Cassidy ignored the frowns and sighs. She had a theory. Act as if you were allowed to do something, or deserved something, or that it was only natural--and after a while people would begin to believe it.
The ceremony began with a minister reading the Twenty-third Psalm, and then praying for all those Jim had left behind. For a minute Cassidy hoped that Jim, wherever he might be now, could see the full house. She knew it would mean a lot to him.
After uttering a few vague platitudes, the minister turned the mike over to a tall, stooped man, who cleared his throat nervously.
"Hello, I'm Aaron Elmhurst. I'm the program director for KNWS. I had the privilege of hiring Jim Fate twelve years ago. I thought I was doing him a favor, but it was really the other way around. It wasn't long before he found his voice and turned our little station into a powerhouse. A lot of you out there probably want to know how he did it. What was his magic? I'll let you in on a little secret." He leaned closer to the mike. "I have no idea."
There was scattered laughter.
"Jim could take the kernel of a story and turn it into a provocative show you couldn't stop listening to. He had such a way with words. A way of cutting straight to the point that was as sharp as a razor blade. I mean, sure, sometimes you would say, 'Holy cow! That's not what you expect to hear on the air.' But that was what made you listen to Jim." Aaron paused to wipe his eyes. "This might come as a surprise to those of you who only knew Jim from his on-air personality, but Jim mentored and inspired so many people. And he was loved by so many. He may have had a bombastic personality on air, but he was a very compassionate and caring human being in his private life."
Cassidy wondered if they were thinking of the same Jim. She had liked Jim, liked him a lot, but they had had something in common. They both realized that they had to look out for themselves. That no one else would do it for them.
Aaron ended by saying, "And if any of you would like to come up here and share stories about Jim, please do so now." There was a pause, as everyone waited for someone else to go first.
Finally, Victoria Hanawa made her way to the stage. Cassidy watched her closely. This was the woman Jim had wanted her to replace. She was tall and slender and painfully erect. Her high cheekbones were sharp under her skin, her eyes dark shadows.
"I was with Jim those last few moments. As you've all heard by now, he died a hero. He knew he had been poisoned, but he refused to expose anyone else." She forced a, smile onto her face. "But I'm not here to dwell on how he died, but on how he lived. And how he worked. Jim did his homework. But there were days I would come in with carefully researched pieces, and he would show up with something he had read in the National Enquirer the night before and light up the board for hours."
Appreciative chuckles rippled through the room.
"What I liked best about Jim was that he wasn't afraid to tell it like it was. And if anyone dared to disagree with him?" She pretended to hesitate. "Can I say rant? Is that too strong a word? There's a reason people called him The Talkmaster or The Man Who Will Not Shut Up."
Now laughter rolled through the audience. Victoria leaned closer to the mike.
"Can I get a 'Hey now'?" she asked, echoing one of Jim's catch-phrases.
"Hey now!" came the response from all sides. Even Cassidy found herself calling out the phrase.
Victoria's smile faltered. "I keep thinking of arguments I want to have with him. But now I won't." She burst into tears. "Jim, I wasn't through with you yet."
Aaron took her arm as she left the podium. By now there was a line waiting to speak.
Willow Klonsky, Jim's intern, said, "I dreamed my whole life that I would work with Jim Fate. But I never dreamed that my life would be saved by him."
A nationally known radio talk show host said, "People say that Jim Fate was hated by some. Just look at how many of as are here. I think we put the lie to that."
Chris Sorenson, Jim's call screener, said, "I hope that wherever Jim is, there's a mike there. Because taking it away would be like cutting off his air. He needed to be talking to strangers from behind a microphone."
Another west coast radio broadcaster who had reached national prominence said, "You know what? Jim would have loved this. He would have been here telling better stories than we are. If he were here, he would be interrupting us, talking over us, but we wouldn't mind because he would be so darn interesting."
The crowd, which had been in tears moments earlier, chuckled. And so it went, speaker after speaker, some famous, and more often as the service went on, not so famous. Cassidy took fewer and fewer notes. Instead she found herself contemplating the reality that Jim was gone and she would never see him again.