Communication
Communication
between the generations has always had its problems:
“Darren
shows me the screen of his mobile phone and after squinting at it for
some time, both with my glasses on and then off, I make out the
following:
C U LTR @ JX
“Cultrajux?” I venture.
“No Nan, it says `see you
later at Jack`s`”
“It does?” I say, in
genuine astonishment.
He then goes on to explain
all about text messaging and how leaving out the vowels makes it
quicker. I don`t have the heart to tell him that speedwriting has
been around for decades.”
And as for mobile phones when
you get to a certain age when your eyes aren't so sharp and your
fingers less nimble than they used to be:
“I finally get the phone to a
position where I can `dial` the number but the buttons are so small
that it takes me an eternity to press each one. I daren`t make a
mistake, each time you press a number it comes up on the screen and
I`ve no idea how you rub them out if you go wrong. At this rate
Marion will be home before I get through to her. With a final effort
of will the last digit is confirmed and I hold the phone to my ear.
Nothing happens, no ringing sound,
no dialling tone, nothing. I look at it in mute fury and it looks
blankly back at me. Maybe I have to press the green telephone symbol;
or should I press the red one? Maybe that`s for emergencies?; or
what`s this blue button for? But if I press any of them then I might
have to go through all that rigmarole with the numbers again. I don`t
know what to do!”
But as Darren's nan finds out when she
has a fall, there is more than one way to summon help with a mobile
phone.
Extracts from “Communication”,
Short Story #1 from
Comments
Post a Comment