Michael Shermer is a sceptic

                                 Shermer would prefer skeptic

Tough

he wrote about a man who while a young boy listened to Roosevelts Fireside Chats on the familys radio

    a Philco Lowboy console

somehow it broke  but by then television was becoming the rage and the family owned three

his parents passed away

the house was left to him

when he married they held the ceremony in the spacious backyard on the lawn

midway through it music began playing inside the house the song was a favorite of his parents

unable to help himselfhe excused himself to his fiancée and rushed inside  he stood before the radio until the song was over and when it ended the lighted dial flickered flickered  dulled

                                                                                       and went out

it never worked again 

Shermer was sceptical

reading the passage he was not

                                   as a boy his family had a handmedown Zenith portable black and white television set

it broke

there wasnt money in the family budget to have it repaired

    one Saturday he read in the newspaper that the Wizard of Oz was going to be televised  a weekend matinee

he dug the moviehe thought  What the hell

plugged the television into the wall

turned it On

turned it to Channel 9

there were ten minutes before it would air

as he sat before it on the threadbare carpet his mother entered the room from the kitchen What are you doing? she asked

The Wizard of Oz is going to come on

she saw he had plugged it in 

the screen was black

The television doesn’t work.

No  It hasnt

    she shrugged I suppose you’ll see.

I suppose I will

                 aneven as he said it he was willing it be  he had nothing to lose

she went back into the kitchen to continue preparing food to make dinner

                                                                             she yelled  It’s a beautiful day.

You ought to go outside and enjoy it.

at One PM on the wall clock above the television and stand nothing appeared on the screen

matinees usually began with their host boring him to tears with their introductions

at OneOfive the screen flickered flickered

                                            then flickered to life as the host concluded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M1IpBxoQ3U

he heard his mother drop something a bowl he thought  it broke

                                                                     she rushed in  What did you do?

he was tempted to ask her what she did  Nothing  he said

                                                                 Im watchin the Wizard of Oz

436preferred,  Sunday,  27  4. 25

1225,  Tuesday,  6  5. 25