Looking out my Backdoor: Ingenuity and telephones

It could have exploded. Ben woke up and automatically reached for his phone. The auto reach; it is a generational thing. The phone was so hot it burned his hand. He jerked the plug from the phone and from the power strip. The power cord connection to the phone had melted into the phone. The cord itself was fried. He said, “I’ve never heard of this kind of problem.”

Oh, man; Oh, crickets; Have to buy a new phone. Ben, of course, has one of those phones with which he does everything. It is his lifeline to the world. And they don’t come free in Cracker Jacks.

Nevertheless, Ben cleaned the plastic...