It had been one year ago that Vince entered the broadcast booth for his first show. A mixture of fear and excitement coursed through him as he placed the headphones on and slid his chair closer to the microphone to began his shift. It wasn't drive time, but it wasn't bad. For someone no experience or education it wasn't bad at all.

It was fate that brought him to this point. A year and a month earlier he stopped by the lounge where his buddy Rodger worked. It being midweek the place was quiet, so he took a seat at the bar a few stools down from some others and ordered a beer.

As he and Rodger talked, the other men seemed to become interested in his voice and the way he expressed himself and joined the conversation.

Two days later he received a phone call inviting him to a local talk station to meet with the program director, it turned out to be one of the men he had met at the lounge, his name was John Franks. It seems he was trying a new concept of offering open auditions to find worthy on the air talent.

Some other stations out of state had tried it with great success, so Mr. Franks decided that it was his turn to take a gamble. No experience or schooling was required and was preferred for the audition; you just had to be able to read, have a personality and a voice.

It seems that Mr. Franks had asked his buddy Rodger for Vince's number and Rodger gave it to him, he sensed that this was an opportunity too good to ignore.

"Anyone can be taught how to use the equipment. Talent is something you either have, or you don't, and local personalities have the edge over someone brought in from out of state," Mr. Franks explained.

This was the time before computer assisted broadcasting and there were machines for almost every phase of the broadcast day. The air personality had to do more that just talk.

The audition went better than John expected and he congratulated himself on his selection. A job offer was extended and the next two weeks were spent learning about the broadcast studio and study for the FCC third class radio license exam.

The rest was history, and he was an instant hit and spent the next eight months polishing his on-the-air skills, and then the unthinkable happened, the station was sold

 Country music was enjoying a renewed popularity and the station owners down the street decided to move to a country music format. He was offered a job as the morning drive-time personality and offered a limited contract. If his popularity grew so would his salary.

The decision was a smart one for everyone. Soon sponsors were standing in line to purchase commercial time on his show, and his popularity soared with each passing week. He was soon booked for personal appearances and was an instant hit with the crowds.

It was about a year later that he had just finished an opening at a restaurant. He chatted with the crowd as the interns placed all the station owned property in the van Just as he was about to climb inside with them he heard a familiar musical voice.

"You going to leave without saying hello?"

He turned around, and there stood Darlene Chilton. If you listed all the words used to describe beauty, they would all fail to describe her. She rolled out of bed looking fantastic and makeup only added to her looks.

At thirteen she could pass for sixteen and more than once her father had to educate some male on his daughter's exact age. At sixteen she could pass for a college student, and every male student at her school wanted to hook up with her, and so did a few teachers.

They had met through a mutual friend shortly after he was hired by the radio station and the attraction was undeniable, she seemed too good to be true. She would occasionally show up with her friends at the twenty-four restaurant where he ate at or the bar he frequented.

Their conversations were polite, and she asked a lot of questions, it was as though she was on a fact-finding mission. Darlene also spent a great deal of time watching him and his reactions to the other ladies in attendance.
 
When she noticed his attention to a particular female, she would question him in a friendly way about it.

"What's so special about her? She is not that good looking," Darlene stated.

"I have always had a fondness for brunettes," he responded.

The next time she showed up he noticed that she had darkened her hair and he was thrilled. Another time she questioned him on his attempts to check out another female that must have walked by their VIP table a dozen times.

"She's not a brunette. So what's the attraction?"

"She's wearing a mini skirt and boots, it's a weakness for me," he admitted.

So over the course of the next few weeks, she expanded her wardrobe with short skirts and boots and wore them constantly. When the fact slipped out that he was a sucker for girls in sexy lingerie, she ran up her credit card at the local Fredrick's of Hollywood outlet.

She revealed her newest purchases the first time she invited him over, and they spent a few hours on the couch locked in a lovers embrace before they proceeded to her bedroom.

Now he harbored no delusions about his looks. He was no Sean Connery, but he wasn't all that bad looking at all. All of his former girlfriends were attractive, but none could hold a candle to Darlene's looks. So what could she possibly see in him he wondered?

