Sunday, February 16th, 2025

By Andy Barrie

Every weekend I go and visit a piece of stereo equipment I really have the hots for. It’s currently living at an appliance store, waiting for me to save up the money to bring it home. In the meanwhile, I drop by to croon over it, twiddle its knobs and just generally fantasize about how nice it will look and sound on my shelf.

In other words, I am behaving like a complete jerk; a throwback to the days before plastic credit and instant gratification. Because, let’s face it, I could take this thing home tonight if I wanted to. I could slip the clerk a credit card and my waiting would be over. This is exactly what a friend of mine says I ought to do. He can’t imagine why on earth I would pine for something that a piece of plastic could instantly make mine.

It took his teasing to make me realize that I am subconsciously acting out one of the major dramas of my childhood. This is the now-forgotten concept of the layaway. These days of course, they give credit to cocker spaniels, but there was a time, friends, when you didn’t get the goods until the store got its money – period. The unspeakable fear was that by the time you scratched together the cash, the thing would be gone. So the store would hold it, while you sort of ransomed it on the installment plan. 

I think I was nine when I spotted a – can you believe this? – ventriloquist dummy that had to be mine. It cost 15 bucks. I made a deal to pay it off at about a dollar a week. I’d go down every Saturday with my single, crumpled bill. In return, I had visiting rights. I could take the dummy down from the shelf and play with it. But eventually, it would have to go back. One day, almost four months after I started, it was mine.

Well, I never learned to throw my voice. I forgot about the dummy. But I still remember those months of longing. 

Now I’m a grown-up and the credit card folks say I can have anything I want, as soon as I want it. Just sign right here. But it’s hard for me to put away the layaway mentality. I have this idea that most things ought to live in your imagination for a while before you bring them home. 

So, I’ll leave you now. There’s a toy in a store down the street that’s waiting for my weekly visit.

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