1984 Redux

I'm trying to adjust the antenna on my television. It's an old black and white set from Sears. I can't get the station I want, and finally I sit back and watch one of the few channels that comes in decently.

"Welcome back to Fox! Do you love tits? I mean REALLY love them? Stay tuned, because up next we have reporter Shep Smith in the San Fernando Valley, where he'll meet a woman with the biggest bozongas in the country... and she's gonna show you EVERYTHING!"

I reach for my can of Coke. It's long since gone flat but I don't have another. A naked news anchor appears on screen. She's tall and leggy, a flat stomach, pert breasts. Nipples stand at attention. She's talking about new sexual positions... kama sutra stuff. She throws to another naked anchor, a muscular man with a hard-on.

"Thanks Darcy! We've got a treat for you tonight. Lindsay Lohan in her first anal scene... with Kobe Bryant!"

He rolls to video but I don't watch. It's been nonstop hardcore action for two years. Almost every channel went this way after the decency standards were lifted. But after a while it all starts to look the same. Seen one firm ass, seen them all. There's only one channel that's interesting, that has something to say. But it's got a weak signal and doesn't come through most of the time.

I crawl back towards the set but spill my Coke on the way. I'm too lazy to reach for the garbage can, so I just drop it over the antenna. Then I try to switch the station again. This time I'm getting a better reception because of the aluminum can.

"Girls on girls, next!"

"Mmmm... now that's a new recipe for loving!"

"Today... reports in... Iraq..." I find the station I'm looking for and fool with the antenna again.

"Insurgent attacks... increased... 200 dead in the last month. Going better than the Iranian front... nearly 2,000 this year... bioterrorism."

I start dabbing at the spilled Coke with an old t-shirt. The news here is the same as it was yesterday, but somehow it's more comforting to listen to something real. To know that I'm hearing something that they'd rather I not be. It makes me feel like I'm resisting, even though the time for that has probably passed.

And I have to listen. Because it's more likely they'll mention my brother or best friend on this station. More likely I'll be a part of the story. This station doesn't cut away to commercial. No one gets very hungry during the body count.