Tomás decides he wants a clockradio to listen to while he’s going to sleep. I can relate, I had one when I was ten or so, listening to music — MY music — was a private joy.
Kristen helps Tomás choose a station. Head-down, teeth clenched, eyes closed, he turns the dial, very serious. Goes through the entire FM spectrum. Eventually, he hits on a station playing soca, the loud, fast-paced, relentless Caribbean music.
“This one,” he nods.
He lays down in his bed, sings along inventing words, and laughs.
1. “while he’s going to sleep” … what’ll he choose to wake up to?
2. As a teen, folks in my house respected when I took a musical time out with my headphones (big cans, no buds then). When I needed to think things through without interruptions, I’d sometimes put on my headphones and put the receiver on “AUX” … silence to think in, but it *looked* like I was listening to music.