Free Lavender Hill by P. J. Garland Page B

doing.”
    “So you reject the idea there may be a scientific explanation?”
    “I know what I felt. I can only tell you what I feel inside.” The woman was then dragged by the flow of the crowd away from Katie.
    Katie could hear Jeremy in her earphones harassing her to find some more people and challenge them further to explain the Rapture, so she walked towards an old man nearby.
    “Hi, I’m from 24/7 News. Could we—”
    “Yes, I’ve seen you on the TV and watched your channel. You’re the news channel that forced Ms Hartley off the show, aren’t you?”
    Katie heard Jeremy shouting in her earphone to find someone else, but she ignored him and continued talking to the man.
    “Why are you here today?” she asked to avoid the old man’s question.
    He paused for a few moments as if deciding whether to pursue his previous question, but then said, “I’m here to support Ms Hartley, and I’m here because I know the source of the Rapture is from God.”
    “So you don’t believe there are any other possible reasons for the Rapture?”
    “No, what other explanation could there be?”
    “That it could be due to some natural event?”
    “God is nature, so yes it is a natural event.”
    Katie could hear Jeremy shouting at her to find someone else. She smiled at the man and thanked him for speaking to her. Katie then heard Jeremy saying they were going to a commercial break, so she moved away from the crowd expecting him to speak to her.
    “Can you not hear me, Ms Sturridge?”
    “Not when there’s chanting or shouting,” Katie lied.
    “You need to challenge these people more aggressively.”
    “They are protesting peacefully, and it would be disrespectful.”
    “Either you do your job properly, or you find another one.”
    Katie went quiet. “We’re nearly at Thames House,” she eventually said.
    “We’re going back on air in thirty seconds. Find somewhere on Lambeth Bridge to stand, so we can film the protesters with Thames House in the background,” demanded Jeremy.
    Katie and her TV crew continued walking towards the River Thames. As they approached Thames House, they walked onto the bridge opposite it so Katie could report from the scene with the protesters and building in full view. Katie took up a position on the bridge and prepared herself to go on air. In the background, Rebecca Hartley could be heard using a megaphone to demand information about the Pointers held in the building.
    In the studio, the commercial break finished and Katie reappeared on screen with Jeremy watching her and the rally behind her.
    “Katie, we can see the crowd gathered outside Thames House. Have there been any disturbances yet amongst the crowd?” asked Jeremy.
    Katie pressed her earphone into her ear so she could hear over the noise of the crowd and Rebecca Hartley.
    “No. Jeremy. It’s still peaceful – as before...”
    “Well, I don’t think anyone trying to drive through central London would agree that this rally hasn’t caused any problems.” Jeremy laughed towards a camera.
    “No, probably not. But they have a right to be heard,” insisted Katie.
    “Maybe you should go and join the rally, Katie? You sound like you would fit in with them just fine.” Jeremy laughed mockingly again towards one of the cameras.
    Katie looked angrily towards the camera. “You should have more respect towards people that have experienced the Rapture.”
    Jeremy turned quickly towards the screen with a look of surprise. His expression then hardened.
    “We are a news channel, Ms Sturridge. If you have any reliable sources that can tell us the Rapture is something to do with God and not a natural event, then please, do tell us.”
    Katie looked flustered and went quiet for a while. “I didn’t say it was something to do with God, but all the people who’ve experienced the Rapture genuinely feel it’s something real and positive – regardless of where they think it originated from.”
    “And how do you know it’s not