Radio Sweethearts

My old Boy Scout troop had a bus – a big old school bus painted tan like a Boy Scout uniform, retrofitted to store camping equipment, and with some extra lighting.

I have a very specific memory of Clay, Joseph and I being left on board while our fathers went to talk.

(I can’t imagine that being very comfortable for my dad – the dynamic between the three of them was very much like the dynamic between the three of us kids – Clay and Joseph were both far cooler than I was, largely because I was just trying too hard. It just seemed so effortless and simple for them to tell a dirty joke, to dress well, to know exactly what the older kids were talking about. I’m quite sure now that my dad felt the same way.)

While we waited for the fathers to return, I sat down in the seat immediately behind the driver’s seat, Joseph leaned up against the windshield of the bus, and Clay beelined for the CB radio directly next to the driver’s seat.  I suggested telling the semi trucks to redirect towards Duluth, Minn.

I was ignored.

Instead, Clay just started turning the dial until he found something he thought was interesting: “Hey there, man, I’ve got a big bear hounding my ass.”

I thought this was funny enough, until Clay decided to point out the siren blaring in the background. “Are you playing your organ?” He asked this in the most innocent little-kid sounding voice he could muster.

“What,” the driver asked, “the Sam goddamn hell are you talking about?”

Clay waited a second, and then breathed, “Um, I hear your organ. You’re playing it!”

All of this brought to mind because it’s very loosely related to the story that was playing on “All Things Considered” as I pulled up to my house after work this afternoon. It’s about people repairing and actually playing a real-life organ in a real-life Macy’s in real-life Philadelphia. The thing is monster. There are pictures:

Honestly, it’s not that related. But the sound of that organ is nothing if not impressive. And the fact that Macy’s has maintained, rather than obliterated, this giant piece of local color gives me a slight bit of hope that really, the people who run everything so effortlessly will look down upon those of us who occassionally try a little too hard, and say, “Hey, I like that idea.”

And then, Duluth, Minn. will see a sudden influx misdirected semi traffic.