A Year Wait

IB

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When IB (grandson) was going back to Houston, after a month’s stay here during the summer holidays, I kept getting more melancholy 🙁 day by day. Sunshine was going to be missing from our lives till he got back to us next year.

A friend told me to get more photos of him to last me a year of deprivation (as if that could suffice). She thought the photos could last me an year of not seeing him.

For the first month after he left, I would look at the videos, and photographs, reliving each moment again. Slowly my heartache dulled. The photo above is a favorite one. It bounces to life on my iPhone, when I click on it. IB smiles before the photo stills.

Black

Last year I wanted a new iPhone. I wanted a silver color (like my old one) which wasn’t available. I waited a month, and a half for it to come. I cancelled, as they were charging for insurance too. This year almost the same thing happened. The only color available was black. I okayed it, cause  I didn’t want a repeat of last year. The shop attendant showed me a water proof cover for it. I bought it.

After getting back home, I discovered that the voice wasn’t clear. Besides that I wasn’t getting messages, or phone calls on the new purchase. My euphorbia over a new phone evaporated into thin air. I waited a day , or so for Son to be free so he could go with me. 

We explained the problems with the new iPhone. The attendant wasn’t helpful, and I felt more disappointed. He told me to find out after five days if he had more iPhones available. One option was to return it.

Coming out to the parking area I got an idea. I removed the cover, and told Son to get out of the car, and move away some distance, and then phone me. He did, and I found out nothing was wrong with the phone. We went back, and I chose another cover, returning the first one. 

I’m glad I did the experiment, saved myself another trip, and solved the problem on my own.

…

Daily Prompt

Black

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/black/

Inside The Bubble

With the help of my iPhone and iPad, I will be okay. These two have been my companions in the past, so if I am quarantined I won’t suffer from the isolation.

Yesterday I had to go without breakfast for a visit to the doctor. Three of my health issues were piling up, and I could no longer ignore them. I have no medical insurance, so I have to pay for a doctor visit and buy medicine with cash. This month has been costly for me, but I am surviving.

I had been asked to come for a blood test (abstaining from food and water) at eight in the morning. For a simple blood test I had to wait till twelve. By that time I was both hungry and thirsty. I was feeling lightheaded and was having tremors in my hands.

My son who accompanied me was sneezing. He must have caught the germs from someone in the waiting room. We returned home at three, and I was sneezing as well.

To stop my runny nose I took Benadryl. All I did yesterday and now is sleep.

DAILY PROMPT

Inside the Bubble

A contagious disease requires you to be put into quarantine for a whole month (don’t worry, you get well by the time you’re free to go!). How would you spend your time in isolation?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/inside-the-bubble/

Hear No Evil

Sometimes it’s better if you hear something, and ignore it —– cause it brings on trouble which is difficult to avoid.

In my story I didn’t do any evil, but got branded with it.

Last year I didn’t have a cell phone. Whenever I talked of buying one, my son would talk me out of it. He would say that I didn’t need one. For the occasional calls back home I had calling cards, and the home telephone to use, otherwise I had no friends here where I needed to talk. 

Then I had e-mails from my tenants back home. They needed a copy of my identity card to show to the police checking homes to whom the property belonged. I was being cautious, and wanted to speak with them to find out more.

I picked up the telephone, and realized that my daughter-in-law N was talking with her friend. I should have put the phone down, and gone down the stairs to tell N, I needed to make calls. I hate climbing upstairs, and downstairs, because of my back problem, and my room is upstairs.

What I did was stupid, probably I was worried about my own troubles, but that’s no excuse.  I straightaway interrupted N, and told her when she is done, she should let me know so that I can make my calls. And then I put the phone down.

I broke all hell loose on myself that day. I created a mess for myself, and became a bad guy. How was I to know that N was incensed at me? She thought I was listening to her conversation. She should have realized that If I was listening to her I would have kept quiet. 

I came to know the whole fiasco when my son came home, and chided me, “Mom, why did you behave this way?”

Here I am the accused, and I have no inkling?

