Then he says he’s going to have to use the computers at work and Mum says she’s going to have to borrow a laptop or something. Dad works up the road in Penzance, selling houses. Mum works from home, designing things for rich people who buy them on the internet. She doesn’t charge very much. She gets very stressed though so she’s got one of those apps she can stare at that tells her when to breathe. I think that’s weird, cos I just seem to know when to breathe. I don’t know why you need an app to tell you to breathe. Sometimes I creep up behind her and just shout BREATHE! This is not her favourite thing about me.
Anyway, just then there was a knock at the door and it was Sandra from next door.
She says have we heard?
And we’re like, ‘Heard what?’
And she says, ‘Oh, you haven’t heard then?’
And we’re like, ‘Heard what?’
And she says, ‘Well, it’s not good news.’
And we’re like, ‘Just TELL US what we HAVEN’T HEARD!’
Anyway, she says her telly broke last night and we’re like, ‘OURS TOO!’
And then Dad spotted Sandra was wearing a normal old-fashioned watch and asked her what time it was because nothing in the house was telling him any more. She said it was half past eight.
Now Dad was double stressed because he knew he had an appointment somewhere at nine a.m. but didn’t know what it was, or who it was with, because he keeps his work diary on his phone.
He walked out of the house, shaking his head, and got in his car.
And then he got out again because he’d forgotten his phone.
And then he got back in again because it wasn’t like he needed it.
And then he got back out again because he should probably take it just in case he did.
Now it was just us, Mum was trying to pretend like it was just a weird blip or something that would sort itself out asap, but I knew that something seriously odd and WRONG had happened.
You might think I’d panic that all the screens and tech seemed to have just sort of vanished, but I am not a panicker and I am perfectly able to go without watching a viral video for a bit. Between you and me, sometimes I can’t help feeling a little jealous or not quite good enough when I watch those things anyway.
Like, you know those YouTube or TikTok vids where you click on one and it’s some guy throwing a ball at a cat, and the cat hits the ball, and the ball bounces off a wall and lands in a cup? I’ve never done anything like that.
And I can’t sing like this girl I saw on a foreign X Factor thing, and she was only eight.
And I can’t do any of those make-up tutorials very well because Mum doesn’t buy much make-up and what she does have is for special.
My old teacher used to say that not everybody can be extraordinary, because if everybody was extraordinary, there wouldn’t be any really extraordinary people, would there? Just extra ORDINARY ones.
Well, that’s STUPID.
Because what I am really good at is being highly- organized. Which I know sounds a bit rubbish, but it is GOOD to be organized. I always know where my shoes are and no one ever has to yell ‘Stellaaaa!’ at me to brush my teeth. I take pride in always being one step ahead. The key used to be Post-it Notes, until I realized that was bad for the environment, so now I use the organizer on my mum’s old phone. There’s nothing more satisfying than a full calendar, complete with handy information. Like what time the chip shop opens and how many supermarket loyalty points I’ve got (five). I think I’m probably already the most organized girl in Mousehole.
I am also responsible. I award myself a certain amount of screen time each week, as recommended by the World Health Organization. I enjoy order, planning, and knowing where I am supposed to be and when. I am regularly praised by grown-ups for my sensible approach, which is why I agree with my parents that now is not the right time for the family to get a dog because it would require more scheduling and planning. And even though I would volunteer to walk it myself every morning and evening and I could take it to the beach or run around in the woods with it, I agree that at the age of ten I am not old enough to do this yet.
And I am FINE with all this. I will wait for Jacinda.
Anyway, being organized is what I’m thinking about as I walk to school with Mum and Teddy because right now it’s going to pay to be prepared. I can already see that this problem with the screens isn’t just on our street. I reckon it’s hit all of Mousehole.
The streets in Mousehole are steep and narrow and they wind round and round. Everywhere I look, people are walking around with their phones out in front of them. Some of them look puzzled and some of them seem properly panicked. I’m getting a major ‘watch out’ vibe. Every now and again they’ll tap at their screen, or press the buttons to see if anything starts working again, but none of them look happy.
It makes me want to check my own phone, but that’s still blank too. Mum let me have her old one because she says, even though when she was young kids didn’t have phones, it is better to be safe than sorry. Mum is always worried about me wandering off, or running into baddies wherever I turn, or maybe getting stuck in quicksand. I think she watches too much TV. I find a lot of adults have very
