O. Henry revisited (Part 2)
Dec. 24th, 2004 01:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
djonnOur story resumes Thursday morning, when it occurs to me to call Mother before heading out.
"Um, once we get Father this shiny new DVD player, what's he going to watch on it?"
There is a short silence on the other end of the line. "That's a good question," she says eventually. (Character note: on average, my parents visit a movie theater about once every year and a half -- not because they don't like movies, per se, but because (a) their tastes in film tilt mostly well away from current Hollywood blockbusters, (b) they don't follow movie/entertainment news at all, and thus (c) they tend not to hear about movies they might enjoy seeing until long after they've cycled off the big screen.)
We have a brief discussion which boils down to "Okay, I'll pick something out."
I then have Mother page Father to the phone and have much the same conversation with him -- except that Father is smart enough, and I am having to be coy enough, that it's entirely possible by the end of the call he has figured out what I am up to. "On the off chance that you're dancing around the prospect that Mother is getting me a portable player, you might pick out some DVDs...." However, we maintain at least the polite fiction that neither of my errands has anything to do with the other.
I am almost out the door on my way to the video-hardware store when I remember to call the Kid Brother's household -- "By any chance did you get a DVD player for Mother or Father?"
And in fact they did not. Time to go shopping....
[to be continued]
"Um, once we get Father this shiny new DVD player, what's he going to watch on it?"
There is a short silence on the other end of the line. "That's a good question," she says eventually. (Character note: on average, my parents visit a movie theater about once every year and a half -- not because they don't like movies, per se, but because (a) their tastes in film tilt mostly well away from current Hollywood blockbusters, (b) they don't follow movie/entertainment news at all, and thus (c) they tend not to hear about movies they might enjoy seeing until long after they've cycled off the big screen.)
We have a brief discussion which boils down to "Okay, I'll pick something out."
I then have Mother page Father to the phone and have much the same conversation with him -- except that Father is smart enough, and I am having to be coy enough, that it's entirely possible by the end of the call he has figured out what I am up to. "On the off chance that you're dancing around the prospect that Mother is getting me a portable player, you might pick out some DVDs...." However, we maintain at least the polite fiction that neither of my errands has anything to do with the other.
I am almost out the door on my way to the video-hardware store when I remember to call the Kid Brother's household -- "By any chance did you get a DVD player for Mother or Father?"
And in fact they did not. Time to go shopping....
[to be continued]
