I was at the grocery store this past weekend, wandering around the bulk aisle wearing my battered, vividly green “Keep your hands off my Theremin” tshirt, which I had snagged as swag from Moog at gearfest a few years back.
As I was trying to figure in my head out how many walnuts I could get for $5, I heard someone behind me say “uh…excuse me, sir?”
I turned around, and saw behind me an older man, probably in his early 80’s. “I like your shirt” he chuckled. “Keep your hands off! That’s funny.”
I grinned.
“Do you…actually have a theremin?”
“Two!” I replied.
“I tried to build one in the 50’s. It worked for about a half hour, then it made a horrible sound and never worked again. Who makes those anymore anyway?”
I explained about Moog and pointed to the logo on the sleeve. He took out a pen and wrote something on the back of his grocery list, ostensibly the word “Moog” or something.
“Thanks!” he said, as he turned and looked down the aisle. “Honey!” he shouted, “I can get a new theremin!”
An older lady at the far end of the aisle looked up from the wall of packaged bakery. “Oh, good lord” she sighed, clearly exasperated.
That made my day.