Chapter 15
"Oh, Sarah," said Lynda vaguely as she passed the editor's desk. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What?" asked Sarah.
"I can't remember. Do you know what it might have been?" Lynda was definitely distracted lately.
"Er, no," Sarah replied. "Should I?"
"I don't know. Should Sarah know what I wanted to talk to her about?" Lynda directed her question to Kenny opposite.
"No," replied Kenny.
"Should I know?" asked Lynda.
"Yes," said Kenny.
"Well, can you help me out a little, Kenny? What kind of assistant editor are you?"
"A long-suffering one," muttered Kenny under his breath and then aloud, "The play thing Kerr was talking about in the meeting."
"Oh, right. The pieces you're doing on the school play," said Lynda to Sarah.
"What's wrong with them?" Sarah asked immediately. Lynda looked surprised. Why did people always assume the worst when she asked to speak to them about work?
"Nothing," she replied. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Kerr thinks they're so good, they should be a regular feature."
"Oh!" Sarah was surprised. "But how can it be a regular feature after the play is over?"
"That's just it," said Lynda. "We were thinking of doing a theatre review column. There's so much happening in the area and if you wanted to, you could cover them. Sherrington, Macton – they're even doing 'An Inspector Calls' here in Norbridge soon."
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to do it?" asked Sarah mischeviously. "I mean, after that review of last year's school play you wrote in 'Norbridge Days', I think you'd be more than qualified. And how is Ms Stanners these days? Still in therapy?"
Lynda shrugged. "I called it as I saw it. Journalistic integrity. The play was completely dire. I would expect you to do the same if you saw a production that stunk as bad as that one did."
Sarah laughed. "I promise you I will provide completely honest, completely fearless reviews," she said. "So, 'An Inspector Calls'? Hopefully the local community centre can interpret it to my liking! But who's going to review Romeo and Juliet, seeing as I'm in it as well? I mean, I could whip up a glowing review right now but it hardly seems ethical . . ."
"I don't know, Tiddler or someone," Lynda waved her hand distractedly towards the news team. "So you're in?"
"I'm in," replied Sarah.
"Great. Now, there was something else – oh, yes. About this week's lead . . ."
"Yes?" Sarah asked, pleased. She had put a lot of effort into the article about the school's recycling program. This new, slightly distracted Lynda seemed to be a definite improvement on the old model!
"It's rubbish. And I don't mean recyclable waste. I want it rewritten, 100 words longer and on my desk by the morning." Suddenly, Lynda didn't seem quite so distracted.
"Yes, Lynda," replied Sarah. "Knew it was too good to last," she sighed on the way back to her desk.