DANNY Chapter 37 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ. So a major part of the plan for the concert was revealed - Danny was going to do his Robin-Nighthawk program from the Arclight! And Danielle was going to substitute for him on stage! Whether that would work, all will be revealed tonight. Tonight's chapter is also going to be another musical chapter - not the full-on concert, but just a taste. This just goes to show, there's never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Seven:  Substitution

***** (Mrs. Piper) *****

Up near the rafters, Mike from KRPX and I were watching everything from the coliseum's observation booth, or skybox, which was just above the control booth. It wasn't really a booth since it was about a thirty-by-thirty room. All the seats were empty except for us and a few KRPX technicians.

All around us, except for the back of the room, were glass picture windows, which allowed us to see everything.

KRPX had also installed several projection screens hooked to several camera feeds. We had shots of the backstage, roving shots of the stage itself, and roving shots of the crowd. There was also a static video of the stage, with the entire stage in frame.

There was also a small TV set tuned to KRPX, picking up what was being transmitted over the airwaves. And this was what we concentrated most on.

So far, Mike and I were ecstatic with what's been happening. For Mike, I'm sure he was thinking of the ratings and the commercial fees he'd be getting on subsequent re-airings of the show, which, perhaps, might improve the ratings of his other programs.

As for me, I was happy about that, too, of course, but I was happier for the fact that my radio station was getting a good kick-off. And as soon as Tracey finishes school and university, I'm going to pass the station on to her in good shape. She doesn't know that I will, of course, but by the time I do, it'll be just a formality since I was fairly sure she'll be completely running it by then. So far, she'd taken to being a radio program producer like a duck to water. And I've never seen Tracey so dedicated and inspired by anything before, and if this station really is his thing, I mean her thing, then I'm gonna encourage it.

I knew it was all because of Danny. If not for Danny, this radio station thing wouldn't have been something Tracey would have been interested in. So, I have to make sure to protect Danny and not just the station until Tracey can take over. Once she does, then I know she'll be okay.

A worry, of course, is that radio, as a medium, is not exactly a growing one, and is in fact considered a sunset industry by many experts. But I'm sure, between Tracey and I, and Danny and his gang, we'll at least keep our station relevant and, maybe even profitable.

That was all for the future, though. Right now, I needed to concentrate on tonight's show.

When we lost the lights at the beginning, Mike and I almost had heart attacks, but when our lighting director, Maurice, said that Danny had an idea, I was relieved. And because of Danny, it was like what happened was just part of the show. Hey, I'm not proud - I'll take it. And since then, the show had been going well. I had fingers crossed that nothing more will happen.

At the moment, Talia, Harry and Sally were doing a long plug for KPRX and KRPQ - an informercial. No wonder Mike was so engrossed with the TV.

Danielle, disguised as Dannie, was about a half a minute away from going on-stage to sing. I remember her doing well during the rehearsals, actually. I hope that she does equally well now. She was going to sing an old nineties song by someone called Donna Lewis. Tracey played it for me once and told me it was a Top Forty song back then, but it wasn't exactly like the other songs UB liked to play. The song was a bit too laid back. It was also easy to sing. Which, I suppose, was the point, so Danielle could manage it. In fact, during rehearsal, Danielle's singing voice was pretty close to the singer's wispy style.

No one but the band, Lou, Dennis, Tracey and I knew about the substitution. Not even the other DJs, my production people or Danny's friends knew. But it was the only thing we could think of to allow Danny to be in two places at once: as soon as Danielle was through with her song, it would be Danny's turn as Robin the Nighthawk to take some calls from fans, and after that, Danielle would come back on stage with the band and sing another song, allowing Danny time to sneak back on stage and take over.

It seemed complicated but Tracey had rightly pointed out that if the Nighthawk didn't come on, some fans would find it suspicious, and a lot of them would actually resent the station for not allowing her to participate more, especially since most of of them thought, and rightly so, that the Nighthawk was responsible for resuscitating the almost-dead station. So we had no choice.

Also, because of the Nighthawk's growing popularity and the buzz around the show two weeks ago, there have been some calls from people interested in KRPQ that were thinking of expanding its reach and maybe taking it nationwide. Not really our goal, though. Furthermore, I've also heard from the other deejays and the office staff that there were calls coming in for the Nighthawk. No doubt people hoping to hire her away from us. It was only a matter of time before they try and contact "Robin" directly. It's something I needed to talk to Tracey about.

I put all of that in the back of my mind for now and concentrated on the show. I turned my attention back to the TV.

It was hard to ignore the odd echoing from the TV because of the five-second delay between the action and the transmission. For the hundredth time, I asked Mike to turn down the TV's volume since we could hear the live show from the outside anyway.

Talia, Harry and Sally finally finished with the KRPX-KRPQ infomercial. In the nick of time, too, as the audience was starting to get antsy.

Talia made a humorous reference about that, and said it was therefore time to go back to the music. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said in a quiet segue, "again, here's Unlimited Bandwidth."

The lights were brought down and Danielle started singing.
"Feels like I'm standing in a timeless dream," she sang in a melodious and wispy voice. The whole coliseum fell silent. All throughout the show, as well as in all of her previous appearances and performances, Danny had been subtly changing her voice to suit her songs. Many of the band's songs were guy songs, but Danny was able to adjust so she made them female versions but still preserving the nuances and tone of the original. And, still, all throughout, her voice was immediately recognizable.

But Danielle's voice didn't have… whatever quality Danny's voice had. It therefore felt a little off - it was perfectly good; it just wasn't Danny-good.

