Stranger In Town (WED, JUNE 18)

As I often I tell you in advance this is not an original but rather something I received via email and re-worked for the purpose of radio. It starts with a young boy who talks about his father meeting a stranger who was new to the small town they lived in. The father was so fascinated with the newcomer that he was invited to live with the family and he quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As the boy grew up he never questioned the stranger’s place in the family.
His Mom taught him good from evil, Dad taught him to obey but the stranger was the story teller. He would keep the children spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If the boy wanted to know anything about politics, history or science it was the stranger who always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and could even predict the future and he even took the family to their first major league baseball game.

While alcohol wasn’t permitted in the house the stranger encouraged the family to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely about sex and his comments were sometimes suggestive and generally embarrassing. He made them laugh and cry and never stopped talking but nobody seemed to mind although on occasion Mom would get up and go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.

Dad ruled the household with certain moral convictions but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity was not allowed in the home by anyone for any reason but the stranger got away with four-letter words that burned their ears, made Dad squirm and Mom blush.

More than 50 years have passed since the stranger moved in with the family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first.
Still, if you would walk into the parents’ den today, you would find him sitting in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures. His name? They just call him “TV.”