . how do you want it phrased? You want him to—” The man on the planter was shouting something, the crowd was hollering louder than he was, and all of them were louder than Rush’s voice in the earpiece.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you!”

“I’ll have him ask you about the hot issues, all right? He’ll ask you how it looks from where you stand. What’s your outcue?”

“Um . . . I’ll end with, ‘This campaign could be an exciting roller coaster ride for both candidates, and the whole thing begins in just a few minutes.’”

“All right. Got it.”

Leslie was getting nervous, anticipating an elbow in her ribs or a projectile on her head any moment. She asked Mel the cameraman, “You think we ought to move back a bit?”

“NO,” SAID TINA
Lewis. In the studio they could hear everything Leslie was saying. “Stay right there. We’re seeing everything. It looks great.”

Rush Torrance passed the message along through his headset.

In the monitor Leslie cringed a little but stayed where she was while the crowd behind her became more dense and noisy. Fists were waving in the air.

The man on the planter was clearly visible above the crowd, gesturing and shouting, “Hear me! Volume and chanting and numbers and repetition and television coverage will not make a lie true!”

Then some coat hangers appeared, waving in the air above the crowd.

Tina chuckled. “They know they’re on-camera.”

Rush informed Leslie, “You’re on after the break. Stand by.”

ON TELEVISION SCREENS
all over the city and beyond, Ali Downs finished up a story. “Legislators hope the move will help displaced timber workers in time, but the timber workers say they’ll believe it when they see it.”

Two-shot: John Barrett and Ali Downs seated at the expansive, black-and-chrome news desk. In the upper background NewsSix in large blue letters. Center background: false TV monitor screens with faces, places, titles frozen in photographs. In the left background, through a false window, a false city skyline.

John Barrett started the tease: “Coming up next, Governor Hiram Slater’s campaign for re-election starts with a citywide rally tonight. We’ll go to the Flag Plaza live for an update.”

Ali finished the tease. “And iguana lizards running for your health? See it for yourself!”

The screen cut to the teaser video: lizards pawing and licking at the camera lens.

Commercials.

“All right, Leslie,” said Rush. “We’re coming to you in two minutes.”

THE GOVERNOR SCANNED
his notes. If things kept going the way they were, he might have to change his text a little. “Sounds like things are heating up out there,” he hinted to Martin Devin.

Devin had just returned from a reconnaissance peek. “Mr. Governor, you’ve got the crowd, you’ve got the camera. I think we ought to take advantage.”

“You have something in mind?”

Devin lowered his voice. “I think we can get things a little rowdier. It could stir up some emotions, really get the crowd on your side, and it’ll get the attention of the TV viewers.”

The governor looked at his watch. “It’s close to 6. When is Channel 6 going to carry us?”

Devin looked at his own watch. “Any minute. I think they want to
close the 5:30 show with a live teaser and then come back at 7 to pick us up again.”

The governor mulled it over, then smiled. “Okay. I’ll be ready.”

Devin smiled and hurried away.

In a tight little area behind some trees, out of sight, he dialed a number on his cellular phone. “Yeah, Willy, he went for it.” He looked at his watch. “Keep your eye on that blonde reporter down there. Go when she goes.”

“FIFTEEN SECONDS,” SAID
Mardell, the attractive, black floor director standing behind the cameras. “Leslie will be to your right.”

John Barrett looked to the right unconsciously. At home viewers would see the anchors looking at a large screen with Leslie Albright on it. In the studio John and Ali would be looking at blank space, pretending a screen was there.

Mardell counted down with her fingers silently. Five, four, three, two, one . . .

IN THE CONTROL
room Leslie had jumped from the black-and-white monitor to the large, color Preview Monitor, and the picture was impressive. There she was, her tension showing and her hair tousled despite her best efforts, holding her ground as a sea of enraged humanity boiled and bubbled behind her and one lone man continued his struggle to be heard above the tumult.

On air, John Barrett intro’d the story, looking into Camera Three and reading the teleprompter script mirrored on the glass over the camera’s lens. “Well, today is Day One of Governor Hiram Slater’s campaign for re-election, and Leslie Albright is at the Flag Plaza right now for the big kickoff rally.” Both he and Ali Downs turned and looked toward the wall. “Leslie?”

On televisions at home, there she was on what looked like a three by four foot screen propped on the end of the news desk.

LESLIE LOOKED RIGHT
into the camera and started her report as
rehearsed. “John, this is where it all begins for Governor Hiram Slater. Even though the polls show Bob Wilson gaining support, the governor has proven he has supporters too, as you can see by the vast crowd behind me.”

As viewers at home saw the shot of Leslie jump from the screen that wasn’t there to the full television screen, it wasn’t clear just what that vast crowd was indicating, other than an impending riot.

But as John glanced sideways at his own monitor hidden in the top of the news desk, his attention was drawn to that one lone character sticking up above the crowd, his mouth moving, his hands gesturing. It seemed he was leading this mob.

“ROLL CASSETTE ONE,”
said Susan the director, and Leslie’s prepared video report began to play on the screen with Leslie’s prerecorded voice narrating.

Video: the governor meeting folks, shaking hands, waving to the crowds.

Leslie’s voice: “Governor Slater admits it will be a tough campaign, but insists he is ready for the battle and will pull no punches.”

Video of the governor being interviewed. Sound up. The governor: “I think we have a head start, really. The past four years are a clear record of our accomplishments, and I stand on that record. We’ve moved ahead on education, employment opportunities, and women’s rights, and we’re going to keep after those issues.”