Young Fan
By Alexandra Riera
© 2007 Alexandra Riera
Andrew woke up to blaring music coming from the radio alarm clock and wondered who had changed the dial, silly question really, considering he lived alone and he didn’t even have pets. The noise was deafening and his ears hurt but he couldn’t really bother to turn it off; he had another five minutes left before he actually had to get up. Not that he had to get up for any reason at all but the doctor had recommended him to get up early and follow a daily routine and so he obliged if only to see if it was going to improve his life. He had his doubts though; what could be better than lying in bed all morning, get up around noon, have breakfast and sit on the sofa watching television till lunch time? A trip to the grocery store? No, he didn’t think so. At least the doctor hadn’t asked him to go running every morning or swimming, that would have been unbearable; he wouldn’t have been able to do it anyway as he had a wooden leg. You can’t swim with a wooden leg, can you?.
The music kept on and he suddenly found himself wriggling the toes of his good leg to the rhythm of the electric guitar. What some other people would call a singing voice was to him the bleating of a sheep, it sounded macabre and enticing at the same time. The singer seemed to shout angrily his words. He found himself listening to the actual lyrics of the song. Gosh they were sinister.
Normally he would have turned the alarm clock off on getting up but when the time came for him to get up he not only left the alarm clock on but he actually turned the sound up, then, he went to his dinning room and fiddled with the stereo’s dial until he found the same radio station. Now he had real stereo.
Andrew went through his daily routine; a cup of coffee in front of the television, this time muted, then a shower, then some biscuits and then on to the wardrobe to choose a suit for the day. He had dozens of suits, all identical. He wasn’t into spending precious time deciding what to wear in the morning; he had more important things to do, like watching television of course.
Usually he would have stayed home to watch his favourite morning programmes but today he decided to go to the shops. On his way there he passed a pawn shop and decided to go in. He wanted to buy some heavy metal music like the one he’s been listening to earlier in the morning, the only way he could do it was by buying a record as he didn’t have a CD player or an mp3 thing and the only place that sold those things were either antique shops or pawn shops. He was in luck; the shop had many records on sale and had a great variety of musical styles too.
"Here are all the heavy metal records" the man at the shop told him after Andrew expressed his desire to buy heavy metal music. The man was a bit surprised at Andrew’s taste in music.
Andrew browsed through the records and found one without a cover with the name Viking written on a yellow label. "Are they any good?" he asked the man.
"I’m not into heavy metal music but I had a call this morning from a collector who wanted it so I suppose they must be good."
"I’ll take it then."
Andrew bought the record and went back home. He spent the day listening to the same record.
The following day was pretty much the same as the day before except that he was supposed to go to his doctor for a regular check up. Nothing to worry about; just a check up of his blood pressure and a chat with the doctor. Before he went to the doctor’s, he put his newly bought record in a plastic bag and went to the shops again, he bought himself a pair of black trousers, a black shirt and a pair of heavy duty black boots and put them on before leaving the shop discarding the clothes he had put on in the morning. Needles to say that he forgot all about his visit to the doctor’s. He spent the rest of the day buying more heavy metal records.
When Andrew got home he found a note under the door. It was from Dr Patel; he had come to check on him as he hadn’t turned up for his appointment.
The following day Andrew decided that he’d better go and see Dr Patel or he would get another note from him, or worse, he could send over his nurse to check up on him. That would be embarrassing.
"Good morning Andrew, what happened to you yesterday? Doctor Patel said as he lifted his head from the papers on his desk. "Oh! What happened to you?" he said on seeing how he was dressed.
"Nothing, I’m ok."
"No, I mean… look at you! Why are you dressed like that?"
"I’m a young fan of the Viking." He answered calmly.
"Viking? Shouldn’t you be wearing a helmet with horns on it?"
"No, this is a heavy metal band. Look I’ve brought the record for you to see, they’re brilliant! I’ve even brought my record player," he said as he started to open the sports bag he had been carrying. "Where can I plug this in?"
Dr Patel felt powerless and in no condition to answer him; Andrew had been a patient of him for the last twenty years, right after he had moved into town and they had become half friends in a way. Andrew had always been a quiet man who minded his own business and never went out or socialized with other people. This change in Andrew obviously represented advancement but somehow Dr Patel didn’t think this was the best sport for a man of sixty seven. He hoped he didn’t actually think about going to heavy metal concerts. He pointed to the far corner, right under a bright lamp, to show him where the socket was.
"This is a collector’s record, you know?"
"Oh."
Andrew plugged in his record player, attached his little speakers onto it, took out his Viking record out of the plastic bag and placed the record on the dish. Seconds later the music was blaring out.
"Turn that down! I’ve got patients waiting outside!" Shouted Dr Patel.
Andrew reluctantly turned the volume down a bit and sat down in front of Dr Patel.
"Right, let’s do the check up then. Want to see my stump?
"Yes, let’s get on with it..." Dr Patel said as he went to the filing cabinet to get Andrew’s medical record. Not that he needed it but one had to have everything in writing.
They went through the whole check up, weight, blood pressure, throat, the stump, his other leg and as they went through the procedure they chatted about various things not noticing that the music had stopped playing.
A nurse knocked on the door and walked in. Andrew was angry as he didn’t have his wooden leg attached and was in underwear on a chair.
"What’s all that smoke?" said the nurse.
"Oh!" The Viking! Cried Andrew as he tried to go to the record player. Smoke was coming out of the record. The lamp had been melting it. Andrew fell down on his way, and Dr Patel had to pick him up. The nurse turned the lamp off, left some documents on Dr Patel’s desk and left in a huff.
"I’m sorry" said Andrew when the nurse had slammed the door on her way out.
"No, I’m sorry," said Dr Patel, I shouldn’t have let you play the record here."
"Look, look at my record, it’s ruined."
Dr Patel didn’t know what to say and just stared at the twisted and half melted record in Andrew’s hands. "Oh, I know, I know…" he suddenly said, "Hang it up to dry, maybe it will go back to its original shape."
"Yes, that’s what I’ll do; right, I’m off home then." Andrew said.
"You’d better get dressed first."
"You’re right."
The end
(1386 Words)
© 2007 Alexandra Riera
May 15-21
