Chad looks forward to the weekends. His dad pulls into his moms driveway every Saturday at 6 o,clock a.m. sharp and he gets to spend the next 48 hours with him,just the two of them.
This weekend no difference,or so Chad thought.Chad is a thirteen year old and he runs out to his dads car and hops in."Whats up Sport"asks his dad.Nada comes the usual reply."Lets go" says his dad and off they go. The two head over to a greasy spoon they often frequent and gorge out on biscuits and gravy.Large jug of O.J. and black coffee."Don't tell ya mama",I won,t.Then the two pay the bill and hop into the old 81 powder blue LeMans and cruise the main strip for a while just enjoying the scenery until the stores open,and small talk,things like hows school? Got a girlfriend,are you going play a sport this year,hows your mom doing? What are your grades looking like this semester. ect..The answers that flow back to dad are normally all the same with little change,all positive,but the one constant thing that never changes is that they,re all Truthful. Chad would never Lie to his Dad.Its 8 a.m. Stores are open,Where you want to stop at first Sport?Chad sets up and looks out over the high interior of the LeMans passenger window and points at the Goodwill store there.His dad slows the engine and pulls into the parking lot and the two hop out and go inside,"Grab a cart his dad says so Chad gets one and meet up in the entrance way.His dad takes the cart and tells Chad "I,m going into the clothing dept. You go digging for hidden treasures come look me up when your done".The two fist pump and off Chad goes.Chad heads over to the ball caps first all look in pretty good order,there are a few stupid ones like Taco Bell employee caps,here,s a CAT industries cap, an Atlanta braves that,s pretty worn out the rest are lame.So he moves on to games dvds and vhs tapes and records,nothing really here that he has,nt seen or heard.So he passes on them and notices the store is now getting more and more customers in it and his anxiety rises a little so he hauls ass to his favorite department Electronics.The Tall racks three tiers high are loaded this weekend with the standard fare Bricks and bricks of used Video players and receivers from yester-years. Lots of cables and water sprinkler timers,some old gamer controllers and portable mini tape players you know the minis.Chad bends down to the bottom tier and digs through past an old coffee maker and a microwave that has seen better days and gets bumped from behind by a fat women pushing a cart with a forest of plastic plants one looks like a palm tree hanging way out of the cart.Chads only way to avoid being crushed if she were to come crashing down is the safety of the rack so he scurries onto the rack and the lady wobbles by.Chad exhales WHOOO!Then he turns inward and sees a yellowed box about the size of a toaster oven.Grabs it and when the coast is clear he crawls out and takes it to the plug-in wall.Not certain what it is tell he gets to the table however in his experience"Anything in an Original Box"means well taken care of.The box has a few dog eared rips and oil grease marks here and there but there,s no denying what it is. A radio.Chad removes it from the box and stands it on the table. Inside the box enclosed in plastic is the cord that you plug into the back.Also in the back you can run it on four C batteries.Chad checks it out,no batteries in the housing so he rips open the plastic and inserts the plug into the back then into the wall and stands back. The front of the radio looks Old Time,y Flat on the bottom then goes up and curves.All the transmissions are behind a long skinny panel on the face of the radio near the top and it has two dials,one is the on off switch the other is to tune in the stations.An old man walks up to chad maybe in his 70,s and points an old crooked finger at the radio and mumbles to chad "Hey sonny I use to have a old radio like that one when I was your age,ha ha! Does she work?Chad reaches slowly to the top button and with a loud Click! Turns it on,the two stand back as the Boston tube behind the yellow paper letters and numbers on the dial blink on then off then on on then off then a bright yellow blaze lights up the long glass bar."Hey Sonny try the volume and the channel selector I believe you found yourself a Treasure,hee hee"!Chad turns the volume up slowly and gets nothing but static he cranks the dial to the left then goes to the right 600,620,770,810 tunes it a little he hears Spanish,"Hey I found something"a smile creeps over their faces,"you sure did" says the old man,good for you,and pats Chad on top of the head and moves on down the isle.Chad turns the radio off puts it gently back in the box as well as the cord into the plastic and into the box then looks for a price on the front of the box,$9.99 Chad mutters what a steal.Then heads over to Men,s clothing.By this time his dad has three wardrobes of clothes,jeans t shirts and board shorts,"What,s you got their son"he asks,"Ah man I found this cool old style radio and it works like new dad can I get it?"His dad takes the box and begins to asks then stops short cause he knows the answer already then Smiles real big and says "Of course you can,does it take batteries"?Four C,s "Alright then we,ll stop on the way home and get you some,are you all done shopping"?Yep says Chad and the two make their way to the register,check out then load up the car and head to Walgreen for batteries,then home.Once home in no time at all Chad has the radio on the kitchen table and is fighting to get the batteries out of the packaging.His dad is at the kitchen counter making sandwiches for lunch and trying not to laugh,here son and hands him some scissors.Chad gets the batteries out and loads the back of the radio then like last time steps back and lets the tuner warm up like back in the day,I guess some of the old man rubbed off on him then slowly he turns the on switch on and the blinking begins like before then Chad turns the selection dial lots of static as before now he,s picking up sports and some Paul Harvey. Crystal Clear as if they all are in the same room together.His Dad turns and looks in wonderment of this great find,with a large bite of sandwich in his mouth he pats his son on the shoulder and tells him "You Scored,great find son!" and looks on with his boy at the front of the old time,y radio.Chad smiles too his eyes all a glow from the reflection of the radio."Now eat your lunch wash your hands afterwards and take your radio to your room when you done,o.k.".Will do dad.Chad ate then took his prized position to his room then napped after wards he got up and went to the kitchen and helped his dad make dinner they talked ate and watched a movie then it was time to go to bed.His dad wished him good night then Chad went to his room and in the darkness reached over and turned on the radio the light flickered before his eyes and lit up the room,Chad layed on his stomach and mumbled i wonder if i can pick up China? Then giggled.He slowly watched the needle slowly make its way to the right 300..310...345..400..static then a voice faintly behind the static says "HEY" Chad ignores it he did,nt hear that.. 420..425..his conscience gets the better back to the left 420..400..398..395.."KID!" Louder this time Chad bolts upright in his bed the hair on his arms and head shoot straight up,"Tears start to well up in his eyes,The static fades the gruff voice comes across low but loud enough to hear,"DON'T BE SCARED""I,M IN HERE AND YOU ARE OUT THERE"HA HA.COME HERE".Chad turns on his light and runs and gets his dad and is talking a mile a minute his dad is only getting bits and pieces,"slow down,the radio and what?"The two enter the room to static and broken traffic talk.Dad I swear this guy spoke to me on the radio he told me to come here and that he was in the radio and i was out here and ahh still crying his dad hugged him and asked him "Do you want me to take the radio away? If its bothering you i can remove it? Or you can turn it off.Its OK maybe it was a creepy commercial". DAD It sounded like someone was INSIDE The radio looking and talking to ME!His dad shrugged and walked over to the radio,his son yelled NO don't touch it it may be haunted or cursed?His dad giggled and turned the dial to the right a few times and came across George Noory and Coast to Coast a.m."Was this the voice you heard..His son listened closely...."Maybe.. "You,ll be fine this show talks about weird and strange stuff all the time Night Squirt".Then leaves the room.Chad lays down with the light on and turns the volume down so its barely audible and dozes to sleep.
