(Vacuum tubes begin to glow. A warm hum of excitement fills the room. Static crackle. Oh, what we have so callously abandoned.)
Announcer:
And now... Welcome to the Camp Herring Silent Radio Theater, sponsored by Clearlake Mechaniacal Laboratorium, makers of Whimsy and New Enriched Weapons-Grade Whimsy.
(sound fx: Harding-fiddle music -- Norway’s answer to bag-pipes)
Jingle Singers:
Whimsy, Whimsy,
We’re Silly about Whimsy!
Announcer:
Tonight’s Special Feature Presentation:...
Chief Winnemucca:
...Strong Medicine -- That Herring Gut Feeling.
Announcer:
Our story begins in the bucolic village of Oslo, where our intrepid protagonists EL Wire and LiveWire are going fishing.
(Sound fx: Gentle lapping of waves, screeching of sea gulls, occasional boat horns. One fishing boat is leaving to join the Herring Fleet -- the single cylinder engine, which is fueled by herring oil, goes tøff... tøff... tøff....)
Announcer:
Dang, this is idyllic! And here comes a shrimp boat... and ties up next to our boys. After a couple of minutes, Livewire catches something and hauls in his line.
LiveWire:
Tjo hei!... Awww... I just snagged some junk.
(City Hall bell tower plays Twelve Noon.)
EL Wire:
Hah, hah, you caught an old oven mitt! How do you want to cook it -- over a doomsday fire?!
Announcer:
Disgust and ridicule end abruptly, however, when a CD falls out of the mitt. It is labeled “Lake Lahontan”.
LiveWire and EL Wire together, looking around and shouting:
Are we on Candid Camera?!
Announcer:
But Allen Funt fails to appear. Only a sailor on the shrimp boat glances up at the boys, and soon the two are on their way back to EL’s cabin to try the CD in a PC.
LiveWire (reading on the screen):
Hmmm... “The Secret of Lake Lahontan as discovered by geologist Clarence King.” And in a mitt! May be Apokiliptika stuff. Let’s Google that guy before we open the file.
Announcer:
Sure enough, the boys learn that Lake Lahontan was the ancient lake that formed the Black Rock Desert and the “Playa”, and Clarence King explored the area in the 1860s. For unknown reasons he abruptly aborted his work and took up a career as a business man, at which he was spectacularly successful.
EL Wire:
Looks legit. Open the file.
Announcer:
Just as LiveWire clicks on the single Word Doc, EL Wire notices the date and time of the file.
EL Wire:
Holy Herring, Live! Clarence King must be a Time Traveler! This document was written AFTER you hooked it!
LiveWire:
The shrimp boat!
(pause for dramatic effect. Soft harding-fiddle)
Jingle Singers:
Time travel, time travel,
What could be more Whimsical!
Announcer:
LiveWire and EL Wire now begin reading the mysterious document.
Voice of Clarence King:
“My... name... is... Clarence King. I am a time traveler. This ability was bestowed on me by a Paiute Indian Chief in my original youth, and it has made me enormously... uh... well traveled. But time travel is fraught with risk. The infinite number of alternate time-lines are impossible to keep track of.
Fortunately, time travel is not my most valuable discovery. Something else I learned from Chief Winnemucca is far more precious. The Chief shared this secret with me after I studied some fossils at Fishbone Cave, on the east shore of what is now Winnemucca Dry Lake. After I realized the fossils were herrings, and were laid out in a pattern, the Chief decided I was ready to learn the secret -- which dates back to the Paleo Indians of Lake Lahontan some 11.000 years ago. The bones formed a code, which the Chief taught me to decipher. What I learned was the truly valuable discovery.
Voice of Clarence King continues:
The truly valuable ability is about our instincts; our gut feelings. By carrying out the instructions in the Herring Gut Code, we can achieve the ability to always make the best possible choices and decisions. This ability has made me wealthy far beyond my needs, and happy at the same time -- a rare combination, as you may be aware. These are the instructions:
1. Gather 40.000 people in the Black Rock Desert, north of Fishbone Cave.
2. Build a giant wooden statue of Chief Winnemucca.
3. Burn the figure while all 40.000 people chant “Herring, Herring, Herring...” until the Burning Man collapses. All who chant will then achieve the power of Herring Gut Feeling.
4. In order to maintain the ability, you must share the Herring Gut Feeling with your friends at least once each year.
(a few strains of the Harding-fiddle)
Clarence King continues:
Having already experienced the wonder of time travel, I was not as skeptical as one might have been. But successfully completing such bizarre instructions seemed rather unlikely, and I put the project aside -- until I read about two fellows who held a bonfire with a wooden stick-figure on Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1986. So I went. One of the bonfire-builders mentioned having seen a strange one-shoed Indian in a dream, and then I knew. By the way, that was no oven mitt -- it was a moccasin.
The event drew a good crowd, but was otherwise a disaster. The burning figure tipped over and injured a passing jogger. The burn was never repeated.
This made me decide to risk another Time Travel Episode.
I returned to the same event and delayed the jogger for a few seconds. In this time-line, the Burn became a great success and an annual event which grew rapidly. Soon, a larger venue was needed, and I dropped an anonymous hint about the Black Rock Desert.
In the year 2006 the crowd reached 40.000 and they all chanted “Herring”. I acquired the Herring Gut Feeling and returned to my original time.
But there are other time travelers in this world, and something has gone terribly wrong. I am unable to find the critical time-line split, and the 2006 Burn may fail to meet the requirements. This is where you Wires come in.
EL Wire (jaw wide open):
Ååååååå...!
LiveWire (likewise):
Nææææææ...!
Boys, (voice of Clarence King continuing -- with immense gravitas) I want you to recruit three thousand new Burners and make sure they all chant “Herring, Herring, Herring...” when the Man burns. You must somehow spread the word.
LiveWire:
But how?
(Last appearance of Harding-fiddle (thank Odin!))
EL Wire:
I know. We’ll use the ePlaya to recruit members for Camp Herring.
LiveWire:
Hmmm... Well, there are four million people in Norway, but I still don’t think we can get three thousand of them to go with us all the way to Black Rock City.
EL Wire:
No, but there are MORE THAN FOUR MILLION NORWEGIAN-AMERICANS ALREADY IN THE U.S.!
(Highly meaningful pause as the sound of EL Wire’s voice resolves)
Announcer:
You have been listening to a Special Presentation of...
Chief One-moccasin:
...Strong Medicine -- That Herring Gut Feeling...
Announcer:
...on Camp Herring Silent Radio. Strong Medicine was written by EL Wire on Tenerife, Spain and adapted for Silent Radio by Elliot. Historical facts were checked by Otis Gudenov. Layout by LiveWire. Good night, and good fishing.
(Harding-fiddle fades, mercifully)