“Can you see what is
happening? Pleasssssse tell me.” That was my frantic plea to my family, one
evening this past winter break. Bruce
Wills was just about ready to jump off the bridge in Die Hard 3 and I was taking
a well-deserved break from the tiring task of chewing non-existent nails when
it happened.
Du-doom, du-doom, du-doom…….
That was the collective
pounding of 4 hearts in front of our TV.
Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis were lighting up my living room with
some serious action. My dog lying next
to me suddenly yelped. Caught up in the movie,
I might have squeezed his neck a bit too much.
Oops! I felt bad. I took my eyes off the TV for a quick second
to turn and apologize to Luke. Guess
what happened when I turned back to the big screen. The movie was not there. It was a bad case of that ‘Poyindhe,
its gone’ ad on TV. Oh no, where did it
go? Who changed the channel? I turned murderous eyes looking for the one
with the remote control.
The remote was lying
untouched at the end of the couch. Uh??? I hurriedly swallowed the fiery words that
almost got out. My husband and daughters looked up at the ceiling and muttered something after watching me put the
brakes on fire-breathing. It could have
been a silent ‘thank you’ but I can’t be sure.
I turned my eyes back to
the TV. Wait, I see something. Is that someone running? No, wait!
Was that an explosion? Squeezing
my eyes to a slit, I strained to see beyond the shades of grey on the
screen. I could hear the compelling
voices of the classic duo so gave thanks for at least having the sound. Well, I suppose I thanked the power above a bit too
soon. The audio faded out now finally leaving
the 4 of us gawking at a 60“screen that had no picture and no sound.
Then I remembered that trick. I got up and thumped the floor hard with one
foot. I had seen Whoopi Goldberg do it
in Sister Act. One whack hard enough to trigger
an earthquake in the next town but who cares?
One, it was in the next town; two, it worked. At least the sound was now back. Smiling widely, I took a bow and sat
down. This time, I decided to forego the
edge of the seat and sit back comfortably.
After all, there was nothing to watch.
Grabbing a bowl of
popcorn each, we all agreed to take turns in thumping the floor in case sound
went out again.
I wonder if Whoopi Goldberg
knows how much she has touched our lives?
