Part 5
It is midday Tuesday. Rory and her group finish up day 2 of Journalism 101. She fixes her nametag on her white linen blouse.
"Ok, people. The rest of the afternoon will be dedicated to a mock news story. In this mock news story, you will be given the opportunity to capture the essence of what is reporting. You will be given the foundational tools to highlight the importance of getting the whole unbiased story and nothing more, nothing less. Finally, you will then input your personal bias, measure it against the natural unbias and then weave it in altogether. Any questions so far?"
Rory refrains from asking and as she looks around her group, she finds that they share the same sentiment.
The journalism teacher continues, raising his hand. "Well, *I* have a few questions. And it begins with the five 'w's: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Very important questions, people. Five questions a journalist should always ask oneself before beginning any kind of story or investigation, just like a good forensic would. And that means if you have to physically write a 'W' on each finger, then maybe it's not such a silly idea after all."
Rory smiles to herself while she jots down notes on her yellow notepad, thinking about the many questions she would pose for the sudden disappearance of Paul Anka and how Stars Hollow would choose her to cover it.
"Now, moving forward, let's..." The professor guide's voice fades out as something catches Rory's eye when she looks up. She looks back at the teacher and then begins to move a little away from the group and keeps her eye on the redhead.
"...yes dad, I understand they want me for the story on Hurricane George but so far the humanistic ability of holograms are drastically limited and I'm obviously lightyears away from Florida." She pauses. "Easy on the upset, dad. Remember the chakra breathing exercises we learned in Oslo last month. In and out, dad. Breathe in and out." The girl walks a little bit more and then turns her back to Rory. Rory looks back at the group that was still there and then back to the girl. She slowly moves closer to her.
"Fine, dad. Listen, I can meet you on a red-eye on Thursday, time-permitting. But if these minions can't see the importance of journalistic flexibility and the art of last-minute cancellations in favor of covering a higher-traffic story, then I don't understand why I'm here. But I guess we'll just have to raincheck. Definitely no pun intended." Rory smiles mildly at her joke, then twists her mouth out of nervousness. "Ok dad thanks, ciao." She hangs up and groans. "Oh, the life of a wannabe journalist." Rory clutches her bag a little tighter and takes this opportunity to introduce herself.
"Excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear, but are you the daughter of New Jersey's Ben Newmann?"
She types furiously on her Blackberry. "I knew I should've dyed my hair purple. Then no one would've even thought to second-guess. Plus, it would've been dad revenge. Two birds, one stone."
"I see it's Paris Geller all over again," Rory says under her breath.
She turns around to face Rory. "Paris who?"
"Oh, nothing. Just an arch nemesis-turned-roomie back at uni. I'm sure you don't know her." Rory bites her lip and looks down. "This hasn't been the best introduction ever, has it?"
"But sure one of the more interesting ones, I'll give you that." She extends her hand, rolling her eyes. "You guessed it."
"Uh, Michelle Newmann is it?" Rory asks. Michelle nods.
"And you must be..." Michelle offers.
Rory laughs, astonished. "Rory Gilmore, Yale. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I just get a little starstruck. And I must say, your hair is glorious." They shake hands.
"Yale, eh? Can't say this Boston sophomore isn't jealous. And in the future, as a professional journalist, there's no room for being starstruck. Taken from the guru himself, Ben Newmann. Don't tell him I told you that unless you're mildly interested in watching overbearing fathers have a field day."
"That's so awesome. Was Yale your first choice or something?" Rory asks reluctantly.
"Or something. Now it's just a distant memory slowly fading but sure is taking its sweet Handsome Dan time. Taunting almost. Too bad it's swayed my opinion of the once oh-so precious bull dog. No offense to you bull dog worshippers."
"None taken. Although the Boston Terrier will always be my favorite."
"Not my favorite per se, but an obligatory preference. To make myself feel better about Yale rejection, I've played it up to an over-quota of aspiring journalists. And now, here I am in Iowa as intern-assistant because my dad's afraid I've been over-coddled and feels I need 'exposure.'"
"Whoa, sounds intense."
"Wanna try intense? Go up to Oslo and have your dad throw you into reporting in Norwegian like it's second nature. Now THAT's intense."
