Not the Way God Intended

Katie Scott

Katie Scott had listened to the same radio station- WBZ 1030 AM- since her sophomore year of college. Partly, she listened to it because she liked their take on the news. Partly, she listened to it because she liked their slogan; New England's Newswatch Never Stops (Preaching to the choir! She would say every time). But, mostly, she listened to it because there was absolutely no crappy pop music. A big, fat 0%. Bliss.

But today, as her 2010 Ford Focus waited patiently in Boston's notorious traffic, Katie reached a daring finger to the radio control panel and hit a button that she hadn't touched in almost seven years: Scan.

Cutting off the 4 o'clock news roundup, she scanned to the nearest frequency. This presented her with an aggressive-sounding rap song full of words she either couldn't make out or didn't believe existed. I think not!

The next scan took her to a multicultural station, which offered up a charmingly cheerful Spanish number. She pondered this for a few seconds before deciding it had the same language-barrier issue as the rap song. Not a word, she thought to herself.

Beginning to worry that she'd made a mistake in drifting from the creature comforts of WBZ 1030 AM, Katie started to rethink her plan for a makeover.

With one final scan Katie heard a tune that conjured up the fondest of memories in a heartbeat.

Suddenly she was six years old again and perched on her father's knee as he sung to her in his husky Irish accent.

                                                                        Hey, where did we go

                                                                        Days when the rain came

                                                                        Down in the hollow

                                                                        Playin' a new game

He would sing until she giggled with delight.

                                                                       Laughin' and a-runnin', hey hey

                                                                      Skippin' and a-jumpin'

                                                                      In the misty mornin' fog with our,

                                                                      Our hearts a-thumpin' and you...

                                                                      My brown-eyed girl

Katie had always believed that the song had been written and sung just for her by her father. Every schoolboy that tried in vain to woo Katie Scott had commented on her shimmering hazel eyes. One even wrote a poem about them!

All of this had seemed irrelevant to Katie, though. No one and nothing could ever give her the same sense of serene self-contentment as her father's her father's soothing songs.

Katie was only seven when her father had returned home to Northern Ireland to visit family. Patrick Scott was walking down Omagh High Street with his nephew, Katie's four-year-old cousin, when a red Vauxhall Cavalier exploded only yards away from them.

Katie remembers nothing more than a simple feeling of disbelief. Her juvenile mind found it entirely impossible to comprehend the notion of 'gone forever'. Therefore, the reality of her father's death never truly sunk in. Instead, Katie developed a hardened exterior, determined not to love anyone unnecessarily. In Katie's mind, loving someone merely increased the chances of losing a loved one.

Katie never truly forgave those bastards for stealing her father, but she was finally ready to move on.

'And that was "Van the Man", Mr Van Morrison, with the timeless classic Brown-Eyed Girl'. Came the voice of the radio presenter. 'Up next, we have more classics from The Killers and Guns 'N' Roses, so stay tuned.'

But Katie's mind tuned out. From the radio, from driving and from life.