A Wanton Act of Abandonment

 

I went out today without my mobile phone.

It felt wanton.

I know something dreadful will happen.

An accident. A death.

A crack in the surface of things.

And someone will try to contact me.

It’s happened before.

My daughter giving birth.

I was three hours late.

Shit happens.

But nine times out of ten it doesn’t.

It’s a gamble.

A dead weight in my pocket.

The world can do without me for a few hours.

I’ll be back, as Arnie says.

There may be messages saying,

Where the hell are you? We’ve been trying to contact you all day!

And I’ll answer winsomely,

I just stepped out for a moment.

Wassup ?