Cut off

I forgot my cell phone the other day when I went to work. It was terrible; I felt like I was cut off from the world.

What if someone called me? What if I wanted to call them?

I couldn’t talk to them. I didn’t have my trusty little companion on my hip. I might as well have been on the dark side of the moon.

How did people cope with this isolation in the old days?

… OK, technically, I wasn’t completely cut off. I did have a land-line in my office. And the people I would want to call had a land-line at their home or job or, best of all, that omnipresent cell phone.

But it wasn’t the same. What if someone called when I was out of my office? I might not see that I missed a call for five or 10 minutes!

And what if I was walking to my car — or even driving. I wouldn’t be able to talk to them until I got home!

When I think of all the vital information I missed, I felt sick.

When I got home, I couldn’t wait to rush to my cell phone. At last, I could rejoin the human race and yak with people about Important Stuff all the time.

It had been a harrowing experience, but somehow I survived. Now I know what it’s like to be lost in the woods or marooned on a desert island.

Funny thing though: When I finally wrapped my trembling fingers around my beloved cell phone, something must have gone wrong. It said “no missed calls.”

How could that be?