friendly conversation

this writer emails her old buddy aka
computer guru after he’s rescued her
once again from her electronic cesspit:
“I know I am a trial to you . . . ”
“Trial???” he responds. “Trial???
Test, ordeal, burden, worry, hardship,
tribulation, anxiety, difficulty, misery,
adversity, exasperation, aggravation,
abomination, even liability perhaps –
but trial? Whatever would make you
think such a thing?”

This article appears in May 5-11, 2016.