Last eve I paused beside the blacksmith door

Actually I popped on IM for a moment to see who was there and to read their Away messages, not, alas, to actually chat with anyone. As sometimes happens in the online world, I received an anonymous message from someone, which, being ever game for adventure, I make it a general rule to accept. Turns out it was my brother Jonathan, who's gotten a screen name and actually chats online with his friends! It all seems too cute and adorable for words, the idea that my little brother Jonathan has an IM account and chats with his friends using the current slang and all that ('Sup? LOL. Dude.'), and I tried to describe it to Michael when he called to inform me that he was on his way home. 'What's so amazing about his being sixteen?' was Michael's very sensible point. Yes, I know my brothers grow up, but still!! It's much harder than you would think, by the way, to keep an IM chat and a live conversation going at once. Anyone can keep up with several IM chats at once by the simple concentration device of minimising each window as you type back a response, but a verbal conversation demands an entirely different set of focusing and concentration skills. There was a lull on the phone line as I typed out something for Jonathan, so I made some random comment to Michael to convince him that I was giving him my full attention. 'Really?' he asked from right behind my chair. Yikes pikes! So wrapped up was I in the IM chat that I never even heard the garage door open or Michael sneak through the house to the office. Ha, ha! That was a good one and no mistake.