Chapter Five

At least three things happened during the Commercial Break:

Knucklehead pulled makeup from a kit and popped Momma with it. "Gentle!" she said.

The reporter walked around checking for a better shot, her fingers shaping like a box.

Mike suddenly saw the plainness of the cameraman's face and began to cry.

"Get that kid outta here..." Lynette said. ...giving Momma a smile "...but nearby...not near the plastic, or my purse, Oh Goodness! We're back in 5"

"4...3..." the cameraman pointed at Lynette.

"...We're BACK." the reporter began. "We're back and we're standing here off Crescent and a large woodland lot known as..."

"Crescent Street and an empty lot" Momma said. "Crying kids, crying mother..."

Lynette shot a look to the whole group, and said sheepishly "A local woman with a burden. A burden of great proportions just for the fact that her husband is away in the U.S. of A. Army"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Mike screamed.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Lynette reported. "It's the evening news I'm Lynette Jameson and we're doing a SPECIAL REPORT". She reached into her jacket pocket and handed Mike something. It was a small safe piece of plastic made in China.

Mike shut his mouth around the green toy soldier.

"...Children," Lynette shrugged poetically, "...are our future, but getting them there might be the death of ours. Meet Mrs. Sally Canterthumpy."

"Hello," Momma said. You could tell she wasn't into it.

"Mrs. Canterthumpy, Sally...why are you living here in the woods?"

"Well, I can't leave my boy. I have to stay with him. And my boy has...well, horns."

"They're antlers Ma'am"

"Horns, antlers, limbs, branches..."

"How did all this come about?"

This seemed to make Momma mad, and she really didn't want to be interviewed by the brunette-hiding blonde-impersonating TV star. "Well, we've always had tails in my family, not horns."

The blonde reporter shot Momma a glare. "You joke"

"How do I know what happened? My boy comes to me three days ago with a headache BC Powders can't even fix." Momma stands-up, and the cameraman loses his tripod to follow her.

Knucklehead trailed with a fuzzy long microphone which looked like a poodle thingy and a mobile light.

Little Mike dropped the green plastic Chinese-US soldier from his mouth and aimed his young choppers in the direction of the poodle.

"Nu-ugh, NO kid." Knucklehead whispered to Mike. But it was too late, Mike got a good tight hold and pulled the fuzzy cover completely off the long microphone. "HEY!" he said. "Come back with our..."

It was too late, Mike had left the set, poodle-thing in mouth and soldier at arms.

"Let him go, " Lynette said. "...continue with your story Dear."

Knucklehead bumped Momma in the shoulder with the long microphone to a loud "THUMP" followed by a CRASH, and a softer "BLEEP-Bleep-bleep. We're Clear!"

Momma seemed irritated by the trailing electronics, but continued. "...The boy is a good boy, he goes to 2nd Grade at the school up the street. He likes vegetables. He says his prayers. He helps me watch my younger son's lead intake."

Momma moved-in for a close-up. "Then---he awakes with horns one day and two Tuesdays later we're surgically removing him from his blue comforter set and sturdy built bunk beds."

The reporter cleared her throat. "But why here? In the woods?"

"Would you let a reindeer roam around in your house?" Momma pulled-out a tissue so quickly it must have been half-cocked at her side.

"I'm not a reindeer" Manley whimpered. "...I'm a BOY."

"SHHHHHHHH of course you are..." the reporter said, sending a bit of a shiver even to the plain M&M cameraman, who was going for another one of Lynette's required 3-second close-ups "Your poor Mother is speaking."

"I know you're not, Joseph." Momma said, "...we just had to get a more 'open space' until my husband Conrad's Platoon can be contacted. They can tell us what to do."

"And let me get this straight...you say you have been here in the woods? Living in the woods?" The reporter winced, as if she had just smelled the dirtiest dirt bag whiff of a damp dirty dog.

"Well," Momma said. "...we were warm, we had a thick blanket."

Lynette gasped, and, off-camera, snapped at the White M&M to come in for a close-up of Momma. "You mean to tell me you have no friends, no loved ones, no superficial neighbors who you could have called and convinced to feign interest?"

"...a doctor came this morning, took one look at us, then ran away."

Years of chasing stories and trying to predict recent developments had made the brunette-covering, jacket, scarf and wig-wearing producer-reporter aware of something.

Something she could see that everyone else had the inability to see. This thing was something that could make or break you in the industry, depending on how well-tuned your foresight was to see it---and Lynette was sure that it was time for: the cliffhanger!

She wrapped her arms around the two, well, including Manley as best as she could wrangle, but especially Momma. For a settling couple of moments her microphone groaned and protested any hugs from strangers.

For TV effect or for habit, Momma shed a single tear and turned toward Plain M&M and Knucklehead and the rest of Buckner County and Beyond so they could see her pain. You could have written the words What to Do With Manley across her face. And this made Manley cry as well.

"...A down-right SHAME. Look at this poor mother of two! No Husband. No friends. No Kindness from Strangers! Living on the ground in the filthy forest full of bugs, cold-blooded crawlies, animals and hairy things with Big Feet who leave footprints so deep this poor child could fall in and surely get hurt!"

"WHHHHHHHAAAAAAA" little Mike spewed.

Lynette reached-down and patted Mike on the head. "...For now, in the Danger Zone at Crescent and Empty Lot, this is Lynette Jameson reporting for the Five Live at 5 Team, Tomorrow's News Today."