She put up her umbrella over her head and hurried inside.
"Barry?" she asked. "What are you doing in there?"
Of course, being soundproof, Barry couldn't hear her, but he did see her and waved. A few minutes later he came out.
"Jess, you have to go in there." He said.
"Excuse me?"
"Look, ok, I'm only new and I hardly know a thing about the equipment in there. Sarah's home with laryngitis, that's why she isn't here. Corey is stuck in traffic, Lillian and Craig and on their honeymoon, Brent has taken the weekend off to visit his grandparents, I haven't been able to contact anyone else and no one else was here."
"Right. Ok."
"So you have to go in there Jess. At least you'll know what you're doing."
Jess smiled.
"Ok, ok. Umm, you keep trying to contact our other backups ok?"
"Ok."
Barry saluted cheekily and Jess walked nervously into the studio. She noted that Barry had a tape of ads playing and waited patiently for it to finish.
"Uhh, hey, this is Jess on Gold FM. Uhh... I'm here in place of Sarah for the moment, who's home sick today. Hey Sarah, hope you're feeling better. Umm, I actually have a sister named Sarah. She just turned eight last December."
Jess realised she'd better think up a topic for the listeners to call up about or she'd end up babbling. She was that nervous.
"Ahh, I have a few siblings actually. There's nine of us altogether, and I'm the fourth oldest. What about you guys out there? Do you come from a big family or a small one?"
Jess then read out the phone number for the radio station and let them know it was also the number to call to place a song request. Then she put some music on, sat back in her chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ok, that was a stupid topic." She muttered. "Oh well."
About half an hour later, the radio producer, Corey, entered the building, and gestured for Jess to come out. She nodded to acknowledge that she had seen him.
"You know, I had three children, and it was enough trouble managing them!" the caller laughed. "How on earth did your mother manage nine?"
Jess smiled as she answered.
"Well, we're very close as a family. Hey can I play you a song?"
"Oh yes please. Can I hear Ashes by Indecision?"
"Sure."
Jess put it on, grinning at the irony of her request. Then she headed out.
"Yes Corey?" she asked tentatively.
"Jess I have to congratulate you on doing such a great job." He said. "You don't mind doing it for the rest of Sarah's time frame do you? We haven't been able to contact anyone else."
"Sure."
"Great."