MaineCourse

Just a Phone Call

Saturday morning the phone rang and it was my mother :

“You got your printer to work?”

“Dash did it, he talked to the Epson rep for a long time. Followed his instructions and now it prints.”

“Mack must be happy to get his stock portfolio. I could tell by your email that the storm clouds were overhead.”

“Epson said it was a conflict with OS X.”

“But why did it work before? And that means you didn’t have to send the other printer back?”

“I don’t know. They said it was fluky, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“I wonder what we’d do without the Ruthenburgs? Travis, now Dash. I couldn’t fly down there and fix it. Funny though, this computer that Mack so hates, yet if that portfolio of his is delayed, look out.”

“He wanted me to go into the basement and get the old printer.”

“The Stylewriter... . It still works but uses a different cable. You can’t plug it in to your new computer.”

“That’s what I thought.”

My mother often says, "That’s what I thought," when I’m thinking, how does she know?. She knows so much about so many things but about computers? She shares that sense of mythical mastery with my sister.

“Dash and I went to Fahrenheit 9/11.”

“Did you like it?”

“Oh yeah, but Richard Cohen wrote a scathing review.”

“Who’s Cohen?”

“A syndicated Washington Post columnist in our paper.”

“Far more people loved that movie than did not.”

“Really?”

Peter sounded equally surprised, which confounded me, until I realized it’s the internet where I get most of my information.

“When does Matthew leave for Nicaragua? Will my check get there in time?

“Not till next Sunday (this was Saturday and my use of the word next drives some people nuts. Like Diane). You have plenty of time.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yeah, nervous and excited. The closer it gets. I can’t stop running into people who look at me as if I should be behind bars. Without them, I’d be fine.”

“Well, we have to let him go.” She said it in the greater letting go way, not the obvious, because, after all, we didn’t have to say yes.

“Dash loved Nicaragua. He thinks he’ll be fine if Matt stays out of Managua.’

“Many people say that, and Matt and Hil only pass through, unless they go back on weekends.” That was supposed to be funny but wasn’t, unlike what my sister wrote me, “Tear up his plane ticket and send him to live with us. We’ll treat him badly, but there will be hospitals nearby.”

“How much does he know about the politics of the country?”

“Too much. He and Hil saw a documentary at Harvard that featured our support of Somoza and our funding of the Contras. There were people in the audience whose families were killed by the Contras. I wish he didn’t know any of that. At sixteen his life should be carefree. But I think this trip could be transformative, like when Peter went to Japan. He found his country.”

“No, it’s more like when Peter marched with Father Groppi in Milwaukee at the same age. Do you remember what Brian said before Peter left?
‘Don't smart off and keep your head down.’ “

“That is funny. That reminds me, how is Ben?"

“He’s better. His doctor upped his Tegretol.”

“About time.”

“I know. I thought I should do something but I can’t be responsible for everyone.”

“Yes you can, and you are, and you do and remember, you talked to Diane about his manic episodes. What you have to do is let go.”

To be continued....

Quintessential Michael bait-and-switch. A lightweight chat about deepest significance.

Posted by hooked.

“Oh yeah, but Richard Cohen wrote a scathing
review.”

“Who’s Cohen?”

That's wonderful! You should send that to Cohen, and put him in his place. I'm glad I missed Cohen's piece. At the time it came out, I was watching F911 in Boulder, CO.

"I wish he didn’t know any of that. At sixteen
his life should be carefree."

C'mon Mike. In less than 2 years he'll be voting.
I shudder at the political ignorance of today's teenagers. Nicaragua will be the best political, economic, and societal education you could ever give him. I'm glad to hear he already knows "too much" about the politics of the contra period. That shows he's now miles ahead of most other kids his age.

Posted by rakkity.

Love the conversation...particularly your sisters suggestion of what to do with Matthew and his ticket! Too funny. My daughter saw F911 and could not stop talking about it. It made her cry. Also made her never want to vote. They should just put Michael Moore's films in every high school curriculum. Stilted though he is, his films do pack a punch.

Posted by chris.

I remember what a political awakening it was to hook up with the Miller family. In my family the important question was, "Do you want Scotch or Gin?"

Posted by Ginger.

Your rare visits are all the finer for their pith, Ginger!

"At sixteen his life should be carefree." Was yours, dad? I remember watching "The 7% Solution" (a quirky/good Sherlock Holmes piece) in a theater during high school, and as the lights came up, a 7-year-old (or some such) asked his mother, "Mommy, what's a murder?" And I remember feeling shocked that anyone with language skills wouldn't know, as if I disapproved of her over-sheltering her children, leaving them unaware of and thus unprepared for a world in which there were murders. But the farther I get from that 7-year-old, the more I appreciate the protective instinct you have for Matt...........

Posted by politically challenged.

Posted by Michael at July 6, 2004 09:59 AM