He Didn't Dare To Hope

In 1969, Revell sold a 1/96-scale model of NASA's Saturn V rocket. It came in a tall box and when assembled was about four feet high. David asked for it for Christmas, but he didn't dare to hope.

In late December of that year, David's family gathered at his grandparents' house. An Austrian Pine tree cut by his grandfather stood in the fancy living room. It grazed the ceiling in the far corner and was hung with years-old decorations and lit up by colored lights. This was the room with the wobbly marble-top coffee table and golden overstuffed sofa. It was a room where the cousins were not allowed to play or even sit. But this was the room where the main event would happen.

Early Christmas morning (or very late the night before), the cousins snuck downstairs and crept into the room. The decorations hung silently from the green branches. The air was full of the scent of pine. And the room was filled with presents piled under the tree, flowing along the walls and spilling out into the center of the room.

And there in the middle of it all, there amidst the piling and flowing and spilling stood a tall, narrow present unlike any they had ever seen. It didn't fit under the tree. It didn't fit under anything. It towered over everything else.

David didn't need to look at the tag. He knew the shape. His hope beyond hopes had come true. Now he had to wait until morning.

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ser.tar.gz

I sat down with John at his computer. He opened a terminal window and listed the contents of his home directory. The name of one of the files jumped out at me: ser.tar.gz.

Hah! I exclaimed, pointing at the file.

It was a serial input/output library I had once written and shared with him. That was five maybe six years ago, but he still had it sitting around.

Do you ever use it? I asked.

Sometimes, he said diplomatically after a moment's silence.

Whatever. I still took it as a compliment.

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