Chapter 6 - TV CAN BE SCARY

The chaos and excitement of the first week or so had taken a toll on my little girls. They were tired and getting cranky. It had been just too many voices, faces, comings, goings, and too much change in our home. They wanted to watch TV, they just wanted an hour or so to cuddle with me, or to stretch out on the floor with pillows and look at the tube. Cartoons! they wanted the familiar. Now TV was special in our home, since at the time my husband did not think it was very good for children, and we kept it in a closet, only bringing it out on occasion. However with all his recent business trips, I had taken it out much more often, we watched sesame street, and the electric company, as well as many cartoons.

So, I thought let's make it special, a little, popcorn, which the Ngeams liked only after drenching it in soy sauce and hot sauce, shrimp chips, and cold pitchers of cucumber water. Most of the Ngeams were sitting in the living room with us and when they realized what I was going to do they called all the others. There was excitement in the room. Bobby explained that only Tek and Li had seen a movie, and Kan said she did, but they didn't believe her. The rest had never seen TV or a Movie. Everyone gathered close together, on the sofa and floor, all hushed talking, and anxious to see what it was, curious looks.

I turned on the set, and there, lo and behold, was a commercial for the incredible Hulk!

Shrieks of terror and cries of horror! Annie and Mary ran from the room, popcorn flew into the air. Others hid under cushions. Bobby looked at me as though I had played a cruel joke on them. Tek stood and stared in disbelief. I switched the channel as quickly as I could.

Tess tried to help me calm them down, she and her little sister understood and showed by touching the screen and laughing and smiling, that everything was ok. Somehow the little ones got it across much better than I did. I changed it to cartoons. They hesitantly edged their way back into the room. This was the first time they had ever seen a cartoon, and yet they quickly became big fans of the road runner. Squeals of laughter filled my living room. Wile E. Coyote and Road runner seemed to take the edge off some of our roughest days and became a regular part of our chill-down routine.