Disclaimer: the characters of the Stephanie Plum series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Challenge: Dee’s week 9 challenge: use 1) when you’re feeling down, nothing can cheer you up like a krimpet or 2) Mmmm, that’s so GOOD! In a fic
Young Carlos Discovers Channel Surfing
By TT
Carlos stood to the side of the room watching as the delivery men set everything up.
Thanks to a gift from his grandparents, Carlos’ father had been able to go out and buy a new color television complete with remote control.
He had seen such things in his friends’ homes, but Carlos’ father had always been happy with the old black and white television he and Carlos’ mom had gotten as a wedding gift. Carlos could still hear his father tell him, “Who needs a remote to change channels? That’s what kids are for. Now go over and start turning the channel knob. I want to see what’s on ‘Wide World Of Sports’.”
Eventually, the men stepped back and handed a paper, a small booklet and a little remote control clicker to Carlos’ father. “Here’s the invoice, the instruction manual and the remote. The manual will tell you how to use the remote. There are complimentary batteries already in it, so you’re ready to go,” the deliver man explained.
“Thank you,” Carlos’ father said, leading the men to the front door. He returned in a few minutes and settled onto the couch. He set the booklet and invoice on the end table and looked at the remote control.
Fascinated by the new technology, Carlos unconsciously moved closer until he was standing beside his father, staring at the small box in his hand.
With a quick move of his finger, Carlos’ father hit a button and the television turned on. His eyes flicking to the screen, he saw a familiar commercial. It was a pastry company of some kind advertising their food. It took just a few seconds for the sound to be heard. When it finally started coming through the speakers, the sound was so loud, Carlos’ hands flew upward to cover his ears to dull the noise.
“When you’re feeling down,” the announcer said, his voice becoming quieter as Carlos’ father found the volume control on the remote. “… nothing can cheer you up like a krimpet!”
The screen showed a young woman taking a bite of the confection and saying, “Mmmm.”
The channel changed quickly and a sitcom popped up for a moment. “That’s so…” the actor on the screen said before the channel changed again and the actor on the screen shouted, “GOOD!”
Seeing how quickly the channels changed, Carlos, made his way to the other side of his father and settled on the couch, watching in amazement as the channel changing continued.
Present
Ranger sat to the side of the room, watching in amusement as Stephanie showed her niece how to set up her new stereo and use the remote.
Since she finally had money to spend “Aunt Stephanie” had taken to spoiling all of her nieces whenever possible. She had struck a bargain with Valerie’s girls that if they did well in school, at the end of the school year they could each choose one expensive gift.
Angie always did well, so, for her, it was easy to achieve success. She had asked for and been given the newest, fastest and best laptop on the market along with cable internet access and wireless networking so she would use it anywhere in the house.
Mary Alice was less inclined toward school and struggled a bit more. Still, with the proper motivation and some help, she had succeeded as well and asked for a stereo system of her own.
Realizing electronics were not her forte, Stephanie had asked Ranger to help her pick out the right items and then drop them off.
Both girls had been utterly ecstatic over their gifts. Angie had everything set up and ready to go faster than Ranger would have thought possible. He made a mental note to hire her for a summer internship as soon as she was old enough to work. By that time, he was pretty certain Angie would give Silvio a run for his money.
Mary Alice had ooh’d and aah’d over her stereo system for a while before settling down and asking Stephanie how it worked.
“For the radio,” Stephanie was saying, “this is the power button and this will scan through the stations for you. When you find one you like, just press like this and it will stay there.”
“OK,” Mary Alice replied, taking the remote and pointing it at the stereo. She had one finger over the power and the other over the scan button. She hit both almost simultaneously.
The volume was a little loud as sound began pouring out of the speakers.
“Yo! …”
“…I’m gonna…”
“… join the revolution…”
“…at the tone…”
“… and I…”
“…can see…”
“…victory…”
“… news at eleven…”
The silence that followed the tumble of words was a relief to everyone in the room.
“Well,” Stephanie said. “I think that you understand channel surfing.”
Ranger couldn’t help but smile as Mary Alice giggled.
End