Phone Rings, Heart Stops, Dread....Mashed Potatoes?

My son calls me while

I'm in line at the Stop & Shop

by Kathe L. Palka

and I freeze, transporting tea from the cart

to the conveyer belt, mind racing to places

he might need me, as I answer my cell.

But he's not calling for rescue from the scene

of an accident, a highway wreck or more

natural disaster, rather calling, as if I were

only in the next room. Home early

from school, he's wondering what's

for dinner and after being told, asks if I might

make mashed potatoes instead of rice.

I sigh a little yes, slightly annoyed at his

casualness, but glad to be able to heed the call,

reminded, I'm the one who thinks of this

accessibility as a way to keep the world

at bay, able now to respond anywhere,

yet burdened by availability.

Born into this expanding, more connected

universe, he can't imagine why anyone

would want to be out of reach, my child who

wears new technology like a second skin

and for whom the whole world

is an easy touch away and should be.