"You've been to Oslo?"
"Well that shouldn't come to you as a suprise seeing you have a disturbing habit of eavesdropping. Something, by the way, a journalist should feel neither proud nor ashamed of."
"It's not a habit. Trust me. I've had my share or eavesdroppers," Rory laughs nervously, her cheeks burning.
Michelle shrugs. "Ok then, suit yourself. Anyway, aren't you supposed to be with your group, Rory? How do you spell 'Rory' by the way?"
"Phonetically, just the way it sounds. It's short for Lorelai but I'm sure you didn't need to know that. Anyway, yeah the group, I just thought to introduce myself while the opportunity presented itself. You don't meet too many redheads nowadways."
"Hmm. I like you, Rory. You and your honesty. Would you like to make one of my requirements as intern assistant easier and choose me as your advisor? They're having me go through the group list and handpick one of you guys for coaching. Congratulations on the job, by the way."
"Thanks! But you just randomly choosing me...isn't that considered empirical bias?"
"Who will know? And honestly, who can say no to a Yale grad? You can probably teach me a thing or two."
"Yeah, and maybe you can teach me Norwegian sometime. Hey, I'll never know when I'll have to report in Oslo."
Both smile and continue to talk and walk towards the group.
*******Meanwhile in Stars Hollow. It is approaching night.*********
The emergency meeting commences in a few minutes. Lorelai and Luke stand outside the main entrance.
"So, how do you think it's going to go tonight?" Luke asks Lorelai while they look at the entire town bottleneck into the room.
"So far, I'm hoping no one will get trampled before the start of the meeting. I can't help but think these of this as some sort of sick lottery. And the fact that it's 5 minutes past the original time scheduled and there's no sign of Taylor. Yeah, it's going to go great."
"I'm sure Taylor's right around the-"
Taylor runs up to the pair. "Lorelai. Excuse me for my being late."
"Taylor! What a surprise." Lorelai says through her teeth.
"There was a last minute technical difficulty with one of the speakers we will be using tonight and fortunately, it has not blown out at this point. And now, we can continue rounding up the rest of Stars Hollow so that we can get this Paul Anka business figured out and solved for good. Now, Lorelai, do you have what you're going to say tonight?"
"I've been working on my speech feverishly all of yesterday and today."
"Great, that's the way to do it Gilmore."
"Yayyyyyyy, if only," Lorelai said under her breath.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find the rest of the extra folding chairs. Apparently, we are expecting a higher turnout than normal." Taylor walks away and enters the town meeting room. Lorelai turns back to Luke. "I guess you're right. Better get a seat while they last, Luke."
"I think I'll be ok either way. I mean, how long can one town hall meeting be?"
15 minutes later...
"So, as you can see by this graph of Stars Hollow and surrounding area, I think it will be best to start our search in the area of Stars Hollow northeast proper, thereby narrowing avoiding the pickle spill catastrophe northwest of our final destination. And once someone sees a possible sighting of Paul Anka, we will pause the search, gather all evidence and if sucessful, we will meet right back here for the conclusion and the subject in tow, and in this case, Paul Anka." Taylor leads the discussion on search tactics.
"But what if we are unfamiliar with proper this and proper that in terms of direction, Taylor? We're not made of compasses, you know," Babette chimes in, the rest of the town agreeing with her. Taylor throws out his hands to calm everyone one.
"Now, Babette, this is not your average search. This is a dog search, a very complicated, comprehensive search that calls for the use of technical terms. If you need clarification on a term, feel free to ask around during the search. Stars Hollow is not that big of a town, as we all know from everyday life, and addition to geographical advantage, I guarantee every other person will know what northeast proper means in terms of direction. Which now, ladies and gentlemen brings me up to my next point: Reward Amount. And now here to present us with some figures, Lorelai Gilmore."
The crowd slowly claps while Lorelai moves the podium and cheeses to the crowd. "Thanks Taylor, and to everyone here who could make it out tonight. I'm sure you had a million other places you would rather be tonight, lIke tucked up at hone watching Tivo." She clears her throat and looks down. "First of all, as you all know by now, my dear dog Paul Anka has run away for unclear reasons. The task of tracking him down have once been far from feasible, but now tonight with combined efforts, we will work together and we will find him." She pauses and looks around. "And seeing all of your bright, smiling faces makes this challenge so much easier and less impossible. With that, I'm sure you're all wondering about the Reward. Yes, the reward amount, as I have decided, will be in the amount of $1000.00."
