by Natasha West
Gina raised an eyebrow. ‘The news? It’s kind of… I mean, it’s pretty different from what I do.’
Bernie was contrite. ‘I know it’s probably not as interesting for you as shooting movies. But it’s regular work and decent pay. I mean, if you’re at a loose end.’
‘What’s the pay?’ Gina asked, certain it wouldn’t be enough to entice her. But when he said the figure, Gina found herself more swayed than she would have liked. Regular money, regular work. She’d never really had that. Might be nice. ‘Hey, Bernie, why are you so desperate for someone anyway?’
Bernie paused. ‘OK, look, here’s the thing…. The reporter you’d be working with, Ashley, she’s a bit… Not just anyone could work with her. In fact, all my other ops have refused the job.’
Gina chewed the inside of her mouth. ‘Right.’
‘But that’s why I thought of you. You were always such a steady sort of person. No one could rile you. That’s what I need right now. It’s what Ashley needs.’
Bernie was right, Gina didn’t really do angry. She’d seen many a meltdown on set, but she stood apart, removed. Life was just too short to let it all get to you. Gina liked to do her job, go home, get in the bath with an alcoholic beverage and have some peace. ‘So you’ve got a reporter who’s so difficult that no one wants to work with her? Bernie, I’m not trying to put thoughts in your head, but I think most people woulda sacked her by now,’ Gina speculated, taking a bite of her toast. It had gone a bit cold.
‘Trust me, it’s crossed my mind,’ Bernie said.
‘So…’
‘Yes, she’s a pain sometimes. But I’m trying to hang in there with her. I see potential. I think I just need the right camera operator who can let it roll off their back, and she’ll be alright.’
Gina thought on that for a moment and concluded that a job was a job. Plus, it didn’t have to be forever if she hated it. If better work came along... ‘Yeah, alright, Bernie. I’ll do it.’
Bernie’s smile practically popped out of the phone. ‘Gina, you’re a lifesaver. Can you start today?’
***
Gina was at the offices of KTN not two hours later, sitting in Bernie’s office, having her arse kissed. ‘You don’t know the favour you’ve done me, seriously.’
‘You’ve already thanked me, Bernie.’
There was a hard knock at the door. ‘Ah, that’ll be Ashley,’ Bernie said through a too-wide smile. ‘Come in!’
The door opened, and there she was, Ashley Quick. Gina had about three seconds to think she was kind of hot. Tall, she was a clothes horse in her little dark suit. She had coiffed long, caramel hair, coiffed everything actually. Sharp, dark eyes and a slightly severe, yet somehow sexy mouth. Then she opened that mouth. ‘Is this my new camerawoman, Gina?’ she demanded of Bernie but didn’t wait for an answer before turning to Gina. ‘Bernie said you usually shoot movies. I hope you’re not going to try and do fancy shots. I don’t have time to explain why we can’t do contra zooms or crane shots or whatever it is you usually do.’
Gina smiled with one side of her mouth. ‘It’s going to be a lot of medium close-ups, right?’
Ashley nodded. ‘Right.’
Bernie stood from behind his desk. ‘Well, I think that’s introductions done. Why don’t you two get downstairs, I think we’ve got something for you to get to.’
Gina stood. ‘I’ll follow you then, shall I?’ she asked Ashley.
Ashley nodded, and Gina followed her out of the office and into a lift. ‘So, how long have you been doing this?’ Gina asked Ashley.
‘I’ve been working in news for eight years, here for three,’ Ashley said briskly.
Gina thought Ashley might ask her a question in the name of getting to know each other, but it didn’t happen. They just stood in silence for the rest of the elevator ride. Gina wasn’t exactly starting to regret her decision to give this news thing a go yet, but she was beginning to wonder exactly what it was that was so far up Ashley Quick’s arse.
Three
Ashley didn’t like the sound of her new camerawoman from the get-go. ‘Why would you get someone from a different industry? You’ve got a list of news camera ops as long as your arm you could call,’ she said down the phone. She was on the train, hanging from a strap like a stressed-out chimp.
‘I know that,’ Bernie said. ‘I called them. They’re all busy.’
‘All of them are busy?’ Ashley smelt pungent bullshit. ‘No one wanted to work with me, did they?’ she asked him plainly.
‘No, no, no!’ Bernie cried, horrified. ‘I’m telling you; everyone was booked up!’
Ashley frowned. ‘You know I’m not buying that, right?’
‘I know.’
‘So this woman’s my only choice?’
‘Pretty much. She’s due in an hour, come up, and I’ll do introductions. I think you’ll like her.’
When Ashley walked into Bernie’s office, she knew immediately that wasn’t going to be the case.
It wasn’t an appearance thing. In general, camera operators weren’t an attractive subset of humankind, but Gina? Gina was a real exception. She was a very wholesome-looking blonde in her late twenties with sparkly blue eyes and her shiny hair up in a ponytail. She was small and lithe, except for the arms that popped out of her t-shirt. They were a serious set of biceps. Ashley thought they looked like the arms of a country girl raised tossing bales of hay for fun. All in all, she was easy on the eye.
