14 Wires

   The wire is just lying there, in the hell-hole beneath the computer desk.  Somehow, someone must have jostled it loose.  I know the drill:  move the desk out, risking disturbing more of the wires, cables, cords that connect us to the outside world.  I know how to plug things in, once I know where they belong.  I count at least 14 wires or cables, or cords--I'll just call them wires.  And then there is the hard drive, monitor, modem, Trend-Net, LogTech device, printer, cell phone, speakers, and desk light, and a few other things I can't name.
   I've called the help-line several times before, but find it a tedious and ignominious experience.  I'm uncertain of the vocabulary, and dislike feeling like an idiot. If there were one connection per wire, I'd have no problem. But the above-mentioned devices tend to have multiple orifices, some of them not in use, or probably for some other connection.  I don't know.  Crouched with a flashlight on the floor in front of the computer, I find the loose wire has 3 prongs, so I look for any device that corresponds to that.  I find a three-outlet space, and plug the wire into that, don't know what I've connected to, but it fit, so I figured I've got a chance.
    The desktop comes up, but the internet connection is lost, the screen tells me.  I don't know if more than one wire had been jostled loose, or if I plugged the wrong wire into the wrong hole. I give up, and get up from the floor, push the computer desk back into place, return the flashlight to its place, and ponder what to do.
   I am saved.  In the form of a 12-year-old who has come to visit.  He quietly assesses the situation, and without moving anything, or asking a single question, enters the space beneath the desk, performs  whatever magic it is that he invokes, and in a matter of minutes the computer is back in action.  Hallelujah.