I arrived at the home in the early afternoon, shortly before the program started and preparations were already underway for the taping of the program. The husband very soon placed the tape in the VCR deck and with remote control in hand, paced the livingroom floor impatiently waiting for the program to come on. He was dressed comfortably in jeans, T-shirt, and warm comfortable socks and between trips to the refrigerator and flipping through other channels to see what he might be missing in the daily programming, his only initial comments were "come on, come on, let's get this show on the road." The wife and I exchanged bemused glances but were careful not to say anything that would disturb his deep concentration and expectations of the long awaited event.
At last the program started and the main subject of observation immediately jumped into his easy chair and stretched it into recline position. The VCR was on the top shelf of the entertainment center and he would have to raise his arm high in the air to engage the signals in the remote control. The program began and we were all soon engrossed in the captivating scenes of dinosaurs as recreated by the computer generated art made possible by modern technology.
A running dialogue from the husband soon started as he began naming each creature to appear on the screen, including its cousins and evolutionary descendants. Then a renowned paleontologists would appear, fossil bone in hand, and interestingly enough, verify everything the husband had said. The husbandıs comment was, "see, I told you." This ritual was repeated many times during the program.
Commercial programming had no value in this exercise. A clue that a commercial was about to come on was in the change in the background music of the show and almost in perfect synchronism, the husbandıs arm would raise and he would aim the remote control toward the VCR and hold his position for up to ten seconds. As soon as the picture would fade he would push the button to disengage the taping and the wife and I would then be given a verbal replay of the last segment of the program. We of course listened intently. This same exercise would then be repeated in reverse as the program would continue, and as commercials came to their end, his arm again would raise and in preparation. I noticed his voice would elevate slightly and his eyes would dart back and forth between his wife and myself making sure that we understood the importance of knowing about creatures like Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and of course, the formidable Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The program had limited interest to me, and I soon caught myself waking up. I obviously was beginning to fall asleep and would rouse myself to continue participating in the activity of this day. I noticed that the wife had also fallen asleep. This became the norm for the both of us but we would periodically be roused with excited exclamations from the husband who had continued his running educational dialogue with us, obviously unaware that we were unconscious. I occasionally glanced in his direction to acknowledge I was listening. He was in his own world and happily so. I was now in full recline on the couch. His feet, which were extended far in front of him on the recliner were level with my eyes. Everytime I would open my eyes I would notice his toes. They were constantly wiggling. I was unable to make any direct connection to the subject on the screen, but it was obvious that he was totally engaged.
The program was approximately two hours long and when the last dinosaur disappeared from the screen, we all got up and went to the kitchen to eat.
