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]
Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy
Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, and At Home with the Glynns.
You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.
Share this post