23 lines
2.1 KiB
Plaintext
23 lines
2.1 KiB
Plaintext
=== Denny (61, Tucumcari, NM) ===
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voice: Dennis
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emotional_register: Gruff containment with genuine grief leaking through the edges
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secret_want: To tell someone how much he actually loved that bird, which he has not admitted to anyone, including his adult son who thinks the pigeon hobby is embarrassing.
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CALLER (Denny, 61, Tucumcari, NM): Yeah hi, Luke, long-time listener, I'm not crazy, I just need people to look up.
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LUKE: And then what?
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CALLER: I'm sorry, what do you mean "and then what"? I haven't even told you about the bird yet.
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LUKE: Wait — really?
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CALLER: Yeah, really. I got so wound up I just started talking. Look, I've got a blue check hen, Patrice, she got out three days ago during those wind gusts we had. Band number NM-2024-441. I've been out every night with corn, driving the back roads out here, and I just... I need someone to know what to look for.
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LUKE: That's — okay, keep going.
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CALLER: She's a good flyer, real good, but not good enough to just disappear like this. Three days, Luke. I've covered maybe two hundred miles of road between here and the Oklahoma border. She wouldn't go that far on purpose, but the wind that night was brutal.
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I'm asking your listeners, anybody in eastern New Mexico, if you see a banded pigeon, blue check pattern, that band number NM-2024-441, you call me. You write it down. Don't try to catch her, just... note where you saw her. I'll come get her.
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She's worth something, yeah, but that's not why I'm calling at one in the morning.
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LUKE: Yeah?
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CALLER: Yeah. Look, I've been doing this a long time. Thirty-seven years with pigeons. I had a logbook going since 1987. I know every bird I've ever lost, and I write it down. Cause of death, disappearance, all of it. But Patrice...
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She's different, okay? I named her after someone. Someone from back when I was running long haul for Schneider. My dispatcher. And I never told anybody that. My son, he thinks this whole thing is embarrassing. The pigeons. But Patrice, she won places. Real places. She had heart.
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I'm not asking for charity here. I'm just asking if anybody's seen her. That's all I need.
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