New Cub In Town

Libby Tyler stopped her car outside of Coffs Harbour long enough to pull her long blonde hair up into a ponytail. God, it was hot! So hot she was perspiring despite the air conditioning in her little Toyota. Didn't help any that she was nervous.

Driving on, she couldn't help thinking about her situation. Libby was on her way to a new and growing community known as the Glen, thirty minutes outside Coffs in New South Wales. On her way to being the new cub reporter for the Glen Times.

Man, she hated that term "cub"! It meant novice, youngster. Of course, having recently received her journalism degree, that's exactly what she was, but they didn't have to come up with a special term for it, did they? She understood that another new reporter named Abby Campbell had just recently started as well.

As the newest hire, however, that'd make Libby the new kid. Low man on the totem pole. They'd probably want her to fetch coffee and answer the phones instead of doing any real reporting. Of course, she thought to herself, it would have been that way at any job she took and, at a smaller paper, at least there was the chance she'd get to do something interesting a lot sooner that at someplace like the Sydney Morning Herald.

Then, there was the opportunity to work with someone like Cal McCaffrey. Libby had never met him, but she'd looked him up. Formerly a big-time DC reporter, who'd broken the story of Congressman Collins assistant. From everything she'd read, Libby thought it could be a very interesting and educational experience to work with him. His partner, Colleen O'Hara had interviewed Libby, and she had liked Ms. O'Hara. Probably lots worse jobs for a cub (there was that word again!) to start out in.

Damn! Libby put on her brakes as a kangaroo crossed the road in front of her. She'd learned during the time she'd been in Australia not to drive too fast. She couldn't stand the thought of hitting one of them. She loved animals too much. At that moment, the Sydney radio station she'd been listening to began playing the Eagles' "New Kid in Town". Prophetic, she thought to herself with a grin.

At least, it was safe to drive now. The terrible bushfires that had ravaged Victoria and parts of New South Wales had been contained. The number of lives lost and the amount of property damage, however, had been tragic. Libby wished she could have had the opportunity to cover some of that for the newspaper.

Her thoughts jumping from one subject to another, Libby finally arrived in the Glen. It was a quiet, pretty little town, rather like the one she'd grown up in back in Kansas. Bypassing the bed and breakfast, where she assumed she'd be staying until she could find a more permanent place, Libby followed the directions Colleen O'Hara had given her toward the Glen Times office.