CHAPTER 5
'HEY, BUM, OFF THE COUCH.'
The jackalopes eyes flit up, and through her still blurry vision she sees a figure standing above her. The blob is orange, and has a striking frame.
"Come on, no sleeping in my office. Scram."
"Oh, d-don't worry Ms. Foxx, she's the midnight show host." Kelpy's voice, it seems. "She didn't wanna go home in the dark by bike since it was raining (was it raining?) so she crashed here. She'll be out of here in a few minutes."
Poppy can finally see the figure standing in front of her. She's a fox, bushy orange and white tail stark against her deep purple power suit. She looks pissed, but in the sort of way where she can only look pissed. Her arms are at her waist, high heeled shoes tapping against the low pile carpet. Poppy extends a hand, trying her best to quell the fear with kindness.
"Paula Douglas, ma'am. Sorry about all of this, I'll be out of here soon-"
"Good, no more sleeping in my lobby." And she walks deeper into the office.
Kelpy helps her up off the couch and they walk out together. Poppy barely manages to grab her bike, too scared to make any sudden movements. The sun has barely come up outside, Poppy's scuffed up digital watch reads 6 o'clock.
"Who was that, Kelpy?"
"Oh, that was Sylvia Foxx. She's the station owner here and at WSUN 97.5" That's a name Poppy had heard before, it was the most popular radio/TV station in town.
"I thought you couldn't own more than one station in an area?"
"You can't own more than one competing station in an area. 'The Wack' is about as uncompetitive as it can get. You look like crap, can I get you a coffee or something before work?"
"I don't have the time. I've gotta rush home, shower and catch my bus. I'll catch ya later ok?" She gets on her bike and rides off. On her way home she sees creatures of all sorts commuting, the night shift ending and the day shift beginning. Busses are slam packed with folks in either direction, the city is built for a large day and night population but for both to be out at once causes total gridlock. Poppy thinks about her living situation just after college, her sharing a studio apartment with a gerbil girl named Sally. She'd sleep in the house during the day while Poppy slept there during the night. Sally always left a huge mess for Poppy to clean up, usually when she was just getting back from work. They almost never saw each other, and it was better that way, because if they actually had to share a room they'd probably kill each other. It was such a bad experience that it sent her back to her parents place, just until she could afford an apartment of her own.
She barely manages to get to work, wearing the same clothes as yesterday with only a deoderant shower. This time Reggie comes up to her with 3 other people to talk about the show. "They had to carpool with me this morning, they love the show too! Keep it up!" When she checks the show out over lunch the newest episode has a few dozen subscribers and just under a thousand plays. People fill the comment section saying it's the best thing on at night, delightful listen, more episodes please!! The website she made for pictures also has a few hundred page views. This may be going somewhere. She edits the page to include more information about the show and contact information. This seems to really be going somewhere. But does it have to be live?
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"Fig, I've got a problem."
"Well I can tell, hun, you look half dead!!"
The bike shop is full with people just getting off work. Fig is selling a giraffe a recumbent 10-speed while Newton is in the backroom making Poppy a cup of tea. They really are the best friends you could have.
"People seem to love the show, but doing it every night is killing me. I've gotten maybe 10 hours of sleep in the past 3 days because it has to be live at midnight."
"I mean, does it have to be live? Is anybody calling in?"
"Well, no, but I don't have any of the recording gear at home and the studio is being used until midnight."
"Then maybe it's time to get some gear. Poppy, this feels like it's becoming a real thing." The giraffe is getting on the bike now, pedalling around the store a little. Their head still almost hits the ceiling, but at least they'll be seen in traffic.
"Yea but gear costs money, and they haven't been paying me."
Newton comes out of the back, steaming green tea in a mug that says "DON'T TALK TO ME UNTIL I'VE HAD MY CUD" with a drawing of a cow. Poppy takes a small sip, trying not to burn her tongue. It's almost the perfect temperature. "Poppy if they're not paying you then don't do the show." Newton adds, "You're worth more than this!"
Fig puts her hand on Poppy's shoulder. "Hun, you can't live like this for free. See what you can do about getting paid, don't wait."
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Silvia Foxx's office isn't in the dilapidated studio in the sketchy part of town. It's on the 34th floor of the State Mutual building, with the rest of the WSUN offices. The trip up there takes ages, the guard isn't convinced she's actually a part of the radio network but Kelpy helps seal the deal. The frog and jackalope combo walk to Foxx's office, but Kelpy won't go in. "She'll bite my head off, man, you've gotta do this yourself."
So Poppy knocks, and is beckoned in. She took today off from work so she'd have the time to talk to Sylvia without looking like total crap. After recording last nights show she had never slept so well in her life, and a real shower felt like heaven against her fur. She even shaved her antlers down, rounding them into stubs no more than an inch long. Ms. Foxx doesn't seem to notice the efforts towards grooming. "Oh, it's you again. Can I help you?"
"Um, y-yes. My show is starting to pick up some traction, the midnight show on WWAK, and I was wondering about getting... paid?"
Ms. Foxx raises her perfectly shaped eyebrows and looks with some surprise. "I wasn't aware radio host was a free gig. Who hired you on?"
"Um, nobody, really. Kelpy just kind of offered it to me when the last guy quit, I think, and I've been doing it since then." Ms. Foxx looks out the windowed front wall to Kelpy, and it passes out. Something about the name Sylvia Foxx seems so familiar, too familiar.
"So, you claim to do a midnight radio show and I have no paperwork to prove it. How do I even know you do a show and you aren't just some bum trying to get pocket change out of me?"
Poppy swallows, and barely finds the words to speak. "W-w-well, there's a podcast. We're big with people working at night, I don't know the radio numbers but the web version has..." She checks her phone and shows it to Foxx. It's shot up to 4,000 subscribers overnight. "Enough people listening, right?"
Ms. Foxx looks shocked at this. She just walked into a radio station and was already growing an audience. This could really turn into something. Poppy keeps talking, "So maybe I could get some money for this, and if it's possible an earlier time slot so I don't stay up until 3am every day while working in a factory??" Foxx has already tuned her out again, she's thinking of the business possibilities. WSUN doesn't have many nighttime programs, but keeping the show on the podunk station would let her sell ad spaces twice. Would that count as competing stations if one runs at day and the other runs at night? She cuts Poppy off.
"Look, you've got a lot of guts. How about this, 800 dollars for a trial period of, say, one week, and if it goes well I take you on full time."
"800 dollars?! Absolutely, yes! What about prerecording the show, so I can sleep in?"
"No no, you have to do it live. We'll add a call-in component to see how strong the radio audience is before the quarterly numbers come in next month."
"If the show does well, what would my, um, pay be?"
Foxx thinks it over before replying. How much could she ask for if the show goes well? "900 a week plus.. 20% of ad revenue."
That would be enough to move out of her parents, get her own place. It's almost double what she makes at the factory. This could really work out. "Deal, done, absolutely."
The two shake hands, and the deal is done. Poppy is instructed to come with Ms. Foxx to the WWAK studio to see the general manager and get a contract signed up. She sits in the passenger seat while Foxx drives. Ms. Foxx's attorney is sitting in the back seat, as is Kelpy, who is over the moon about everything. Poppy can tell by the frantic typing sounds that it's telling the entire Anti-Antler chat. Do they know about the show?
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