Annie Gallup

Hero

My childhood hero was a radio personality
I met him years later when he came through my town
On a book signing tour
He's written the inevitable anecdotal account
Of his years rubbing elbows and climbing rungs
And the humorous things he said spontaneously once
And then read from the page a thousand times into an open microphone
While a thousand times I sat by the radio and laughed out loud
All alone

My childhood hero had a limp handshake
And eyes that glanced around the room at nothing in particular
While I made my confession. I just had to tell him
"I know every episode by heart!"
And then I laughed out loud right there in the aisle
Then I laughed again, louder still
I was cueing him to smile
Or to say something spontaneous and humorous to me
Instead he signed
My copy with a smiley face and a shapeless scrawl
And gave his limp handshake to the next in line
My childhood hero had a weak chin
And his mouth was small

But that's not the story
Sunday evenings at seven
I'd curl up in a cotton blanket on the floor
And while my long legged family stepped over and around me
I let his familiar voice pull me forward
Through a time when whole continents were overthrown
Whole families fell apart
Major household appliance were recalled
And my own body changed its boundaries and allegiance
And his predictable one liners
Were steady through it all