Post by beebee64 on Jul 16, 2022 0:15:18 GMT -5
Chapter One: Lana
Lana stares glumly at the television, wishing for the zillionth time that they at least had a color TV. Practically everyone else at Peterson Air Force Base has a color TV. It’s 1973, for crying out loud.
The ice storm’s making the picture fade in and out, in and out. Lana’s not going to adjust the antenna again. She’s adjusted it four times already, and it hasn’t done a lick of good. Not that there’s anything worth watching, anyway.
Mom’s slumped on the couch; she and Mary lounge on the floor. The show they’re watching is stupid. It’s just a bunch of people standing around--except for a guy in a wheelchair, who can’t stand, of course--talking about some woman who’s missing. The name of the show is Ironside. Ironside is what they call the guy in the wheelchair, and in Lana’s opinion, that’s just rude.
Lana sighs as President Nixon interrupts with another “crucial update” about the “situation” in Vietnam. The war ended almost a year ago, so why is everybody still talking about it? Maybe, hopefully, in another couple of months, everybody will just forget about Vietnam. Lana tries hard to tune President Nixon out. She’s just glad her dad came back from the place. A few of her friends have dads who didn’t.
President Nixon finally shuts up, and an unseen announcer says that they will now return to “another riveting mystery from the best crime series of 1973.” But these crime shows are all alike. It’ll turn out that the missing woman’s husband has killed her, either because he has a girlfriend or because he wants the insurance money. Bor-ing!
Too bad it isn’t Friday. Then they could watch Lana’s favorite show, Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Paintings of ghosts and monsters who come to life and make sure that the villains get what they deserve are way more interesting than this garbage.
A copy of TrueNews Weekly sits on the coffee table in front of Mom. The cover shows a photo of President Nixon standing beside a bald, almond-eyed humanoid in a space suit. “NIXON WELCOMES LEADER FROM MARS!!!!” the headline screams.
Mary begged Mom to buy the newspaper when they saw it at the 7-11 store earlier that evening.
“Oh, Lord,” Mom groaned. But then she glanced at the price--twenty-five cents--and tossed it onto the counter with her other purchases. “You know nothing in there is true. Right, honey?” she asked Mary.
“But there’s a picture!” Mary insisted. Like most six-year-olds, she’s dumb enough to believe pretty much anything.
Lana stares glumly at the television, wishing for the zillionth time that they at least had a color TV. Practically everyone else at Peterson Air Force Base has a color TV. It’s 1973, for crying out loud.
The ice storm’s making the picture fade in and out, in and out. Lana’s not going to adjust the antenna again. She’s adjusted it four times already, and it hasn’t done a lick of good. Not that there’s anything worth watching, anyway.
Mom’s slumped on the couch; she and Mary lounge on the floor. The show they’re watching is stupid. It’s just a bunch of people standing around--except for a guy in a wheelchair, who can’t stand, of course--talking about some woman who’s missing. The name of the show is Ironside. Ironside is what they call the guy in the wheelchair, and in Lana’s opinion, that’s just rude.
Lana sighs as President Nixon interrupts with another “crucial update” about the “situation” in Vietnam. The war ended almost a year ago, so why is everybody still talking about it? Maybe, hopefully, in another couple of months, everybody will just forget about Vietnam. Lana tries hard to tune President Nixon out. She’s just glad her dad came back from the place. A few of her friends have dads who didn’t.
President Nixon finally shuts up, and an unseen announcer says that they will now return to “another riveting mystery from the best crime series of 1973.” But these crime shows are all alike. It’ll turn out that the missing woman’s husband has killed her, either because he has a girlfriend or because he wants the insurance money. Bor-ing!
Too bad it isn’t Friday. Then they could watch Lana’s favorite show, Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Paintings of ghosts and monsters who come to life and make sure that the villains get what they deserve are way more interesting than this garbage.
A copy of TrueNews Weekly sits on the coffee table in front of Mom. The cover shows a photo of President Nixon standing beside a bald, almond-eyed humanoid in a space suit. “NIXON WELCOMES LEADER FROM MARS!!!!” the headline screams.
Mary begged Mom to buy the newspaper when they saw it at the 7-11 store earlier that evening.
“Oh, Lord,” Mom groaned. But then she glanced at the price--twenty-five cents--and tossed it onto the counter with her other purchases. “You know nothing in there is true. Right, honey?” she asked Mary.
“But there’s a picture!” Mary insisted. Like most six-year-olds, she’s dumb enough to believe pretty much anything.
And no jokes about having only 3 stations?
