By Neal Wooten
I’ve always been a night owl. Seldom am I in bed before midnight. Last night, I was still up at 2:30, so I placed a Walmart pickup order. Looking back on my childhood, I don’t know how I got by without the internet.
When we had electricity, I would stay up late until the three networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, went off the air. “This concludes another day of broadcasting.” I would switch it to channel 54. We only had a VHF antenna, which means we only got channels 3, 9, and 12 out of Chattanooga. But after those went off the air, I could get UHF stations to come in a little. It was rough and had a lot of lines, but I could make it out.
I went straight to channel 54 because once in a blue moon, they had a Tarzan movie late at night. And when I stumbled across one of those, I was in hog heaven. I think they were all black-and-white movies, but since we had a B&W television, I can’t be sure. But they were great. One night, there was a Tarzan movie, and it showed Jane swimming buck naked. Buck! Made me want to belt out a Tarzan yell.
Most of the time, however, there was nothing to watch late at night, so I read Childcraft books. My favorites were the ones titled “Animals” and “Make and Do.” There was even a how-to page with instructions on how to make a submarine out of cardboard, complete with a periscope. I actually made the periscope, and it worked perfectly, but we never had enough cardboard to make the sub.
The days were boring, too, so I rarely stayed in the house. I had so many trails through the woods and by the creek. There were times when we got together with cousins to play games like Hide-and-Seek, Red Rover, Flies and Skinners, Kick the Can, and Run and Hide. That was always great. And many nights, we sat around the kitchen table playing cards or Yahtzee. But for the most part, there wasn’t a lot to do.
Let me clarify – there weren’t a lot of fun things to do. There were always plenty of chores and work to be done during the days, especially on weekends. But late at night, either lying in bed staring at the ceiling for hours, searching for a channel still on the air, or flipping through the same books – there was nothing.
We talk about the younger generation with all the technology, keeping their noses in their phones, playing games, or texting. But the truth is, I wish we had that when I was a kid.
