CHANNEL YESTERDAY

                               CHANNEL YESTERDAY

Half asleep, yet half  awake. His right arm was draped over the food and coffee stained right arm of his recliner. The TV remote lay undiscovered beneath his twitching right hand on the carpet.

His children had given him a 32 inch television for Christmas which seemed to have nothing but news of bombings, shootings, and tax increases. Night after night the news was very predictive.

The cause of the of out-of-shape viewer was eating way too many meals that were served to him through windows. Without warning he voluntarily switched channels, even without the remote,  the new channel was Channel Yesterday.

This new channel was a happy place where everyone was high school age again and personal horizons were limitless. No bill collectors, no threatening repo calls, and no ten year old mini vans to keep running. The people on Channel Yesterday were filled with hope and eagerness for the future.

He had no need to read the TV Guide or look up cast members on his computer. He knew the names of all the people on Channel Yesterday.

Here's the weird part. All of the people talked like very mature adults, even though they looked like teenagers. The conversations dealt with children, grandchildren , jobs, travel and other topics one associates with advancing age.

Just before he changed the channel back to the rough and tough real world, he saw his mother running toward him and calling his name. Louder and louder his name sounded as she came nearer and nearer.

All of a sudden he realized it was not his mother calling, but his invalid wife calling him for assistance in going to the bathroom. Channel Yesterday had signed off the air.

Glenn <><