The Picture in the Lid

A public television viewing room in Berlin on a warm summer evening, heavy dark curtains drawn against the late daylight, bare plastered walls, rows of empty bentwood chairs seen from behind, at the front a tall narrow floor cabinet of glossy dark brown wood, its raised lid holding a mirror on two curved metal struts, in the mirror the cream-green curved face of an upright picture tube glowing with a soft blurred grey-green picture, on the front a silver-framed strip of blank dials with plain marks, two small toggle switches, two black knobs, below a large panel of red-brown cloth behind seven upright wooden bars, the dark wood plain and smooth.