Down The Rabbit Hole
September 14, 1978
Aside from a few angry phone calls about the Godless English people who kept "talking, talking, talking" and the playlists, things went well for a first week. Kelly managed to maintain a light hand with the rules and her panic that this might be more than she was ready to handle was beginning to subside.
As of today, they'd been on the air a week. Officially, that full week should have clocked two days from now. She felt for Cal, who arrived at Berry Field early afternoon the previous Thursday. He was met by a bouncy, wired, and almost frenetically loquacious Sean.
*****
"Come on, my brother! Come on! Come on! We've got no time to waste." Sean paused and looked at his watch. "We've got a little under an hour before P.M. drive time or, or, yes, I think that's what they call it. P.M. drive time or afternoon drive time or somesuch. There's no real traffic here, at least not like right in London, but- Why are you standing there?"
"I just got off the plane."
Cal looked for baggage claim or for someone who could direct him to baggage claim. There was no one at the terminal desk and it didn't look like anyone actually worked there. Maybe there was no baggage claim. Maybe he'd fallen into a cultural and temporal wormhole. If that was true, all he could do was follow the large, hairy, rabbitty thing that kept talking at him.
"Cal, Callum, mate, we have to go."
"We don't go live until tomorrow. Have I missed something?"
Maybe this was a dream and he was still flying over the Atlantic. That was probably it. He shouldn't even feel the six hours he'd gained? Lost? He was feeling a quarter past nine in the evening and yet what he saw was bright afternoon light. He'd had dreams like this before. When he was younger, he'd wake up on Saturday thinking he was late for school or that he'd only dreamed doing his homework and would have to try to get it done between classes or that he'd forgotten to wear trousers that day.
So now he was in... Nashville? There was a sign that said welcome to Music City, USA. That was presumably Nashville. He'd ridden in what felt like an upholstered tin can for hours and now he was being talked at by Rabbit, no, Robert, no, Sean. So this is what time travel felt like. He desperately wanted a shower and a nap. He scrabbled for words to say to Sean.
"Rabbit, aren't you supposed to be white and wearing a waistcoat?"
Sean gaped at him for a moment.
"You're delirious, aren't you? Over a little puddle jump? Are you really going to be a girl about this?"
Cal was starting to feel irritable. "It was a transatlantic flight. Does Kelly know I'm doing afternoon drive today? Does Kelly know we're live as soon as we get to the station? What does Kelly know?"
"Of course! Yes! Yes. No. Sort of. I bumped us up a little early."
Cal felt that same cold-water shock he always felt when Sean did something he shouldn't have and then continued on as if everything was as it should be and of course... of course... Of COURSE! It was always of course he and everyone else was in agreement what whatever had occurred to him that he'd acted upon. Of course.
*****
Kelly listened as Cal told him about his first day between songs, announcements, the weather, the traffic, and everything else he was doing.
"I'm glad you met us at the door." Cal walked down the track as the next one began and clicked on the mic. "You're listening to Rock 103, WKDF Nashville. That was 'White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane, and now were going to dig our way into this Deep Tracks Thursday with Aerosmith's 'Toys in the Attic.'" He clicked off the mic and turned the feed back up.
"I should have known," Kelly said, "I just happened to be there doing paperwork and smoothing things over. It was classic Sean."
"And yet we are still on the air."
"Yes we are." Kelly raised her mug of coffee and tapped Cal's mug of tea. "Here's to staying alive for another week."
As of today, they'd been on the air a week. Officially, that full week should have clocked two days from now. She felt for Cal, who arrived at Berry Field early afternoon the previous Thursday. He was met by a bouncy, wired, and almost frenetically loquacious Sean.
*****
"Come on, my brother! Come on! Come on! We've got no time to waste." Sean paused and looked at his watch. "We've got a little under an hour before P.M. drive time or, or, yes, I think that's what they call it. P.M. drive time or afternoon drive time or somesuch. There's no real traffic here, at least not like right in London, but- Why are you standing there?"
"I just got off the plane."
Cal looked for baggage claim or for someone who could direct him to baggage claim. There was no one at the terminal desk and it didn't look like anyone actually worked there. Maybe there was no baggage claim. Maybe he'd fallen into a cultural and temporal wormhole. If that was true, all he could do was follow the large, hairy, rabbitty thing that kept talking at him.
"Cal, Callum, mate, we have to go."
"We don't go live until tomorrow. Have I missed something?"
Maybe this was a dream and he was still flying over the Atlantic. That was probably it. He shouldn't even feel the six hours he'd gained? Lost? He was feeling a quarter past nine in the evening and yet what he saw was bright afternoon light. He'd had dreams like this before. When he was younger, he'd wake up on Saturday thinking he was late for school or that he'd only dreamed doing his homework and would have to try to get it done between classes or that he'd forgotten to wear trousers that day.
So now he was in... Nashville? There was a sign that said welcome to Music City, USA. That was presumably Nashville. He'd ridden in what felt like an upholstered tin can for hours and now he was being talked at by Rabbit, no, Robert, no, Sean. So this is what time travel felt like. He desperately wanted a shower and a nap. He scrabbled for words to say to Sean.
"Rabbit, aren't you supposed to be white and wearing a waistcoat?"
Sean gaped at him for a moment.
"You're delirious, aren't you? Over a little puddle jump? Are you really going to be a girl about this?"
Cal was starting to feel irritable. "It was a transatlantic flight. Does Kelly know I'm doing afternoon drive today? Does Kelly know we're live as soon as we get to the station? What does Kelly know?"
"Of course! Yes! Yes. No. Sort of. I bumped us up a little early."
Cal felt that same cold-water shock he always felt when Sean did something he shouldn't have and then continued on as if everything was as it should be and of course... of course... Of COURSE! It was always of course he and everyone else was in agreement what whatever had occurred to him that he'd acted upon. Of course.
*****
Kelly listened as Cal told him about his first day between songs, announcements, the weather, the traffic, and everything else he was doing.
"I'm glad you met us at the door." Cal walked down the track as the next one began and clicked on the mic. "You're listening to Rock 103, WKDF Nashville. That was 'White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane, and now were going to dig our way into this Deep Tracks Thursday with Aerosmith's 'Toys in the Attic.'" He clicked off the mic and turned the feed back up.
"I should have known," Kelly said, "I just happened to be there doing paperwork and smoothing things over. It was classic Sean."
"And yet we are still on the air."
"Yes we are." Kelly raised her mug of coffee and tapped Cal's mug of tea. "Here's to staying alive for another week."