Glenn was absolutely brilliant when it came to computers and just
about anything else for that matter. In high school he climbed to the
upper echelon of the soc and intellectual classes even though he was only
a slight 130 pounds. A true all around genius, modest and a treasure
trove of information. If Glenn talked about computers I listened and
learned. So when Glenn suggested J.C. Penny's was closing out their
Atari's I went with him to the next Saturday's sale.
The doors opened at eight and we got there a little before. People
were already elbowing to get in position. I just assumed it was a store
wide sale and most of these older ladies would be headed to the towel
racks and clothing section. I was wrong. The stampede started at 7:59
and these sweet little old ladies were professionals at throwing elbows,
blocking stairwells and positioning themselves to get the best deals.
I was foolishly polite and when I got to the computer section Glenn
already had his arms around three Atari 800's which had been marked down
to $99. It was a site to see. Glenn had his arm over two of the
computers, stacked on a table, with the other under his arm while fighting
off angry glares from shoppers who knew the rules of no holds barred.
Glenn obviously sensed my confusion as it was all happening to fast for
me, so he told be to guard the boxes while he quickly moved around and
grabbed modems, power supplies, cartridges and anything else that could be
used. By 8:10 the computer shelves were stripped bare except for a couple
of useless metal brackets and some plastic plugs. If it hadn't of been
for Glenn I would never have gotten my Atari 800, modem, cassette player,
64K of memory cartridge and a lot more that ultimately proved invaluable
when learning to program the Atari and participate in the science age.
