At work today, I ran across an old phone stall (not a booth but a stall) that's no longer in use, because Verizon and U.B. decided that our campus pay phones were too underutilized and that we couldn't justify keeping them.
The phone and phone book (but not its cover) were both gone from the stall, and this sight inspired me to write a rough draft of a short short, which came to 183 words. But anyway, this thing, this stall, was just so
That old pay phone stall is unoccupied, these days, just a black rectangular outline that used to say “Verizon” somewhere. The plastic case that previously held a phone book now hangs empty MT. Passersby think maybe it’s all a result of Baltimore theft, but I know the truth. Of economic woes and phone line underuse but mostly technological advancements. The pay phone is extinct and out-styled; the cellular mobile phone cell phone smartphone reigns supreme.
Just last year, though, I saw this dreaded-out guy, tangling long, messy locks around bony, brown fingers and speaking casually and playfully on the phone that's not there anymore, as if unaware that oral aural conversation was going out of style.
Even then, we were headed toward this, the golden age of Twitter and texting txtng, where people actually know what SMS and MMS mean. And can’t live without them, either one.
The emptiness is upon us the MTness is upon us. Conversations of 160 characters 140 characters. And we’re so stupid; we just keep spilling nonsense.
“Bring us more, make it shorter!”
“Bring us shorter!”
“Shorter”
MT
That old pay phone stall is unoccupied, these days, just a black rectangular outline that used to say “Verizon” somewhere. The plastic case that previously held a phone book now hangs empty MT. Passersby think maybe it’s all a result of Baltimore theft, but I know the truth. Of economic woes and phone line underuse but mostly technological advancements. The pay phone is extinct and out-styled; the cellular mobile phone cell phone smartphone reigns supreme.
Just last year, though, I saw this dreaded-out guy, tangling long, messy locks around bony, brown fingers and speaking casually and playfully on the phone that's not there anymore, as if unaware that oral aural conversation was going out of style.
Even then, we were headed toward this, the golden age of Twitter and texting txtng, where people actually know what SMS and MMS mean. And can’t live without them, either one.
The emptiness is upon us the MTness is upon us. Conversations of 160 characters 140 characters. And we’re so stupid; we just keep spilling nonsense.
“Bring us more, make it shorter!”
“Bring us shorter!”
“Shorter”
"Shrtr"
The same thing happened at my olfd movie theatre a few years back. I think it was more to do with the line than the actual expense of the phone (I can't imagine them being able to reuse the physical phone.) Still, on the rare occassions I don't have my cell phone it sucks that there's never a payphone to use.
ReplyDeleteYes, very true.
ReplyDelete