The crowd murmurs amongst one another. Lorelai lifts her up on her toes, raising her voice. "But let's all remain focus on the real task ahead, and that is to find Paul Anka, whether or not there is a reward in it." The room erupts in a series of 'yes's. "Ok, that's all I have for now. Thank you and Team Paul Anka!" Everyone exclaims 'Team Paul Anka' and claps as Lorelai moves away from the podium and towards Luke. "Nice one, Gilmore." Luke nudges Lorelai, who smiles. "Oh you know, I try."
Taylor takes the podium. "Thank you for that Lorelai. Now, for all of you here, you've been assigned a few essentials brought to you by the emergency town fund: a flashlight, a work vest, a whistle and a water bottle. There's also a waiver underneath your seats to sign which basically states your responsibilities and waives all responsibility for any lost items, personal distress, yatta yatta yatta..."
Babette chimes in. "Hey Taylor, we need to know what exacty 'yatta yatta yatta' is referring to. Am I right, everyone?" The rest of the people shout in agreement.
"Well Babette, you're most certainly on fire tonight, aren't you?" Taylor throws in a sarcastic smile.
"You bet I am. This is a lost dog we're talking about here."
"If it behooves you to know, yatta yatta yatta is referring to the expansion of personal responsibilities, such as but not limited to when family members of the group somehow wander off at one point or another. Which is to say I am not soley responsible or liable for those individuals who willingly choose to follow their own path and not the one originally laid out."
Babettte nods. "Pretty important to know, don'tcha think Taylor?"
"Right. Now, I will open the floor up for discussion for approximately-" Taylor glances at his watch. "5 minutes. Does anyone-"
Babette starts to raise her hand. Taylor closes his eyes momentarily.
"Besides Babette...have any questions for either me or Lorelai?"
A few people raise their hands. One guy asks, "Yeah, so I forget. Where again are we meeting before the search?" He feigns confusion while the rest of the crowd laughs at his rhetorical question.
"Very funny," Paul says bitterly. "Any other serious questions?"
Lorelai nudges Luke. "I so forgot the age limit on this search. I see a few young faces that should already be in bed."
"It's not the children's fault that their parents aren't sensible enough to put them in bed at a decent time."
"I suppose. But I personally don't want to be liable for anyone's child getting lost or something."
"I'm sure their parents will keep an eye on them at all times."
"Yeah, right. Says the guy who states the parents aren't sensible enough to make them join the search in the first place just a second ago," Lorelai whispers.
"Now, everyone, I would like to move this discussion outside to the gazebo as we prepare to watch a special surprise presentation put on by Star's Hollow's very own girls' dance troupe entitled "Please Stay, P.A."
Lorelai looks taken aback as everyone heads towards the gazebo. "They actually put on a production about Paul Anka's disappearance? Complete with an untouched bowl of dog food and unnoticeable paw prints?"
"Guess we'll be finding out in a few seconds." They stop at the gazebo where it's quiet and dark.
"Aaaaaand action," Lorelai jokes. Then suddenly, a bunch of girls run among the audience huddled and dressed in dark furry costumes.
"Oh wow Luke, look! Mini Paul Ankas." They continue to run up until they reach the gazebo where they join some girls dressed up like night stars and then stop. Then one girl howls and the rest follow, weirding out Lorelai.
"Whoa. definitely interpretive. I don't think I can stand much more of this. Hide me Luke." Lorelai buries her head into Luke's shoulder while he gives her a bear hug. A few moments later, the interpretive dance ends. The crowd claps, somewhat delayed, scattered and confused.
"All of these wonderful girls worked hard on this number, so let's give them a big hand." The applause grew a little more.
Taylor joins them in the gazebo, telling everyone. "Now let the search for Paul Anka...begin!" Everyone scatters and the overhead camera pans out to show all of Stars Hollow walking from the park area to the outskirts of the town towards the Evergreen trees.