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
