Chapter 1

The first time I saw the inside of a radio station was the day I went to work at one. At least I thought I was going to work there. I was nearly sixteen years old and the man who managed the radio station in Harper’s Junction hired a couple of high school kids each year to work part-time. The kids he chose got a chance to announce on the radio, and a lot of kids wanted the job. My freshman English teacher knew him and recommended me for the job. I never asked her why she gave him my name.

WHJ Radio occupied a small space on the second floor of a building located on the town square in Harper’s Junction. I was now climbing the stairs up to the studios to meet the station manager. I knew him from hearing him on the radio, but I had never met him. And though I’m sure I had seen him around town, I couldn’t remember what he looked like. I pushed open the smoked glass door to go inside and was greeted with a stern look from a woman sitting behind a small desk, and she was smoking a cigarette.

“Can I help you?” she asked, without changing expression.

“I’m here to see Mr. Lawson,” I answered softly.

“Is he expecting you?” she wanted to know.

“I think so.”

“Woodrow!” she shouted down the hall. “There is a boy here to see you. Says you knew he was coming.”

“Yeah, okay, give me a minute,” came the answer from someone in the back.

“You heard him,” she said to me. “Have a seat.”

I sat down on a worn wooden chair across from her desk and waited. I tried not to look her in the eye. She was making me nervous, and I didn’t want to seem nervous when the station manager came to get me. I read the plaques on the walls and looked at the photos hung around the place. There was a certificate from “The Association of Broadcasters” and one from “The Chamber of Commerce.” Another said the station was a high school booster – one for