Converter

I'm sucking down week-old sparkling white grape juice, eating the rest of tonight's food that was supposed to be tomorrow's leftovers. These wide noodles were calling my name, even though I had a plan, a budget, but darned if I wasn't going to answer their call all the same. Flecks of sauce get on my shirt and mostly I just leave them there, I'm well beyond the point of caring. The big ones though, those I scoop up with my finger, get those back in my mouth where they belong. Cripes, is this really happening?

Then the TV goes dark. The light on my little black converter box disappears. Something, somewhere, is glitched up. So I get up off the couch, miracle of miracles, and go to the box. I press power, I press reset, I press everything you're supposed to press in every conceivable order and still nothing. So I go to the power strip. Turn that off and turn that on. Still nothing. So I do it again because why not? And nothing. Now I'm getting upset, because I'm supposed to be sitting on that couch over there feeling sorry for myself.

I take the box into the kitchen where I keep a few small tools, screwdrivers and little things. I actually open the thing, unscrew and pry to see what and where the problem is, as if I even know. Everything looks normal, far as I can tell. I poke a few wires and jiggle the cord in back. Mostly I'm worried I'm making it worse. Sounds about right.

Back into the living room we go and I plug the box back in, but to a different socket this time, just in case. Still nothing. I press a few more buttons and pound the remote and zilch. So I start yelling at the thing to work, work, damn you! But all I'm faced with is darkness. There's just no talking to some boxes.

I sit back down on the couch. The noodles, they're room temperature now, and I just don't have it in me for a return trip to the kitchen. I drink the juice. It's flat, which is to be expected. I thought it would help, this sparkling grape juice. The bottle, the bubbles, the fact that grapes are involved. Thought I could trick my body, pull one over on my mind. But it's just not the same. And my body and my mind know that. But still I'm doing all right. Things could be a lot worse. Things used to be. So yeah, things could be a lot worse.