It happened, just before bed last night…the first of the signs.*

Omen Number One

It’s nearing 2:00 a.m. I’m scrambling to get ready for our trip to Wisconsin tomorrow. My cell phone, as usual, was down to its last, flickering percentage. I plug it in and it tells me, “This is not the Android recharger you are looking for.” I shrug, unplug and plug it back in.  Again, “Please use original Android equipment to recharge device, you wompa-breathed buffoon.”

There is nothing I…or anyone at this lonely hour of the night…can do to save me. Obi Wan, it’s hopeless.

The next morning, the phone chirps a pitiful wake-up call before giving up its last percentile ghost. I’m swamped with a to-do list longer than my will to live. I shove my child on his 2 ½ hour tour bus for what they call “summer school” and I race to get a few boxes checked off.

The Verizon Death Star won’t be operational until 10:00 a.m. (stormtrooper reviews are more elaborate than a Broadway Musical) so I run to the mall to pick up the new pants from Fu Alterations. I stopped to visit my boyfriend.** And then I’m off to take on the Empire…and pick up my new pair of glasses.  I have one hour left.

(Cue the aforementioned, footnoted ominous music.  You all know the tune: Da Da Da, Dah Dah Dah, Dah Dah Dah…)

The heartless drone at Verizon takes my name and leaves me to stew and search fruitlessly for a clock to make sure I don’t miss the bus. I go through withdrawals as I have no way to play Words With Friends, so I decide to exchange words with a stranger instead.  It turns out, I sit down next to a member of the resistance force who is holding her notes about the Rebel Alliance just up the street (aka Sprint). We get to chatting:

Rebel Leader: “Sprint is offering a phone deal and lower rates. I’m checking to see what Verizon will offer before switching.”

Kir-Leia: “Phone won’t recharge…mumble mumble… the guy said I have to wait in the Samsung Galaxy for tech support…So I told him to shove his blaster down his Aldaran belt and fire!”

Rebel Leader:  “Come over to the Sprint side and save!”

Or words to that effect.

I’m finally brought before the Sith Lord…scarlet scourge of the Verizon Empire. After a brief back-and-forth about the problematic port, this is what he offers:

Darth-Insidious: “The best I can do is to ship a phone to where you will be tomorrow.”

Kir-Leia: “If I’m getting a new phone, why can’t I just get one from the store?”

Now he drops the thermite-detonator:

Darth-Insidious:  “We don’t keep replacements in stock. It will be a ‘Factory Certified’ Android phone.”

Kiri-Leia: “I get a used phone?  I only had the Samsung for about five months!  It’s not even paid for yet! Why can’t I get a new phone?”

Darth-Insidious: “It is not our way. Get back Rebel scum!”

Kir-Leia: “I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board!”’

Darth Insidious: “How charming…but wrong movie.”

 

Of course, I storm out in a huff, swearing that I will never darken the doors of Verizon again.

Over at the Sprint Rebel Base, I have enough time to toss my phone at Jedi Master Trevor and swear allegiance. (Fortunately, my midichlorians are off the scale.)

I dash to get the child before the bus leaves him wandering in search of a better parent. I send an emergency signal through a cousin to my mother and she agrees to watch my Padawan Learner (boy child). I race and to get my new iPhone…but it’s not ready. They have to match the geosynchronous orbit, or some technical mumbo jumbo I don’t understand.  So, I dash back to home base, stopping to get a thank-you pop and scratch-n-win ticket for the Grandma, when the universe speaks to me again…

The Second Omen

The swinging door of the Coca Cola cooler was obviously programmed for stealth attack. As I turn and let the door swing shut, it takes a huge bite out of my ankle.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah. Fricken…Fracken…farken….” (Insert Wookie Howl Here.)

I’m bleeding as I leave the store.

Mom patches me up, listening to the entire tale.  Wishes me well, and I’m off once more. Dashing back to pick up the phone, dragging the child in tow.

Then, I learn something wondrous…the deal I signed my life away for included a second phone!  And the Rebel Leader and I can declare ourselves friends and get a $50 rebate…if we can ever figure out how to sign up for it.

Things are looking marginally up. I’m battered and limping, but I have my new phone and…shit….look at the time.

The next few hours are a blur of manic packing, driving, and arriving at the RV Park & Campground where I have reserved a teepee for the night.

You heard me a teepee.  Did I mention it’s raining?  Have I also mentioned it is an authentic structure with a hole in the center and the floor has running water? (But the bathrooms are located in another building.) No matter.  I will find the fun in this.  I will overcome a most inauspicious start to our vacation. I will ignore the dreadful music that implies otherwise.

I’m trying to tell myself that I can relax about the small stuff.  So, there’s a little water on the floor?  So what? I move the electric cords to a table to remove the possibility of a third and fatal sign.  No electrocution for me, no sir!

The Third Omen

As I’m leaving the teepee to gather the bedding for the unauthentic mattresses, I don’t clear the odd lower lip of the oval door way. I trip in a most graceless fashion, landing hard on my left wrist and both knees. I break a blood vessel in my hand.

 

I raise my uninjured fist and shake it at the universe.

“Why?  Why? For the love of all that is Jedi…why?”

Somewhere, the dark side is taunting me. Or it could just be the croaking frogs. I’m not sure. It sure sounds like the universe laughing.

*

So, if I die on the boat crossing tomorrow, you’ll know why….

 

Asterisk Bedazzled Footnotes:

*Why does no one ever heed the signs?  In real life, I blame the lack of ominous music.

**One of these days I’m going to write the blog post to explain this remark, but this is not the day.

***I should have gone with Kirbaca as I did scream like an enraged wookie today, but it did not fit the scene.