55
Four minutes later, they all left for the studio. Patricia insisted on following. She told Esther she wanted to see what the eye of a hurricane looked like. Lacy rolled up as they were pulling out of the drive and waved at Esther and slipped into her mother’s car. During the drive, Esther placed a call to Suzie. The newscaster reported, “Technicians have been here all night, putting together your idea.”
Esther said, “Talmadge?”
“The man is amazing. He walked through here just after midnight, complimented the workers, then told Chuck, ‘Ain’t it amazing what you can accomplish if you throw money at the right people?’” Suzie hesitated, then added, “I’m really sorry about your brother. But I have the feeling it would be better to wait on that.”
“Definitely,” Esther said, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. “Can you get Chuck on the line?”
The station director surprised her. Within the first few moments of her warning, his normal nervous tizzy simply vanished. In its place emerged a totally different guy. Not just intent, but on target. He said, “We need to expand coverage.”
“I think so too.”
“New York won’t want to believe a local station has come up with the goods. But I’m going to call them because I have to. Once they fob me off, I’m going to start calling other regionals. I’ll link with as many as I can. Feed into their morning news shows.”
“And all your radio affiliates,” Esther said.
“You bet. How far out are you?”
“Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty depending on traffic.”
“We’ll be ready.”
Esther phoned Jasmine and issued a set of terse instructions. Then she started calling her allies. She offered each person the same brief message. It was happening. Today. There was no time for details. Either they prepared for the worst, or they didn’t. It was their call.
The studio parking lot was as full as Esther had ever seen it. A trio of vans bearing an electronics company’s logo were parked alongside the entrance. The pavement between the vehicles was littered with cables and tools and plastic bubble wrap. Esther watched two frantic techies race out of the studio, grab another massive flat screen, and hustle back inside.
As Esther rose from the car, Lacy ran over and handed her a note. “Something to carry you through the tempest.”
Esther unfolded the paper and read silently, “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Lacy said, “It’s from the book of Esther.”
“This was one of my father’s favorite passages.” She cleared her eyes and smiled at the younger woman. “Would you like a job?”
“You mean, today? Really?”
“I need someone to key in a record of all our hedge trades onto the website. That was part of my promise, making this information available to everyone.” Esther pulled a pad and pen from her purse as she spoke. “Call Keith Sterling, my resident web guru. He’ll walk you through what needs to be done.”
Lacy accepted the paper. “This is just so totally cool.”
“Good. Let’s get started.” Together they walked into the studio. As she slipped Lacy’s note into her pocket, Esther felt as though her father and brother had managed to join them. And found the sensation very fitting indeed.
Suzie walked Esther into makeup and told Doris to take her time, explaining the techies needed another few minutes. Through the closed door Esther heard the sounds of drills and frenzied shouting. While Doris worked, Esther and Suzie walked through a scenario for the initial segment. It was the first time they had ever prepped in advance. But Esther could see that Suzie shared her sense of gravity. They had to get this right.
Just as Doris was finishing up, Jasmine rushed in with three sleepy traders in tow. “These are all their company would let me borrow.”
Esther greeted the traders and interrogated them long enough to be certain they knew what was required. She then asked everyone but Jasmine to leave the room, Doris included. She drew her assistant into a fierce embrace and said, “This is going to have to last us both through a very long day. You understand what I’m saying?”
Jasmine nodded. “I’m sorry about—”
“We won’t talk about it now,” Esther said. “Today is all about focus and helping as many people as we can.”
Jasmine turned away, took a trio of jagged breaths, wiped her face and said, “Tomorrow.”
“Right.” Esther had never been prouder of her friend. “Now let’s go save the world.”