ever have the feeling

Big Jim was no one's fool; he owned the town's only diamond mine.
He made his usual entrance, lookin' so dandy and so fine...
--Bob Dylan
"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts"
Blood on the Tracks LP

Ever have the feeling that you're just suspended in a moment, with a question mark over your head? (Like in the comic strips -- the question mark is in a bubble over your head, with a little comma-shaped thing pointing to you....)

I've never had Satellite TV; I don't live in the country, so I've only just had regular cable, at times. ... I was aware of, but not personally familiar with, the variety of options when people have the multitude of satellite channels.

...A cloudy summer evening, some years ago, I stopped by someone's house, by invitation -- on my way to an out-of-town meeting happening the next day.
In the living room, on a black leather sofa, he was lying with a remote in his hand, switching back and forth between two channels on a large TV which sat over in the corner, by the fireplace.

He clicked bakc and forth -- a minute on one station, maybe 45 seconds on the other -- back and forth.
One of the channels was playing a "religious" program (send your check to this address!)
and the other channel had
hard-core pornography.
?
(He was like, "Why is there a question mark hovering above your head?" -- ha, not really...)

I don't know what I expected, that evening,
but I know it wasn't that.

-30-