Genevieve; Spring Rushes Forth by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 3

Though she found that funny, since Teddy seemed serious and critical, Genevieve again temporarily abandoned her central story, went off-topic and said; “You might think my mirth ill-mannered, inconsiderate or something else in that vein thought politically incorrect in the enlightened year of 2018. Please consider the fact that I had sufficient grace to leave the room before confining my vulgar display to a well-used pillow. I can assure you that at the time my mirth was not prompted by any sort of cruel disregard. What was going on in my young mind was that the smoke had cleared and it seemed very likely that 1945

Hiroshima was not going to replay in 1954 Poochville and I wasn’t going to miss having access to an electronic device which chose to crackle at me. Maybe you can relate to this. Schaller was fine. He just needed a bath. He looked like the negative of a Juggalo with about as many interesting things to say. My Dad was likely soon going to provide some action unavailable on TV

when he kicked Schaller’s dumb butt.

Don’t get me wrong. I was no television hater. I don’t think there were any of those yet. But, regarding my blasé attitude toward our set being exploded, you might not know that in those early days of consumer TV’s they spent most of their time ‘on the blink,’ running interference OJ would have given a

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spousal life for, rolling like the waves in a drunkard’s ceiling, or simply being otherwise uncooperative. My young mind couldn’t help but wonder if the reception modus operandi was an insidious indication of a conspiracy as the television always just happened to be contrary when ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘The Honeymooners’ were supposed to be on; while all systems were

‘go’ whenever ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ displayed the joys of suburban hominid USA. The uninvited guests would offer an array of uninvited suggestions while they ate. In other words, early television had its drawbacks.”

”The Honeymooners”; property of the author.

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Sunshine said; “I kind of lost you back somewhere around

‘on the blink.’ And Juggalo?” The other kittens were silently nodding.

Genevieve said; “’On the blink’ means not working and for now the rest of what I said just meant that it always seemed to be ‘on the blink’ whenever my favorite programs were on. In those ancient times TV’s were an expensive item and most people didn’t have one. That encouraged one’s long lost ‘friends’ and relatives to reacquaint themselves with you in the comfort of your living room without prior announcement. And of course all the shows were about white hominids. A Juggalo is a particularly bothersome, mercifully small subset of white hominids. If you don’t know exactly what they are you would do best to keep it that way. You’re not missing anything.”

Tippy said; “No dogs or cats on television?”

Genevieve answered; “Not one.”

The kittens again mumbled to each other. Their furrowed brows made Genevieve think that they found her story hard to believe.

Genevieve said; “Schaller was my Mom’s only brother; and Dad was not overly fond of him. Neither was Mom, but in her case it was because he was her mom’s favorite; the only “precious”

boy among three girls. I think I have a picture to show you.”

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Genevieve went to her William and Mary chest. She looked through the contents of one drawer, then another. On her third try she smiled as she retrieved something.

William and Mary chest; modified public domain.

“Yes, here it is,” she said. “This one always makes me laugh a bit, as it captured what Mom said.”

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