Playing games during Public School hours.

It was the mid 1980's and my exposure to personal computers was limited to seeing them in stores, in the pages of magazines or watching Bill Cosby and Captain Kirk advertisements on TV. Our house was very absent of one, since they were considered to be an unnecessary expense.

The very first time I laid eyes on one, in real life and being used by a living, breathing person, was in my final years in elementary school. The details I do remember was this, it was a dimly lit hallway, it was called a Circle ][ and it was on an enormous brown wheeled cart. I also remember thinking, at the time, the girl who was around the same age I was, sitting on a orange plastic and metal chair, tapping away at the keyboard, was cute.

When I saw what was on the screen in front of her, my attention was quickly and easily diverted. In the middle of the monitor was this face, made up of simple while lines, of an old man with bushy eyebrows, a beard and mustache and funky hair. An electronic looking Albert Einstein, constructed out of vector graphics.

Curious, I asked her what she was doing. Her reply was that she was playing this game. She typed in some question and sat back, crossing her arms with a grin. The face on the screen was moving, the eyebrows were wiggling and the beard was twitching. I squinted and leaned in to read the small print at the bottom of the screen, the final result of this whole dramatic process.

Not knowing what her question to the machine was, I feigned partial surprise with reading the answer it produced. I was, however, truly surprised with what I was a witness to. I stepped back and continued to watch, while she leaned in closer to the keyboard and typed something in. Once again,  the face had convulsions and posted a reply on the screen. Over and over this happened and I stood there, captivated by what was going on, until the bell rang.

My recess was over and it was time for me to go back to class. I asked her if she had to go too, but her response was no. She told me she was allowed to remain in the hallway with the computer. I remember at the time, wishing I could have got that kind of permission. I smiled at her as I walked away and all of it faded to a mere memory.

I have long since forgotten the name of the game or if I even asked for it. I never had the opportunity to try it, for myself, then or even now. I also never did see that girl again and know nothing about her, not even her name. I hope her life has turned out well, getting everything she ever wanted, needed and blessed with happiness. I doubt she would remember me.

It would be just a short matter of time before I would have a chance to be sitting in front of a keyboard of my very own, no questions asked.