It had me dizzy. Probably the new TV principle was so simple that all
that could be taken care of without millions of dollars worth of
equipment.
A new respect for Aunt Matilda grew in me. She had latched on to a money
maker! It didn't hurt to know that I was her favorite nephew, either.
With my Ph.D. in physics, and my aunt as one of the stockholders, I
could probably land a good job with the company. What a deal!
By the time I finished shaving I was whistling. I was still whistling
when I went into the kitchen for breakfast.
"You'll have to hurry, Arthur," Aunt Matilda said. "Your train leaves in
forty-five minutes."
"I'm not leaving," I said cheerfully.
I went over to the bright breakfast nook and sat down, and took a
cautious sip of coffee. I grunted my approval of it and looked around
toward Aunt Matilda, smiling.
She was staring at me with wide eyes. She looked as haggard as though
she had just heard she had a week to live.
"But you must go!" she croaked as though my not going were unthinkable.
"Nonsense, you old fox," I said. "I know a good thing as well as you do.
I want to get a job with that outfit."
She came toward me with a wild expression on her face.
"Get out!" she screamed. "Get out of my house! I won't have it! You
catch that train and get out of town. Do you hear?"
"But, Aunt Matilda!" I protested.
* * * * *
In the end I had to get out or she would have had a stroke. She was
shaking like a leaf, her skin mottled and her eyes wild, as I went down
the front steps with my bag.
"You get that train, do you hear?" was the last thing she screamed at me
as I hurried toward Main Street.
However, I had no intention of leaving town with Aunt Matilda upset that
way. I'd let her have time to cool off, then come back. Meanwhile I'd
try to get to the bottom of things. A thing as big as wall TV in full
color and stereophonic sound must be the talk of the town. I'd find out
where they had their office and go talk with them. A career with
something like that would be the best thing I could ever hope to find.
And getting in on the ground floor!
It surprised me that Aunt Matilda could be so insanely greedy. I shook
my head in wonder. It didn't figure.
I had breakfast at the hotel cafe and made a point of telling the
waitress, who knew me, that it was my second breakfast, and that I had
intended to catch the morning train back to Chicago, but maybe I
wouldn't.
After I finished eating I asked if it would be okay to leave my suitcase
behind the counter while I looked around a bit. She showed me where to
put it so it would be out of the way.
When I paid for my breakfast I half turned away, then turned back
casually.
"Oh, by the way," I said. "Where's this wall TV place?"
"This what?" she said.
"You know," I said. "Color TV like a picture you hang on a wall."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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