She looked at the cherry on the end of the joint. Over on the table, the record player was playing a Turtles album. The smoke hung in the air languidly, and she exhaled with a calm release.
“Turn it up,” she asked in almost a whisper.
I got up in my nudity and turned the dial up a few notches.
She smiled at my naked form, I smiled through my own awkwardness. She took another toke and let it out in a similar calm breath. I returned to the bed and found my way under the covers. I found her body between the cotton layers, wrapped in the soft fabric. It felt so warm and welcoming next to her in the gentle heat of the room, despite the winter blowing outside the glazed windows.
“Listen to that,” she commanded calmly. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“The speakers are playing two different parts of the song.”
“Yeah, it’s in stereo”.
“No shit”, she said with a knowing, if mildly condescending smile. “They don’t really do that so much anymore. Music is still in stereo, but that strong contrast between the two sides isn’t as popular anymore.”
“I think the technology was new,” I said with a shrug, “I think it was the cool new thing, everyone wanted to do it, though I think you had to have a special record player for it, so they sold both versions of the album.”
“Both?”
“Stereo and Mono.”
“Ah.” She took another drag as I scowled, I guess beautiful women are exempted from the puff puff pass rule. “I miss it though,” she went on, “I really like it, they should totally bring it back.”
I shrugged.
“Don’t you agree?”
“Well, sort of.”
“Wow,” she laughed with smoke coming out of her mouth, “nice diplomatic non-answer there.” She passed me the joint and I took a pull. I held the joint in my hand and the smoke in my lungs. I puffed out my cheeks before breathing out. She smiled at my showmanship, perhaps she liked it, perhaps she was just baked.
“What do you really think though?” she continued.
“Well I like it too, and I’m totally down to see it come back to the level it was.”
“Nice,” she added.
“But,”
“But,” she interjected.
“But I think it was kinda a ‘60s thing. It was the style of that time, we could go retro, but it won’t be the same, it won’t have the new, cutting-edge feel, any song now that used that style would be an imitation, no matter how well or lovingly done.”
“The era is over is what you are saying.”
“Yeah, and it’s cool to bring stuff back, but it won’t be the same. It will be just a button on a computer, not the loving work of some engineer with the latest and greatest equipment.”
“Perhaps then the past should stay the past.”
“Well, they left us a glorious legacy and some solid tunes.”
“Damn right” she said nodding her head in agreement.
