#10. Knee-Slappin' Fun


It wasn’t long after Marti and Max told their dear friends at Jacob’s Nursing Home that junk fun was planned and told in the newspaper. The newspaper said, “COME SEE THE ‘PARADE OF PARTS’ SPONSORED BY THE ROCKING CHAIR ROCKETS.” The place would be at the local nursing home next Saturday. The time was stated. And then the article went on to describe some of the many ways the facility worked hard to enhance dignity and hospitality toward its residents.

Saturday brought a really great turnout of visitors. Most of them had visited some of the residents before, but came out of curiosity to see what ‘parts’ would be displayed by the Rocking Chair Rockets. In the center of the activity room were two tables.

At one table sat 7-year-old Dorothy and silver-haired Beulah. Each had a spoon in their hand. First the little girl would use her spoon to pop a key cap off the junk computer keyboard positioned between them. Then her friend Beulah would do the same. There were little cupcake papers to put the keycaps in.

More than once, a keycap would pop off and go into the air. Before Dorothy would run after it, she’d see her friend slap her leg and laugh big. After a few times the 7-year-old would do the same leg slapping and laughing. The little one never did figure out why you’re supposed to slap your leg, but it was great fun and that was why she loved being with her silver haired friend.

At the other table Jimmy and Pete were taking the screws out of the big box portion of another junk computer. When the news team arrived a little after lunch, Pete was showing little Jimmy that some screws need a screwdriver that looks like a plus sign (+) and others use a minus sign (-) screwdriver.

With a grin Pete said some troublemaker named, “Allen” invented a screwdriver that really looked goofy – kind of like a snowflake. Jimmy was taught by the old gentleman to put each kind of screw in its own cupcake wrapper with the caution, “It’s a good idea to save stuff for later use, but only if you keep them in order.”

The cameraman turned his bright light on and began photographing the two table displays in the center of the room. Slowly the camera panned around to record each exhibit along the two walls. One display showed all the different cables and wires found in computers. There was no detailed naming or description of the twisted pair power cables, the data ribbon cable, or any of the other stuff. But each was lined up with great care. It was like the cable display was to say different things to different people.

The next exhibit had two fans, one big and one small. In jerky lettering and also like a small child uses, the words were written, “To keep cool, dogs pant, computers have fans, and elephants wave their ears. But as always, God has saved the best method for mankind that He loves so dearly.”

Another display had in big letters, ELECTRIC BUGS. The display showed several of the little square black parts with tiny wires coming out of them. To a child, they probably looked a little like centipedes. Continuing on, the camera recorded displays using about every type of part found in a computer. It was actually kind of fun to see so much activity and enjoyment from computers without electricity and without confusing words and terms.

Trudy and her silver haired friend, Martha had a problem. They wanted to be a part of the Parade of Parts but everyone else had used all of the computer parts. So Martha and Trudy thought of an exhibit that would be the frosting on the cake; the exhibit that would capitalize on every other display. A cardboard poster stood behind an open Bible. A soft pink ribbon touched the Bible reference, John 1:3, ended on the poster near the words, “God made computers. Use them for Him and with Him.”

The camera light was switched off and the equipment lowered to a restful position. The cameraman’s eyes scanned the whole room and quickly walked up to the newsperson making notes on her little tablet. “Heidi! Heidi! These parts are not the story! We’ve been recording these exhibits of junk computer parts, but they’re not the story. The news duo viewed each display again, but took renewed interest of a photograph in each and every display.

Every photograph showed two people. One person with silver hair or no hair at all. That person’s eyes told you of their joy in being able to now use all those left over hugs from the ‘left over’ generation. The other person was always a young person. The expression on the youth showed a boatload of questions with no one else having the time to listen, let alone answer.

The next day’s newspaper carried a front-page lead-in to an article of some detail that basically said, “At the nursing home, far better than a Parade of Parts, was a Parade of Partners. Visit them to see how the very old and the very young are bonded, by junk – computer junk.”

A couple days later Cranky Carson, who’d never give anyone a kind word, if you paid him, was sitting at the table with little Lulu. Lulu didn’t seem to belong to anyone but had wandered into the nursing home, probably just looking for a left-over hug, in spite of her ragamuffin appearance. Now you really won’t believe it without witnessing it for yourself, but Cranky was using his softest tones helping Lulu line up some of the keycaps that had letters on them.

One of the nurse’s aids said they started out lining up the alphabet but then spelled words like love and hug and God. Cranky Carson felt some brand new pride in being able to use some computer stuff but didn’t have the foggiest idea how to even turn a real one on.