Nickie 063

The inventor was under the impression that the lady continued talking. He could see that she even started singing a song. Unfortunately, after the first verse her voice disappeared altogether. But she clearly enjoyed singing so he decided to wait until she finished her song.

"Hello Nickie, can you hear me? I can see you were singing a song but no sound came through. Please take off the cat eye glasses"

Apparently the singer heard him and she took off the glasses. After ten seconds, he handed the lady her own glasses.

"What went wrong?"

"I don't know. Your voice was quite low from the start and by the time you started singing, it slowly faded away completely. But I saw you were in your element"

"Absolutely. The song was Summertime. You probably remember it"

"Of course I remember Summertime. Were you singing it on your own or was it played on the little transistor radio in the park?"

"Yes, it was on the radio. So I started singing along but one of the boys went searching for another channel. Bad taste, don't you think? Anyway, I decided to continue Summertime. Just when I finished, the radio was playing a song in Flemish. The melody went like this...."

The lady started humming and the inventor recognized the song straightaway. He joined her and she nodded.

"You got that right. The song rings a bell but it's not my cup of tea. What's it all about?"

"I will give you one verse in English if you allow me"

"Your version may be better than the Flemish version on the radio. Alright, give it a lash"

"Old Billy the blacksmith, first time in his life
Has gone home cold sober to his darling wife
She says to him, Billy, you are early, my dear
Then he breaks down and tells her - the pub's got no beer"

"Not bad, with the Irish slant"

"Thank you. It's a pity that our communication was fading away. But all seems to point at 1959 or 1960. So the glasses fulfilled your wish. Can you tell a bit more about your impressions when you were there?"

"Later. I have a request. Can I try the other blue cat eye glasses?"

"Ah, let me guess. You want to go back to the teenagers with their transistor radio". He handed her the glasses. "Mind you, these are minus twelve so it will take you a bit longer"

"Never mind. It worked with the special lenses and they were just as strong. OK, here we go...."