IDEA FOR A SHORT STORY
By Dorian Saker OMEBODY could write something really funny about aerials, particularly our aerial. They could construct a story out of it, full of human pathos,
and salted with human tears. Dad, in his old clothes, covered in leaf mould and paint, slightly resembling a superannuated scarcecrow, could be the hero. People would laugh like anything if they could see Dad pottering round, hunting for bits of wire to add on to his aerial. Every week-end you can bet your boots that Dad will have altered our aerial. It may be only a hairpin, it may be the neighbour’s fence, but that aerial won’t be the same on Monday. Wasn’t it Heraclitus who said that everything was in a state of change? Well, I guess the old chap didn’t know much about aerials, but what he said would certainly apply to ours.
wh. clever person could make tragedy, as well as comedy, out of our aerial. With the sort of
detail that wrings tears from stony-hearted spinsters, he could describe how one day the cleaner flex disappeared, how Father swore by every saint that he hadn’t touched it, how it was discovered, and where; how Mother vowed she would leave the,
house, never to return; how little sister June howled to think her mummy was abandoning her for ever; how Dad, brokenhearted and repentant at last, said he would put his head in the gas oven-if that would do any good. I know I’ve got something here, but I suppose the idea, like lots of others, will have to be wasted. Meanwhile our aerial continues to grow, becoming more ragged every day. All the spare wire in the house has gone up to its maw, and now the clothes line is in jeopardy. But in spite of this the set remains absolutely the same. I’m sure that somebody — somebody clever — could make something really funny out of
our aerial. There’s the idea, anyway, and it is not copyright.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 45, 3 May 1940, Page 8
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333IDEA FOR A SHORT STORY New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 45, 3 May 1940, Page 8
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