Recordings

I watched the little boy as he talked on the Ronald McDonald Phone. He listened for awhile, then he asked, “You know what?” The taped message didn’t stop. Again he asked, “You know what?” The tape kept on. I saw the realization in his face. There wasn’t anybody on that phone. It was a recording. Like the people on television and the fake bears, this Ronald could only talk, not listen. Poor kid.

We may reap a wild harvest from a generation raised with recorded messages. When they call home, an answering machine says, “We aren’t home right now, but if you will leave your name and number we will get right back to you.” We don’t hear what they are saying. They can’t interrupt the continuous taped message with a “you know what?”

DELORES STOCKSTELL

Yucca Valley