The Generations

The nurse wheeled the senior into the room where his nephew was waiting.

He looked at the young one with a slight expression of disgust.

“I’m surprised you even remember I exist…”

“Uncle P… Don’t start…”

The nurse began to lock the chair in place, but Uncle P snarled at her. “I can do that!!”

The nurse raised her hands up to signal he was free to have at it and then walked away.

“Don’t start what?” Uncle P directed his attention back to his nephew. "I’m just saying, it’s been a while, and it seems like no one ever remembers I exist. I can’t even tell you the last one who came to visit before you…”

“Uncle P, you know it isn’t personal. Everyone is just…busy…but we love you!”

“Oh you do, huh?”

“Of course.”

“Everyone is busy doing what exactly? How busy can you be to not come visit your dear uncle and brother more than…every other year, two years?” 

“Oh come on, you know it isn’t that infrequent…”

“Oh but it is! I just wish I were cared about — that I were appreciated — like I once was. That I were valued and respected like I once was…”

“What do you mean? Of course we appreciate, value, and respect you. Everyone does. We love you.”

“Oh? I can’t tell.”

“Uncle P…”

“No, I’m serious. I think about back in the day when I was actually needed. Sought out. I was everywhere — always handy, always ready. I mean, you couldn’t pass a few blocks without seeing me around, ready to service in whatever way was helpful or necessary…”

“I know, I'm sure you really did help out a lot back then…”

“Oh, did I! Boyyy, I was on every street corner, outside nearly every grocery store, at parks, in restaurants… At the airport, the bus station, the train station… In schools, hospitals, hotels—-“

“I know…”

“Do you??! Son, you have no idea. I was everywhere.”

“Uncle, P, I know…”

“And all you needed was a dime! Well, and then later a quarter. But that was it! It didn’t take much!”

“I know, Uncle P. I’ve heard you really were great and huge then.”

“I should say I was... And boy, do you know all the kinds of situations I helped out with? Tons of casual personal chats, family emergencies, kids checking in with their parents, wives checking in with their husbands, important business deals — hell, even drug deals—”

“Drug deals?!?”

“Drug deals. All kinds of conversations. Husbands checking in with their mistresses,” Uncle P stopped to chuckle to himself. “Man. The things I heard…”

“Wow… I bet.”

“Yes, sir! And people used me happily and easily back then. No special knowledge or training required. Didn’t even need any hand sanitizer to use me! See, back then, people weren’t so worried about germs. You kids nowadays are afraid of your own spit!”

The nephew smirked.

“And how sturdily I was built. I would stand out there in the rain, sleet, snow, and the blazing sun, withstanding even hurricane kinds of winds — and even actual hurricanes!! — and still always ready to go upon command. It took a lot for me to be down for the count. No fragile glass screen on me to shatter. No fancy microchips.”

“Well, Uncle P, if you were so great back then, then…”

“Then what?”

“….Nothing,” the nephew stopped himself.

“No, no. Go ahead and say it, son. Then what? If I were so great, then how and why did I end up in…here…where I’m lucky to get visits a few times a decade?”

The nephew’s eyes averted in another direction as he answered softly, “Yeah…”

“Well, that’s a great question, young man. I’m pretty puzzled by it, myself, to tell you the truth.”

“Well… What happened? I’ve heard different versions. Tell me.”

Uncle P’s face returned to one of deep cynicism. “Technology…happened. Humans…happened.”

“How so?”

“Well, your father will even tell you — he used to be in every household and every business around the world. You couldn’t communicate without him while you’re at home watching TV or trying to make deals across the city or even country and around the world! He held things down inside. I held things down outside, when people were on the go.”

“So, what changed?”

“You…changed.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“When you first started coming on the scene, it wasn’t too big of a deal. At the time, only those with real money had access to you, and businesspeople — the fancy executive types — were the only kind who really needed you. And you were a lot less…practical and convenient to carry around. So, with all of that, your father and me still had a place.”

Uncle P continued, “But as time went on, that became less so. They began making different versions of you and in different sizes, with different kinds of plans to use you with. They made you smaller overall and easier to carry, easier to use. More sleek and I guess ‘cool’—” he rolled his eyes, “-looking. And then more ways you could be used. Like, a lot more ways — ways your father and I could never compete with. And that’s when…it started to happen.”

The nephew’s eyes raised, waiting for him to go on.

“Slowly but surely… We stopped being needed as much. They began literally ripping me out of the ground and the walls. How could you do that to someone you once relied on so much??” Uncle P’s voice raised an octave as emotion began to overwhelm him.

“I… was on fewer blocks… Began disappearing from those many streets, parks, and restaurants. And when you did see me around, I would just kind of be standing there, stagnant and pitiful…almost like street decoration. People would pass by me as if I were part of the brick wall I stood against. At first, I guess they were still seeing me, but eventually, I just blended in…with the rest of the settings of the street. It got to where they didn’t need to see me…because they didn’t need me…because they had you.”

Uncle P’s voice lowered into a more somber tone.

“I’d see each of them walk past me with you in hand, doing with you what they had once done with me. Except with you, they were able to keep walking…into infinity, versus with me, they had to…stay in place.” He rolled his eyes again. “Oh, so hard that must’ve been for everyone.”

“Same with your father, actually. But lucky for him, he didn’t stop being needed completely. There are enough people still out there who started out with him in their homes and never wanted or felt the need to let that go, and so he lives on in some of those spaces. Same with businesses — many of them still have a need for him in their buildings, as part of conducting their business.” He paused. “I’m glad at least one of us is still found useful.”

