The Bed Channel

Channel 52 on my television is a station that I have come to fondly refer to as the Bed Channel. A four-way split screen yields black and white scenes of four different beds. A close up on the bed to be percise, and generally 1-7 sleepers in the bed. The first time I stumbled upon this time-suck I myself was in my bed and became positively convinced that the footage of the screen was me tucked under the covers, silently glancing around the room to find the hidden camera. Days later I am almost certain it is not me on the Bed Channel although I am unconvinced that those faithful sleepers are not other occupants of my building. While in America a channel devoted to nothing but beds usually holds the ripe promise of porn here it is quite the opposite.

"What are they doing in the beds?" Jason asked, when I informed him of my discovery.

"They're just sleeping."

"Of course they are."

I tune into the bed channel quite often these days. Checking to see if the people are still sleeping, who's sleeping, how many people are in bed. At my grandmother's apartment building they have a similar pasttime found in the Lobby Channel. My grandmother settles into her La-Z-Boy and watches security footage of the happenings in the lobby, always instructing people to wave on their way in and out of the front door and waiting for those exciting moments when someone she knows comes on the screen. A million miles away I find myself doing the same thing. Settling onto my own bed and turning immediately to 52, thoroughly entranced in the nuance and drama of the bed channel and waiting patiently for the exciting moment when someone I know may flit across the screen.