Turn the key, open the door.  Close it behind.  Walk up the stairs, feet dragging along the top of each step.  Want nothing more than to lie down and relax, talk to wife.  Top of the stairs.  Turn the key, open the door.  Close it behind.
     Wife sits glued to the television.  ‘Have you heard?’ she asks.  ‘It’s horrible.’
     ‘What, hon?’  Throw keys onto the kitchen counter.
     See the television screen:
 

    Tragedy in Tinseltown to-day, as famed entertainer and peace activist Karyn “Bonita” Troupe has been brutally murdered.  While in Los Angeles on the western leg of her “Send out the Clowns” tour, an unidentified sniper fired what is believed to have been five shots.  Bonita was entering a downtown restaurant at the time, 11:32 this morning.  Three of these shots hit Troupe, and a fourth hit one of her bodyguards in the arm.  Troupe was rushed to the St. Xavier hospital and remained in unstable condition until she was pronounced dead at 3:14 this afternoon.  The country grieves—

Cell goes off, attention shifts.  Check the number but already know who it is.  ‘Hello?’
    ‘Marty,’ editor’s voice says on the other line.  ‘You hear?’
    Say: ‘Yeah, Larry, be right down.’  Put the cell away, and kiss wife on the cheek.  ‘Gotta go back, hon.’
    She nods.  Leave.
 

    And we go now live to our Rickville correspondent, Cy Wallace, currently on Troupe street, where hundreds of Bonita fans are gathering to pay their tribute.  Cy, are you there?
    I sure am, Brian, and so, it seems, is everyone else.  As you said, easily hundreds of people here mourning Bonita, and still more coming all the time.  You can see here, a pile—almost a mountain—of flowers, cards, letters, and other items put here to honour Troupe’s memory.  Most of these people are wearing Bonita T-shirts and caps, and there is a general sombre mood.  The police have cordoned this section of the road off from traffic, Brian, but it looks like they’re going to need to make even more room for the fans.
    Cy, what’s the word on the street there?  What comments does the public have concerning this tragedy?
    I'm going around now, Brian.  Excuse me, I’m Cy Wallace, BCC News.  Why have you come out here to-night?
    I just feel…like…like I should pay…tribute anyway I can…I…I’m sorry, I can’t…
    That’s all right, thank-you. So you can see, Brian, that the crowd is very emotional over this loss.  I’ll be talking with more people throughout the night.
    Thank-you, Cy.  And after this break, a special photo collage of Bonita Troupe, and, as always, the latest coverage.

    Yesterday at 3:14 pm, Bonita Troupe, world famous singer and humanitarian, died from the injuries she received at the hands of a crazed sniper that morning.  In honour of this noble icon, the Rickville Sun presents a twenty page supplement to to-day’s paper, cataloguing and showcasing Troupe’s many charitable acts as well as her hit songs.  But how did this woman come to be the idol of millions we now mourn?
    Adversity had always been a part of Karyn Troupe’s life, beginning with her birth right here in Rickville, March 30, 1962.  Born in her home on Jackson street (now re-named Troupe road) because her parents could not afford hospital bills, Troupe shared a room with two older sisters, Lisa and Sharon.
    Shortly before Bonita’s seventh birthday, however, with money tighter than ever, Troupe’s father, Harry, passed away.  At that time, Sharon was already working to help support the family, and now Lisa and Bonita started singing on the street to try to earn extra money.
    When Bonita was eleven, her mother Conchita re-married to a man from Paraguay, and the girls all moved there, to a city called Paloma.  It was at the hands of Enrique, Bonita’s new stepfather, that the three girls, especially Lisa, were molested and sexually abused.  It was not until Lisa’s suicide at the age of fourteen that Conchita realised what was happening and left Enrique and moved to Asuncion.
    Karyn soon became a well-known singer in the area, and was spotted by a talent scout for Teardrop records.  At the age of eighteen, she was flown back to the United States for a record deal.  Her mother and sister, however, stayed in Paraguay.  Still, things were not going smoothly for Troupe.  Under a binding contract for poor pay, Troupe produced one LP called “Under the Rainbow” in which she sang several already well-known songs under the name Karyn Troupe.  The album did not do well, and Teardrop refused to cut any more records with Troupe, but held onto her contract so that no one else could.  Troupe’s lucky break came when Teardrop went bankrupt, allowing her the opportunity once again to make records.  This time armed with an agent, her future husband Tony Warton, she cut the deal with Mountain Peak Records that eventually made her famous.  This time she used the name “Bonita” Troupe, a nickname Tony gave her, “Bonita” being the Spanish word for “beauty”.

