High Moral Standards
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High Moral Standards
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THE CHANNEL CHANGER © The goodbyes had been said and Paul had watched the tailights of his parent's car finally disappear around the down the block. He breathed a sigh as he walked into the house and closed the door. He had been silently screaming for them to get into the car and leave for over an hour. He shook his head as he could still hear the final instructions his parents had given him, especially his dad. "I don't want you having anyone over while we're gone," his dad had said over and over. "If your friends come over you'll have a party and you'll get in trouble again. I don't want one of our neighbors to call the police. They all know you've been in trouble and had to stay in jail overnight because of the fight you got into the other night." "The judge has us one more time and you'll have to spend a week or two in jail," his mother said, shaking her head. She couldn't believe her boy had gotten into a fight after a basketball game and put the other boy in the hospital. It just wasn't like the Paul she knew. He was growing up too fast, she had told everyone, but he'd outgrow it. He leaned up against the door and shook his head. The fight had ruined his plans. It all started over nothing more than the other basketball player pushing him and he had pushed back. Now he had been grounded by the judge and couldn't go anywhere. Plans had been made to fly to Colorado and go mountain climbing during spring break. His parents had talked about canceling the trip, but Paul had persuaded them to go on without him. His parents liked to hike the high country and it had been the talk around the supper table for months. They finally agreed to go without Paul and canceled his ticket, packed their bags and were up bright and early the next morning. It would have been better if they had slept a couple more hours, Paul thought to himself. That way he would have missed hearing over and over all the rules, they had thought up the night before. Paul put the palms of his hands against the door and pushed himself away from it. He walked slowly around the house a couple of times and ended up in the kitchen holding the refrigerator door open, looking for something to eat. His mother had prepared a few things for him but hadn't had much time to really stock up like she wanted to. They would be gone four days and her son, now a junior in high school, was like a vacuum cleaner each time he opened the refrigerator door. She had warned him about eating everything at one time and it had caused his stomach to seem to growl at her, but he knew she was right. He grabbed a gallon of milk and closed the door. He rummaged through some of the cupboards and found a half full package of oatmeal cookies. This would do for starters, he thought, heading for the den. Turning on the TV he sat down and ate most of the cookies as he drank the gallon of milk. He hadn't paid much attention to what he was watching until he had finished the milk. Putting the empty container down on the coffee table in front of him he looked around for the TV Guide. He found it under some of his electronics magazines on a shelf under the TV. He started to lay the electronics magazines back on the shelf, changed his mind and brought them, with the TV Guide, back to his recliner. The TV Guide was the most important, so the magazines were laid aside for the moment. To his amazement there were two good movies that would be on in ten minutes. They were on different channels, but he would overcome that problem by switching back and forth between the two. That way he would be able to watch most of both. Paul looked around the room with a frown on his face. Now came the real hunt, he thought. Finding the remote control for the TV. His dad had this game he played with his mom and him. `Hide the magic wand' he called it. The person that found it got to use it and watch what they wanted. Then they got to hide it. If no one found it before seven o'clock the next evening, the one that hid it got to use it again. It was a lot of fun, but his dad had hid it so good he'd been watching what he wanted for three nights. This was a challenge Paul could not let pass. He not only wanted to watch the two shows without having to stand at the TV and switch channels, but he also wanted to be the one who got to hide it next. His eyes searched everywhere but he couldn't see it. He started going through things slowly at first but as the minutes ticked away things started flying. But to his dismay he couldn't find it. He stood there looking at the TV with sweat dripping off his forehead. As Paul stood there he noticed the TV was tilted just a little. Picking up the TV he saw the channel selector. He picked it up and turned to sit down, but found the room a mess. Looking at the clock he saw he had two minutes until the shows started. He tossed the remote control into the seat of the recliner. Into the drawers went things that had never seen a drawers insides, and onto shelves went things that had not seen the light of day for years. When everything was put up he looked around and smiled. He had a minute to spare. Walking over to the recliner he fell into it with a sigh. His reward for all of his trouble would be two hours of watching two shows he'd wanted to see for years. As he sat there he felt something give under him and he knew he had broken the channel selector. The smile on his face faded. Not only would he have to change the channels by hand, he would have to either fix or get another channel selector before his parents returned from their trip. ------------------------
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