The Printer

Phaedra stared in shock at the error message that flashed across the bottom of her laptop. ‘Printer error’ read the message and Phaedra was in the middle of printing a twenty-page contest entry. She’d been using this same printer for five years now, a gift when she’d first become an author so to speak. Now she had to fix it quickly, or try to buy a new one. Phaedra adored this printer because it always printed clear and the paper never jammed. Shutting her laptop, Phaedra went into the study to check what was wrong. She pulled the printer out of its cubbyhole, noticing that several of the wires had frayed ends.

Phaedra groaned as she realized that she must have a mouse problem. Or her younger brother had let the mice for his snake loose again. A scary thought for Phaedra since she despised any live snake. Phaedra quickly checked to see which wires needed fixing then called the store closest to her. She was ecstatic when the worker said they had an entire printer available. Phaedra left a note for her brother to catch his snake and that she was going to the store.

Phaedra walked into the store, asking the help desk about the printer. The woman working the counter looked at her like she was crazy and told Phaedra they didn’t carry that kind of printer. Her phone started ringing and Phaedra saw it was her brother. Shaking her head Phaedra silenced the phone and turned her attention back to the woman. The worker directed Phaedra to another store that might carry the printer or wiring that she needed. Phaedra thanked the woman then ran out the store, heading for her car.

Her phone started to ring again, and this time Phaedra answered it.

“Where are you?” her brother asked, and Phaedra could have sworn she heard the hiss of a snake at the same time.

“Trying to find a new printer since your mice chewed the wiring!” Phaedra said into the phone as she pulled out of the parking lot. Her brother started laughing and Phaedra wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him.

“Sis, I already got you a new printer! I saw what they did and just picked it up. It was the last one in stock.”

Phaedra pulled to the side of the road and looked at her phone in shock.