Speaker 1: Khalila Holt. Yeah, heavyweight producer.
Speaker 2: Uh huh?
Speaker 1: Dancer no, singer?
Speaker 3: M No?
Speaker 1: Did I say heavyweight producer?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And today you're going to be more than just a
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say just today. Today, you're you're going to
Speaker 1: be presenting us with a story. Yes, I'm excited about.
Speaker 2: It, thank you.
Speaker 1: I am too, in anticipation of the season coming up
Speaker 1: in the fall. Yes, we're going to be We're going
Speaker 1: to be doing some smaller stories. But smaller is that
Speaker 1: the right word, because they're they're not small and significance, they're.
Speaker 2: Just short, kind of just shorter. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Does it? Does it feel condescending to call them mini episodes?
Speaker 2: Mmm?
Speaker 1: Lightweight?
Speaker 2: I think that's more condescending. Why don't we just call
Speaker 2: it like heavyweight.
Speaker 1: Shorts, heavyweight shorts.
Speaker 2: For summer, shorts for summer.
Speaker 5: All right, fine, let's call them heavyweight short. And you're
Speaker 5: going to be presenting us with our inaugural heavyweight short.
Speaker 2: Yes, today's heavyweight short, Hallie. Right after the break, Hallie
Speaker 2: keeps coming back to a brief interaction she had with
Speaker 2: a stranger when she was seventeen years old. The whole
Speaker 2: thing only lasted a few minutes, but those minutes, she says,
Speaker 2: set the course for the rest of her life, and
Speaker 2: the stranger has remained on her mind ever since.
Speaker 4: Eh, God, like once or twice a year, I think
Speaker 4: about her.
Speaker 2: How long has it been now?
Speaker 6: This was August of twenty twelve, so it's been almost
Speaker 6: nine years.
Speaker 2: Nine years ago, Hallie was in high school and dating
Speaker 2: her first serious boyfriend. She was sexually active for the
Speaker 2: first time and becoming increasingly anxious about not being on
Speaker 2: birth control. In health class, the teacher always said to
Speaker 2: talk to your mom about birth control, but Halle's mom
Speaker 2: was prone to unpredictable mood swings and could sometimes get violent.
Speaker 2: The two no longer spoke, so Halle lived with her dad,
Speaker 2: a strict and religious man who believed it was morally
Speaker 2: wrong to have sex before marriage. Hallie remembered the day
Speaker 2: he'd seen her little sister with the guy he didn't
Speaker 2: approve of, how he'd lifted the boy in the air
Speaker 2: by his caller. Hallie had no older sister, no aunt
Speaker 2: nor family friend she could call upon. Not knowing where
Speaker 2: else to turn, she showed up one day at a
Speaker 2: healthcare clinic in her hometown of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Her
Speaker 2: younger sister came along for emotional support.
Speaker 6: Timed it so that my dad would be at work
Speaker 6: because it's a you know, it's it's a small town.
Speaker 6: We were worried about our car being spotted in the
Speaker 6: parking lot. I was absolutely shitting myself. I was trembling.
Speaker 6: I was so frightened.
Speaker 2: The clinic was on a busy street and had lots
Speaker 2: of windows. Hollie felt exposed even being there. Once she
Speaker 2: worked up the nerve to approach the woman behind the
Speaker 2: reception desk, she began to explain her situation.
Speaker 6: I'm interested in getting on birth control, but it cannot
Speaker 6: show up on any kind of billion statement because my
Speaker 6: dad will notice. I'm sure she must have seen how
Speaker 6: scared we were, because it was something clicked like it
Speaker 6: was it felt like one of those It felt like
Speaker 6: one of those moments, one of those like unspoken conversations
Speaker 6: that sometimes happened between women where one just recognizes the
Speaker 6: need and another, yeah. Like she got to work, she
Speaker 6: like started punching a bunch of stuff into the computer,
Speaker 6: and I remember her leaving the desk at one point
Speaker 6: to try to like ask some of the other people
Speaker 6: on staff, like is there any way that we can
Speaker 6: do this, and ultimately the answer was no, because it
Speaker 6: would violate I don't even know how many like medical
Speaker 6: ethics laws. So I was prepared to, like at that point,
Speaker 6: walk out and just be defeated and think about something
Speaker 6: you know, tried.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I don't know what I was gonna I have no
Speaker 6: idea what I was going to do at that point,
Speaker 6: probably drop it.
Speaker 2: But the receptionist didn't drop it. She suggested calling Planned Parenthood,
Speaker 2: and when Halle was too scared to call, the receptionist
Speaker 2: said that she would call for her.
Speaker 6: And she just used the phone right there at the
Speaker 6: office and pretended to be meet She gave them my name,
Speaker 6: and she just like she just asked all of the
Speaker 6: questions that I was too scared to ask, and she
Speaker 6: made an appointment in my name.