"… of mists, of pale amber rose," Danielle continued as the lights were slowly brought back up. "Feels like I'm lost in a deep cloud of heavenly scent," she sang. She was okay, but somehow she didn't genuinely sound like Danny.

As the darkness slowly disappeared, we could discern the band. A spotlight was on June as she played a slow accompaniment to Danielle.

"Touching - discovering you…"

At that point, Dale and Mongo started a slow base beat and June added a slow, synthesized tambourine.

"Those days of warm rains rush back to me," Danielle continued, "miles of windless, summer nights…"

Betsy and Fallon slowly segued in, and Danielle continued. "Secret moments shared in the heat of the afternoon… out of the stillness, soft spoken words…"

A big spotlight hit the middle of the stage, illuminating Danielle, and the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Danielle smiled and waved, scarves flowing and waving, and the crowd roared. The voice finally connected with the image of Dannie, and whatever felt off with Danielle's voice sort of disappeared.

"Say it, say it again," the Glee Club girls whispered, and Danielle answered in song: "I love you always forever, near and far, closer together. Everywhere, I will be with you, everything, I will do for you. I love you always forever, near and far, closer together. Everywhere, I will be with you, everything I will do for you."

In an unrehearsed move, Danielle moved to the edge of the stage and, as she sang, she reached out her hand and the ones closest reached back (the orchestra pit had been covered). She couldn't get close enough, though, and was only close enough to touch fingertips, but even so, the roar of the crowd's approval doubled.

If Danielle and Danny didn't quite sound the same, they were close enough in all other ways. They were practically twins, including their hearts. And whatever difference there was didn't matter. I laughed in delight.

"You've got the most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen," she sang. "You've got me almost melting away. As we lay there under a blue sky, with pure white stars - exotic sweetness - a magical time…"

"Say it, say it again," the Glee Club girls again whispered, and Danielle again answered. "I love you always forever…" And, with the girls harmonizing, repeated the refrain.

After the refrain, Mongo made a base hit.

"Say you'll love me," Danielle sang, "love me forever! Never stop, never whatever! Near and far, and always and every…"

Mongo hit the base again and Danielle repeated the bridge four more times. And as the song started to fade, Danielle and the Glee Club girls repeated the refrain over and over until they faded out the song into silence.

In the silence, like a gathering storm, the applause rose, and Danielle, with Betsy and June on either side of her, and Fallon, Dale and Mongo on the outer edges, held hands. Together, they bowed and the applause continued.

A big projection screen descended from the rafters in front of everyone, giving them the opportunity to step off the stage.

On the screen, a long-view of the stage was projected, and in moments, the video on the screen was shown on TV. At that point, the TV video replaced what was coming out of the projection screen. In effect, the big screen became like a big TV.

The video faded into black, and then a new one with Danny as the Nighthawk faded in. She was in what looked like a leather jacket costume, and wearing a big pair of wireless headsets, and was seated in front of her booth's console. The shot was in profile, with her fiddling with something on the board.

Have to hand it to Tracey - her cardboard console looked like the real thing. The one jarring note was that Danny was using a wireless mic on a stand in front of her instead of the booth's boom mic.

"That's Unlimited Bandwidth, folks," Robin, aka the Nighthawk, said in her sexy contralto, "and I promise you, there'll be more of that later." She smiled into the camera. "Hello, everyone, I'm the Nighthawk. Hope you're having a good time."

"Robin" unclipped the mic and stood up, mic in hand. "But first," she said as she walked to the shelf behind her, "I think we have something else scheduled. Let's see…"

She picked up a clipboard that was conveniently lying on top of some tape cartridges. "Seems we've scheduled some callers," she giggled, "which, I guess, means it's time out for the Nighthawk Show."

We had a good view of Danny as Robin, aka the Nighthawk in her new outfit. Underneath the open jacket, she was wearing a sheer, smooth white boatneck bodysuit that smoothly tucked into leather leggings that disappeared into stiletto riding boots. She also had a gold chain around her narrow waist (loosely knotted instead of buckled with a snap or buckle), the silver belt buckle of her leggings riding lower below where her bellybutton would be. Huge retro wire-hoop earrings peaked through her long, shiny brunette hair, and her outfit was finished off with the fitted leather motorcycle-type jacket. It was cut to show off Danny's figure, and the fact it was open tended to show off how… well-developed she was, as well.

She was the right mixture of beauty, sexiness, toughness, smarts and approachability. Danielle (I assumed it was Danielle) picked just the right outfit, as usual, for the Nighthawk's second outing on TV, and since Tracey had her in a full shot, I knew Tracey knew it, too. I have to give my baby props - she had smarts I never knew she had. I guarantee we'll have all the teenage boys and girls tuning in, if they weren't already.

"So," Danny, I mean Robin, said in her Robin-voice, "as usual, before we get back to the concert, we have our main line open for callers. Call in now, and we'll try to get you on the air. The number's 555-2878. You can also connect via Skype or Google Chat if you prefer - our ID is KRPQ'S NITEHAWK." Danny dutifully spelled it out.

"Remember that there's no apostrophe before the 'S' and 'night' is spelled N-I-T-E, okay? These contact details will be continuously flashed on your screens, or announced between commercials for those tuned into KRPQ Radio.

"Speaking of which, here are some of them - commercials, I mean. Heehee. Start dialing and seeya in a bit!"

A commercial for Cowgirl Jeans started playing, so I tuned out the TV in my head and waited until Danny was back on. In the meantime, I accepted a caramel frappe from one of the techs. You know, I think I'm starting to like this. Have to thank the kids for turning me on to these things though all the sugar's liable to make me diabetic.

to be continued...

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