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Feeling sheepish and embarrassed by her previous decision to cancel her radiothon, Renee, upon arriving at the station the next morning, moved cautiously from the lobby to her office where, after putting away her handbag, she proceeded to set up her microphone and c.d. machine. And, after selecting one or more c.d.s from her library, sat in her chair, and after placing a set of head phones over her ears, flipped the switch on her desktop microphone to 'on'.

"Bon Jour, and good morning Indiana." said Renee in her 'announcer's voice. "I am Renee Beauchene-Alexander, and this is station KXKQ, and for the next forty-eight hours, I will be hosting the first-ever all-Michael Jackson fund raising marathon."

"Yess!" exclaimed Renee's supervisor Linda in a relieved whisper, having been listening from just outside Renee's office door. "Oh, I knew she wouldn't let us down."

"...That's right, for the next forty eight hours each and everyone of you listening will have an opportunity to call in and request any one of the many magnifique songs by the King of Pop, and at the same time make a donation-if you feel so inspired-to a special fund we've started for Michael, or to any one of the thirty nine charities Michael has made contributions to over the years. And so to get things under way, here is that fantastic first track from side one of that fabulous "Thriller" album..."concluded Renee as the opening rhythms of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " could be heard.

"So, I guess this means you won't make the concert after all." observed Renee's friend MyKayla who'd been leaning against the door frame, smiling with arms crossed.

"No, I'm afraid not...Sorry, Cherie." replied Renee as she manipulated the controls on her sound board to lower the volume of the music.

"Hey, don't be sorry." MyKayla replied as she crossed to Renee. "You're doing the right thing." she continued as she slipped her arms around Renee's neck, and kissed her on the check. "You're doing this for Michael...Thank you for changing your mind."

"You're welcome...I look forward to seeing the video tape." replied Renee.

"It should be pretty incredible." replied MyKayla. "They've hired a professional videographer. Cost them an arm and a leg to do it but they said we should make it up in ticket sales."

"Ty said the a.v. department of one of the schools will be recording the festival tonight so I won't have to miss that either..." replied Renee.

'I just had a thought, Renee. Why don't you pre-record a two-hour segment of music and call-ins that an intern can play between 8 and 10 tonight." replied Linda, having entered the office earlier, unnoticed by Renee. "That way you'll still be able to make the festival."

"Really?" asked Renee, pleasantly surprised by Linda's thoughtful gesture. "...You'd be willing to let me do that?...Well...merci."

"It's the least I can do after the crazy assumption I made about you the other day." replied Linda. "I was out of line, and I apologize."

"No, you were right to be concerned." replied Renee. "I was the idiot in this case. Listening to all that tabloid garbage on the radio, and t.v., letting it influence my thinking. Anyway, I thank you for the offer. I imagine Ty will be thrilled when he sees me in the audience tonight." Renee continued, while turning to select a couple of blank c.d.s from a nearby rack. "He likes to have me there whenever he performs...for moral support."

"I can't believe Ty feels the need for moral support." replied Linda. "He's the best Michael Jackson impersonator I've ever seen."

"If you come to the concert Saturday night, you'll get to see him two nights in a row." replied MyKayla.

"Ooh, I look forward to it." replied Linda as she turned to leave the office. "When you finish pre-record, just drop it by my desk on your way out tonight, and I'll see Carlo gets it."

"I will...Thank you, Linda." replied Renee.

"Must be nice to get to go to Ty's festival but not to my concert." replied MyKayla in a low voice, feigning sarcasm when Linda was out of earshot. "Oh, well, whatever...I better get going." she continued while putting an arm around Renee, and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm not really supposed to be here...I'll see you at seven-thirty anyway...unless Ty is picking you up?'

"No, he has a seven o'clock call. He's having me meet him there." replied Renee.

"Sounds like a plan, girlfriend." MyKayla replied, as Renee answered her phone to take a request. "I'll see you later...Oops! Hi George." MyKayla continued after accidentally bumping into the station manager who was entering the office at the same time MyKayla was exiting.

"Hello, George." replied Renee.

"Hello, ladies." George replied. "Renee, I'd like to ask you a favor...Our management company would like us to become the first ever radio/t.v. station. This is purely an experimental venture, and since you're our sole broadcaster of music by Michael Jackson, I need you to be our representative tomorrow night at the Speed Demon concert."

"Hey!" replied MyKayla to herself when she heard George's request.

"But, I'm a radio personality. What do I know about television?" replied Renee.

