RUSH: And without any further ado, Grand Blanc, Michigan, this is Melissa who is on the phone with her seven-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. I’d like to welcome both of you to the program and thank you both for holding on.
MELISSA: Hi, Rush.
ELIZABETH: Hi, Rush.
RUSH: This is so cute. I just melt. How are you doing, Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH: I’m doing good.
RUSH: Very good. You’re seven years old? Is that right?
ELIZABETH: Yes, seven.
RUSH: Seven years old.
ELIZABETH: Yep.
RUSH: Well, welcome to my program. It’s great to have you here.
ELIZABETH: Thank you.
RUSH: What’s up?
MELISSA: Well, she wanted to let you know that we listened to your Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims story on the car ride home for Christmas vacation, so —
ELIZABETH: The audio book.
MELISSA: The audio book.
RUSH: Right. And I assumed you liked it?
ELIZABETH: Yep.
MELISSA: She thought it was really, really good.
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, I’m not surprised, but I’m glad to hear it. That’s supposed to be funny, Elizabeth. You can laugh at that.
ELIZABETH: (laughing).
MELISSA: She had a funny part that she wanted to tell you.
RUSH: Oh, okay. I’d like to hear that.
ELIZABETH: The funny part was when I found out that Liberty was potty trained.
RUSH: You found out Liberty was potty trained.
MELISSA: Yeah.
ELIZABETH: Yeah, that was funny. (laughing)
RUSH: See, folks, this is why it takes real talent to be a children’s author. To understand what it is that’s going to make children laugh, what it is they’re going to find humorous. So the idea that a horse would be potty trained is funny. I admit, it is funny. Who would ever think of that.
MELISSA: Say, “not me.”
ELIZABETH: Not me. (laughing)
RUSH: So Liberty is your favorite character?
ELIZABETH: Yep.
RUSH: Who’s your next favorite character?
MELISSA: Who’s your next favorite? Rush?
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
MELISSA: Yeah? Tell him.
ELIZABETH: Rush.
RUSH: Rush Revere.
MELISSA: Rush Revere.
ELIZABETH: Rush Revere, yeah.
RUSH: Rush Revere, yeah. You know, he’s jealous because Liberty’s getting most of the fan mail. You have a lot of company in liking Liberty. Well, Elizabeth, I’d like to do something for you. You’re so nice, and I really do appreciate that you and your mom have been on hold for so long. We have this thing in our store at the TwoIfByTea.com website, which is where the Adventures of Rush Revere and Liberty and all can be found. We’ve got this little bear called Ted-Tea Bear, a teddy bear —
ELIZABETH: Ooh, cool!
RUSH: It’s the cutest little bear. It’s white. It’s dressed as a Founding Father, colonial times with a tricorn hat, and it’s just the cutest thing, and I want to send you one.
ELIZABETH: Thank you.
RUSH: You’re more than welcome. I want to send you one since you’re so nice and you’ve been so complimentary about the book. People like you have made this a roaring success, and I can’t thank you all enough. I can’t tell you how pleasing it is to know that you really liked it.
MELISSA: Yeah. We thought it was interesting that there could be more stories in the future, so —
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, it’s a fascinating thing. You know, American history is limitless, as deep as you want to go. And once you have this device, I call it, of the horse, Liberty, who can time travel and go anywhere, then you can write about virtually any aspect of American history that you want, which we intend to do.
ELIZABETH: That’s good.
MELISSA: She’s being a little shy. She said that was good, though.
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, I understand that. I mean, you’re on the radio, and there are just 20 million people listening. I used to be a caller, too, Elizabeth, before I was host. I’ve been where you are. I know how it can be nerve-wracking out there, but you just need to look at it as though you’re just talking to me.
MELISSA: Yep.
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, is there anything else that you’d like? Anything else you want to tell me about? Do you have any suggestions, like what we could do next?
MELISSA: Go ahead and ask him.
ELIZABETH: What did Rush Revere and Liberty do for Christmas?
RUSH: What did Rush Revere and Liberty do for Christmas? Well, they got each other presents, and they sat around and they talked about where they were gonna go next.
ELIZABETH: Ohhh, cool.
RUSH: And you know what? Liberty, you wouldn’t believe, this whole experience has given Liberty, the horse, an ego like you can’t believe.
ELIZABETH: (laughing).
RUSH: Liberty wants to be on TV now.
ELIZABETH: (laughing).
RUSH: Liberty thinks — Liberty thinks —
ELIZABETH: That would be cool.
RUSH: Yeah, Liberty thinks that a book is just not enough. And so they sat around and talked about maybe they could be on TV somehow.
ELIZABETH: Are you going to make it into a cartoon?
RUSH: Well, Liberty wants to. Liberty wants to be in a cartoon. Liberty thinks that a book is cool and all that, but Liberty is jealous of Scooby-Doo and a number of these other cartoon characters and, “Why can’t I do that?” Elizabeth, as you’ll learn, all performers have egos and they all think that they’re more important and bigger, and they start making demands on you and you have to do what you can to keep ’em happy once they become popular. So Liberty, yeah, wants to be in a cartoon or wants to be on TV somehow.
MELISSA: That will be neat.
ELIZABETH: That will be neat.
RUSH: And, of course, Elizabeth, here’s the problem. Rush Revere isn’t sure about it, ’cause Rush Revere knows that a human being on TV with an animal can’t win. People always like the animal more.
MELISSA: That’s true.
ELIZABETH: That’s true.
RUSH: It’s very true. So Rush Revere is guarded about it, but he’s excited about the possibilities, too, so you never know. With Liberty making these demands and as big as Liberty has become, you have to listen.
MELISSA: We would definitely watch it.
ELIZABETH: Definitely watch it.
RUSH: I appreciate that. We’ll see. You never know. You never know. But with the horse now demanding to be on TV and, you know, dealing with talent, Elizabeth, I mean, it’s a different breed of person. Talent is just like actors and actresses and so forth. I mean, they just —
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
RUSH: They’re very sensitive. They are very egocentric and, if they don’t get their way, they pout. So we have to take what Liberty wants into consideration, and, who knows, it may happen.
ELIZABETH: Yep. It may! That would be cool.
RUSH: Hang on because I want to put Mr. Snerdley back on the phone with you so he can get your address so we can send you Ted-Tea Bear.
ELIZABETH: Whoo. Okay. Thank you.
RUSH: All right. And also, you know what? I’m gonna send an autographed copy of the book to you.
ELIZABETH: Can Liberty sign it?
RUSH: (laughing) This is exactly what I meant, you can’t win with an animal. Yeah, Liberty has his own signature, kind of just stamps the horse hoof on the page. We’ll figure out a way for Liberty to sign it.
ELIZABETH: That’s perfect.
RUSH: Okay. So hang on. Don’t go away and —
MELISSA: Okay, we will. Thanks, Rush.
ELIZABETH: We will. Thanks, Rush!
RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m ecstatic that you liked it, made my day.