Free Nothing but Love by Holly Jacobs

 
                  “ Good morning, Erie!  This is Angel Hart, WLVH’s newest DJ.  Yes, I know, I’m working for a radio station that has the tagline, where love is more than just a song and that makes my last name, Hart, sound suspect.  But that’s what it says on my birth certificate.  It’s H. A. R. T.  No ‘e’ in it, but still, I think that my last name might have made my application for this position at WLVH stand out.  So, thank you Grandpa Elmer Hart, and all the generations before him.  Right now, I’ll be your weekend disc jockey, and I’ll being going out on a lot of the station’s publicity jaunts.  There are a lot during the holiday season.  I’m looking forward to meeting you all.”
                 
                  One week.  Angela had survived her first week at work without any major mishaps or missteps.
                  She looked at the small elderly woman who sat across the table in the studio.  She held a small white dog on her lap, while a much larger black dog lay at her feet. “Mrs. Salo—”
                  The tiny grey haired woman leaned too close to the microphone.  “Call me Nana Vancy, Angel.  Everyone does.”
                  Angela gave a little wave, indicating the woman should move back a bit.  “That’s Angela, Nana Vancy.”
                  “I know that people are listening to this show on the radio, so they can’t see you, but from where I sit, you look like an Angel.  And since it’s the Christmas season, it stands to reason WVLH would get their own Christmas Angel.”
                  Angela didn’t have a clue how to respond to that, so she simply asked,  “Could you tell me why you’re at the radio station this weekend…with your dogs.”  The dogs had thrown her off when her first interviewee had shown up with them in tow.  Angela had worked at a station in Pittsburgh before relocating to Erie, and she’d dealt with odd guests before, but no one had ever brought pets to a radio interview.
                  Nana Vancy moved back a little way from the mic as she mused, “Angel Hart.  Yes, that’s the perfect name for a woman who works for a radio station that talks about being where love is more than just a song during the holidays.”
                  “Nana Vancy, you’re here to talk about…?” she tried again.
                  For a moment, Angela thought the woman was going to go on again about her name, but she finally said, “I’m here to talk about my foundation, Everything But a Dog.  It all started when I cursed my own family to bad weddings.  Once I broke the curse, I started matchmaking because I was bored, but there were occasionally a few problems with my matches. Eventually, I decided that my abilities were better served matching rescue animals to their forever home.”
                  “You have a big adoption event soon?” she asked.
                  “Yes, we have a big annual event in the summer, but the animals at the shelter can’t wait for that one day a year, so I go to the shelter once a month for Everything But a Dog Day, and help people find the perfect pet.  I’ll be there this Saturday.  We’re hoping to find some of the animals at the shelter their forever homes for Christmas…”
                  They made it through the interview, and as Nana Vancy gathered up her dogs and started out the studio door, she turned and said, “Angel, words have power.  Every Hungarian knows that.  I’m here to tell you that Angel is exactly the right name for you.  You are going to find nothing but love.  And when you do, your entire world will change for the better.”
                  The woman and her dogs left.  Angela sighed with relief when the door closed.  That was officially the weirdest interview she’d ever done.  She wished