Not Dark Yet, Conclusion
He went back to the musty stacks of vinyl and found the “Best Of” collection that had “Better Things” on it. The next chore was to actually play the damn thing. Dan remembered that his older brother had some vinyl and when he was quite small he fiddled with an old record player that had pennies taped to the tone arm to prevent skipping. Dan had never used the vintage late ‘80s Technics models that the station still had for those who played vinyl but it seemed easy enough. He put the album on the table, clicked the turntable channel into “Cue” on the board and hit the big square button on the lower left of the turntable. The machine sprang to life but began playing the wrong song. That’s right, Dan thought, on these old things there were thick bands that separated the songs and you had to put the needle on the thick band before the song you wanted to cue it.
Dan found “Better Days” and put the needle on the thick band. Cueing it exactly was another problem; since he had only been shown how to cue a vinyl record once when he first joined the station he forgot that you had to wind the record back so the turntable would be up to speed when the first note of the song hit. So this playing of “Better Days” started like “Heeeere’s wiiishing you the bluest skies….” Not perfect, but the old goat at the newsstand better be grateful, Dan thought.
The song finished, Dan clicked the .wav file for his next set and the phone blinked again.
“Thanks for playing this. The screw-up at the beginning made it even better”.
“Screw up? It’s not my fault you want to hear something that we only have on some goddamn ancient format that nobody cares about any more!”
“You’re right. Thanks for everything.”
Click.
A few weeks went by and Tom didn’t call. Dan was curious but not curious enough to walk over to the news stand. About a month after the last request the intercom buzzed in the studio as Dan was finishing his shift and Tim was going on. Someone was at the door and no one was in the office. Annoyed, Dan walked out to answer.
A security guard handed Dan an envelope with the station call letters on the front. Dan opened it. Inside was a check for $5,000 made out to the station. With the check was a note.
“To whom it may concern,
Enclosed is a check for $5,000 per the specifications in my husband’s will. Tom was an alumnus of the station and the school and he recently re-discovered the station while tuning around at work in his newsstand. This happened around the time Tom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He said the station played his requests. I don’t know what those were; they probably were the same kinds of damn depressing things he played around the house right up until a week before he took his own life. Right then he started playing all this upbeat happy music. I should’ve known something was wrong.
Yes, I know I said that Tom had cancer, but that’s not what killed him. He decided to take his own life instead of spending a few months in futile treatments. He wrote that it was to spare himself and all of us from a lot of agony and boredom waiting around hospitals. He also wrote something in the note about just having to hear one more song that he didn’t have in his collection and then he could do what was needed. Some old thing about wishing better things for everyone. As you can see, I don’t exactly share his fondness for all this stuff but I understand it meant a lot to him so here’s the gift he wanted to give to the station. Use it well and in his memory “
Dan folded the note and put it in his pocket. He dropped the check into the top drawer of the office desk and walked out of the station. Turned right, went up the stairs and out to the stinging sleet on the street. He hunched his shoulders against the wind and walked east to the nearest bar.
Dan found “Better Days” and put the needle on the thick band. Cueing it exactly was another problem; since he had only been shown how to cue a vinyl record once when he first joined the station he forgot that you had to wind the record back so the turntable would be up to speed when the first note of the song hit. So this playing of “Better Days” started like “Heeeere’s wiiishing you the bluest skies….” Not perfect, but the old goat at the newsstand better be grateful, Dan thought.
The song finished, Dan clicked the .wav file for his next set and the phone blinked again.
“Thanks for playing this. The screw-up at the beginning made it even better”.
“Screw up? It’s not my fault you want to hear something that we only have on some goddamn ancient format that nobody cares about any more!”
“You’re right. Thanks for everything.”
Click.
A few weeks went by and Tom didn’t call. Dan was curious but not curious enough to walk over to the news stand. About a month after the last request the intercom buzzed in the studio as Dan was finishing his shift and Tim was going on. Someone was at the door and no one was in the office. Annoyed, Dan walked out to answer.
A security guard handed Dan an envelope with the station call letters on the front. Dan opened it. Inside was a check for $5,000 made out to the station. With the check was a note.
“To whom it may concern,
Enclosed is a check for $5,000 per the specifications in my husband’s will. Tom was an alumnus of the station and the school and he recently re-discovered the station while tuning around at work in his newsstand. This happened around the time Tom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He said the station played his requests. I don’t know what those were; they probably were the same kinds of damn depressing things he played around the house right up until a week before he took his own life. Right then he started playing all this upbeat happy music. I should’ve known something was wrong.
Yes, I know I said that Tom had cancer, but that’s not what killed him. He decided to take his own life instead of spending a few months in futile treatments. He wrote that it was to spare himself and all of us from a lot of agony and boredom waiting around hospitals. He also wrote something in the note about just having to hear one more song that he didn’t have in his collection and then he could do what was needed. Some old thing about wishing better things for everyone. As you can see, I don’t exactly share his fondness for all this stuff but I understand it meant a lot to him so here’s the gift he wanted to give to the station. Use it well and in his memory “
Dan folded the note and put it in his pocket. He dropped the check into the top drawer of the office desk and walked out of the station. Turned right, went up the stairs and out to the stinging sleet on the street. He hunched his shoulders against the wind and walked east to the nearest bar.
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