Chapter 6

When Craig Randal, the weekend weatherman had moved from Waco to Austin, he first went about doing what was necessary to settle in. He used part of the funds he received from his publishing efforts to put a down payment on a turnkey condo in Austin that was a fifteen-minute drive from the television station. This condo was on the sixth floor of an eight-story building. He unpacked and did some shopping but was anxious and maybe a little nervous about his new position as a weekend weatherman.

He went to the Channel Four television station Friday afternoon. While he had been in the television station when he was interviewed, he wanted to get a better feel for where he was to work as well as meet the main weekday news team.

Burt Radisson greeted him at the station and welcomed him. He introduced Craig to Caley Morgan who was the producer for the evening weekday news programs and asked her to show Craig around the station. Craig had the impression that Caley was a highly organized individual as she showed Craig where his desk was as well as other areas of this television station.

The weekday news team was getting ready for a meeting in preparation for their news broadcast. Caley introduced Craig to this news team. They warmly greeted him and welcomed him. They asked him a few questions about his background that he answered. To Craig, they seemed like a very competent news team.

Paul Conners, one of the two main newsreaders, told Craig that he would enjoy working here. Craig wanted to thank Paul for mentioning his book in his Sunday newspaper column but decided against doing that since he wanted his authoring efforts to remain a secret. Joyce Jamison, the other newsreader seconded Paul’s comment about the enjoyment of working here. Mona Wright the weather lady said if she could help him in any way he should not be hesitant to ask.

Mona in saying that was a great straight line since the form-fitting dress she was wearing gave him a few carnal thoughts as to how she could help. Joyce was also a good-looking woman which confirmed Burt’s comment about hiring good-looking women to attract male viewers.

After listening to Caley conduct the meeting, Craig left the television station. He had a good feeling in that he was now part of a larger and more professional news operation than he was in Waco. That thought wasn’t intended to be a knock in any way on the Waco television station, it just was that he felt he had been called up from the minor leagues to the major leagues.

Craig’s second novel had been delivered to the publisher two weeks before he moved to Austin. This Saturday morning Craig had the urge to write. Time was spent by him working on the outline for his next novel. This one would be about Ric Nolan getting involved in trying to find an AWOL weapons platoon Sergeant who had remarked to people that the Speaker of the House is going to be sorry that she didn’t bring up a bill for a vote. That bill would have completed building the wall on the southern border. This Sergeant’s brother, who was a border patrol agent, had been killed by an illegal alien drug mule crossing the border.

An inventory of the weapons assigned to the platoon indicated there was a sniper’s rifle and ammunition unaccounted for. In doing his investigation, Ric would get involved with a female secret service agent who at first doesn’t care for him, but that changes over time as she gets to know him. He would also discover a foreign government agent along with a drug cartel being involved in this plot. He was wondering if he should include a politician who needed campaign funds. Craig had come to learn that doing a detailed outline of a story was a necessity and in his opinion, was the hardest part of writing a novel.

Craig went to the television station later that Saturday afternoon. He wanted to familiarize himself with the weather as well as prepare the graphics he would use. He also knew he needed to meet the members of this weekend’s news team.

Darcy Weaver, the producer of this weekend’s news introduced him to the members of this news team. Dennis Stabler and Maddie Turner were the newsreaders and Phil Bronson was the sports reporter. They all seemed like pleasant people and welcomed Craig to this news team.

The weather segment of the news program was normally scheduled to be on the air after the important news of the day was given. Maddie introduced Craig to the television audience and asked him about the weather. He had been doing the weather for so long that he went into his routine and gave the present weather and the forecast of what was expected. In doing it, he showed a sketch and commented that blustery winds were expected. After Craig’s segment went his allotted time of three minutes, he gave it back to Maddie who broke for a commercial. The sports news wrapped up the program and ended with all four members of the news team saying their goodbyes to the viewers.

After the early weekend evening news ended, Craig asked Darcy how she thought it went with him doing the weather.

“Your comment that it is going to be a windy day and suggesting to women that they wear slacks versus a dress is a different approach to doing the weather. Throw in your cartoon about the lady holding her dress down is also something different. I can only wait to see how our viewers will react to that, but I think it will be favorable as yours is a different and fresh approach to doing the weather.”

Craig smiled at her and pulled her chain a little when he said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” which he could see caused her to give him a questioning look.

In waiting for the late evening news, the news team sat at a table in the break room and they asked Craig questions about where he had worked. They commented favorably on his style of reporting the weather. He answered their questions but also asked the team members questions about themselves. The one common thread he heard was that the two newsreaders wanted to be on the weekday main news team as newsreaders. The chances of that happening here because of what Burt had said, Craig thought were slim. Both of them indicated they would not be hesitant to relocate to another city if a television station there was to offer them a weekday newsreader position.

The late evening news was a repeat of the earlier news with the addition of news concerning a warehouse fire on the south edge of the city. That fire’s smoke was slowing traffic down on the interstate. After the news program was over, Craig said he would see them all tomorrow.

Doing the weather on Sunday’s news programs was routine for Craig. He did mention the tornados that had occurred in Tennessee and asked the viewers if they had a plan on where they go if the tornado sirens went off in their area. He said that they and their family needed to have a plan as that was the first step in being prepared if they were advised tornados were in the area.

On Monday morning Craig was in the elevator of his condo building when it stopped on the fourth floor. The door opened and a lady about Craig’s age started to enter but momentarily hesitated when she saw Craig.

“Excuse me, but aren’t you the new weatherman on Channel Four?”

“That I am. I’m Craig Randall, and you are?”

“Jillian Stryker, I am an associate professor at UT.”

She was a fairly attractive lady with a nice figure. Since she recognized him he thought he would see if she would want to get to know him. Because of her looks, he thought she was someone that he would want to get to know.