The Computer is the Future (Commodore 64 Version)

We were joking around after school, playing around with the cassette players. I was playing the song called “The Gambler” over and over. I didn’t even know what a gambler was, let along how to know when to fold ‘em or know when to hold ‘em. But it was fun. We were pretty excited to check out these new computers, figuring maybe they would help us solve a couple of mysteries around the school.

“All right, boys and girls. These are Commodore 64 computers and we’re told that someday you will be able to do just about anything you want with a computer. You’ll be able to communicate with people as far away as Japan. Just think of the potential. We are going to start out slow, though. Who’s ready to try out a Commodore 64?”

We were all excited and shouted out that we were indeed ready.

Mr. Jackson was a tall, lanky man with brown hair, slightly grayed at the temples. He had been teaching for several years and was well respected by his peers. He always had a smile for a hard-working student or “that look” for someone who needed to get more on task. I thought a lot of the teacher and was always willing to do my best in class. The chance to learn about these computers from Mr. Jack Son was pretty cool.

Suddenly, Mr. Proud burst into the room.

“Tom, we need to speak.”

Proud was a funny looking fellow, sort of like a very poor man’s Elvis. He had thick, really thick black hair, combed thickly throughout his head. And his sideburns needed a trim and probably didn’t need to extend to his lips. Proud tried to seem stern, but people knew.

“Ah, Mr. Proud, we’re in the most important part of this computer class right now. Can it wait?”

The look on Mr. Proud’s face indicated that it couldn’t wait. He looked serious. Like when Bruce Banner starts to turn into the Incredible Hulk – he knows that it’s urgent but there’s nothing he can do …

“Well, Tom, er, Mr. Jackson, please stop and see me before you head home today. It’s somewhat urgent.”

I looked a Preston and he looked at me. We both looked at Mr. Jackson.

“Are we ready to get back to the Commodores?”

Mr. Jackson had a knack for pulling us all back together. Even after a crazy interruption by the self-proclaimed HMIC of our school. One day we overheard Mr. Proud tell Mr. Jackson, “Tom, you just let me take care of that. You know that I am the HMIC and it will get resolved.” Whatever the HMIC was, that must have been really important.

“We’re going to learn BASIC and some simple things to get us started with computer programming …” Mr. Jackson seemed to really like the Commodores and believe that computers might be an important part of our futures. He told us about some other companies that made computers like IBM and Apple. He said he thought Apple was named Apple because of the record company the Beatles used to own.

“Ummm, Mr. Jackson, what exactly do bugs have to do with records and computers and all that stuff?” Somehow Tommy Smith had gotten to be involved in the after-school class as well.

“Tommy, good question, but we’ll talk about the Beatles band another time. Today we are talking about the importance of embracing a computer. You five students are the first five students who will get a chance to work on a computer in the whole district, not just fifth grade. So you will have embrace this. And you shouldn’t tell anyone what we’re doing because this is Top Secret. That’s Top with a capital “T” and Secret with a capital “C.”

I thought to myself … this is too good. Another Top Secret operation. And we’re a part of it. But there’s more stuff going on in the school and we’re going to find out what it is. Preston and I – the Jackson Boys – we had a plan. At least we had a plan that we would have a plan. But it had to be quick because it was almost baseball season.