I Confess to a Major Crime

The year was 1960,I was 10.
10 years old.
Pretty darn young if you ask me.
My older brother Bud went away to college.(To get an education.That's what he said.)
To me, he abandoned me.He had been my hero.
My role model.
A year or so before Bud left us,my dad and and Bud had bought a tv for Bud's bedroom.
This was a big deal then,a tv in the bedroom was for the rich people.
Not us!
I remember the tv was about 13 inches,and weighed about 400 pounds.
Rabbit ears were the standard then.Bud was quite technical and knew how to get all 5 channels.
Channel 2 excluded,mostly.

Since he went away I claimed all his assets.
Dad,being broken hearted about Buds departure put his tv in the basement.
I asked a few times if I could turn it on,but dad said 'no son,it belonged to Buddy,whom I loved.'
There were few times I snuck into the basement to turn it on but I could never get anything on it except fuzz.
Resentment over took me.
Bud was gone.
The tv was just sitting there.
Bad things entered my mind.I blame Bud.

With the help of a friend,I loaded the tv into my wagon and took it to a tv shop on 103rd street.
Never having done any business in my life I remember being nervous.
I told the tv shop guy,"how much will you give me for this tv?"
He looked at it,took the back off and said..."This tv is no good,it has a booster on it."
I had no idea what a booster was.
We stared at each other for a good 5 minutes.
He finally said"I will give you a finn."
I had no idea what a finn was.It sounded lik a lot to me.
It could mean 50 bucks I thought!
As it turns out a finn is $5.00.
I took the finn.I took my wagon home.
Dad says"where have you been?" I say 'out messin around.'
Dad never asked about the tv.
When Bud came home I don't think he missed it.
Years later I told my dad this story.He didn't remember it at all.
Then I found out Bud never missed it.He forgot about it too.
I spent the $5.00.
I probably gave most of it to charity because that's the way I am.

The moral of the story is if you sell your brothers tv,the brother you loved even though he abandoned you,it is ok.