"You don't have to worry about that part. If the reporters ask you questions, all you have to do is tell them you're there on behalf of KXKQ, and their management." replied George.

"But what about my radiothon?" asked Renee.

"Use a two-hour block of pre-taped music and call-ins that someone can play while you're gone." said George.

"Well...okay." replied Renee thinking about how much work she'd have if she made two sets of pre-taped music. "Sure...no problem."

"Fantastic...thank you, Renee." George replied as he turned to leave the office.

"Well, it looks like I'll be doing my radiothon, and seeing Ty's festival AND Speed Demon's concert." Renee observed after George had left the office.

"Yess!...Alright...Thank you, George and Linda." exclaimed MyKayla, thrilled her good friend Renee would be getting to see her in concert after all.

"Yeah, thank you George and Linda." replied Renee, finding herself having to chuckle in agreement...

"Hey babe, what are you doing here?" asked Ty-clad in costume similar to one worn by Michael Jackson in his "Smooth Criminal' video-pleasantly surprised to see Renee backstage at the auditorium later that evening.

"Linda was so grateful I'd changed my mind about my radiothon-and so ashamed of herself for her assumptions-, she gave me permission to take two hours and come to the festival." replied Renee.

"Well, alright! That's great!" replied Ty as he hugged Renee. "I better go...show's about to start." he continued after having seen the stage manager's signal from offstage. "Enjoy the festival." he continued after giving Renee a quick kiss before making his way on to the stage.

"Merci, babe...Break a leg." called Renee, to which Ty responded with a smile and a wink at Renee as the intro to "Smooth Criminal", the first number of the festival could be heard.

The festival, beginning with Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal", featured many of the hits by the King of Pop, and culminated with Michael's fund-raising classic "We Are The World."

The next night, while watching the Speed Demon concert, Renee was treated to a rousing performance of many of Michael's songs from his BAD album, as well as a cheerleading session- led by MyKayla-, proclaiming the band's and the audience's belief in Michael's innocence. Renee was also treated to dance performances of Michael's "Billie Jean" and "Remember The Time" by hubby Tyrell who'd first thought about performing the numbers in the school festival but opted to let an equally talented student perform each routine-saving his own talent for numbers in which he was not the principle dancer. Such numbers included "You Can't Win"-the Scarecrow's solo number from "The Wiz"- where Ty had been asked to replace one of the 'crows' who'd "broken a drumstick playing soccer". The same student had been cast as a teen-age Michael, which gave Ty the opportunity to display his talent performing "The Robot", and other choreography made famous by Michael and his brothers during their years as "The Jacksons'...

The following Monday, as Renee sat in front of her studio microphone, in her office/sound booth, at the radio station, her friend MyKayla entered the room and, seeing Renee wearing head phones, indicating she was 'on the air', MyKayla moved quietly over to the sound booth.

"Hey girlfriend." whispered MyKayla, as she gently clasped Renee's arm before sitting in a nearby chair.

"Bon Jour...I'm back on the air in five minutes." whispered Renee, as she removed her headphones, and shared a hug and a kiss with her friend.

"And we're back." replied Renee in her broadcaster's voice into the microphone-five minutes later-having heard the 'on-air' signal, and replaced her headphones. "With me in the studio now is my good friend, and the lead singer of Speed Demon, MyKayla Jackson. Bon Jour, mon ami."

"Bon Jour." replied MyKayla.

"Welcome to the program. And congratulations to you and Speed Demon for the fantastic performance the other night." replied Renee while turning and speaking directly to her listening audience. "In case anyone missed them, Speed Demon put on one magnifique concert at the arena the other night, and I'm sure, from what I observed, if Michael Jackson had been there, he would have been blown away by all the love and support being poured out by everyone. Now, this concert was also a fund raiser for Michael, correct?" Renee asked, directing her question to MyKayla.

"Correct." MyKayla replied. "When we were planning the concert, we'd decided to donate a portion of the ticket sales to Michael as our way of showing our appreciation for his awesome music, and for the inspiration he's been to all of us over the years."

"Tre bien...tre bien." replied Renee, smiling. "I had a similar motivation for staging my radiothon, which raked in a grand total of fifty thousand dollars-twenty five thousand of which will be contributed to each of the requested charities selected from the thirty-nine charities Michael worked with, and the other twenty-five thousand will go to the King of Pop himself."

"Fifty thousand, wow." replied MyKayla. "We didn't do as well as that. The most we brought in was thirty four thousand, five hundred."

