Have Mercy!

It's funny how memory is connected to your senses, how certain smells remind you of certain things, how certain songs transport you back in time. I'm sitting here listening to tunes and on comes an oldie but a goodie from the 80's. You would think this song would take me back to my youth, the days of the rebel teenager, but it doesn't.

Instead I see myself in my early 20's in the early 90's, sitting in front of the console in the on-air booth at the old CFAN building overlooking the Sobey's parking lot. It's midnight and I've just gone on for the overnight shift. The station manager is a bit of a sexist pig. He has certain ideas about what voices work best at what times and he has decided that a female voice is exactly the thing the night shift at the mill will find enticing. But I'm not impressed with this discrimination so I'm not talking much.

The good thing is that I get to play pretty much any song I feel like during this time of the day because I don't need to worry about Canadian content ratios or getting some God-fearing religious freak's prayer beads in a knot. This is when I can play Zeppelin or AC/DC and get away with it. I like to put in Stairway to Heaven so I can enjoy a nice long smoke in the bathroom down the hall.

People are always calling the station to find out the weather forecast or the tide times and sometimes to request a song. There's a guy who calls every night to request the same song. His name is Darren and he works at one of the 24-hour service stations in town.

Darren has lady problems. He has a daughter with a girl but they broke up and she's taken his kid to Moncton to live with her. His ex really seems like a bitch to me. He's devastated by the whole thing because he loves his kid so much. The sun rises and sets on her. He's confused and doesn't know what to do. Thinks he might fight for full custody.

Every night he calls and we talk for hours about our lives. We talk until 5:30 when the morning ride to work male voice arrives. It's kind of weird sharing all these conversations with a guy I don't really know and have never met in person, but it's kind of nice to have a friend too. My boyfriend is jealous of this friendship. He doesn't see anything nice about it at all, just weirdness.

After weeks and weeks of talking everyday, Darren, who gets off work at the same time in the morning as I do, would like to drive me home, but I won't let him. That would be crossing the line I think, because I do have a boyfriend. Still, I'm curious about him. I would like to meet him in person. As the months go by things are not going so great with my boyfriend and I'm becoming even more curious about my telephone friend, but then the calls stop and I don't know who he really is or where he's gone.

I never find out.

I break up with the boyfriend, move away, move on with my life . . . and still every time I hear this song, I hear that voice on the phone and wonder where Darren is, what happened with his daughter, and if he ever got that girl he requested every night.


Listening To: Henry Lee Summer, Wish I Had a Girl