    You’re listening to MUSK 94.4 FM, where to-day we’re only playing songs by Karyn Troupe, our beloved Bonita, who was shot to death yesterday.  Our hearts go out to her family, her friends and all her many fans.  Here’s ‘If I Controlled the World’ from her 1991 album, ‘Sleeping Ugliness’:

There’d be no sickness, and no death,
No hatred or racism left,
If I controlled the world.
The end of scandal, end of riot,
Everyone living in peace and quiet,
If I controlled the world...

    We have with us to-day Sergeant Rollins of the Forensics division of the New York Police Department.  Now Sergeant, you and our viewers have just seen the amateur video of the shooting that resulted in the death of Bonita Troupe.  Is there anything that immediately stands out about it?
    Well, Todd, first-off I think the video clearly shows what many of Bonita’s fans have suspected…
    And what would that be?
    That there was a second shooter.
    A second shooter?
    At least.  See how she falls to the left and back, right there.  That’s from the first shot, the first shooter.  Now look!  The second shot and she falls forward, which means that that shot was from behind.  We see the bodyguard running to protect her, and then look, he gets clipped, also from behind.  There he is, picking her up, and then the third shot hits her from the front again.
    What about reports saying that there were five shots fired?
    If that is true—and it is quite possible—then the fifth shot must take place somewhere after the first shot.  As you can see, no one is panicked until Troupe gets shot that first time.
    I’ve got to go to commercial, now, Sergeant Rollins, but we’ll be back after this with more of the Bonita Conspiracy.
 

    Los Angeles Police announced yesterday that they had found a suspect in the Bonita Troupe assassination of two days ago.  Emil Anson, a Houston native, was picked up last night from his hotel.  Pictures of Bonita Troupe were apparently littering his room.  One informant claims that many of the pictures had red ‘X’s on them, and that there were also several rifles on the premises, one of which seems to match the type used in the shooting.
    Anson was charged for involvement in what many believe to have been a multiple-sniper assassination.  Los Angeles police officers officially stated that there is no evidence supporting a second shooter, and that the video that is supposed to have captured Bonita’s killing is a fraud.
    Police disapproval has not, however, slowed the flow of speculation.  Conspiracy theories have sprung up all over the place, from Bonita's death being faked, to her being assassinated by the CIA.
    The most plausible theory seems to be that Tony Warton, Bonita’s husband, had her killed.  Rumours of the last few months indicate that the two had had a falling out.  Tony was reported to have spent nights at the house of his brother, Don Warton, and one informant from Mountain Peak, the record label where the two met and worked, claims that constant bickering and threats had taken place shortly before Bonita began her ‘Send out the Clowns’ tour.
    We spoke with Bonita’s close actress friend Madge Daine, who said that while on tour, Bonita received many death threats and seemed to be fearful of her husband.  Although Daine refused to comment further, other sources tell of how Warton would appear at her hotel at odd times, angry and violent.
    Tony Warton could not have been the killer himself, however, as he was at that time on live television talking about Bonita’s latest cause: feeding the starving in Africa.

    And now we have a special gift for all of you Bonita fans out there.  SONG 102 has acquired Karyn Troupe's final song.  While on her ‘Send out the Clowns’ tour, Bonita finished writing a completely new song, ‘Torn Apart’.  Now, with the help of Poe Q and the W-D Band, we get to hear the last song Bonita ever wrote…

 On my right hand sits a man who’s rich,
 On my left, one who lives in a ditch.
 I see a boy who wants the latest toy,
 And a girl who only wants to know joy.
 And I don’t know what to do,
 And I don’t get any help from you,
 As this world is Torn Apart…

    And in related news, we go to Seattle, where a high school is honouring Bonita the best way it can.  It was unanimously voted a few days ago, by both staff and students, that John F. Kennedy High School in Carlton, Mississppi, would change its name to Karyn Troupe High School beginning the next school year.  Already, the students are giving in proposals for new logos, uniforms, and even the lettering outside the school.
    Several other schools all over the country have expressed interest in following suit, but nothing else has been confirmed.

    One of the three new books dealing with singer Karyn ‘Bonita’ Troupe just hitting the stands, and the only one not to concern itself with a conspiracy theory, is Our Girl Bonita, penned by Faye Lensetti, one of the Troupe’s housekeepers while they lived in Rickville.
    The book tells a good deal about the childhood of Bonita, including her first sexual experiences, and descriptions from Bonita’s early American boyfriends on how she has sex.  Also, the sex games she and her husband, Tony Warton, used to play are described in detail, and all of these things contribute and give invaluable insight into the psyche of the world’s most beloved singer.