"That's still magnifique, my friend. Tre magnifique." replied Renee who continued, to her listeners, as she placed a c.d. in the player and manipulated some buttons. "And now, to celebrate the victory of this weekend, here's the King of Pop himself-before he was the "King of Pop." Here's Michael with Jackie, Marlon, Tito, and Randy with musical highlights from their "Victory" tour." "Tre bien, mon ami." Renee continued to MyKayla while pushing buttons to end the interview, and pushing her microphone to one side. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome...Thanks for having me." replied MyKayla.

"You're welcome." replied Renee. "Thirty four thousand dollars, Cherie...that's fantastic."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" replied MyKayla. "So, how did Ty's festival go?"

"Really well...yeah." replied Renee. "He wound up having to fill in for a student who'd injured himself in a soccer game, so he got to show everyone a few more Michael Jackson moves. The audience loved watching Ty do the Robot during the Jackson Five segment."

"How much did Ty and the other teachers earn for Michael?" asked MyKayla

"I don't know." replied Renee. "I don't know if they even sold tickets."

"Oh, speaking of Michael, guess who we got an email from the other day?" MyKayla asked, eager to relay some news.

"Really?...How'd you manage that?" asked Renee who'd guessed right away from MyKayla's tone and expression.

"Well, we had someone film us while we were rehearsing for the concert; then we had someone post of a clip of our rehearsal on Youtube..." replied MyKayla.

"...And Michael saw your Youtube performance, and contacted you about it." replied Renee.

"Exactly!" replied MyKayla. "And get this, girlfriend, Michael liked us so much, he invited us to come visit him, and do some recording with him!"

"Wow, that's fantastic...when are you going?" asked Renee.

"We're planning to go to the Emerald Isle next week." replied MyKayla

"Ah, that's right, he and his kids are living in Ireland right now. I got a letter from him recently, and the envelope had a British postmark." replied Renee.

"So, you heard from M.J. too, huh?" asked MyKayla.

"Yeah...On a whim, I sent him my journal, and he wrote to thank me, and invite me to come visit." replied Renee.

"Cool...do you think you will?" asked MyKayla.

"Well, sure!" replied Renee. "I mean this is M.J. we're talking about. This is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity! And besides, Ty's been talking lately about wanting to take a vacation somewhere.

"Well, if you and Ty aren't doing anything next week, you're welcome to come with us...In fact, why don't you?" asked MyKayla.

"Okay." Renee replied after a moment's thought. "Sure. I'll just have to square everything with Ty but I'm sure he'll be agreeable, especially when he finds out who extended the invitation. And don't worry, I'll handle our hotel and plane reservations."

"You don't have to do that...I'll handle yours and Ty's reservations.” replied MyKayla.

"Well, okay...if you're sure." replied Renee.

"I'm sure.” replied MyKayla. "It's the least I can do. You've always been such a good friend. I just wanted to show my appreciation...Oh, wait a minute, you're agoraphobic. Maybe taking this vacation wouldn't be a good idea. I mean airports have those long hallways and everything."

"The only time my agoraphobia is a problem is if I'm outside in open space somewhere. Those hallways at the airport are completely enclosed. I'm sure I'll be fine." replied Renee.

"Okay, but what if we're outside somewhere in Ireland?" asked MyKayla doubtfully. "I mean, what if we're visiting M.J. and..."

"Listen, girl, if we're visiting M.J., my agoraphobia will be the furthest thing from my mind." replied Renee. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Well...okay." replied MyKayla. "I guess I'm just nervous. I mean, oh my God, Renee...Michael Jackson! We're going to be recording with Michael Jackson!"

"Who's gonna be recording with Michael Jackson?" asked Renee's husband Ty, having overheard MyKayla while entering Renee's office.

"Speed Demon is." replied MyKayla, as Renee greeted Ty simultaneously with "Here's the man of the hour." "...We're going to meet him in Ireland next week."

"Hey, that's great Myka...Congratulations.” replied Ty before asking Renee, "Got time for a lunch break?"

"Um hm! I'm hungry." replied Renee. "Oh, and we're invited to go to Ireland...courtesy of Myka...that is if you don't have anything else going on?"

"Well, thanks Myka...I think that'll be great." replied Ty. "I sure could use a vacation."

"Awesome!" replied MyKayla. "And like Renee said, I'll take care of all your reservations."

"Sounds like a plan." replied Ty.

"Oh my God!" continued MyKayla to herself. "When I formed Speed Demon, I never thought it would lead me...lead US to...owwwooo! YESSS!"


Kindred Spirits (c) 2010
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