On the Air

The fireplace was alight and the flames were flickering back and forth. Brian had an enigmatic smile on his face as he took his usual position on the floor. Justin had a scowl on his.

“I am mad at you, Kinney,” the kid announced as soon as they were settled in. “Really mad.”

“I think I had that figured out before,” Brian smiled gently. “All you did during dinner was grump and growl – and then when you threw that charred hamburger at me I guess I knew for sure – since you know I like mine medium rare….”

“I did not throw that hamburger at you, Brian,” Justin told him. “I guess maybe I did kind of throw it in your direction though – and maybe I did cook it a little bit too long….”

“Well I guess it wasn’t any more burned up than you are, Baby,” Brian squeezed the kid and seemingly got away with it. “Wanna tell me why?”

“You already know why, Kinney,” Justin insisted, “And it’s you that’s gonna tell me why – why you didn’t even tell me you were going to be on the radio this morning. There you were on the biggest talk show in town – for like a couple of hours – and you never even told me you were going to be on. And you knew it last night too. And I had to find out from Malcolm. Mikey knew you were on and he was listening. He told Hunter and Hunter told Malcolm and that’s how I had to find out. I think you have some explaining to do.”

“Yeah,” Brian agreed. “Maybe I do. Seems like some caller yesterday on that program said that advertising people were parasites who did not really contribute to the economy. The host called me afterwards – me being the most prominent advertising exec in Pittsburgh - and asked if I would answer a few questions on a phone hook-up this morning. I thought I’d just be on for a few minutes but it turned out to be about an hour – or maybe even a little more.”

“Yeah and I missed it all. And that does not explain why you didn’t tell me last night” Justin complained. “And you told Mikey too.”

“I did not tell Mikey, Sweetheart, and I think you know that,” Brian responded. “He listens to that show every morning in the shop. That’s how he heard me – just by accident.”

”But that still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me,” Justin persisted. “You should have told me.”

“Maybe, I should have,” Brian allowed. “I guess I thought you’d make too big a fuss about it. Guess I was wrong though. I can see now that you see it in proper perspective.”

“OK, Kinney, forget about trying to make me the villain in this piece. And you should have told me. I don’t get freaked out at every little thing either. So there. And you know what else? You should have worn your new gray suit,” Justin pointed out. “Not that black one. See how I could have helped. But no. A big radio appearance and I’m completely left out.”

“You know what, Baby,” Brian pointed out in return. “The suit really didn’t matter. Listeners couldn’t see me cause I was on the phone with the host. Listeners can only see you on radio if you’re in the studio.”

“Quit trying to change the subject, Brian” Justin told him. “That won’t work. The only thing that would have worked would be if you had told me last night.”

“You’re absolutely right, Baby,” Brian acquiesced, “and I apologize too. Whatever would have happened last night would not have been worse than now.”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin suppressed an unwanted laugh. “If you had told me last night I could have shared in your triumph – but no….”

“I didn’t think answering a few questions on the radio was such a triumph, Baby” Brian explained. “Bad perspective on my part. But I was on for over an hour so now you could be sharing in my triumph instead of being mad. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like you’re trying to weasel out of what you did,” Justin came back. “That’s what it sounds like to me. And I know all about weaseling too….”

“Yes you do, Baby,” Brian quickly agreed. “I won’t argue about that. It is certainly one of your many fields of expertise.”

“Dammit, Kinney,” Justin gave up. “You’re determined to make this about me and not about your dereliction of duty in not telling me about you being on the radio. OK, I’m going to accept your apology provided you promise never to do anything like that again. So just how am I supposed to share in your triumph? Any ideas?”

“Gimme a while to think about that question, Baby,” Brian laughed. “It is too bad you missed the interview though. There were some neat points brought up.”

“Actually, Honey,” Justin cuddled himself closer to Brian to confirm his new “forgive and forget” attitude,
“Maybe I did hear the interview. When Mikey heard you were going to be on, he started his tape machine and, lucky enough, he had a long enough tape in there so he got the whole thing. I listened to it this afternoon and made a copy too.”

“You wanna listen to it together?” Brian proposed.

“OK, I guess so,” Justin possibly agreed, “If that’s really the way you’d like to celebrate your triumph.”

“Well let me think about that for a while,” Brian got the message.

And he did think about it for just a very short while. But it was a much longer while before the conversation resumed - without returning to the place where it had left off.

“Would you like a really good medium rare hamburger, Honey?” Justin reopened the conversation. “I’m sorry about the pretty hard one for dinner.”

“Sounds like a good idea for later,” Brian decided, “But I guess there’s something I better tell you first if that’s OK with you.”

“Brian,” Justin told him. “Don’t tell me anything that’s going to make me mad at you. I do not want to be mad at you. Being mad at you really tires me out. OK?”

“I don’t think it’ll make you mad, Baby,” Brian grinned, “And I know you won’t over-react or anything like that either…. You know that Fred guy who runs the evening TV interviews on Tuesday nights. Well he called me this afternoon. He heard the stuff on the radio this morning and he wants me to tape an hour with him. It’ll be on TV two weeks from Tuesday but it’ll be taped sometime next week. You can come along if you want to – to see the taping – or you can wait to see it on TV if you want to – or you can skip the whole thing if you want to. But you can’t complain that I didn’t tell you.”

Justin did not respond immediately except to smile, so Brian went on: “And I’m glad to see you’re taking the news without creating a big fuss….”

“You’ll wear the gray suit, Bri,” Justin finally said. “And you’ll need to get your hair trimmed the day before the interview and we should get a new tie to go with the suit….”

Brian threw both arms tightly around the kid, effectively ending that planning session – at least for the time being. Whatever went on in front of the fake fireplace – whatever - Brian knew it was all worth it. Every day was a triumph for Brian Kinney.
 

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