ah, those wonderful memories
of that wall mounted phone
usually yellow in most houses
began with a 3-foot cord
eventually a 30-foot cord
so important
for one’s privacy
if the phone rang
and the call was for one of us
we’d travel with that cord
way beyond any expected limits
into a corner or another room
with closed door
where we could
listen, gossip, tell jokes, share news, talk about nothing, cry about breakups, listen to music together, compare who got invited to what, predict who was going to ask who out, muse about crushes, complain about our parents and sibs, find out what the homework was because we weren’t listening in class, discuss what you were going to wear tomorrow, make plans…
and then
after what seemed to be about 5-7 minutes
one of your sibs
would start whining, complaining, knocking on the door, telling on you
for being on the phone ‘for hours’
they were waiting for an important call
or had to make an important call
and they were just going to die
if they didn’t get to use the phone right away
the battle for the phone began
if someone had to walk
through the room that cord was stretched across
a taut tightrope about to snap
they had to lift it and walk under
like playing phone limbo
the curly cord
would get all twisted up
because you had been twirling it around your finger
while you were on your call
you had to wait as the whole thing unspooled
sometimes standing on a chair to do so
when you finally got off of the call
your sibling began the whole process all over again
with her friend
until
another sibling jumped into the ring
to go through the whole ritual again
with her friend
until
your parents
or the friend’s parents
put the hammer down
and said
they were waiting for or had to make an important call
it was time for dinner
not to stretch out the phone cord
one sib even figured out how to disconnect the cord
right where it connected to the phone
it was an ongoing struggle
for privacy, phone access, and control
it was the best, like being in a phone derby
and sometimes i won.
‘the shared phone was a space of spontaneous connection for the entire household.’
— Julia Cho; The Atlantic—How the Loss of the Landline Is Changing Family Life
I didn't have my glasses on.... 