News at Five - Part 1 - Angelica

Angelica Patterson roamed the streets of her neighborhood searching for answers within herself. She and her dog Mooney, a black Labradore Retriever, passed by large oak trees that aligned the old and tired sidewalk one after the other and wondered what stories they could tell about the many generation of lives they have seen. Only if these trees could talk, she thought as she stopped to stare at her favorite tree. It had to be the largest tree on Penn Street. It was early spring when she breathed in the cool morning crisp air with her eyes closed only to open them again to humbly look up through the thick branches of the tree that protected them from the morning sun. Even the sun began to dance in order to squeeze through the newly thick leaves that hung half way over the street. Mooney seemed to be taking in the sun also before he slowly walked over to crop his spot taking care of his business round the tree base. The tree base was almost as wide as the blue Toyota Corolla that was often parked slightly in front of the tree. From years of sharing space with the old tree, the car had dings, stains, and droppings from the many birds that called this tree home.

Angelica waited for Mooney to sniff around the tree and was glad it was the weekend. By Friday, she had enough of meetings, news and deadlines. The work was not comparable to the money she was paid and that made her angry. Great Job Angelica! Good work Angelica! Do this, Angelica. Do that, Angelica. No Angelica! No Angelica! The time is not right Angelica! Angelica sucked her teeth and yanked Mooney to come along.

She had been with KTKA News in Pittsburgh for seven years only to be stuck in the news room recommending, editing, pulling and researching stories. Editorial and Research Specialist was the title that was crafted for her. It was better than running all over the city chasing stories only to find that your story was cut with a snap of the finger. But she was better than that. She could sit at that desk for the city to see her give the news at five along with Mitch O’Brien and Sarah Burns. Hell, she knew she could do a much better job than Sarah. She knew the city of Pittsburgh was ready for a change. Sarah announced on Thursday morning that she would be retiring after 22 years on the tube. Angelica couldn’t help but wonder what took her so long. The years of sipping her metal purse-sized container showed on her face. The lines around her eyes and lips were so deep that it appeared to Angelica that she had often been in a fight with her cat.

Mooney desired to check out another tree that wasn’t as large as her favorite tree and Angelica hadn’t realized that she paused because of Mooney. While she stared at Mooney in thought, but not seeing him, she was determined to replace Sarah Burns for the news anchor position and she realized that Lisa Proctor was just as determined.

Lisa Proctor had already begun to put her fangs in the neck of KTKA’s executive producer, Michael Foster. Lisa had been working on Mr. Foster for months and it showed through his patchy red face when she approached him at the station. The minute she left his presence, the redness disappeared. A former reporter also, Lisa, was given a position designed specifically for her by Mr. Foster. She was in charge of competitive analysis of the broadcasting industry to share internally with staff and sister companies.

She paused for a moment not realizing it was because of Mooney’s desire to sniff out another tree. Frank Sullivan surfaced in her thoughts about the startling news he gave her earlier in the week.