newper wrote:
Many years ago, I was visiting my grandparents down in Florida for a week and a half (parents wanted a break during the summer, so we did this almost every year as a kid) and anyway, they would watch all these old time reruns and we didn't have much of a choice in the matter, so we would watch whatever they were watching. Big Perry Mason fans so we watched those a lot. I am pretty sure this was 1988 because I remember the Olympics were going on and we went to McDonalds and you could peel a label off your fries or Big Mac or whatever and it would have a sport on it, and I think if the Americans medaled in that sport, you would win the prize on it (which was usually like a hashbrown or small fries) but anyway... I don't really remember where we were exactly in Florida, but it wasn't Miami, it was somewhere more north.
My grandmother was retired and volunteered at the church they attended as a secretary type position, but she only worked 3 to 4 days a week, so on her days off she would take us places (and I think when we visited that was down to about 2 days a week where we would go to the church with her and just play in the gym.) So this day she decides that we are going to go to the book store to buy some books to read while we are there, and I am about 12 years old so I can start to read something a little bit more in depth than the Dr. Seuss and Berenstein Bears stuff they had in the closet at home.
So I am looking through the teenager section for a book that interests me while my grandmother is helping my younger sister over in the more youthful area. I get kind of bored looking at all these book titles, so I look up and kind of scan the store to see where they are at. As I am looking, I see none other than Raymond Burr looking at books. I completely recognize him from the show, even though he is much older now, and he is in color, but I know that is him. I am so excited, I really want to meet him, but I don't want to be like too much for him to handle. So I think, I'll just go over towards where he is and look at the books next to him. So he is over in the American History section, and I pick up some book and start scanning it over and I'm trying to pretend like I am looking at the book, but I am trying to look at him to see if it is really Raymond Burr now that I am a little bit closer. I want to say something to him, but don't really know what to say because I'm kind of nervous being next to a major TV star. So I guess I was a bit awkward and he turned a little and looked at me and said, "It is nice to see a young man interested in literature." Raymond gave me a compliment!
So I turn to Raymond and I am like super giddy and I say "Yeah, I like literature, I like TV, I like lawyers.." and I realize I am sort of babbling on, and I get a little self conscious and I can feel my throat tightening up and getting dry and I am overwhelmed by this experience and feel almost like an out of body experience. I had never felt such a feeling before. But it was at that moment when I looked at him, now that he had turned to face me that I realized this was not Raymond Burr. It was just some old guy talking to a 12 year old who was perusing tomes dedicated to the history of this great country but intended for adults.
Meanwhile my grandmother has been looking for me, finds me and yells at me for leaving the teenager section that I was in. If I remember correctly, I was banned from watching TV that night and had to read the stupid teenager book I got about a wild horse that roamed about and some teenager was the only one to tame it. I can say for sure that ever since that incident, not a day goes by where I don't think about that old man and how much I hate his fucking guts.
I'm sad if Darkside missed this wholesome post.
_________________
Don Tiny wrote:
Don't be such a fucking chump.
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