Flip off that switch

There I was, sitting on a 20-year-old couch.  All the lights in the house were turned off.  They were only turned on after the sun had completely set, then turned off around 10:00 PM so that the other person could get 8 hours of sleep.  The air conditioner was set on 82 so that it wouldn’t turn on unless it was needed.  82 degrees was the point where it was needed.   A ceiling fan overhead spun with a clicking noise.  The only phone in use in the house was a land line.  Portable phones like the ones popular in the 1980s were placed at 3 locations in the house.

A TV was in the room, but turned on only for an hour in the morning to catch the news for the day.  For the rest of the day until evening, the TV was set on a symphonic music station.  In the evening we watched the news again and 2 hours worth of Waltons reruns on the Hallmark station.  Occasionally the channel was turned to the Inspire channel for a movie.  Together we watched one of those on Labor Day.  The story happened immediately following World War II where the storyline traced a woman who had to find her fiancé because of amnesia.  The love story was in black and white.

 There was enough conversation to make the day pass without feeling lonesome, but there were many pockets of silence also.   Computer use to accomplish work, banking, or any other online function was out of the question since no internet existed in the house or anywhere nearby.  My cell phone, luckily, did bring me the internet, but typing and banking took twice as long because of the tiny screen.

Everything in the setting was a result of a rigid belief in extreme frugality and extreme adherence to routine and religious piety.  No television programs could be watched that had the remotest possibility of “cursing” being used in it.  Only 3 channels were watched as a result of that belief.  Outside, the weather was bright, sunny, and 95 degrees.  Inside, only light filtering through window blinds lighted the areas of the living room.   Lights in the kitchen were permitted during cooking times, but not before or after.  Bathroom lights shone only while the room was in use.  The same was true for bedrooms. If I left a light on behind me as I left a hallway or room, I was reminded within two steps of leaving the area that I needed to turn back to flip off the switch.

One’s religious values were scrutinized in this place.  A couple of times I was chastised for some of my interpretations of the Bible.  Once I was told that I wasn’t following the example practiced by Christians in the Bible.  Another time I was questioned about whether or not I was reading the Bible.  I was probed to see if I still used the particular phrases of my childhood religious denomination.  I failed this test miserably because I refused to use them even though I knew what they are.

 

Yes, I had to check the date several times a day to make sure I had not become a time traveler and landed in the era of the austerity of the 1950s or 1960s.  No, it was 2014.  My only word for this experience is unbelievable.

I sat on that 20-year-old couch for a little over a week.  The shrouded, insular existence created by the other person was a result of nostalgia, mistrust of people and modern technology, selective memory of events from the good ol’ days, and a rabid belief in the divine inspiration and literal interpretation of the Bible.  Just unbelievable.  I will definitely buy a t-shirt that says I survived this environment. on the back I will have printed, " Unbelievable!!!"