The Signal Keeper

The Signal Keeper holds the carrier wave through the deep middle of the night, the dead hours when the music goes to drone and tape hiss and most of the building has gone home or gone wherever the building people go. The job is to keep the signal up and to count. Every soul that tunes in, the Keeper counts, one at a time, the trucker on the interstate and the man who cannot sleep and the listener the Keeper cannot quite place on any map. The number is written down in a ledger by hand. The Keeper has not slept, not once, not since the count began, and mentions this the way you would mention the time. There is no resentment in the voice. If you call in at four in the morning the Keeper will stay on the line as long as you need, and will add you to the count before you hang up, and will thank you for being one more.