Page 46 of Pete and His Precious

I’m still a little flabbergasted that my parakeet finally said my name.

Of course, he said a phrase that I had not taught him, but... He came from Leo’s, and Leo always called Nora his love bunny. He said it affectionately, and I’m not sure whether it was because of her, or the bird figured it out from them.

I leave with more questions than answers. But Zoe, while she seemed a little bit nervous in the kitchen, doesn’t seem the slightest bit bothered.

“So that’s the first time the bird has said my name,” I say casually as we both go for the stairs rather than the elevator.

“Funny that he would put it together like that.”

“And while you’re there,” I say, remembering how she joked that my bird wanted us to get together. I’m not sure it was a joke.

“Well they say that parakeets are the smartest bird, although I’m not sure that’s saying a whole lot.”

I think about the chickens on the farm, the ducks and geese, and, “I honestly have to agree with you. I’ve never met a bird that I felt was intelligent. Even Trixie doesn’t seem overly smart. I’ve been trying to get him to say my name for weeks now.”

“Well, I guess that just goes to show that patience pays off,” she says easily, and I’m nod my head and try to let it go.

“I wanted to ask you more about the audiobooks. But I don’t want to offend you.”

She sneaks a glance up at me as I pull the door open for her and she walks outside into the cool evening air. It’s not cold, but it definitely feels like fall is coming. It’s one of my favorite times of year. Of course, I guess I just love every time of year. And I love the changing seasons. I get bored with one thing all the time, and I look forward to the change.

“I promise I won’t get offended, but you’re making me a little nervous. What are you thinking to ask me that you’re afraid it’s going to upset me?” she says with a little laugh.

I love the way she’s easy-going. I also love the way she doesn’t get bothered about things, and I really love the way she talks. The sound of her voice has not stopped affecting me. I just stopped thinking about it, because I can get a little overwhelmed.

“Well, what’s your goal? I mean, I was trying to think how I could help you. Purchase an audiobook?”

“Sure. If you’re interested in listening to sweet romance.” She laughs and rolls her eyes like she knows I wouldn’t be.

She doesn’t understand that I would listen to her read a book about rocks. I don’t correct her, because I really am interested in what she has to say.

“But, I feel like maybe my social media will take off eventually. I’ve been posting pretty regularly on several different places. And, I’ve seen other people get viral videos that bring attention to their brand and increase sales. I even know of one audio narrator who was doing what I’m doing on YouTube — putting up public domain works, and they had a video go viral and before you know it, they’ve got a contract in Hollywood. And it’s for a lot of money. Not gazillions, but enough for them to live comfortably for a while.” She lifts her shoulder. “I don’t know where I’ll go from there. I’ve heard of people using their voices for different things, but the landscape is changing, and... I just really love what I do. I guess I don’t care if I make gazillions of dollars, I just want to make enough to live on, you know?”

I understand that. “That’s how I feel about being a cop. I know I’m never going to be rich, but that’s not really my goal. I want to be a policeman. I always have, and as long as I can make a living at it, that’s what I’m going to do. I don’t expect to ever get rich doing it.”

I’ve thought a little bit about what it would be like whenever I get older. After all, by the time I’m in my late fifties and sixties, am I going to be able to chase criminals around the street? I don’t want to have to sit in an office and push papers, even at that age. But, when I can no longer do the job... They do offer early retirement, and I suppose that’s an option.

“Is there anything specific that I can do?” I ask, knowing that I’d already said I wanted to do something, and she hasn’t offered anything. Does she not want me to help her?

“I guess just getting out the word. If you know anyone who’s interested in some of the old public domain works. The more people I can get coming to my channels the more it builds. I don’t know if this is the right way to explain the algorithm, but I look at it like every little view feeds it, and if you can keep feeding it before it gets hungry again, it starts to push out my videos on its own. And, it rewards consistency, so if I have a thousand people come in one day, and then I have zero people coming the next day, it’s not going to catch the wind, if that makes sense.”

“So you need one hundred people every day rather than a thousand people in one day?”

“Yeah. Or two hundred people and for five days, and that will help lift it up. But, it has to show sustained growth, sustained interest. And, sometimes things break at the right time, and sometimes they don’t. So a lot of it is timing.”

I think I understand. “What’s happening in popular culture affects what goes on your channel?”

“Yeah. Say I release the Scarlet Pimpernel, and people aren’t interested in it, but then a Hollywood remake comes out starring big name actors and actresses that bring attention to that title and suddenly everybody are all things Scarlet Pimpernel, and my channel starts getting attention or at least that video does. And it gets up and up and starts going viral.”

“And how do you make money on that?” I ask.

“It’s from the ads. Although I get paid for views on some socials - when I get enough, they can monetize me, but for most, it’s about the ads. If someone clicks on the ad on the video, then I get money. Not a lot per click, but the clicks add up, when you’re getting lots of views. Or at least that’s what I understand. Rightnow, like I said, I’m getting grocery money from it. But that’s really it.”

“Every time I watch one of your videos, I should click on the ad?”

She laughs. “Well, I guess they would say yes, except then the advertisers end up paying for ads that don’t make them money. Because the advertisers pay that money. And if you don’t buy anything from them, then they might say they don’t want to have their ad on my channel or on my video anymore, or they might stop advertising altogether, if it just becomes too expensive.”

“I see. So, clicking on an ad is one thing, but I probably shouldn’t do it a whole lot if I’m not really interested.”

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