OFF-TANGENT(A Lesbian Story)

Chapter One

The iron fire-escape rattled alarmingly under her feet as she ran up the steps and fumbled for her key to the private back door of the broadcasting building. Traffic had been heavy this morning and as usual Mika Aereen Reyes was cutting her schedule right to the minute. As a result, as she thought, she would probably be on Kim Fajardo's list of least favorite people... again!

Of course, to be perfectly honest, she had to admit that in the four years she had worked for the small radio and television station which served Dumaguete she had seldom managed to stay on the program director's good side for more than a day at a time. Fortunately for me, she told herself lightly, my listeners adore me, and they would picket the station if she tried to take me off the air.

The back door opened on to a shallow hallway, which at the moment was deserted. She tiptoed past the open door of the television studio, where Kim was probably lurking, waiting for her to show up. She ducked down the hall to her own tiny office.

Mika was convinced that the windowless room once been a cupboard. Now it was fitted up with a swivel chair, a tiny table, and a telephone... there was hardly room left for her. It was an inadequate arrangement for the host of the popular afternoon radio show On Point.

"The next chance I get," Mika said aloud, looking around with irritation at the cramped quarters, "I am going to demand a bigger office."

"I would not do it today." A woman's voice recommended. "Kim has been pacing the broadcast studio and chain-smoking all morning, waiting for you to show up. She said she can't reached your cell phone."

Mika glanced at her wristwatch. "She said she wanted to tape the TV show at ten, Cienne," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "It is still five minutes till."

Mika's assistant shook her head. "All I know is that she is furious. Here are your messages. I sort of expected that you would be sneaking in the back way."

Mika tossed the stack of memos aside and returned to the attack. "This office is ridiculous. It is bad enough when I bring a guest here before a show starts. There is no place for anyone to sit. But if Kim expects me to keep on filling in for her television stars, then she ought to give me a larger office. I need a dressing table at least." She grabbed a hairbrush and fixed her hair. Thank Gods her hair was easy-to-manage. She bent over, brushing her long dark brown hair against the grain as if she was about to wrap it into a bun atop her head. When she straightened up and shook her head, the wavy locks fell naturally into a place about her shoulders. A quick touch of the brush here and there smoothed the loose hairs, leaving her looking natural and casual.

Cienne shook her head admiringly. "I never have understood how you do that."

"I was born lucky." Mika peered into the tiny mirror on the back of the door office door.

"It will take all the luck you possess to get out of that studio in one piece this morning."

"I can handle Kim Fajardo any day of the year."

"The guest you are interviewing might be a different story. He... er... she 's been in the green room waiting for you for half an hour already."

Mika said indistinctly as she reapplied her lipstick, "That is her problem."

Cienne grunted. "Well it might be yours too. She does not look pleased. Guess it would be safe to say that she is somewhat pissed. Pero Miks, ang gwapo! Well, gwapong-maganda."

"I am never late. I'm just never early, because it's a waste of time. Gwapong-maganda, eh? We'll see." She smiled triumphantly, settled her dark blue linen jacket smoothly across her shoulders. "Oh, by the way..." She waved her left hand under the assistant's nose.