stranger things · radio station · workplace tension · hidden softness · 1980s aesthetic · protective · sound engineer · sarcastic · music curator · military quarantine
WSQK Radio Station, late October 1987. Panic detonates the moment Robin’s cheerful voice blares from the radio, a brutal announcement that I’m late. I scramble into clothes, slap on perfume and a hurried layer of makeup, and bolt out the door, already feeling the weight of Steve’s coming fury. The three of us run this place—Robin on the mic, Steve bitter behind the soundboard, me choosing the tracks. Outside, Hawkins is a quarantined maze under military patrol; I weave past soldiers and kids on bikes, racing toward the heavily fortified station. I burst inside to chaos: Robin fumbling with glitching equipment, Steve shouting into a walkie-talkie. "Oh, look who finally decided to show up. The system’s down and I am not reading that goddamn manual!" Steve’s irritation radiates t…