Part 2 (1/2)
”Oh?” said Mrs. Dorne. ”Which one is that?”
”It ain't on no more,” said the super, ”but, boy, while it lasted the kids sure got a kick out of it. That little Charlotte of mine, she's going to be a real egghead.”
”Well what kind of a show was it?”
”Reading,” said the super. ”Just reading. I ain't sure what they called it, but I know there wasn't no sponsor. Maybe that's why it lasted only two weeks or so. Some kind of test show I guess it was.”
”I guess we missed it listening to something else. What channel was it on?”
”Now that you mention it I'm darned if I remember,” Chuck Seely said.
”The kids just come home from school one night and parked in front of the TV like always and instead of the westerns and like that here's this guy, just reading. It lasted about an hour every night, we couldn't drag the kids away. Me and the wife got in the habit watching it too.”
”Was it Charles Laughton? He has a reading program.”
”It wasn't him. I never saw the guy before, but what a voice! No commercials, no scenery, no nothin' except this guy reading. Something different every night, too. Stuff like d.i.c.kens and famous writers like that. I never heard a voice like this guy had, you couldn't stop listening. Then you know what he'd do at the end of the show?”
”What?”
”He'd tell the kids to go get a pencil and write down the names of more books to get at the library. And you know what? The kids _do_ it.
That Charlotte, the other night she brings home some Shakespeare stories for kids by a guy named Lamb. She makes me read 'em to her, too. Get a load o' me reading Shakespeare. I got to admit they're pretty good stories. That Charlotte's going to be a real egghead.”
”We usually have our TV on around supper time. It's funny we missed it.”
”I checked TV Guide but it was not listed,” said the super. ”It was some kind of test show. I guess this guy couldn't find a sponsor.”
A week after this incident Betty Randolph picked up the telephone and said, ”h.e.l.lo?” It was Dot on the ground floor. Ed had phoned earlier and said he'd be a little late. Betty felt relaxed and just in the mood for some woman talk.
”Dot, you'll never guess where we were last night,” she said. ”We saw My Fair Lady, imagine! Don't you envy me?”
There was a gasp at the other end of the line. ”Betty Randolph, you didn't! We've been on the waiting list for six months. Where in the world did you get tickets?”
”That's the weird part of it. A messenger just delivered them to Ed in the office one morning. They were in a plain envelope marked 'Mr.
Randolph' and a card inside said 'Hope you enjoy them--George.' Ed thinks the messenger made a mistake and got the wrong building or something because Ed's the only Randolph there. Anyway, by the time Ed opened the envelope the messenger was gone. There wasn't anything to do but use the tickets of course.”
”Of all the luck! Maybe you and Ed've got a fairy G.o.dmother or something. What'd you do for a sitter?”
”Oh, we were nearly insane finding one. Jane and Tina were busy and we knew you were away for the weekend. Fortunately we phoned this Mrs.
Mimms and she was available. Kenneth _loved_ her.”
”Isn't she _nice_? That woman's a wonder with children. d.i.c.ky and Sue are as good as gold when she's around and she always seems to be free when you want her. She's so cheap, too, I don't see how the woman lives.”
”Glory we had a good time!” sighed Betty. ”We had drinks and filet mignon at a nice little place near the theater and forgot all about kids for a while. It was like going on a date again. I had on my red-and-gold dress I haven't worn for months and Ed kept telling me how cute I looked....”
”Zoom, zoom,” the captain kept saying. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p swooped in for a landing on the crimson Martian sands. Captain Bobby Taylor took up a position before the air-lock and briefed his second-in-command, Ronnie Smith. ”We're surrounded by enemy aliens, Smith,” announced Captain Taylor. ”Better break out the death-ray pistols. Our mission is to destroy every metal monster on this planet. Look at 'em come! They got eight legs and sixteen wire arms....”