Speaker 2: Even though Halle's interaction with the receptionist was brief, she
Speaker 2: offered Halle more than anyone else had. She didn't shame Halle,
Speaker 2: betray her confidence, or judge her. She made her feel
Speaker 2: looked after like a caring mother would.
Speaker 6: I went on to graduate from college and I'm now
Speaker 6: currently living abroad pursuing my master's degree. But I just
Speaker 6: can't help but think, you know, I know that none
Speaker 6: of it would have been possible if I'd if I'd
Speaker 6: gotten pregnant instead, especially then, like, oh my god, imagine
Speaker 6: trying to deal with like a pregnancy and a very
Speaker 6: religious father.
Speaker 4: Holy shit.
Speaker 2: And so Hallie and I are talking today because she
Speaker 2: wants my help in finding the receptionist so she can
Speaker 2: let her know what an impact she had.
Speaker 6: I want to say thank you so much for seeing
Speaker 6: how scared I was, and for making a scary situation
Speaker 6: manageable and just you know, holding my hand through this
Speaker 6: and making sure that I was okay.
Speaker 4: I mean, she's the reason I'm okay.
Speaker 6: But I didn't have the I didn't have that presence
Speaker 6: of mine to thank her.
Speaker 2: And what do you remember about just like what she
Speaker 2: looked like? I'm assuming you don't remember her name.
Speaker 4: I don't remember her first her last name.
Speaker 6: No. I remember her being kind of a heavier sight,
Speaker 6: black woman wearing scrubs, which probably won't help, you know,
Speaker 6: but that.
Speaker 4: Makes sense, I think.
Speaker 6: I in my mind, she kind of had like long
Speaker 6: braids that went down to like maybe down to her waist.
Speaker 6: But that's how I've always That's how I've always remembered her,
Speaker 6: and I don't know how much of that is embellishment,
Speaker 6: but I would.
Speaker 4: I don't know why I would make any of that up.
Speaker 2: It's not much to go on, but I promised to
Speaker 2: try to find the receptionist. Luckily, Hallie's sister remembers which
Speaker 2: clinic they went to that day because it was where
Speaker 2: their gynecologists worked. I call the clinic and explained to
Speaker 2: a test turned man that I'm trying to find out
Speaker 2: who worked reception in twenty twelve because a woman who
Speaker 2: talked to that person for a few minutes a decade
Speaker 2: ago wants to talk to her again about something I
Speaker 2: can't get into at the moment. Will you help me
Speaker 2: figure out who that receptionist was, I ask? He says no.
Speaker 2: I call back the next day, hoping I'll get someone else,
Speaker 2: but the same man answers, and I hang up in
Speaker 2: a panic. From there, I said in motion a series
Speaker 2: of increasingly desperate bids for information. I patted Helie in
Speaker 2: from abroad to call the clinic with me. I send
Speaker 2: her old gynecologist Facebook messages and even mail a letter
Speaker 2: to her house, which feels uncomfortably illicit. One should no
Speaker 2: more contact a doctor at their home, than follow an
Speaker 2: actor backstage. In the end, none of it yields anything. Finally,
Speaker 2: I find someone at the head office who's moved by
Speaker 2: Holley's story and willing to help. I give her Halle's
Speaker 2: description of the receptionist in the year she'd have been
Speaker 2: working the front desk, and a few weeks later, she
Speaker 2: gets back in touch with the name Markina. I'm super nervous.
Speaker 2: What's the thing that is making you nervous?
Speaker 6: I guess, I just I've been wanting to thank this
Speaker 6: person for so long, and I guess I'm worried I'm
Speaker 6: not going to do a good job.
Speaker 4: You haven't told her everything, right?
Speaker 2: I didn't. Yeah, I mean I told her sort of
Speaker 2: the broad stroke. I'd spoken to Markeina, just briefly, explaining
Speaker 2: that she'd helped a young woman named Halle long ago.
Speaker 2: It didn't ring a bell. Still, Markina said that she
Speaker 2: was happy to talk. Should we call? Do you feel
Speaker 2: you feel ready?
Speaker 4: Yes, let's call.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 2: This is Markina Markina. Hi, It's Kalila and Hallie calling.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 4: How are you? I'm good?
Speaker 7: How are you?
Speaker 6: I'm well?
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Hallie pauses trying to figure out what to say, and then,
Speaker 2: just as she did nine years ago, she swallows her
Speaker 2: fear and begins.
Speaker 6: So when I was seventeen years old, I was I
Speaker 6: was sexually active, and I couldn't talk to my parents
Speaker 6: about it. Me and my younger sister explain the situation, like,
Speaker 6: we're interested in getting on birth control pills, but our
Speaker 6: father is the type of person who goes over bills
Speaker 6: with a fine tooth comb.
Speaker 3: And if you, oh my gosh, I do remember you?
Speaker 4: You do?
Speaker 7: I do remember you? Really?
Speaker 3: Oh, cry baby, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4: You do remember this?
Speaker 5: Really?
Speaker 3: I do?
