WEDNESDAY MORNING I INTENDED to enter my post at my usual early morning time, only to discover that my computer appeared to have silently died in its sleep during the preceding night. All that came on the screen when I turned it on was a bunch of monochromatic vertical lines. Nothing I could think to do would change that. So I took the damn thing to a local computer repair place. I had to leave it for a day. After I got over the aggravation of the catastrophe, I realized that it was maybe a blessing in disguise. I got a lot of reading done Wednesday, finishing a novel that I’d been poking through spasmodically for a number of days (BURR by Gore Vidal – very good book). I didn’t waste a bunch of time surfing news sites or playing Scrabble online. Thursday the computer place called to tell me there was nothing wrong with my computer and there would be no charge. WHAT? I’ve heard this before because this is not the first time I’ve had an inexplicable computer experience; “it was a glitch.” My dictionary defines “glitch” as a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or irregularity of equipment. It is a favorite euphemism of I. T. techs who otherwise have no earthly idea what caused the problem. I was grateful that they were honest enough not to make it out to be something in particular and charge me for it. But, in the aftermath of all this, the feeling that I came away with was similar to the one I’ve had in the past at the hands of mechanics, appliance repairmen, medical workers, and assorted others who possess a technical knowledge that I lack and can, if they are so inclined, maul my wallet. One is held captive by one’s own helplessness. In today’s post-truth society, it seems extraordinary to happen upon a relatively straight-up encounter.

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