Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

In mid July of 1973 tragedy struck.
Steve and Kathy were visiting for the weekend, and there was a good fight on that afternoon. So for the first time in ages all the male members of our family sat down to watch a boxing match together. John had popped a bunch of popcorn ,(I wasn't allowed anywhere near the stove any longer.) and Steve had brought plenty of black licorice with him. I don't remember who was fighting (Wasn't Ali) but I do remember it was a good fight. The better the fight was the more Steve would stand up from his seat and scream. During this fight he was on two legs shouting for almost the entire fight.
Until the television went out. One minute there was sound and a picture , the next there was just a small white dot in the middle of the screen. Steve started pounding on the top of the television so hard I was afraid he was going to break it. John franticly turned the power knob on and off.
Before the white dot had faded we were all racing up the stairs to the room I shared with Geno to watch the rest of the fight. Steve was a little hesitant. He was sure my room was haunted. But a good fight was no match for a possible ghost and Steve came in. During the break in rounds everyone but Dad raced back down the stairs grabbed our pop , popcorn , and other snacks and ran back up. When the fight ended we all walked down the stairs and looked at the poor dead television. It's always sad when a TV goes before it's time. Dad decided to try and save it.
Dad had me get the tool box , and told John and Geno to slide it out from the wall and to unplug it. I gave Dad his tools. Steve and Dad crawled behind the set and removed the back.
Televisions 30 years ago were much easier to repair at times then ones now. Other then the big picture tube , there were many other little tubes that made it work. If one of those tubes overheated or burned out the whole thing would crash. Dad took out his flashlight and he and Steve began looking for any obvious burned out tubes. After much searching they didn't see any. Dad told me to run up to the attic and grab one of the Easter baskets up there. He told me to keep the fake grass in it.
I ran up grabbed the basket and returned it to Dad. Dad and Steve began to carefully pull out the tubes and place them gently in the Easter basket. Once they had them all Dad told Steve to run into Kewanee and check them out at the Super X drug store.( I know it sounds like a huge x-rated crack house , but in the 70's it was a chain of Walgreen type stores) Super X was next door to the Grocery store that had the stuffed bears I wanted to buy for the baby. I asked Steve if I could go with him.
Steve looked at me for a moment like he wasn't quite sure what to do with me. Finally he said ok , and I ran up to my room to get my shoes. While up there I snuck up real quick to the attic and grabbed the money I had hidden up there. By this point I had a little over $3.00. I raced downstairs , grabbed the Easter basket full of tubes and went out to Steve's car. Kathy stayed behind to help Mom out in the kitchen. Mom told us to hurry back. Lunch would be ready shortly. Steve smiled and said he would. The last thing I heard Mom shout as we drove off was ,"Drive carefully!"
Steve decided to treat Mom's suggestion the same way he treated the speed limit.
I know I must have rode in a car with Steve before , but for some reason I have no clear memory of it. That 10 mile ride was the most terrifying and exhilarating experience I had up to that point in my life. I swear to God I thought that for much of the ride we were airborne. As far as Steve was concerned if a speedometer went up to 120 , then the car was meant to go to 120. Any less was a waste of car. The entire trip I held on to the Easter basket. I was afraid at any moment the tubes might fly out the window.
In less time then it takes to tell we were in Kewanee. I think it took longer to drive though the town to the Super X then it did to drive to the town. Steve growled at every red light we came to. During this time I asked Steve if I could "Borrow" a couple of dollars. Steve asked why. At first I was going to make up some story about buying a model , but realized he'd know it wasn't true when I showed up with a little teddy bear. Knowing this might be my last chance before the bears were gone I went for broke and told him the truth , that I wanted to buy the bear for mom's new baby and didn't want anyone else to get it first. Steve didn't say anything. He just looked ahead and drove.
When we got to the store Steve had me give him the basket full of tubes. After I did he handed me two dollars and told me to hurry up. Shouting ,"Thank You ! Thank You ! Thank You! ",I ran as fast as I could into the grocery store and grabbed a bear. I was so excited when the lady rang up the price , and told me the total. Smiling I put 2 dollar bills on the counter, followed by a bag full of penny , nickels, and dimes. With one quarter. With a small sigh she counted out what I owed her, and gave me back the rest. Almost jumping up and down with joy I ran into Super X to show Steve.
Steve was standing in front of a booth type machine. It had sockets where you could put a television tube into it. The machine would then power up the tube and tell you if it was good or had blown out. So far Steve had found two tubes that needed replacing. I always suspected this things of giving bad readings forcing people to buy new tubes when they didn't need it.
Steve handed me the basket with good tubes and we went over to where they sold new ones. The bigger of the two we needed was out. Steve asked someone when they'd have new ones and the guy said late next week.