Oh, he had personality to spare, but it was never enough to attract one of the hotties he met while on station business. He soon quit questioning himself and enjoyed all the attention that she lavished on him.

He returned the attention and treated her like a queen and soon they were seen everywhere together. Hints of marriage were introduced into her conversations, and he was agreeable on all aspects save one, he did not want children.

She tried everything she could think of to get him to change his mind on the subject. He, however, remained steadfast on this matter. Finally, she had enough, and after a tearful argument, she left him.

He was devastated, to say the least, but the show had to go on. He would occasionally hear rumors about her from mutual friends. The most popular one was that she had gotten engaged and then married less than a month later after leaving him.

Although his face remained passive and he only grunted a response to these stories. However inside his heart ached, and rage coursed through his system. She could have been his, if not for her desire to have children.

"So you're going to leave and not say hello," she repeated.

He waved the interns off and went back inside the restaurant and took a seat at a table. He found himself staring at her as he had forgotten just how good she looked. They chatted on what had been happening in their lives.

"No matter what you have heard I did not get married," she stated.

"I'm glad," was all he was able to say.

"So are you seeing anyone?" Darlene questioned.

"Nothing serious," Vince replied.

"You going to be at the Brass Rail this weekend?" she queried.

"I usually am."

So on Friday as he sat at his favorite table Darlene surprised him by showing up. She wore a skin tight mini skirt and blouse knee high boots completed the ensemble. She slid in and sat real close to Vince, so close that their hips touched. It caused Vince to forgot all the hurt and pain her departure had caused him.

Still, Vince proceeded slowly; he even turned down the offer of spending the night at her place. It would be weeks before he accepted her offer. Once there she changed out of her bar clothes and into the most stunning nightgown Vince had ever seen.

They never made it to her bedroom but made love on the living room floor. In the following weeks Vince spent more time at Darlene's place than his, she even presented him with a key to her apartment. Now the incident that changed everything happened one evening about a month and a half after they got back together.

She was at his place waiting for him. Now she normally flew into arms anxious to head to the bedroom, this time she remained seated on the couch and asked him to join her. Vince had noticed a cooling in her personality and willingness to head to the bedroom. Now they had been going at it like sex starved teenagers, so a cooling off period was natural.

Tonight she wore a stunning white nightie that was not unlike a wedding dress; Vince figured that he was going to get lucky.

"We have a little problem," she said with a smile as she poured him a drink.

"Really? What kind of problem?" Vince asked.

"Well it's not really a problem, more of a condition," she answered.

"Go on," Vince urged.

"I'm pregnant," she answered still smiling.

"Then the problem is yours," he responded.

"We haven't been spending our night holding hands," she reminded him.

"That's true. But the problem is still yours."

"Oh really," Darlene answered as the smile left her face.

"Yes really. You see I can't have kids," Vince informed her.

"Says who?"

"Says the vasectomy I had about a year ago."

"What?" she questioned as a look of anger crossed her pretty face.

"Yes. After you had broken it off with me, I thought about how lucky I was that you didn't allow yourself to get pregnant. I decided that since I had never wanted children anyway, I would make certain that I couldn't have any. I had it done a month after you left me."

A look of pure hatred crossed Darlene's face as she got off the couch and began to don her street clothes. She didn't even bother to remove her nightie; she put them on over her come hither garment. All this was done amid a torrent of four letter words..

"I even went back to the clinic about a month ago and was tested to make sure I was shooting blanks, and I am. So either you're telling a lie, or you're sleeping with someone else. Either way, I want no part of it," Vince stated.

"Give me back my key," she demanded.

Vince removed the key and placed it on the coffee table.

"What about the things you have here?" he questioned.

"Burn them or give them away. Either way I don't give a shit," she responded.

.She slammed out the door and a minute later he heard her tires squeal on the pavement as she left the lot of his condo.

He never saw her again. According to the few of her friends that still talked to him, she was not pregnant,