Like Mother, Like Son

"...and we are going live in 1...2..."

"Channel 4. Your trusted source for Real news."

"Good evening and welcome to the last segment of our program. I am Jim, your host for tonight, and we just had an intense conversation with the unbeatable Fashion Mogul of today - Paricè Towers. I never knew that the colour of your socks was so important to who and what you are. Thank you for that one Ms. Towers."

"Our next guest is Mrs. Houl. Now, most of you who are wondering who Mrs. Houl is let me remind you of a story we did a few weeks ago when a young man,her son, was ridiculed by the residents of his town for lying. We all lie but this story made the news because of the scale of this lie. The young man who tended to his sheep daily, understandably, got bored of this tiresome job and chose to play a prank on the people around by pretending that his sheep were being attacked by a pack of wolves. After hearing his cry for help a large mass of residents gathered with sticks and shotguns and scaled the hill that evening, only to find a lone snickering young man staring back at them. Despite the mounting anger and physical threats towards his nonchalant attitude, the young man, who shall remained un-named as per Mrs. Houl's request, went on to continue pulling his pranks at regular intervals until one day when a pack of wolves actually descended onto his flock and cleaned them out. He himself was injured when he made a futile attempt to protect the sheep. The phrase 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' was coined right here on this network."

"Since then, the young man and his family have received no sympathy or consideration from the town folk but Mrs. Houl is here to discuss with a matter of even graver importance. According to her, her son was abducted a few days ago and despite her efforts she has not been able to find any clues for his whereabouts."
"Mrs. Houl, would you like to elaborate on why you are here today?"

"I am here to find my son. We have had plenty of sleepless nights looking for him. He could be out there right now and the people in that *beep* *beep* town of ours - "

"Mrs. Houl."

" - need to get off their - "

"Mrs. Houl! Please refrain from using words like those. We are live on National Television and we do have rules. You have this excellent opportunity to save your son. To tell the world about what really happened to your son. We all understand your frustration - "

"No Jim. You don't. Do you have a son? If your son were to be disappear you would turn everything upside down till you found him and all these people watching would be with you. I called up the Police and they told me that he will come back some day. I even talked to the Mayor. No one seems to care! No one cares and everyone is OK with not caring. They all think that they know what is going on. That this is just another prank my boy is pulling on them."

"Mrs. Houl. We will get to that. But please first tell us what exactly happened."

"...Everyone knows that my son was tending to sheep but what no one knows is that those sheep did not belong to us. They were from Filch's farm - "

"Mr. Filch? The business tycoon?"

"Yes! That *beep* *beep* *beep* - "

"Mrs. Houl! I am sorry but next time my crew will be forced to cut your mic."

"...Mr. Filch, owned those sheep. My son was just tending to them. He was severely Dyslexic and this was the best job he could find at the time. Even when people were angry at him for playing those pranks he barely understood what he was doing wrong. When the sheep were killed we started getting threatening phone calls from someone asking for $10000 for the two dozen or so sheep killed. When we were unable to pay the money by the last week of March my son disappeared. He left home to buy bread and that was the last I saw of him."

"There could be several reasons for your son's disappearance. Maybe he ran away from home. Maybe he, god forbid, met with an accident. Maybe he was abducted by someone else."

"No! I know the voice of that SON OF A...Sorry. I know Filch's voice. I know his ways. You think being filthy rich stops him from caring about a few sheep? He will gather every single dollar and if he can't he will come after your family. He likes to get personally involved in such matters. Believe me Jim. I know my boy is somewhere out there, kidnapped by Filch's men. They are just waiting for their money and any day now I am going to get a phone call from the."

"Mrs. Houl, what if there is no phone call? How long are you going to believe that he was kidnapped by Mr. Filch before you decide to look for other reasons your son might have disappeared?"

"That time won't come. Call it mother's instinct Jim. I know my son is not the brightest out there but I know he won't get into any trouble. Any accident. He won't go longer than a day without informing me where he is going and when he will be back. If he hasn't done that it can only mean that he was taken by force."

"Now Mrs. Houl, your son is not as innocent as you make him sound. Frankly speaking, he has been nothing short of a nuisance for the community for a while now and even then, all this time, supported your son. You defended him for the public disturbance he had caused.There is a reason why people are skeptical about this. Let me give you an example, you say that you haven't slept for days. That you are exhausted. But looking at you no one would guess that. How are the people supposed to believe you this time?"

"Does it really matter? Do you really think what people believe matters to me? My son is missing! And if he is not found soon then he will most likely be killed! I just wish these *beep*-ING PEOPLE WOULD GET OVER THEIR HURT EGOS AND DO SOME *beep**beep**beep* THINGS *beep**beep* - "

"Thats all the time we have for today. Despite repeated warnings Mrs. Houl continued with using abusive words on air and we have an obligation to our viewers to avoid such content. We apologize for any inconvenience."

"Please join us tomorrow on Channel 4 where we will be talking to Ms. America winner Ms. White, followed by another lupine interview with a girl who claims that she was abused by a "wolf" who murdered her grandmother. Till then, Good Night and remember - the truth doesn't get more real."