Connection Problems

Tim signed on to Zoom and joined the chat turning first his audio on and then his video. He waited for his brother to sign on with sweating expectation. He had big news. Within a few seconds Tom signed on and was waving through a slightly pixelated frame. Tim figured he’d start with the traditional introduction.

“Hey man!”

He saw Tom wordlessly mouthing something. Oh god, it’s going to be one of those Zoom calls.

“Your mic isn’t on. You’re on mute!”

He saw motion too pixilated that he couldn’t make it out. His brother was only two years older. He shouldn’t be this bad at technology.

“M’…muted!” came through from Tom’s side. Awesome, that helped. It’s okay, he would power through.

“How are you?” Tim grumbled.

“Nice…see you…” belched out of the computer’s speaker. Tim decided he would wait for Tom to catch up. He just stared smiling at the screen. Tom’s picture solidified enough to see his face clearly. He was wearing his full beard and Tim could see the hair on his head starting to gray. No way it had been that long. Quarantine had only been about a year. But what a year it had been, no wonder. Tim decided he couldn’t wait any longer.

“I have news!”

“Had…Cabin… weekend” Tom chortled from the other side. C’mon, really the Cabin. There was next to no internet at the cabin, why would Tom even try to Zoom from there. Well, I guess best just to say it and be done. Otherwise, this will never end.

Tim blurted out his news then and there.

“…got…pict…cabin” is all that got back to Tim.

Tim wondered what Tom could possibly be hearing.

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On Tom’s side of the Zoom call, he had just been logging onto the Zoom call when Suzie walked into the room with the baby, who was trying out her great new set of lungs.

“Honey, do know where we put the diapers?” The Zoom logged on and Tom gave Tim a quick wave.

“I think we put them in the green bag with the polka-dots. Might have already gone upstairs. Can I get a few minutes with Tim?” He asked the last part in his sweetest voice. He knew she was on edge.

“Of course, Honey.” He loved how she powered through; she was great. The computer made a croaking sound.

Tom focused in on the Zoom session to see his brother. He turned his mic on.

“Sorry, my mic was muted. The baby was in the room screaming.” He apologized.

“…r…you” is all that returned through the speaker.

“Nice to see you man, it’s been too long. How are ya?” He waited for Tim to respond, but his brother just sat there with a silly smile on his face. His face came fully into focus and saw a nervous boy there not so different from the 12-year-old he had known just a decade ago waiting impatiently for mom and dad to look at him so he could report that he had won best portrait in the art fair. Not so long ago that 12-year-old’s face, now aged ten years and looking just a touch under grown up. Tom decided his brother hadn’t heard him and that this silence had been long enough.

“We had to go to the cabin this weekend. The furnace died and is being replaced.” He felt bad, Tim had seemed so excited to schedule a Zoom session. He knew the internet was crappy at the cabin, but he still wanted to talk to his brother.

“…News!” Squelched out of the computer’s speaker. Well seems like something finally got through, still no idea what he said though. He couldn’t help wondering, though, what his brother was waiting to tell him. He looked around and saw the picture that Suzie and him had brought up to the cabin with them. The computer spoke words he couldn’t make out.

“Suzie and I brought this picture up for the cabin.” He tried to move so Tim could see. It was Tim’s favorite from their house, and they figured they bring it here so everyone could enjoy it. It was a painting of a trickling stream in mid-fall with most of the leaves having turned on the hill in the distance. It was a lurid gradient of color shrouded in a light mist. Tom always wondered how a painter could paint such a thing.

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Meanwhile, Tim was very worked up. He decided to give up on the whole Zoom thing. It wouldn’t suddenly start working long enough to get the new through and the reaction. Even calling seemed like a bad idea. The cell coverage at the cabin was the only thing worse than the internet. He decided he would try to call and if that didn’t work, he would just text the news. He wanted his brother to find out from him not on Facebook like the rest of the world.

He left the Zoom session and closed his computer. He found his brother in his favorites and bopped his name with his finger. The calling screen came up. There was silence as the phone tried to connect. Then the phone started ringing. After three rings, he heard his brother’s voice nice and clear.

“Hey Tim, what-.” The call dropped. Tim swore. This was just like technology to stop working right when you needed it most. He decided there was no other way. He typed up the words to his brother in a text message and hit send. He prayed to a god somewhere that it went through. A small delivered popped up. Thank God. He hoped Tom would see it soon.

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Tom had just picked up the phone and said, “Hey Tim, what happened?” When the call dropped. His brother had left the Zoom call without so much as a good-bye. Obviously, Tim was frustrated, but there was a chat function on Zoom too that he could’ve tried. Or he could have stayed on and just called and zoomed at the same time. Of course, that really wouldn’t work if the whole calling thing didn’t work. Cell phone coverage was really horrible up here. He had just one bar of LTE, whatever that means.

He tried calling Tim back. The call wouldn’t even go through. He sighed, turned off Zoom, and went into the kitchen for something to drink. After grabbing a water, he came back to the living room table and saw a text from Tim. He opened it.

It said, “I’m getting married!”

Well good for him.