From the day
Perspective: The Teenager · Sound
The scratchy needle on the gramophone is howling "The Sheik of Araby" loud enough to drown out the sirens over in the Ukrainian quarter, where some stool pigeon apparently got lead for breakfast. Dad’s nose is buried in the paper reading about that new "polygraph" gadget and those creepy mechanical "robots" from that Czech play, but I’ve got a real crush on the neighbor’s new motorcar. I’m just hoping the druggist gets his door fixed soon so Ma can finally fetch my brother’s new-fangled insulin. Between the rattling streetcars and the cold winter wind, it’s a madhouse—but ain’t we got fun?