Pedophile

A Story by David

Pedophile

The Greater Hartford Auto Show was in town. This was my first year to see all these wonders. I was twelve and full of independence. My friend Greg Karakasian was tagging along . His mom actually drove us there around noon . This was going to be a fantastic day. A twelve year old was just the right sort of fan for all these modified hotrods. We always were at the Rexall magazine rack and poured over magazines such as Hot Rod, Motor Trend and almost anything with a similar title.

There were Woody’s and deuce coupes just like on the Beach Boys album cover. Wild looking roadsters slingshot dragsters and Funny cars driven by the stars of the day. Connecticut Dragway was not too far away and these actual vehicles were here for us to drool over. There were models adorning all the cars all dressed like a Hooters waitress just many years too early. There were prizes being given out . the loudspeaker would blare out a ticket number and one of us would run screaming to collect our prize. Never much of a prize, maybe a magazine subscription but we were happy .

The day went by all too quickly and time slid by seamlessly. It was almost ten pm before we realized. We needed to call for a ride. Calls at this time cost a dime and well----- we just didn’t have one. It wasn’t the time of borrowing someone’s cell phone. All during the day there were local radio station DJ’s playing 45’s and keeping the crowd pumped up. All day Greg and I had been passing by the booth and requesting songs to be played. Gene Pitney, Four Seasons, Elvis and Roy Orbison. Never a request turned down. This is where we found the dime . The jock gave it to us along with an inside number to the local station. He told us to call anytime and we wouldn’t have to wait through that always busy signal that the rest of the listening public had to bear.

Needles to say I caught absolute hell for not being home sooner. Iwas sentenced to room detention. Just me , my homework and that old white Zenith am radio. As I poured over my school work all I was thinking of was that day and how great it had been . When my probation was terminated I took that number I had been given and called WPOP every chance I had. Always my requests , the next song up. These were the days when the DJ played what they wanted and not some routine playlist that repeated the same song at the same hour every day. These guys were paid by how popular they were to listeners. As time went by I would hitchhike to the station and spend time in the booth answering phones and talking to girls. There were days Ken , the jock, would take me to station functions. There was a time we went to the Newington Crippled Childrens Hospital for a fund raiser. This is where I met Peter Noone of the Hermits Hermits fame. I believe I still have that photo. There was the WPOP all family outing day at Riverside amusement park. I was introduced as Ken’s brother and spent time signing autographs. I met Rita there. To this day I do not understand why people desire autographs. Especially mine!

There were times I ran away from home and spent the night at a place in Waterbury called Synchron Studios. This was with another DJ from another station but a friend of Kens. We stayed all night at a mixing board with the engineer tuning the station jingles to perfection. Believe me you have no idea what goes into these dumb 30 second tunes. On the way home at five in the morning we stopped at an apartment in East Hartford to get some rest but also to meet members of a band called The Association. They had just come on the national charts and it was a real treat .

I believe I was the only kid in my town to have a real live radio personality host my birthday party. This is kind of where things became strange for me. To this point I had found that Ken was a queer. That is the term we used in those days. At my age it had really no meaning for me . When coming to my birthday he actually brought a woman . I assume this was to satisfy my parents.

This my friends was a wonderful experience that no other kid I knew ever experienced Until it wasn’t.

This is the mind of the pedophile at work.