phones

Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring!

“What’s that? Is it the alarm clock? In the middle of the afternoon? Why?”

“No, that’s not the alarm clock. That’s the phone.”

“The phone? But I thought phones vibrated and played some sort of music… What kind is it then? Not Android for sure… Oh I know! It must be Windows Phone! Windows Phones are so rare to find that maybe this is why I don’t recognize the ring…”

“No! It’s not a Windows Phone, nor an Android or iPhone or any of those. We’re at grandma’s, remember? She does not have a smart phone. It’s just an old land line phone.”

“Land line? Land? What do you mean? Why land? And where did she put it that I can hear it so loud?”

“Land line because the voice travels through a metal wire or optical fiber that is “landed”. Not cellular radio waves. But I guess she has the ring on max volume so she can hear it from other rooms. It stays fixed in the living room. By the sofa. Haven’t you ever noticed it?”

“No, the only thing I remember by the sofa is that antique calculator kind-a-thing, with the numbers on a dial but no display to show the result. I actually never understood how it worked though…”

“Calculator??? Really?! That’s the phone!!!”

“The phone???!!! But it does not look like one! There is not even a touch screen. Actually there’s no screen at all. How do we install apps on it? And how to get SMS?”

“We don’t, dummy! Old phones are only for speaking. Just voice calls. No apps, no internet, no images. Just voice.”

“Oh!… Really? So where does grandma makes her grocery lists then?… On no! Don’t tell me she uses PAPER!!!”

“Oh boy….”

This post was written for the Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #2.

The rules for this one are to try to be funny. The story needs to be 299 words long (give or take 9 words) and is supposed to “raise a grin, trigger a giggle, release a chuckle, generate a guffaw, give life to a groan”.

This one was the one I saw as the hardest, as I have a hard time being funny on purpose. Then the day before the challenge was posted, I was writing for a daily prompt and realized the text I had just created could fit this contest, so I refrained myself from publishing for the prompt so I could enter it here. Not sure if was funny enough, but I decided to give it a try anyways ;o)

The winner was announced yesterday on Carrot Ranch Blog and this week’s great prize went to Colleen Chesbro with “The Bus Stop”.

Congrats to Colleen and well done to all of the participants.

When I was a teenager, there were no cell phones. We had a landline at home. Just one. Our phone had wires. But not those long ones that you could bring to other rooms. So when in the phone we had to be either in the living room or at my parents bedroom.

At that time there were no computers and little devices with social media. The few computers we would see had old pre-windows systems, with no graphics and a very slow processing speed.

It wasn’t as easy to communicate, you’d say. But we did, and I guess we did well.

I’d be hours on the phone with my friends. Talking about any and everything. I knew them well and they knew me well, even if we didn’t get to know every step each other took, every restaurant we ate at, and how many electronic friends we had.

We were friends. Simply. And we talked. On a time when phones were for talking indeed.

Today I have a smart phone. Can’t live without it. I use it for facebook, instagram, pinterest, kindle, untappd, seesaw, classdojo, linkedin. I also make my grocery lists on it! And take pictures with it! I also chat very quickly and cryptically with people via whatsapp, messenger, skype.*

Oh! And I can also even talk to people!
Wait…
When have been the last time I actually used my phone to talk to someone? Have a real conversation, talk about life’s problems and blessings, tell jokes, tease, flirt?….
hum… let me try to remember…….

This post was written based on the prompt Phones, from Writer Write’s October prompts.

I almost didn’t publish this one today.
To be honest I didn’t like it much. Mostly because it sounds like a statement, and I don’t necessarily agree with what it says.
Yes, there is some truth in it, but I guess the point is a bit exaggerated and fails to see the good things about the smart phones and new communication methods.

But… I didn’t want to skip today, and well, I had a piece written already… So why not make it public? ;o)

* all the brand names used here are trademarks of their respective owners.