Tyrant changes its look, not its behavior
Mary Ann Ellis

A couple of years ago, Larry and I had our house phone that we’d had since 1974 removed. They say all good things must end, and whether that’s true or not, I was so very ready to part with AT&T. Our relationship had been a rocky one from the very beginning. I hated to give up our phone number though for many reasons. How do you find someone’s number if he has a cell phone? No phone book that I know about has listings of cell phone numbers. Our sons always called home on that number as well. It was the number we’d made them memorize when they were tiny tots. I think it was the 2016 election that finally made up our minds for us. Every time we answered the big black tyrant in our living room, some politician with golden words dripping from his silver tongue tried to convince us to vote for him or his choice of candidates. His words usually dripped with a foreign accent.

We figured since our sons were all grown up and on their own, they could manage to use the cell phone, and anyone who really needed or wanted to call us could figure out a way. Back when cell phones became popular, our internet wasn’t dependable enough to cut off the house phone. Now it’s wonderful. (Thanks, Connexon!) When you live in a small town, you can find people who know people who know people who have numbers. Someone will have the right number. During that infamous election of 2016, we could hardly use the phone ourselves between the politicians and salesmen. We finally started our break with Ma Bell and AT&T in our effort to save that $100.00/month that we spent so the politicians and salesmen could bother us day and night.