Ch.6, Pt.2: This is not good news.
This is not good news. Blaine was bent over his credenza, struggling with the window. His broad back in a dark brown suit jerked and strained with the effort. When he had adjusted the window to suit himself, he turned to Katherine, his face red.
“I like to hear the sound of the street,” he said. “Take a seat. How are things going with the show?”
“Very well. We’re working on getting younger guests.”
“Excellent.” Blaine put his baby finger in his ear and jiggled it. “Unfortunately, we’ve had a listener complaint about the show.”
“Someone else upset that a treatment I mentioned didn’t work for them?”
“No, this one is odd. Something about you promoting adultery.”
“What?” Katherine gripped the armrests and leaned forward.
“I’ll read you my notes of the call.” He peered at a piece of paper. “She’s a regular donor, and takes great exception to the promotion of sexual fantasies with anyone you may desire. It’s as bad as committing adultery.”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Blaine came around in front of his desk and leaned against it. “Seems there was a doctor from the university, who was interested in hearing about people’s sexual fantasies, and you even asked him about how you could make yourself dream about specific people.”
Katherine groaned. “My segment on lucid dreaming. The sex part was just one aspect. This doctor, I’ve forgotten his name, he was blond and good looking, though. He’s studying lucid dreams, where you realize that you’re dreaming.”
“Did you say that you could have sex with anyone you want?”
“In your dreams!”
Blaine blinked. “Does that mean no?”
Katherine rapidly shook her head. “Sorry. If you learn how to have lucid dreams, you can decide to dream about having sex with anyone you want. But this is purely in your imagination.”
“Did you say you could - ah - have sex with - ah - your boss?”
Katherine smiled and looked down at Blaine’s legs right in front of her. “I can’t remember exactly. I may have. That wasn’t a big point. I may have mentioned all kinds of people you could fantasize about.”
Blaine cleared his throat. “This caller objects to the idea of sexually fantasizing about people.”
“That’s thought control!”
“That’s not the issue. We don’t want to be seen as advocating anything like adultery.”
“And I wasn’t. I was interviewing a professor doing research at a recognized university and giving some examples of what he’s studying. And isn’t this the kind of interview that would appeal to younger audiences? The last time I checked, young people were fascinated by sex.”
“Yes, of course. That’s fine. Let’s just be a little more careful.”
“You know, this is another case of someone complaining without understanding what they’re talking about. It had nothing to do with adultery.”
“I know.”
“I’m not sure you do. It’s important to me that you understand and believe me that I would not be that irresponsible.”
“No, I understand. You interviewed someone about dreaming - ”
“Lucid dreaming. It’s a special field of study centered in California.”
Blaine shot her a worried look. “That makes it sound a bit wacky. But okay, it’s a segment on lucid dreaming, and one of the examples you discussed was having sexual dreams about certain people. Is that it?”
Katherine rubbed her nose. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“You realize of course that as far as myself, I don’t mind. It’s harmless, isn’t it?” He crossed his right leg in front of his left ankle. “If you want to fantasize about me, Katherine, go right ahead.”
Katherine laughed politely but crossed her legs away from him.
“Just one thing, though. Let me know if you do.”
Katherine laughed again. “Sure. Will do. So, do you want me to handle this call?”
“No, I’ll call and tell her we discussed it and you agreed to be more careful.”
“Is she a big donor?”
“You know size doesn’t matter. We take every donor’s concern seriously.”
“Don’t we though.” Katherine stood up. “So is that everything?”
Blaine reached out his hand and picked a piece of fluff off her shoulder. “Just remember that some of our listeners get excited about anything to do with sex. Just tone it down a little. Not on my account, you understand. You know I like what you do.”
“Thanks, chief. We’ll try to keep it clean.”
“Sweet dreams.”