Chapter 8

Saturday, August 8

I woke up to knocking this morning. I grumbled a bit as I dragged myself out of bed and pulled some shorts on. I went down to the door and called out, "Who is it?" I knew it wasn't Dad or Charlene. They would have knocked and come right in.

"It's Faith."

"Faith?" I said, surprised, and opened the door. She was dressed for her morning workout. She looked at me and said, "Oh, dear, did I wake you up? I'm sorry."

"Izsok," I mumbled

"I really am sorry, Sam. I just stopped by to see if you wanted to walk down together."

"Um, sure. Lemme get dressed first. Wanna come in?

"Sure, if that's ok?"

I nodded and turned to go back up the stairs. "Gimme a couple minutes."

"Of course, take all the time you need," Faith said, coming in and closing the door behind her. As I needed a few more hours, I was tempted to go back to bed. She did say to take all the time I needed, but I didn't. I grabbed some clothes - panties, sports bra, tights and a tank top - went back downstairs and into the bathroom. I took a quick shower, took care of all my bathroomy things, and dressed. When I came out, Faith was looking at the books I had on the table.

"I'm sorry I took so long," I said, feeling a bit more hospitable now that I was more awake. "Can I get you anything?"

Faith smiled and shook her head. "That's ok. I hope you don't mind me looking around a little."

I shook my head. It was only natural to look around, and it wasn't as if I caught her going through my drawers, or files, or anything.

"Mind if I ask you something?" she asked, as I was putting my hair up in a scrunchie.

I leaned my head to one side wondering what her question would be.

She picked a cartridge up off the table and asked, "What is this?"

I couldn't help grinning.

"I know it's music, but how do you play it?"

"It's an eight track."

Faith's eyes widened. "This is an eight track?"

"Yep, I'm told they used to be popular a long time ago."

"I've never ever seen one"

I opened the cabinet and Faith's eyes widened at all the players. I put the cartridge in the player. It started whirring away while I flicked on things, and music came out of the speakers that I'd put in the corners of the dining area by the windows.

While we listened to Kenny Rogers, we talked about my players. She was surprised by the variety, even more so when I told her that wasn't all of them. I hadn't brought some of them, as they would have been redundant and would have taken too much space. What I did have is Shelly's TV with built in DVD player, a stereo with tape and record player, an AV receiver, a small tape deck, beta and VHS VCRs, a laser disc player, and the little 8-track player. I'm not sure why Dad included the LD player, as I didn't bring any discs with me - at least not that I know of. There're a couple boxes under the table that I haven't taken a look at yet. Maybe Dad put some in them? I'll have to look later.

"I remember some of them, but others I've never heard of," Faith said.

I shrugged. "I suppose a lot don't. Some were old when my Dad was a kid, and others were soon replaced by newer technology. Most people my age don't know anything older than DVDs and CDs."

"I remember when CDs first came out. They were so expensive. I'm not sure they even use them anymore."

I nodded. They still sell CDs, but most music and audio book studios are switching over to the new Multi-discs. They're nice. They're expensive, though, as they have the artist's entire body of work up to that date. You can also add to that artist's library when they release a "new album" or book, by going online and downloading their new work for a lot less than the cost of buying a new album. You can have the entire collection of most artists on one disc. I think it's something like 10 albums to one Multi-disc. Some have more, but not too many. There's a complete works, 8 disc, set for Elvis. He's still the king.

"I'm surprised you know about and use all these things."

"I was brought up using them. My parents believed that just because something was old didn't mean it wasn't still useful."

"That's a good philosophy. Still I'm surprised, I kind of expected you to have a Gamma DVD player and Multi-discs."

"I have one for the computer. It's under the table somewhere."

"And the Multi-discs?"

"The Gamma player reads and burns them."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah. It'll burn every format of disc available."

"Nice."

I agreed. They are nice. They can play and read anything. Gamma DVDs also have lots of space to put programs on, twice that of the last generation DVDs. You could put entire series onto one disc at first generation DVD high quality and still have lots of room, not that I've done that. Blank Gamma discs are still too expensive. I still use the older generation DVDs. I have to sacrifice a little in picture quality, but I don't mind too much. The compression programs are really good nowadays so it's not too bad. I've heard talk of using Gamma DVDs like Multi-discs to allow downloading of new seasons of TV shows and new sequels of movies. I think that could be nice.

Faith started to say something when the 8-track kathunked and changed tracks, making her jump.

"What was that?"

"The player changing tracks."

"Oh, it startled me."

"It does that to me too."

"Well, ready to go?"

"Ok." I turned the machines off, pulled out the cartridge, and closed the cabinet door.

Faith and I had a nice workout. Like yesterday, our workout ended when Faith had to go make breakfast for the home-school kids. Apparently, they have school six days a week.

I thanked her when we got back and said I'd see her later, then went to see what Dad and the other guys were up to.

A couple of them were painting the shed, and Dad and Hank were cutting plywood. I said, "Hi," and asked what was going on. Dad and Hank were making a counter to put on the right side of the shed, over all the fuel cans. They were also going to put some shelves above them. I guess they'd read my mind. When they were done, I could move some of the canned food and other things, like extra books, into the shed. It'd give me more floor space, and space under the table.

I thanked them all and asked if I could get them anything. They told me they were ok, as Charlene was keeping them supplied with coffee. She'd walked over to the store and bought some instant stuff. I did invite them to stay for lunch, which they gladly accepted. It was just soup and sandwiches, but they seemed to like it. I'm going to have to go see what's in the store again, as feeding all the guys has put a big dent in the groceries, but I think it's been worth it.

During lunch they started debating on how to install electricity in the shed. The choices were going underground and up through the bottom of the shed, or to go up and over the trailer and into the shed. Apparently they'd decided I needed electricity. When they asked me, I told them that going underground would probably be best, as I'd probably end up hitting any overhead wires somehow. I told them I didn't want them to go to any trouble.