    As the funeral is about to get under way, we have new information to give on the assassination of Karyn “Bonita” Troupe.  Police revealed to-day that their suspect as one of the shooters in that grisly assassination, Emil Anson, has ties to Communist parties in China.  Apparently, Anson spent his youth in China, where he gained rabid anti-democracy and anti-capitalist beliefs.  While there, he was trained in the use of several fire-arms by a general in the Red Army.
    Current interpretations are to the effect that Anson and the other shooters assassinated Troupe to put a stop to her efforts to stabilise the current democracy in Russia.  Police are currently looking into communist sects in Houston, Anson’s home town, as well as watching all travel out of Los Angeles in Texas’ direction.
    Look at all those fans out there, come to pay their last respects.  And now we see the funeral procession coming down Rickville’s Main St.  Tony Warton and his brother Don are heading up the procession.  Is Tony crying?  Can we get a close-up of Tony, see if he’s crying?  There, yes, those are tears.  And here come Sharon and Conchita, Bonita’s sister and mother, respectively, both of whom flew in from Uruguay to come to the funeral.
    Yes, fans and stars alike have come out to remember Bonita.  We have to go now to a word from our sponsor but we’ll be back with the eulogies in just a second.

    Phone rings at desk.  Pick up.  Say, ‘Marty Vaughn.’  Person on the other end says they have a theory as to who killed Bonita.  Say, ‘Everyone has a theory.’  Guy says he has proof that the news media orchestrated her death.  Put the guy on hold and talk to Editor.  Editor says run with it.  Pick up phone again.
 

    A day after the funeral of Karyn Troupe, the singer and humanitarian known affectionately as ‘Bonita’, a new informant has stepped forward with information concerning the conspirators organising the assassination of Bonita.
    This new theory states that Bonita was targeted for death by several high-level media conglomerates.  Apparently, the media would receive such a boost in sales with the assassination of a major international star, that they put a contract out on her life.
    The informant—who refused to allow himself to be named in print—claims he has personally ferried messages back and forth from major newspaper offices, television and radio stations, even book publishers.  Emil Anson—and possibly others—was hired by this group to kill the figure whose death would cause the greatest finance.
If this is true, what does it mean for us, the innocent citizens of the world?  How can we allow the media to control us in this fashion?

    Top story of the night, the Rickville Sun, the city’s most-read paper, who recently printed a theory to the effect that the media itself killed Bonita, aided the Nazis in the second world war.  Financial records just coming out of over a half-century of hiding show clearly that 74% of all profits the Rickville Sun received between 1932 and 1944 went to the German Nazi party.  Also, at the time of the war, the Rickville Sun published Nazi propaganda mixed cleverly into the paper alongside true news.
    Editor-in-Chief Lawrence Hines denies all connections, even though his father served in World War Two fighting for the facsist Italians.

    Hello, and welcome to the Zed Trane show on MUSK 94.4 FM.  We’re talking to-day with Ron Fisher, the mysterious informant of the Rickville Sun’s recent article, blaming the media for the death of Bonita Troupe.  Now Ron, before we went to commercial you were saying something about why you didn’t divulge your name when speaking with Martin Vaughn, the Rickville Sun reporter who wrote the article.  Could you repeat what you said before the break?
    Yes.  The reason I did not reveal my identity is because it was a joke.  I was speaking with my friend Martin, and I made the story up.  I didn’t know he’d take me seriously, though.  I’m really sorry for what I’ve done.
    I wouldn’t worry, Ron.  It sounds to me like Vaughn is to blame here, not you.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew you were joking, but decided to print it as if it were real anyway.  Anything to make a buck.
    Yeah.  That’s Martin in a nutshell.

    Allegations against Martin Vaughn, reporter for the Rickville Sun, are continuing to come in.  Already, eight girls, ageing from seven to fifteen, have come forward to say that Vaughn has sexually abused them, and more are expected as the week goes on.
    Although guilt is not yet discerned, reports say that Vaughn’s wife Bette has left him, and that he has been fired from his position with the Rickville Sun.  The case goes to trial later in the month.

    Emil Anson, apparent assassin of Bonita Troupe, was killed himself just moments ago.  While in police custody, being transported back to his cell after a preliminary hearing, Anson was swamped by reporters.  As the police tried to make a clear path to their car, Martin Vaughn, the convicted sex offender who wrote the recent article blaming television for Bonita’s death, emerged from the crowd with what by-standers say was a sawed-off shotgun.  Vaughn shot Anson twice in the stomach and then ran away before police could take him into custody.
    If you have seen this man, he is considered armed and extremely dangerous.  He may attempt to pick up young girls, so schools and parents should be extra cautious.
    We have here amateur video of the killing of Emil Anson…

    Walk into the grocery store.  Wearing heavy make-up, a fake moustache.  Grab milk and celery.  Walk up to the cash register, survey the tabloids and magazines.  One says: ‘Murderer Vaughn still on the Loose’.  Am not what they say.  I am not what they say I am.  Next one says: ‘Bonita Troupe seen Alive’.  Pick it up and place it with groceries.
 
 
 

Editor: brook Newton