972: I tried . . .
Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 32 continues
I TRIED TO RECORD my reading of episode thirty-two of Dead Air, “Beyond the Firelight Lies Endless Darkness,” but I failed. I owned four tape recorders of various degrees of sophistication, but I couldn’t get one of them to make a decent recording. Even my little microcassette recorder seized up halfway through the episode. These failures brought on a feeling of creeping incompetence that might have led to depression if I hadn’t steered it in the direction of fury. After I kicked the microcassette recorder around the room for a while I took it to the cellar and threw it into the firebox of the boiler, which made me feel better. Not good, but better.
I had been trying to record my reading because Albertine and I had been invited to the opening of a new bed-and-breakfast in Babbington, and I had painted the evening for her as a romantic getaway, with Tony T as our chauffeur on land and sea, free drinks and snacks, a nice dinner somewhere, and a few hours without cares.
I passed Grumpy Cluck on the cellar stairs. He was on the way down to have another go at the boiler. He asked me what was up, and I told him.
“Use Lou’s,” he said.
“Lou’s?”
“Sure. He’s got a tape recorder. I’m sure he’ll let you use it.”
I found Lou in the bar, where he was supervising the installation of a dozen new spigots for draft beers from microbreweries. When I explained my problem and asked to use his tape recorder, he seemed rattled, and I ascribed his reaction to his embarrassment for me, my having to ask him a favor when I had been accepting his gifts for weeks now.
“Of course,” he said. “Just — ah — just give me a little time to get things cleared up — and — get the recorder set up. Give me half an hour, okay?”
In forty-five minutes, I knocked at his door, and he let me in. His tape recorder was a magnificent piece of equipment, digital, good enough for studio use, with a sensitive microphone mounted on a stand. I was surprised that he should have such a piece of equipment, and my surprise must have shown, because Lou seemed to feel that he had to explain.
“Inspirational speeches,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of little businesses — ”
“‘Fingers in a lot of pies,’ Elaine said.”
“Yeah. I’ve kind of lost interest in keeping an eye on them, personally, but I’ve got a team that puts together seminars for employees, and — ”
“You don’t have to justify it to me,” I said. “If I could afford a gadget like this, I’d buy one, too.”
“Anyway,” he said. “You’re welcome to use it.”
We carried everything down to the lounge, and I recorded episode thirty-two for replay that evening.
[to be continued]
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