Steve looked at the burnt out tube. "Dad's not going to be happy", he said with a frown. Then he smiled. "Good thing I don't have to live with him." We got in the car and drove home. I put the bear under Steve's seat, and held even tighter to the basket. If possible he drove even faster on the way home then he did to the store. I one point I thought I heard a sonic boom. When I calmed down I realized it was just Steve's car backfiring. We pulled into the driveway to my house so fast I thought Steve was going to flip the car. When he stopped the car a great cloud of dust surrounded us. All the while Steve was grinning from ear to ear.
Steve went in the house with the tubes to tell Dad , that he couldn't fix the television until next week. While Steve did that I slipped the bear out of the car and snuck it up the stairs. Wanting to keep it a secret I went up to the attic and placed it under the floorboard where I had the money . It was still in the brown paper bag that the lady in the grocery store had put it. Just to be safe I put a few old boxes over the space where the board was at. I went down stairs so happy I couldn't keep the smile of my face.
Dad was not smiling. At almost the first moment I stepped downstairs he screamed at me ,"What the hell are you smiling at!?" All during lunch he kept griping about the ,"God Damn cheap televisions", Or God Damn stores not stocking God Damn tubes". He was in such a foul mood that we almost couldn't enjoy our lemon pie that Mom had made.
Almost.
After lunch Dad had us all go outside so he could take a picture of us all together. Mom was happy the family was all together for one day and wanted something to remember it by. Even as Dad took the picture he was still mumbling under his breath about not having any television.



It got so bad that when we came back into the house Mom made an obvious suggestion. "Why don't we bring Geno's TV down until we get ours fixed?"
I thought Geno was going to die choking on his food. I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about it either. That television was one of the only things that made living with Geno bearable. Rose ,whose long dark hair was looking very nice that day, thought it was a lovely idea. Steve told Dad, "I can help bring it down while I'm here." Geno was looking at Steve shaking his back and forth.
Dad looked happier. "Let's go get it now." Dad and Steve got up and walked out of the kitchen. Geno trailed them out protesting that they could just go to Davenport and pick a tube up there. He followed them all the way upstairs. Dad told Geno to go downstairs and move the old TV to his den. Geno very reluctantly obeyed.
Geno's television was larger and heavier then the one downstairs. One end of it had a record player built into the top. So when Dad and Steve got to the stairs they had to be very careful. At one point they had to lift it up where the end with the screen was pointing straight up , and the end with the record player was pointing straight down.
It was then that dimes began to fall out of Geno's television and cascade down the stairs.
There were so many that Steve almost slipped and fell. Dad yelled, "What the hell is that?" Rose and John scooped up as many coins as they could before Dad told them to get away. Steve looked like he was about to break out laughing at any moment. Finally Dad and Steve got the TV to the living room where Geno stood waiting. Geno looked physically ill. Dad sat the set down and screamed at Geno , "What the hell is all this?"
Geno very weakly and unconvincing said ,"I don't know."
"They're not yours? You don't know where they came from?"
"No Dad", Geno said almost so quietly we almost couldn't hear him.
Dad leaned his face inches from Geno's. "Good. Then you won't mind if I take them will you?"
Geno clearly looking like he minded said again,"No Dad."
Under Dad's supervision we all picked up the dimes. Dad counted them. During this time Steve and Kathy slipped out. they wanted nothing to do with what was about to happen. There was almost $20 in dimes on the steps and living room floor. I suggested that maybe there was more still in the TV somewhere. Geno looked like he wanted to kill me. Dad took the back off the set and found hidden under the record player a bag with some more dimes in it. All told there was more dimes left in the bag then what fell out.
Dad walked over to Geno. "Well I'll have more then plenty to fix the television. Enough to buy me some new fishing equipment. Good thing no one is claiming it." He leaned even closer to Geno. "Are they?"
Geno looked like he was going to die. "No sir."
John nailed the final coffin into Geno's coffin. He let it slip to Rose that there were a bunch of suspicious "things" in the shed behind the barn , that might have something to do with all those dimes. Minutes later Rose was dragging Dad outside. It took me many years before I connected those parking meters with Geno's mysterious dimes. Dad took one look and knew where they came from.
I didn't understand what was happening when Dad burst into Geno's room and shouted,"Who the hell do you think you are? Cool Hand Luke?" (In the movie 'Cool Hand Luke', Paul Newman is sent to a chain gang for breaking open Parking Meters)
Geno tried to weakly deny it was his but it was no good. Dad gave Geno many punishments not the least was having to spend 8 hours a day for the next week repeatedly mowing the yard.
Geno thought I had something to do with all this , it made living in his room unbearable. So once again I was moved out and John moved in.
A few days later my new room cooled down again.