Speaker 7: I do?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 7: And I remember calling my boss you do, that's right,
Speaker 7: asking her.
Speaker 3: Like, okay, I don't want to get in trouble, but
Speaker 3: I want to help her.
Speaker 4: But do you remember what you did next?
Speaker 6: You're even after your boss said you guys couldn't help,
Speaker 6: because I think it would, it would have understandably violated
Speaker 6: a bunch of ethical you still didn't stop. You called
Speaker 6: planned parent and you made an appointment in my name.
Speaker 6: Uh huh. And then the next the following week, I
Speaker 6: was able to keep that appointment and I got on
Speaker 6: birth control, and I was Okay. I just think about
Speaker 6: how lucky I was that you were there that day,
Speaker 6: and I want to say thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 3: Daughters and I was once that scared teenager that needed help.
Speaker 3: So I always try to be that mother.
Speaker 7: For someone, or that for someone, or that just someone
Speaker 7: for someone.
Speaker 4: No, you were you.
Speaker 6: That's that's exactly what I needed, and that's exactly who
Speaker 6: you were. It would have been so easy for you
Speaker 6: to just after talking to your boss, to say I'm sorry,
Speaker 6: I can't help you, but uh, I just wanted you
Speaker 6: to know that I've never forgotten what you did, and
Speaker 6: for the last nine years I've thought about you. I
Speaker 6: went on and got my bachelor's degree and I'm actually
Speaker 6: in the middle of pursuing my master's right now, and
Speaker 6: I have just always thought that might not have been possible.
Speaker 4: If I didn't get the help I needed.
Speaker 2: Markina, what is what is the thing that you remember
Speaker 2: like about that day? Like what is it that rang
Speaker 2: a bell for you?
Speaker 7: When she said when she explained to me about her father.
Speaker 3: In that moment, it didn't matter about work, it didn't
Speaker 3: matter about whatever if I was, if I was to
Speaker 3: be rolled up, you know what, I'm taking one for
Speaker 3: the team.
Speaker 7: I knew I could not just leave her be like
Speaker 7: I had to help her because it was somebody that
Speaker 7: helped me. My father molested me, and.
Speaker 3: I had no one to talk to, and I was
Speaker 3: afraid to tell people. One day, I was walking There's
Speaker 3: a it's a bridge on one of our streets, and
Speaker 3: I had went through something terrible that night, I'll say that,
Speaker 3: and it had something to do with my father. So
Speaker 3: that morning I decided, you know what, I'm out of here.
Speaker 3: So I was walking over this bridge and my head
Speaker 3: was down. I was sad, of course, and there was
Speaker 3: this man that appeared. We were just walking past each other,
Speaker 3: and he stopped and he said, whatever it is, it
Speaker 3: will be okay. You pick your head up and you
Speaker 3: smile and you keep going. Now we're in the middle
Speaker 3: of the bridge. I'm going one way, he's going the
Speaker 3: opposite way. Full minute later, I turned around say thank you,
Speaker 3: and he was gone. So looking at her reminded me,
Speaker 3: even though her situation was totally different, Looking at her
Speaker 3: reminded me of how scared I used to be and
Speaker 3: how I would reach out. It just wanted someone to help.
Speaker 6: Me, to hear you, to hear you talk about your past,
Speaker 6: and now revisit that moment, knowing where you were coming from, m.
Speaker 2: Is remarkable.
Speaker 6: I'm so I'm so so grateful that you saw me
Speaker 6: that day and didn't just like see me in front
Speaker 6: of you, but you saw what I needed and I
Speaker 6: remember you like one of the very first things you
Speaker 6: said was you said you were proud of me for
Speaker 6: coming in, which was I think exactly what I needed
Speaker 6: to hear in that moment.
Speaker 4: And I'm so proud of you. Now, thank you so much.
Speaker 4: You're welcome, You are so welcome.
Speaker 2: Halle recently visited Whitefish Bay. She asked Martina if she
Speaker 2: could see her, and Martina said she'd like that. She
Speaker 2: still works for the same healthcare network, although at a
Speaker 2: different clinic, and she told Hallie to come say hi.
Speaker 2: During the work day, Hallie brought Markina flowers. She drove
Speaker 2: to the clinic, walked inside the door, and didn't care
Speaker 2: who saw her. This Heavyweight short was produced by me
Speaker 2: Khalila Holt along with Stevie Lane, Moheeney mcgauker, and Jonathan Goldstein.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to Sam Riisman, Sherry Mantz, and doctor Lynde.
Speaker 2: Katherine Anderson mixed the episode with original music by Christine Fellows.
Speaker 2: John K. Sampson, Blue dot Sessions, and Bobby Lord. Follow
Speaker 2: us on Twitter at Heavyweight or email us at Heavyweight
Speaker 2: at gimlipmedia dot com. You can listen to the show
Speaker 2: for free on Spotify. We'll be back with a new
Speaker 2: Heavyweight short in two weeks and a new Heavyweight season
Speaker 2: this fall.