We had tried to get her to cut the cable but she wasn’t and still isn’t a huge fan of learning new technology. I tried to show her how she could watch the shows and news programs she wanted via apps and the internet. She wanted no part of it. Too many buttons to push. Too much mess to manage.
“I just want to turn on the tv and put it on channel 3. I don’t have time for all these apps and crap. Just give me my clicker. As much money as I pay for all of this, I should just be able to say what I want and the TV should just play it!”
“Mom,” I said picking up the remote, “you, you can do that.” Those were my famous last words. For the next five minutes she watched me fight to have my voice recognized, try to find what I want in one place but get redirected to another, and finally put the remote down in frustration and hand her back her ‘clicker’.
“It was fine. He came over and we made dinner.” Karen answered over the iffy video.
“Oh that’s…”
“And then, I kissed him.”
“Oh…” I was surprised. She had never been the aggressive one.
“That sounds great!” I was really happy for her. “Annnd…”
“Annnd he stayed over,” she dropped her shoulders. I felt that ping thing again.
“Was it bad? Did he hurt you?” I felt a little knot in my chest.
“No. Nothing like that. He was kind and fun. He was kind and fun the next morning,” she smiled a sad little smile.
“So, what happened?”
“When he went to take a shower, his phone rang…”
“Oh, Karen…” I knew where this was headed.
“Then the texts from someone named Cheryl started. ‘Where are you? Why didn’t you come home? I thought we were going to meet this morning to talk?’ Then the phone rang a couple more times.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“When he got out of the shower I said ‘Sounds like someone’s blowing up your phone’. He just looked at the messages and said, ‘Oh shit! I had a great time. I should have told you … I have to go.’ Then he just got dressed and left.”
“Oh Karen, I’m so sorry.”
“I mean, it’s not like I was expecting a wedding ring or anything but some common fucking courtesy would have been nice. ‘Oh by the way I’m seeing someone’ or ‘This is my soon to be ex and we need to talk things through before it’s finally over.’ None of that. Just ‘Oh shit! I have to go.’ The good thing about this pandemic is I get to work from home and I don’t have to see them in person.”
“Them?”
“They went twit/face/insta/snap official a week later. Apparently he left his ex to move in with her and now they’re together because of the pandemic.”
“Twit/face/insta/snap official? How old are these people?”
“You don’t want to know.”
She didn’t cry. I sat quietly.
“This shit isn’t supposed to be this hard,” she finally said. I was worried the video had frozen.
“It’s not,” I replied. “But it is. The lows make the highs higher. I don’t know if it matters, but when this shitshow virus thing is over and we can do movie nights again, I’ve got a big Kare-Bear hug for you. You can even pick the next few movies.”
“The Twilight Series,” she said, far too quickly. She smiled a real smile for the first time.
“Really?!? How old are you?”
“It’s either that or The Notebook.”
“Why must you hate me so?” I asked closing my eyes and shaking my head.
“The lows make the highs higher,” she mocked.
It was my turn to smile.
“I have to prep a zoom meeting,” she said rubbing her face. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“You take care of yourself,” I said as the screen went blank.
I knew I was too much of a mess to manage. I also knew that if you try to find what you want in one place and get redirected back to another, the universe is usually telling you where you need to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment