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I’d never seen my good buddy, Alner, looking so chipper.

“New smart phone,” he said, holding it out for me to see as he headed up the walk to his front door. “Great price too. I had to push my way through the crowd and grab it out of some lady’s hands. Boy, with this speed I’ll be able to do more friending than ever.”

My grin must have been a giveaway because he suddenly cried “oh, no” and took off like a jackrabbit. But as usual I was too quick for him.

“OK, where are we?” he sighed. “To what godforsaken place has your power of metaphysical travel taken us now?”

“This ‘godforsaken place,’ as you put it, is none other than our hometown a few decades ago. You, my friending friend, need a bit of education.”

“Hey, where’s my new smart phone,” he cried, realizing his arms were empty. “It’ll get stolen, and …”

“Relax,” I said. “Thanks to one of my other powers, that of temporal suspension, it’ll be right where you left it in our own time. Now let’s take a little walk.”

Sullen though Alner tried to appear, I could see him taking in our surroundings.

“Don’t these people have anything to do?” he asked.

“You mean those folks conversing over the side yard fence?”

“They should get themselves computers,” he said. “Something to keep busy with. You know what they say about idle hands being the devil’s workshop.”

“Alner,” I sighed. “What they’re doing is the same thing as your friending or tweeting or finding a cybergroup to belong to with your new toy,” I said. “Only they’re actually meeting their pals and neighbors. They’re not sitting at home punching keys.”

“Interesting,” he nodded. “Hey, what’s that building that’s drawing such a crowd? Looks like the day I got my laptop at the mall. Was that ever a …”

“It’s a club getting together for a meeting,” I said. “Lots of people in this time join organizations where they have a good time and plan fun activities – you know, everything face to face. Some of the clubs are pretty big too, which is why they have these nice buildings.”

“If they had my smart phone they could stay home.”

“You’re a card, Alner,” I said. “But forget about your glitzy stuff for a while. Take a look around. See those two ladies walking home from the neighborhood grocery with shopping bags? And notice that fellow talking to his buddy up on the front porch? What they’re doing is arranging get-togethers at someone’s house this evening. They’ll play cards, or listen to the radio or just have a good old gabfest.”

“Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Alner said, nodding. “Never thought about it.”

“No passwords or security updates necessary,” I said.

“And that kid calling for his friend to come out is doing what?”

“You probably call it tweeting. He’d call it just telling his buddy the guys need him for a game of street baseball. Better exercise, too.”

Alner shrugged. “Sort of a human approach. What a novel idea.”

“Now you’re cooking,” I said, slapping him on the back. “Hey, let’s head home.”

“My new phone suddenly looks kind of primitive,” Alner said, pausing at his front door to admire his shiny purchase.

“Yeah?”

“It’s nice, of course, but I guess there are some things it just doesn’t have an app for.”

Remember When
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TOM_MOONEY-4.jpg.optimal.jpgRemember When

Tom Mooney

Remember When

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader history columnist. Reach him at [email protected].