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The Radio

John Ragusa

    Herbert Rasman was looking at various items at a flea market. Some of these things were interesting, but Rasman couldn’t find anything he could really use.
    Then he came across an old-fashioned radio. It had to be an antique, and if Rasman bought and resold it, he could make a lot of money. He could sell it on eBay. Rasman ended up purchasing it.
    When he returned home with the item, his wife Estelle looked at it and said, “I hope you didn’t pay too much money for this hoary radio. It probably doesn’t even play.”
    Rasman turned it on. Only static came from it at first. Then a voice was heard saying, “It will rain tomorrow.” After that, the static returned.
    “Well, it works a little,” Rasman said. “It is old, so we can expect it to have some static. We heard the weatherman, though.”
    “I think you bought a piece of junk,” Estelle said.
    “Somebody who collects antiques might pay a pretty penny for it,” Rasman said. “Then I’d make a profit.”
    “I hope that does happen.” Estelle turned and left the room.

X X X

    The next day, rain did indeed fall. The weatherman had been right.
    Later, the voice on the radio said that a local politician would resign after a scandal had ensued. Sure enough, that was exactly what happened.
    “You know what I think?” Rasman asked Estelle. “I think this radio has the magical ability to foretell the future.”
    Estelle snorted. “Oh Herbert, how ridiculous can you get?”
    “But it correctly predicted the future twice!”
    “It was only coincidence.”
    Rasman sighed. “If you say so.”

X X X

    Rasman’s daughter Sally had a husband, Jock, who was physically abusive to her. He made her so upset that she got palpitations often, she told Rasman.
    One day, the radio announced that Sally would die. Rasman knew that Jock would beat her to death. He immediately drove to their home to save Sally from being killed.
    When he got there, Jock told him that Sally was dead.
    “You scoundrel, you murdered my daughter!” Rasman exclaimed, as he picked up a vase and fatally struck Jock in the head with it. He felt satisfied that he had avenged Sally’s killing.
    He wasn’t so satisfied when the medical examiner told him that Sally had died of a heart attack. Rasman had dispatched Jock for nothing!
    You can imagine how much more upset Rasman got when he heard the man on the radio say, “Herbert Rasman will die by lethal injection.”

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