radio's private conversations

We have a stool in the kitchen, and on the stool a boom box sits. We have it there for its radio. (It used to also play CDs and cassettes, but no longer). Here is an illustration.



The radio is often on--we listen to the news or to music; we have it for background noise and companionship. If the phone (which sits above the boom box on the kitchen counter) rings, I usually turn the radio off to answer, but sometimes I just turn it way down.

Then, sometimes, later, I'll become aware of the radio talking quietly to itself, like a small child absorbed in an imaginary game. In its small voice it's making the Syrian refugee talk to the BBC reporter, or it's having the author talk to the interviewer about her process for writing her recent novel, or sometimes it's singing to itself.



"What are you talking about?" I ask, and turn it up, and then it eagerly explains.