A Halloween Horror Story
By Diane Neil, High Desert Branch
The older we get, the more friends we lose. Every year when we send out Christmas cards, the list gets shorter. We lost one friend this year whose loss was especially painful to us.
Old Dell was actually living with us and had been for several years. He’d been ailing for months, and we kept taking him to Dr. Geek for infusions and nostrums. Finally, we were told we’d have to take drastic measures to keep him alive. So we opted to have the recommended surgery. We actually had to sign a waiver to permit the operation.
When we went back to pick him up, we were given dire news: Old Dell did not survive the procedure and was totally brain dead. So we brought him home to die. We pulled all his plugs and wires and put his poor carcass in the hallway to take to the computer graveyard.
In the meantime, we took the carcasses of other old friends out of the dank recesses of the shed where they’d been stored. In all, we had three modems, one 40-year-old computer, and all their plugs, connections, and wiring. Quite a pile. The hardest thing was digging out their brains and smashing them with a hammer.
We took the body parts to HazMat, signed a release, and remained in the car while gloved and suited attendants removed the carcasses from the car.
As we drove away, we could almost hear a creaking, grinding moan. I thought I saw a faint red reset light flicker in my rearview mirror.
Reprinted from the High Desert Branch newsletter
The Inkslinger, December 2017