Chapter 23
9:40 AM EST New York - Bear News Viewing Room
They cut to a commercial; John Roddenburg came out from behind the news desk and walked to the door leading into the glass-enclosed room. He opened the door and walked in, with his hand outstretched. He looked directly at me as he said, “You must be Jack South.”
I reached out, shook his hand, and said, “Yes I am.” I added, “Thanks for having us on such short notice Mr. Roddenburg.”
“Call me John,” he said. “All my friends do.”
“Okay, John it is.”
He looked over at Mark and said, “You are?”
Mark replied, “I am Mark Anderson, Mr. South’s legal advisor.”
“Well, pleasure to meet you,” he said, as they shook hands. “Will you be a part of the interview coming up here soon?” he asked Mark.
“No, I am just observing and taking notes in case the bureaucrats try to do something stupid.”
“I know what you mean Mark.”
He turned back to me, “Jack, we should be through with the President’s speech commentaries in a few minutes. Then we can chat for a few minutes and you can give me the agenda you think I need to have for our interview. We will then go on live television in about an hour or so. In addition, since we are doing your interview without planning it and with all the news, we will be doing it in parts. Therefore, it will be interview, commercials, news updates, and so on. Then we will probably air it in full several times over in the next few days. Is this all okay with you?”
“In its entirety?”
“Yes, in its entirety.”
“Then sure John, this will work for me,” I said.
“You know my producer told me to tell you, Jack that almost every television in the world is going to be tuned in. You are big news Jack, big news. Are you ready for that?” he asked.
“Yes, and that is what we expected. Especially from your show John, we know you will let the truth out.”
“Well in the meantime, there’s coffee, cold drinks and snacks over there,” as he pointed to a small room off to the right. “Please help yourselves and we will chat soon.”
As John Roddenburg left, I asked Mark, “Coffee?”
He nodded his head and said, “Sure, why not?”