By The Light Of The Grundig

A Story by David

Humor

A wooden cabinet made by my older brother, Brian .Louvered doors, once opened revealed the inner workings of preteen and teenage life. The magic inside was a turntable that was versatile enough to play vinyl records of both the 45’s as well as the 33lps. For those of you too young to know of these, the 45 was the smaller disc of the two. It required either a plastic insert or the 45 adapter to accomodate the larger center hole. The 33’s center hole was so much smaller . Thinking of this just now made me smile, for the 45 was the smaller record with the larger hole and the 33 the larger record with the smaller hole, Hmmm. I wonder what evil engineering genius thought to baffle us with this conundrum? Inside the workings of this cabinet was a single Christmas bulb with a switch that allowed one to see well enough to plug in the hundred year old railroad lantern. This lantern had red and clear glass and had been electrified. Once ignited this lantern set the mood for all the great music to come. This cabinet and it’s workings were of course placed in the basement away from the parents delicate ears. There were only two small windows for light during daytime and no light at any other time, only that little light and the lantern.

The Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coupe, In My Room, Gene Pitney and Jay and The Americans, Roy Orbison, Elvis, Sam Cooke, Patsy Cline, The Beatles, Ferlin Husky and Jimmy Rodgers singing about Big John. The Four Seasons and Wolfman Jack all entering our dark little basement world, setting us on a new mood by the moment. We dreamed of the fast cars , the little polka dot bikinis, the troubles of teen love and the excitement of the moonshiners outrunning the law. Songs of mining disasters, surfing, high school football teams and encounters with the death after the car crashes , Tell Laura I love Her. Sweaters mysteriously appearing on graves. There was no end to the story telling. There was also the Grundig! I am not sure if this was a present to my brother or if he bought it? Grundig is a wonderful German radio. This one was a short wave as well as am/fm. This was far ahead of its’ time here in this dark basement cabinet. When turned on it lit up the inside of that cave and hundreds of numbers were to be seen. We had no idea what they were but we liked turning the dial and seeing what would happen. Most radio stations at this time were still broadcasting in am so this was a special machine. Once turned off the light gone, the lantern exstinguished and the tiny light off for the night we actually had to feel our way to the stairs and climb out of there.

I arose last night to get a glass of water. As I sat up in bed, I peeked at the led display of the alarm clock and noticed the led display light from the tv receiver and another from the tv.Walking down the hall and passing my office , that room ablaze with led lights from the Magic Jack, the computer router not to be outdone was blinking back and forth while the telephone had it own light ablaze. Coming to the kitchen I was greeted by not one , not two but three clocks all ablaze. One from the micro wave, another from the coffee machine and then the stove chiming in. The lights on the copier aglow as well as the standy for the stereo and another phone. Another for the cell phone charging away. Passing by the living room another tv receiver and led on the set itself. I was amazed! The bath was as dark as the basement! I wonder what piece of equipment I have overlooked? The alarm system keeping watch with more led’s. There was no need what so ever to turn on a single night light to guide my way.

Lord, I miss that Grundig!