All we wanted was something from the refrigerator, it does not matter what we needed.  What ever it was we got way more than we bargained for.  From upstairs or in the basement of our house, we could always tell when someone fell victim to another one of my dad’s “buzzer” jokes. In fact, I am sure the whole neighborhood could tell.  He recycled his jokes like yesterday’s news until every family member and most of his friends and neighbors had experienced the gag. Some of my friends were too nervous to come over not knowing what to expect next.

At some point on one of my Dad’s job sites he came across one of those phone buzzers, the ones intended to be mounted on the outside of a building to alert the crew of an incoming phone call in the office. The old phone systems put out enough voltage to trigger the buzzer to go off. Like I said, I am not sure when or where he came across this device, on a job site or perhaps from a friend but I can tell you that life in the Beck House would never be the same from that moment forward. This thing had a nasty habit of showing up when we least expected it, and in the most unexpected places…

On more than one occasion it showed up inside the refrigerator. It was real simple to wire up, all you had to do was to screw out the light bulb inside on the back wall of the refrigerator, attach the cord to one of those outlets you could get that would screw into a light socket and plug the buzzer in. He would then set the buzzer inside on any one of the shelves where he could find room, close the door and sit back and wait.

With a family of six, with only one in “the know”, it did not take long for a victim to show up. Unfortunately, in the mornings that was usually our mom in the throes of making breakfast and packing lunches. Friends often showed up in the mornings as well so there were days when more than one person fell victim. How my dad had a wife and so many friends is a mystery to me.

When the unsuspecting person nonchalantly opened the refrigerator, all hell broke loose. This thing was loud, and I do mean loud! I am amazed we did not have to keep clean pairs of underwear, in all sizes, near by. Stunned by the cacophony, many victims just stood there in shock. Others slammed the refrigerator door and stormed out. If my memory serves me correctly I think a number of profanities were also uttered with “Neil” in the beginning of the rant or at then end, or at both ends. For about a year, or what seemed longer, this device showed up on a regular basis and just about all of us fell victim to its prey.

Funny how we all had a good laugh when we were not the one getting buzzed! Where is the buzzer now? I will never tell…..