He looked up at his nephew again. “You don’t know how lucky you have it, son. You’re all the rage. I’ve seen how they’ve come out with all kinds of stuff with you and a bunch of different looks and options. You can play games with you, talk without even having to talk! Get all kinds of information about any and damn near everything. Listen to music, watch movies, record your own movies — hell, order food! And groceries!!”

His voice raised with more sternness. “Hell, they could’ve equipped me to do all of that if they really wanted to. They didn’t even give me the chance. I just had one use, and once they no longer needed that, that was it. They gave up on me entirely. Done. Caput. Out of service. I have nothing more to offer, so Out of Order. They didn’t even try. Man. If they had, the things I could’ve been. What all I could’ve done…”

“Uncle P, you can barely stand—-” His nephew finally spoke again.

“I don’t need to stand to do what I did!! I could sit! They could make it to where I could sit! Look at all of the things they’ve managed to do with you!!”

His nephew sighed softly, “I mean… To be honest, it isn’t all fun and games for me either, Uncle P—-”

Uncle P rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth. “Man, please.”

“It isn’t!”

“Yeah, right. And how exactly is that?”

“I mean, I have a lot of pressure on me—“

“Pressure? You mean the kind of pressure that has you outside no matter what the elements — below-freezing temperatures, little sharp pellets of ice coming at you at 80 miles per hour.. Or record-high temperatures — harsh rays heating you up so much, you could scramble an egg on me?!? That kind of pressure?”

“No, no. Not that kind of pressure—“

“You’re damned right not that kind of pressure. No, see, you get to be in comfortable little cases, usually settled nice and cozy in a pocket or snug tight in a purse, if you aren’t being held by someone outright. With special equipment to protect your oh-so-delicate parts. God forbid anyone drops you…”

He thought for a few more moments. “Oh! And how much they’re willing to pay for you is just… Wow. With me, all they needed was a dime. But I guess that wasn’t good enough.”

“Look,” his nephew spoke up again, “I have all of this…stuff…I have to constantly deliver on. Like you said, all of those different things — those tasks and abilities — they expect me to do…all the time!! It’s a lot!!!”

“I bet it’s a lot better than sitting around rotting, not being needed to do anything,” chimed Uncle P.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” said his nephew. “I mean, even back in your heyday, you got a break. Some kind of break. I’m on call practically 24/7-365!! Whatever they need: Driving directions, calculating a dinner tip, translating languages when they travel, waking them up, helping them to go to bed or go back to bed, sending stupid jokes to their friends, arguing with their exes, hell — stalking their exes, keeping track of the things they eat and when they workout and how they workout.. Oh, and don’t get me started on all of their endless work needs… They can’t even relax or vacation without needing to constantly check in with me for that, too!! I’m telling you, it’s a lot!!”

The nephew got more worked up as he thought about it. “Oh, and my favorite part they’re most obsessed with: Putting up in the abyss a bunch of random stuff about themselves for a bunch of random others, who mostly don’t even really know them, for them to maybe or maybe not even see!!”

The nephew continued, “And what’s craziest of all: They’re steadily thinking and coming up with even more to add — more things that they expect from me and for me to do!! I really believe some of them would trade their right arm for me. Maybe even both legs. Hell, maybe even both lungs.”

“Oh my gosh, I would kill for that,” interjected uncle P.

“No, Uncle P, no. It isn’t as great as you think.”

Uncle P’s eyes rolled once again.

The nephew continued, “They never even let me fully recharge…because they can never put me down. And it isn’t the ‘I’m never put down, so I’m always needed’ kind of a thing. They never put me down, so I can barely keep going!! Or have a moment to myself. They never give me a chance to breathe.” He paused for a few moments. “So… I wouldn’t be so quick to think I have it made and you got the short end of the stick. Trust me, the grass seems greener.”

“Well, I want that green grass,” again inserted Uncle P. “Beats sitting in here doing nothin’. Being seen and used by absolutely no one.”

The nephew deeply sighed.

Uncle P continued, “All I’m saying is, don’t take it for granted, kid. One day, it might be you in here. In fact, I’m sure it will be. And you’ll have your own story to tell…to whoever is your nephew or grandson who has taken your place in what you once were to the world. It isn’t a good feeling. Everyone wants to be needed. Everyone needs…to be needed.”

His nephew tried to absorb his uncle’s words.

“So, now I just spend my days…” Uncle P went on, “Waiting until they get rid of me entirely. No one uses me anymore, so I don’t even know why I’m kept around at all. Might as well just put me out of my misery.”

A sad silence settled between the two.

Uncle P continued, “It’s especially painful to sometimes see people only see me as a sort of…prop…of the past. Something to be wowed by and take pictures of and in front of, and of themselves…with you… in — what are those things called? ‘Selfers’?”

“Selfies…” his nephew tried not to laugh.

“Selfies. Yes. They even use you for that — to take pictures of themselves with me, the old piece of dust that once was, that they no longer need. That they find funny or cute.” His eyes averted to the side. “They occasionally notice me now, but not in the way that matters. Not in the way that they once did. They look and they gawk…because I guess I’m just that old. That antique. No longer functional, just…decorative. Sentimental in a way.

I don’t want to be sentimental.

I want to be useful.

And all they needed was a dime.”