What boiled Ashley’s piss from the outset, however, was her lazy slouch in that chair. Who the hell slobbed out like that on their first day of a job? She was clearly one of those absurdly laid-back types. Ashley had never understood people like that, and she certainly didn’t want to work with one. How was she going to get this woman to run with her pace? Ashley liked a certain energy to the day. She liked momentum. Gina didn’t look like she had any drive at all.
But she took Ashley’s interrogation on the chin, which was something. Maybe she’d just do as she was told and not make a fuss. Not like Mac. Ashley had been arguing the toss with him all day, every day. It was tiring. Maybe Gina would just roll with whatever Ashley needed?
She took Gina downstairs in the lift. It was a quiet ride. She’d never been good at small talk. She could make the words come out of her mouth alright, she knew what people asked. ‘How are you, did you have a nice weekend, what did you get up to?’ Not so hard. The part Ashley struggled with was making her face look like it gave a shit about the reply. Usually, it was better not to try and fake things than to do it badly. It tended to antagonise people even more than ignoring them.
So she kept her face shut and waited until they were in the control room, where the way too-young line producer, Shelly, was straight on them. ‘This the new cam person?’ the frazzled kid asked. Before anyone could answer she said, ‘OK, great, I need you to go to a church in Easton, interview the vicar. Apparently, his bring-and-buy sale is really kicking off this year. I’ve already emailed you the details.’
‘Electric news, as usual, Shelly,’ Ashley muttered.
‘You should have been here earlier. There was a protest at the town hall you could have covered.’
‘I didn’t have a cam person then, thanks to Mac. So, unless you wanted me to stick the camera on my own shoulder…’ Ashley began. Shelly faked a laugh, saying, ‘Ha, yeah. Good one. So, Gina? You got your own cam, or do you need something from us?’
‘I’ve got my own rig, it’s in my car, thanks.’
‘Great, so you’re set?’ She was gone before anyone could answer.
‘Right, then. To the church,’ Ashley said.
***
Ashley watched Gina drag a series of equipment boxes out of her busted up SUV. ‘Big car,’ she noted.
‘Has to be. Needs to hold a lot of stuff,’ Gina puffed.
‘Not great for the environment, though,’ Ashley couldn’t help but say.
Gina didn’t look at her, but her mouth hitched up at one side. ‘I’d
buy an electric if I had the money. I presume that’s what you drive?’
‘I take the train to work, actually,’ Ashley told Gina flatly.
‘You can’t drive?’
‘I can drive. I just don’t.’
‘Good for you,’ Gina said distractedly, slowly transferring the equipment into a van marked with the station’s logo.
‘You gonna take much longer?’ Ashley asked.
Gina put down a case gently and put a hand on her hip. ‘It would go faster if you leant a hand.’
‘Can’t handle equipment. Insurance thing.’
‘Guess it’s good I packed my guns then,’ Gina grinned, lifting another box with her brawny arms.
Ashley watched Gina placing her cases in the van, her eyes drawn to the aforementioned arms for a second time. She had a nice body in general, it had to be said. Her plain red t-shirt and jeans were well suited to her body shape, and the jeans strained just nicely when she bent over…
Ashley suddenly realised what she was doing, and she jumped into the front of the van, pulling out her phone and having a look at the email Shelly had sent. Another crap story. But still, it was something to focus on that wasn’t Gina’s bottom. Anyway, that sort of thing was wont to happen when you’d been single a while. A long while, actually. Ashley did a few sums and realised she hadn’t been on a date in over two years. Jesus, give her another month and she’d probably start eyeing up Bernie.
‘Right,’ Gina said, jumping in beside her and belting up. She started up the engine with keys sat in the ignition waiting. And then turned it off. ‘Wait, my bad. Did you want to drive?’ She shook herself. ‘Oh no, silly me, you don’t do driving, do you?’
‘I could drive the van,’ Ashley said before realising Gina was most likely messing with her.
‘No, I wouldn’t want to screw your morals. You just sit there and let me drive you. I’m a lost cause. Greta Thunberg will probably murder me personally,’ she said, starting the engine up and pulling out of the garage. Instead of rising to the bait, Ashley closed her mouth and opened her notebook, making notes on the ‘story’ she was going to cover.
They arrived at the church twenty tense minutes later. Ashley got out. ‘Wait here, I’m just gonna go and chat to the vicar, you get set up, and I’ll come and get you in a few.’ She went into the church to find the vicar. In the distance, she thought she heard a siren. But it was only brief, then gone. Probably some copper running a light.
Four
Gina got out of the van and went around to the side door, opening it up and grabbing her stuff. She took out her Canon XF300, popped in a freshly charged battery, and began to do an equipment check. A siren sounded in the distance. Gina only noticed it because it was the second time in a couple of minutes. But she quickly forgot about it.
Ashley came back out, her face set as ever in that bullish determination. ‘Right, the vicar’s prepped, so just follow me, and I’ll tell you where to point…’ Ashley’s voice faded away at the sound of another siren. ‘That’s two,’ she muttered to herself.
