Kids in an Electronic Candy Store

It was around 1986 or 1987 when Harry and I first used a computer to go "online" and browse a virtual mall.

He had a Commodore 64 for a few years. I eventually had one of my own. We mostly played games on them. We also dabbled in programming. But when he bought a modem for it that connected the computer to the phone line, we knew the future of mankind had arrived.

With the modem came one free hour with a service called CompuServ. That was a golden hour and we didn't want to waste it. Eventually the big day came and we dialed up CompuServ. Our next stop after that was to crack into some government computer and see if we could take control of any intercontinental ballistic missiles.

And with our countdown timer started, we got connected. Everything was text based. We saw the main menu that had games, chat rooms, shopping, and more. So we chose to shop from home. Wow, I felt like we were living an episode of the Jetsons. Once in the mall there was another menu to select clothing, music, food, etc. We chose food. We went deeper and deeper until we were in a candy store. I believe we even selected some candy to buy, but we didn't get as far as purchasing. Then we logged off.

I was hoping there had been some kind of glitch and the candy would show up on Harry's doorstep anyway, but as far as I know it didn't. I don't think we ever used the full hour. And as far as I remember we only connected that one time. I know the country's defense system was never in danger.

It would be another ten years or so before I went back online when I finally subscribed to my own dial-up Internet. And now, more than another ten years later, I'm writing this.