My heart stopped at the accusation. The next day I made my son take me to Best Buy. I got my phone, and I have not used the home number ever again.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/hear-no-evil/

Hear No Evil

Tell us about a conversation you couldn’t help but overhear and wish you hadn’t.
 

Undo

If you could un-invent something, what would it be? Discuss why, potential repercussions, or a possible alternative.

IB in his favorite position being covered by a beanbag to keep himself warm, while watching something on IPad.

If it was up to me I would undo video games. My grandson IB is so much taken with Minecraft. When he is not playing it, he watches programs related to it, so that he can play it better.

Children remain indoors. They hardly go outside to play. Their health, and physique suffer. There are dark circles round their eyes, and they look pale. They are turning into zombies. They are addicted to playing on iPhones, monitors, or handheld devices.

Most of the games are about killing, and blasting people, and things to smithereens. Children concentrate more on these games than on their studies. This way their grades suffer.

What the games teach? Violence, and more violence.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/undo/

Terminal Time

You’re at the airport, your flight is delayed for six more hours, and none of your electronic devices is working. How do you pass the time?

On flights I do carry my iPad, and iPhone. On both of them I have games to play, and e books to read. They keep me company, and I am not bored.

If they won’t work, I will take out a book to read, from my carry on. I always have one or two books with me.

If I forgot, and there are no books with me, I will strike a conversation with fellow travelers. That will help pass the time on my hands. I can have a look in the shops to buy something I like.

When my husband was alive, and we were traveling together, I used to nap. Now I have to travel alone, I can’t have the luxury of napping. I am afraid that someone will steal my handbag, or my passport. Fear chases away my sleep, and I remain awake. I feel relief when it’s boarding time.

On one flight, an Afghan woman kept asking the passengers, whether anyone had seen her passport. Someone took it from her bag.
I felt pity for her, at her predicament.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/terminal-time/
Terminal Time

What I Need

Daily Prompt: Breathing Room
An extra room has been magically been added to your home overnight. The catch: if you add more than three items to it, it disappears. How do you use it?

I will opt for a bathroom. It’s the one I badly need. I miss my attached bath in my home country. Here I share the bath with the three youngsters.

My husband over the years, addicted me to a separate bath for myself.

During the years he was in service, wherever we were posted, he preferred a separate bath for himself. Where as I used the master bath, he would use a guest one. If there were guests, he and I would share. But that was rare, because we always had surplus bathrooms.

Mornings I rush to the bathroom before it is taken. I do feel victorious in getting to it on time. If I am late by five minutes, I have to trudge despondently downstairs to the half bath.

The next rush to the bathroom happens in the evening. We all have to say the evening prayer, that is Maghreb. The evening prayer has to be said in a period slot of twenty minutes. If I am a little bit tardy, the eldest H occupies it. Wait….wait…..and wait. Once he is in, he forgets. Why? The iPhone keeps him occupied. Guess! Who is the culprit? Correct, the iPhone.

The third clash of timing happens at night. If I laze around after coming back from walk, then I can say bye to the bathroom, cause H is there ruminating.

To pass the waiting period, I pick up a book, or check my iPad, and forget that I am waiting for my dear H to come out. The second one, Sn gets the privilege to occupy the hot spot, along with his iPhone. I get back to reading, and that’s how I am always late for sleeping on time.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/breathing-room/
What I Need

What Could Happen?

Daily Prompt: Worst Case Scenario
Of all the awful possibilities, what’s the worst possible thing that could happen to you today?

Thinking of worst case scenario means, tempting fate. Even if nothing is going to happen, you think of it, and the deed is done.

Yesterday the microwave stopped working. Time to get a new one. You can imagine the misery we are going through.

The worst thing which can happen today, is that the flush won’t work. It’s a nightmare. It means trips to to the downstairs bathroom, when the need arises. There you are banging at the door, and the elder one, or the middle one is in there having a jolly good time with his iPhone. The earplugs are in place, and they can’t hear you.

The last time the flush was not working, I made a paper sign, and put it on the lid, “Don’t use.”

The youngest, IB didn’t look at it. He removed the sign, and used it. It bubbled right over. There was a huge mess to be cleaned.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/worst-case-scenario/
What Could Happen?