What is that? his granddaughter pointed to the top of a short bookcase at the exposed keys of a brother Charger 11
he appreciated she didnt try and touch
it without asking first
his daughter and son-in-law had done
their workinstilled a sense of other peoples belongings If it’s not yours. Look. Don’t touch.
that was refreshing it
also saved him from breaking one of her fingers Thats a typewriter baby
A type writer ?
Yes A typewriter why
would she know what a typewriter was her
generation wouldnt use one it was odd to her A typewriter is a
precursor which means it precededcame
before computers The tall mechanical keys are aligned exactly
like the shallow keys on your parents laptops have the same QWERTY keyboard
I know that.
You know what
What you said.
What did I say
You know.
I do What did I say
You said about that that
that thing.
Typewriter
Yes. Typewriter.
Precusor
Huh?
Precusor
I remember you said the word.
Precusor Came before In a sense Im a precusor in direct line to your mother and to you and your sister Precursor Ancestor Some fun huh
Ohyeah.
Yeah QWERTY
That’s a funny word.
It is another fun word Do you remember
A
ahh like like a
keyboard?
Yes Try not to guess baby If you dont knowask Always ask Be curious Thats how youthats how
you and how I learn Speaking for
myself if I dont knowI wanna know The smartest thing you can do is ask a question because theres no such thing as a stupid
question If someone says Thats a stupid
question a dumb question Id give them a
lot of room and decide whether or not theyd make a good friend
Why do you say that?
Do you want to associate yourself
with someone who easily accuses someone else of being stupid Or dumb Those can be hurtful words hurt feelings
Aren’t some people are stupid?
Perhaps Though I like to think that either theyre too
lazy to find out because they could if they wanted to they dont have to be
ignorant or something may have happened to them that has diminished them or their
brain
You’re strange, Grampa.
Not really baby I remember longhand printing and cursive I remember shorthand like a secret code I remember typewriters then electric
typewriters and then wordprocessors then
acronyms appearedthen compressed words coined words I make up words all
the time Then computers the WORD
program WORD helped me go nuts So you
can say more accurately do you understand the word accurate . .
. . Yes . .
. . Yes What
Accurate. Like more
detailed. Like a drawing. Like stick
figures are to drawing a figure of a person or an animal. Clouds.
Clouds Yes A stick cloudwould be boring Very good So you can say Im nuts or crazy either more so than strange You wont hurt my feelings
Grampa, nuts or crazy isn’t nice.
Im not nicedont make that
mistake Im like a mirror baby Im going to treat you exactly like you treat
me I am not nice
I think you nice.
Thank you But you treat me nicely Get it
I . . I think I do.
You do If you treat me badly Ill be in your face
before you can blink Thats how I
am
That’s a little scary, Grampa.
It shouldnt be Not if you remember to treat others as you want
to be treated I think that makes
sense What do you think
I think you’re right.
I think youre right
2346, Friday,
12 10. 18
1739, Day-between-Two-Ts, 24 10.
18
