Welcome to Betamax
There he was minding his own business, I don’t know, he was a nice, skinny kid. He wanted a Betamax. VHS didn’t exist, and when it did exist, he wanted a Betamax as much as he had when only Betamax existed.
He never stopped wanting a Betamax, not even amid the roar that Betamax would be pushed out of the market by VHS and cease production.
The skinny kid kept minding his business.
He was a kid and older, and he went away to study. He got a job in a football field of a cafeteria and, at a steady pace, saved money, for a Betamax. The kid had a good time. He could treat a friend to beer, go to the movies, invest in a cool shirt, and eat pizza whenever he wanted, while he saved for a Betamax. Meanwhile, he was taking classes in subjects he’d waited so long to study.
He had a crush on his drama professor who also was in charge of his work-study, which was separate from his cafeteria work. In the afternoons when classes were over, the drama professor listened to him talk about his plans for a Betamax. His heart flew around her office.
Her office was above the kitchens that prepared and cooked the food people ate in the cafeteria where the skinny kid worked.
It was getting close to Winter Break, and he had saved enough money for a Betamax. When the holidays commenced, he took a day trip from home with his brother and went to an electronics store named Circuit City.
The skinny kid hesitated outside in the parking lot as the snow came down, swirling in little gusts that fell into a sweet nothing. He took everything in and held onto it, how close he was to have a little something he wanted.
He stood there unmoving and warmed himself with the present and the future.
