Two Servers, One Human
Henry Deck gets up at three
to double-check the facts in
a long presentation written
days and nights this weekend.
Coffee in hand, he stumbles
to the computer, hits the button,
the screen lights up and he expects
the Google genie to appear but
sees instead this blaring message:
“You are not connected to this server!”
as though the missing genie is his fault
at 3 a.m. and not the server’s.
It wasn’t the server's fault either
when he took his wife to dinner and his
waving never connected with their server,
a Hercule Poirot who strolled to other tables,
uncorking fine wines and offering whiffs to folks
more hoity-toity than Henry Deck and his wife.
On the bill Henry saw a message presaging
the one on his computer screen this morning:
gratuity added despite another failure to connect.
Preacher from Outer Space
If one is far away
and suddenly out of touch,
one should pass along
forwarding information
to anyone who needs to know.
And that’s everyone, by gosh,
especially if you happen to be
a renowned televangelist
retired from TV now in
Outer Space offering
advice on YouTube with
counseling by email
at no extra cost to those
who visit PayPal first.
The cost is very low
cheaper than flying to Haiti
to ask a voodoo priest
holding a doll and needle.
The Keepers
The billionaire would send 11 million back
across the border but not the four perhaps
who on this searing summer day
climb to the top of our house and creep
like spiders in a hurry, ripping off
our old roof and putting on a new one
singing joyful songs of their homeland.
The billionaire would find few Yanks
willing to go up there for the money
to swing a claw and hammer in the heat
day after day and work so hard so well.
These four, and thousands more, are keepers.
—————————————————
Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
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