Then and Now
View(s):
Sreema Liyanage
I rang up my nephew.
He did not pick up. That was normal. Young people these days were very busy. My need could wait.
He called me back later. We spoke.
A minute later he called again.
“Nande, when you call and I don’t answer because I am at a meeting or a lecture, if it is urgent, call back again. Then I will answer,” he said.
My mind went back twenty years.
“Putha, when you call me, if I don’t answer if I am at a meeting, send me a text message. One star if it is urgent and I will immediately call you back. Two stars if it is not so urgent and three if we can talk at leisure.” These instructions were given to him by me. Now, it was reversed.
He was concerned about my welfare, as I was about his. I never considered him an investment but the returns were truly rewarding. I was a happy aunt.
| This flash fiction is interesting because it takes an incident which can be potentially damaging and is often depicted as being damaging with regard to inter-generational relationships – cell phones and time – and gives it a positive and ‘peacefully coexisting’ twist. Please send in your Flash Fiction contributions to Madhubhashini Disanayaka-Ratnayake, C/o The Sunday Times, No 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2
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