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Charlie smiled, though she didn't really feel like it. That incident was not something she could look back on with fond memories. To her dismay, instead of aiming more questions at Adam, Norman continued with her.

"I think Wallace Shipley's fans have a pretty good idea of who he is," said Norman, "but they don't know about Adam Clark. What is Adam like?"

At this, Adam laughed, and curiously waited to see how his wife was going to answer.

"Well," Charlie slowly replied, "until Adam gets to know someone, he usually keeps them at a distance. If you're fortunate, he'll let you inside his friendship. When that happens, you know you've discovered something special."

Smiling, Norman looked to Adam.

"Wallace, what do you have say to that? Is Charlotte right? Are you something special?"

"Hardly," he denied, shaking his head but beaming at Charlie all the while. "She's the special one."

Charlie smiled lovingly, and for a moment, Wallace Shipley's fans glimpsed something that only friends and family usually got to see.

"Isn't he sweet?" Charlie crooned softly. Then, the young woman remembered they were on live television, and straightened in her chair. She had become much too relaxed, and tried to recover some of her professional composure.

After yet another commercial break, the interview advanced to a different topic, and Charlie was quite content to let Adam respond to a few questions about some of the people he had met on his tour.

Then came the part of the show that Charlie dreaded the most: when Norman Jones let callers ask their questions live on the air. Charlie had been assured by Adam that the show screened questioners beforehand, but Charlie still felt nervous about speaking to the viewers in so direct a manner.

"Our first question comes from Paula in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Paula, you're on the air," announced Norman.

"Hello, Wallace Shipley," said the woman, using Adam's first and last name as though she could not say the one without the other, "I absolutely love your music, and was wondering when you were coming out with your next album!"

Charlie fought back the temptation to roll her eyes. He was always asked that! Suddenly, Charlie remembered that she had asked Adam the very same question, not long after finding out who he was. Embarrassed to realize that she wasn't very different from his other fans, Charlie settled down while Adam replied to the caller.

"Well, Paula," smiled Adam, "I've often wondered the same thing. I used to think it was unlikely, but I'm finding new inspiration [here, Adam looked at Charlie] and I can say that the music is coming. I don't know when I'll have enough to put out another album, but I'm definitely working on it."

"Our next caller is from Raymond in Dallas, Texas. Raymond, you're on the air." When there was silence, Norman chuckled. "I guess Raymond is having some technical trouble. Let's move on to Doris, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania."

"Hello, Mr. Wallace Shipley," began the caller, this time adding a "Mister" to his full name, "I wanted you to know how much your music meant to my son. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma when he was fourteen, and every time he went in for his next course of chemotherapy, he always took your music along to keep him calm when the drugs entered his system. To his dying day," Doris' voice wavered, "he always listened to you. He said it made him feel closer to God."

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