Lights brightened, and cameras focused on the Channel Seven news desk. The two lead anchors were seated behind it, getting ready for the hardest half hour of their otherwise cushy workday. The set director motioned for them to get ready for action as he paced his fingers down from three, to two, to one. After televisions across the greater Los Angeles area played the Channel Seven intro, Rex and Carmen sat up, straight, beaming with million dollar smiles.
“Thanks for tuning into the six o’clock news on channel seven, California’s number one news source. I’m Carmen Montalvo Rodriguez-Jones, here with Rex Habbernath,” Carmen sat behind the channel seven news desk in her off-white designer jacket reading from the teleprompter while the cameramen kept her in center frame. She looked to the camera with professional yet alluring poise. If you had asked her, she would say she was in her early thirties, very early, she had smooth, light Carmel skin thanks to both the bright Los Angeles sun and her proud Latino heritage. Her long silken black hair rested on her right shoulder styled in a two hundred and fifty dollar cut. “We’re here to bring you today’s weather, traffic, sports, and all the hottest stories you need to know about,” she gave the camera a grin before turning to Rex Habbernath.
Rex was in a five-thousand-dollar blue suit, sporting salt-and-pepper hair in a three hundred dollar cut. His skin almost as tan as his Co-Anchor’s, making his pearly white once-a-week treated teeth pop all the more. Unlike his Co-star’s, his skin tone was thanks to monthly sessions in a tanning bed.
“That’s right Carmen,” Rex turned to her and gave a quick wink, she returned the wink with a seductive look and a gentle bite of her lip. The entirety of channel Seven’s viewers knew that the lead anchors, though both married to different people, were wrapped up in a torrid and passionate affair with one another.
Channel Seven’s market share, the good people of Los Angeles and its surrounding suburbs, assumed that this subtle little secret was unknown by the co-anchor's respective spouses, but they were only half right. Rex’s wife had no idea and drank enough wine not to care to investigate any silly rumors about the six-figure income love of her life. Carmen’s husband, on the other hand, not only knew but was reluctantly acquiescent to the situation. Carmen always told him how good it was for ratings, and after all, she was the breadwinner of the home.
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“First, big news in local sports,” Carmen said, “The Reagan High Fighting Mallards Baseball team are on a war-path to state, let’s check in with our resident Duck-Devotee former Mallards football quarterback and former San Francisco Forty-Niner, Wes Waverly, Wes, how are our boys doing?” She asked, turning to camera right.
Wes was a formerly in shape but now slightly overweight balding man with a thick, brown goatee “Thanks Carmen, an action-packed first half of the season for the Mallards. Captain Brian Austin is proving himself to be a master tactician this season. You think just because you’ve been killing it in your fantasy league you know how baseball works? Let me tell you; you got nothing on this kid. All my sources at Reagan High say he’s the driving force behind their commanding 8-0 record for the season, looks like Reagan High baseball wants nothing more than to spend another year with that big ol’ trophy and they will not be stopped,” Wes said.
“Thanks, Wes,” Carmen laughed, “We are rooting for our boys aren’t we Rex,” She reached over and brushed his hand.
“We sure are Carmen,” he said.
The camera focused center on Rex as he swiveled his chair to it, “As everyone knows it was election day yesterday, most of the incumbents on the State of California’s ballot such as Representative Ableman and Senator Clooney won reelection, which is no surprise to many. But the vote everyone has been talking about is the controversial Proposition Four-Twenty, a referendum that would legalize the recreational use of cannabis in the state of California. Most agree that the referendum is why California had a record turnout of voters heading to the polls. It was able to motivate people both for, and against it. But at the end of the day, the good people of California voted against the Proposition. This outcome came as a big shock to many younger voters, as many of them feel like it’s finally time to decriminalize the drug. While older voting groups were just as motivated to keep it illegal, citing fears of possible damage legalization would do to the youth of California. While marijuana is still legal for doctor prescribed medicinal use, the act of buying, selling, or processing recreational marijuana in the state of California, will remain a felony.”
Dimestorepublishing.com Presents
VICE HIGH
A Johnny Vincent Novel
By Robert C. Gemmell
