Word Association

You know how there are certain words or phrases that when you hear them your mind immediatedly takes you to a mental reference that your mind has associated with that word or phrase, but has nothing to do with what that word or phrase means.

What follows is the mental association I make whenever I hear or read the name Alfred Hitchcock.

When I was around 10 or 11 years old, my friend Kevin Fisher was always talking about watching
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on late night cable television. Since the Buell household did not have cable, I had no actual experience viewing the show.

One Friday night Kevin invited me to spend the night at his house which would allow us to watch "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" together, instead of him having to describe the entire episode in detail the following morning. In hindsight it is very strange that Kevin would hype this show so much as it really was not in keeping with his very mainstream tastes. Part of me thinks that he knew I would like it and was being mildly cruel in reminding me that I didn't have access to it...whereas he had access to it, but didn't really get into it.

Regardless, all arrangements were in place for me to spend the night. If memory serves me correctly the program was to begin at midnight. So Kevin and I were sitting on his couch watching his TV in his basement, patiently waiting for the show to start. Around ten minutes to midnight we hear this huge explosion and all of the sudden all the electricity goes out.

Although we did not want to go upstairs and potentially wake up Kevin's parents...thereby spoiling our fun, we quickly came to the conclusion that even if they were asleep before, they were probably awakened by the same loud noise we heard 30 seconds previous.

When we got upstairs Kevin's dad was walking out of his bedroom carrying a flashlight...a completely reasonable action except for the fact that he was completely naked. Any normal prepubescent boy would be curious to look at the completely naked body of his friend's father....Let's just say I had a healthy level of curiousity, which was heightened by the fact that Mr. Fisher was, how shall I say...extremely well endowed. I would later learn that the apple does not fall far from the tree...but in that moment I was absolutely transfixed, and did not have the ability disguise my interest in the glow of the now much-appreciated flashlight.

Mr. Fisher suggested that an electrical transformer on the power lines had most likely exploded resulting in the loss of electricity. We heard another loud noise outdoors and decided to check it out. I just assumed that Mr. Fisher would step back into his bedroom and put on some clothes before heading out to the porch. Interestingly enough he did not. So I find myself standing with my friend and his naked father on their front porch.

Obviously this left an indelible mark on my consciousness as I am able to recall it a couple of decades later...as I do every time I hear the name Alfred Hitchcock