Progress (That's What She Said)

Driving home from the fair, trying to keep Jarrah awake with aimless conversation:

S: Look, Jarrah! What's that?

J: Fry's.

S: And what do we buy at Fry's?

J: I don't know.

S: Electronics!

J: What electronics?

S: You know...car radios, and TVs, and phones, and computers...weird to think we didn't have any of that stuff when I was kid.

J: What stuff?

S: Well, I didn't have a computer, or a cell phone. There was no internet, or e-mail, or Facebook.

J: So everything was just boring?

S: (cracking up) Well, I wouldn't say BORING.

J: Did you have red lights?

S: What? Yes, we had red lights.

J: Green lights?

S: Yes. I said electronics, not electricity.

J: Stairs?

S: Yes.

J: Places?

S: Places? Yeah, we had lots of places.

J: Signs?

S: Yes.

J: Roads?

S: Yes.

J: Festivals?

S: Yes, I went to lots of festivals. We had things, Jarrah. Lots of things. We just didn't have...electronics.

J: No computer.

S: No computer. We didn't even have an answering machine when I was growing up.

J: What's an answering machine?