The newscaster…

… excitedly stressed the pressing situation in Kabul, and then passed the floor to the weatherman. She wasn’t glad for unfortunate events, but there was a certain pull to a story that got her blood flowing, and it was that same pull that got ratings up, capturing the attention of millions of viewers.

News anchor Angela Korela arrived home via taxi later that Monday night, with her dinner of couscous, chutney and soft, layered chapatis in hand. The Indian restaurant where she got her food also made the best mango lassi, and that same drink was available in a milk-type quart carton. One of said cartons helped to weigh down the plastic bag the newscaster was hefting back to her place.

She took a taxi home because the old fashioned transports flew past the station building like hotcakes, whereas she’d have to wait ten minutes for a Lyft or an Uber. Korela hopped up the two flights of stairs to her ultra-secure loft in Tribeca. The dwelling was protected with a state of the art alarm system, Fox police lock, and bars on the windows. The only thing missing from the safety repertoire was a full-on moat.

Angela Korela was new to the world of anchoring. She loved doing the early evening newscast for WIRT, but was a different person since changing her work setting. During her ten years as a foreign correspondent, she’d fearlessly traveled the globe, braving wars, famines, plagues and revolutions, but working in the safety of the newsroom, away from all the danger, living in the heart of New York City, she was somehow afraid to sleep anywhere but in her fortress of security. 

It was odd and ironic that she had these fears, but she was definitely aware of them, and recalled interviewing a finisher of the twenty-four hour Tough Mudder obstacle course who could wade through ice water for five minutes unphased when in his forties, while on retiring from sports, felt the need to bundle up on days that were merely sixty degrees Fahrenheit. At some point in her life, as in the athlete’s, a switch had flipped, and reversing the change seemed impossible. So for Angela, the issue was personal safety, not temperature sensitivity, but the principle was the same. 

Now secure in her own domain, Korela selected one of her favorite movies, The Freshman, to watch on DVD. The movie starred Matthew Broderick, Marlon Brando and Penelope Ann Miller, and was about a college kid who falls for a mob boss’s daughter and is pulled into a comedic intrigue. She then changed into some PJ’s and settled in on her couch with the Indian food and the quart of mango lassi. Clicking play on her blu-ray player, she settled in for a quiet, calm evening, the shadows of the drama flickering like a fireplace in the otherwise darkened living room. 

From my book of romance stories- News Desk, now available on Amazon

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