January 24, 1994 P. 96

January 24, 1994 P. 96

The New Yorker, January 24, 1994 P. 96

SHOUTS AND MURMURS about Bennett and Linda Weber's son, Jeffrey, moving out of the house, and realizing with that, they had lost the ability to tape. Author heard about it from his friend, Horace, who specializes in stories about people who are in that awkward phase between the end of paying tuition and the beginning of playing with grandchildren. Very few of those people are much good with a VCR. When Jeffrey Weber moved out it was a pleasant departure. Linda said, "If Jeffrey's going to find himself, it would probably help for him to look somewhere other than his own room." Jeffrey sometimes worked as a technician for avant-garde theatre productions. He moved into a cheap railroad flat found by his college friend Jason, who is trying to decide whether to go on to graduate school. Helen, the third roommate, was working as a waitress while she took acting lessons. All three roommates were sometimes described as trying to find themselves. Bennett Weber sometimes referred to them collectively as "The Lost Patrol," the name of his favorite old Victor McLaglen movie--which was, ironically, the movie he was about to copy off a cable channel until he realized that Jeffrey was the only person in the family who knew how to tape from the cable box. Horace said he had a lot of sympathy for him. It's hard to tape without a kid around. Bennett called Jeffrey, who printed out instructions, and Jeffrey took them over. Another time, the Webers had a problem with the answering machine, which Jeffrey also fixed. He also showed Bennett how to set the alarm on his digital watch. Out of this came Jeffrey's company Techno-Klutz Ltd. He does an in-home course on how to work your machines. Jeffrey's doing so well he might franchise.

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