The music stopped.
“That was Salt and Cinnamon Horses, live in studio, on FM 107.1 Underground. I’m Mikey Jams, and we now have two tickets to give away to their show at The Venue tonight. We’ll give those to caller number seven.”
In the studio, the band looked expectantly at the producer, Marlin, as she waited for the calls to come in. Mikey Jams also looked expectantly across the room at the producer. The phone did not ring.
“Is something wrong with the phone?” Mikey Jams asked, still on the air.
“I don’t think so,” Marlin said.
The band looked at each other.
“There must be,” Mikey hissed at Marlin, trying to keep his calm. Salt and Cinnamon Horses was no small band.
“Maybe no one’s listening,” the lead guitarist suggested.
“Last week, we gave away Green Machine tickets in like four seconds,” Marlin said, unhelpfully.
Finally, the phone rang.
“Answer it, answer it,” Mikey yelled. Marlin picked it up, and Mikey said, “Hello, you’ve just won…”
“Yeah, the phone works,” the drummer yelled, holding up his cell phone.
“Let’s throw it to a commercial break,” Mikey said. He was sweating. Marlin fumbled for a moment to bring up the ad break.
“Marlin, go check the signal,” Mikey said.
“I can see it’s working right here,” Marlin said.
“No, there’s another way,” Mikey said. He leapt across the room and accidentally banged on one of the cymbals to whisper something to Marlin. Marlin nodded and then ran out of the room.
Mikey sat down behind the producer’s board as the band watched. The phone rang and Mikey pressed a button. “And we’re back. And we have a caller to win those tickets!”
“Hello!” the caller said. The band looked at each other. The voice sounded familiar.
“You’re the winner of Salt and Cinnamon Horses tickets!” Mikey said. “What’s your name?”
“Marlin.”