‘Two what?’ Gina asked distractedly, still fiddling with her lens.
Ashley seemed like she might not answer, but then said, ‘Police sirens. I’ve heard two.’
‘Three actually,’ Gina noted, screwing a directional mic onto the camera.
‘Three?’ Ashley asked, an odd urgency about her tone.
Gina glanced up. ‘Yeah, there was one when you went in. Why?’
‘No, nothing.’ She had an expression on her face that took Gina a moment to place. When she did, she didn’t understand it. Excitement. Tamped quickly down, but definitely present. ‘I think I just… I left something in the van,’ she said and ran off. Gina was left at the back of the van, baffled.
Curious, she walked around to the cab to see Ashley sitting in the passenger seat, holding something. It looked like a walkie-talkie. She was listening to it, fiddling with a nob on the side.
Gina walked up to her window and tapped on it. Ashley jumped. ‘What are you doing?’ Gina asked. ‘I thought we were going into the church to talk to the vicar about selling crap?’
‘Shhh!’ Ashley urged and put her ear back to her walkie. Muffled voices began to burble out. ‘Ten-twenty-three, over,’ said a man’s voice.
‘Is that a police scanner?’ Gina asked, mildly scandalised.
‘I’m trying to listen. Shush,’ Ashley demanded.
Gina went around to the back of the van to wait with the equipment. She wondered if this was normal, the scanner and everything. Probably not. It was local news, for crying out loud. Ashley was clearly a bit of a live one.
The vicar appeared at the church doors. ‘Are you coming in soon?’ he called to Gina. ‘I’ve got the raffle in ten minutes, and Mrs Simpkins is chomping at the bit to see if she’s won the luxury hamper.’
‘Hold on, Padre, I’ll just go and check in with the boss.’ Gina turned to go back around the front of the van and nearly jumped out of her skin when she found Ashley right in front of her. ‘Change of plan,’ Ashley said, a wild look in her eye.
‘But the vicar…’ Gina said, gesturing to the church steps. The vicar was coming down them, straightening his dog collar. ‘Are you ready for me?’ he asked.
‘Oh, err… I might have to come back to you later, Father,’ Ashley said with total disinterest.
‘What?’ he asked, arriving at the van.
‘Yeah, what?’ Gina repeated.
‘I’ve got, we’ve got… Something’s come up,’ Ashley said to the vicar. She turned back to Gina. ‘Get your stuff back in the van. Quickly.’
‘Oh, err, alright,’ Gina said uncertainly, trying to roll with the changes. After all, she didn’t really know how this industry worked, she was a total newb. She began to pack up her stuff.
But the vicar wasn’t quite as compliant. ‘Look, we’re finished at three, I thought you wanted to get some footage of the event?’
‘I’ll get it, I’ll be back really soon. Probably,’ Ashley said.
‘Probably?’ the vicar said, getting pissy. ‘Your station said you’d come and give our church some coverage, lord knows we need it. Now you’re just going to leave without-’
‘Look, Father, I really don’t have time for this!’ Ashley said. ‘I need to get to a real story, alright?’
‘We are a real story! Our main prize is a day at a spa!’
‘Jesus fucking Christ!’ Ashley tutted. ‘Will you please just get off my back! I’ll get to you, alright?!’ She turned back to Gina. ‘You ready?’
Gina was just about repacked. ‘I guess...’
Ashley ran back to the front of the van and jumped in. Gina turned to the vicar with an apologetic look. ‘Sorry about the blasphemy.’
‘Oh, I’m not bothered by that,’ he said casually. ‘You should hear Mrs Simpkins at Tuesday night bingo. Absolutely foul stuff when she misses the full house. But I’m not happy about this messing about!’ He went back into the church.
Gina got back in the driver’s seat of the van. ‘So, where are we going?’
‘It’s a restaurant. Jimmy’s Pizza.’
‘Alright, then. What’s the-’
‘Just start the van. I’ll give you directions,’ she said, pulling up a map app on her phone.
Gina shrugged and started the engine, pulling away from the church.
‘Left up there,’ Ashley said.
‘Right,’ Gina said.
‘No, left,’ Ashley said.
‘No, I know, I was just… Maybe I’ll just say yes next time.’ She turned off where Ashley had indicated. ‘Where now?’
‘Keep going, I’ll let you know when the next turn-off is coming,’ Ashley said. Gina couldn’t help but note her posture. She was leaning toward the windshield like she was gonna jump out of the window and fly to her destination any second now.
‘Is this normal, then?’ Gina asked.
‘What’s that?’ Ashley said, eyes flicking from her phone to the road, squinting ahe
ad to the next turn.
‘Listening in on police frequency for stories?’ Gina clarified. ‘That scanner thing, do all journos have one?’
‘It’s not standard issue, no. I bought it on eBay. Just in case.’
‘In case of what?’
‘Look, I… I’m going where the story is, alright? That’s what we do. You just point the camera where I say, and we’ll be fine.’