Sometimes, Even the Universe's Conspiratory Machinations Are No Match For Goodness

A most curious event occurred this evening. More unexplainable, even, than the strange goings-on in the Val Thevictorian basement.

Last night, The Pony had a mishap. One minute he was happily ensconced on the new basement couch, pecking away at his laptop keyboard...and the next minute his world fell apart. His laptop slid off the edge of that dastardly divan, and hit the pressed-tile-over-concrete-covered-by-a-braided-rug floor. The plug-in thingy that connects to the cable of the power supply broke off in his laptop hole thingy.

The Pony was a brave little soldier. He came to my dark basement lair to report the damage. Neither sullen nor tearful was he, but simply resigned. Resigned to the fact that we had traversed the 8th continent of Backroads seeking that power supply. All because the original began emitting smoke one evening last summer. Possible replacements found on the internet all had comments such as: "I ordered this as a replacement, and after two days, it started smoking!" Yeah. We did not feel that such a purchase would be prudent. Much calling around resulted in ONE shop, a mere fifteen miles from home, that might possibly have such a rare jewel in stock.

The Pony managed to pry the offending stump loose from the hole. "Now all I need is that little part that sticks in. The power supply itself is fine." Fine, indeed. To the tune of fifty dollars.

Flash back to last summer...The Pony had felt the purchase well worth that price. The universal power supply unit offered by the TechyGuru store came with an array of ten or more sizes of connectors. The Pony did not have his laptop with him at the store. The counter guru tried to find the size by comparing parts on the old smoky power supply. He said that if the universal unit did not have a connector that fit, we could bring it back for a full refund. He showed The Pony how to change the power output or some such thing that showed up in a green light on the side of the unit. We got it home, and The Pony had it running in less than a minute.

Flash back to this evening...The Pony had packed up the whole kit and caboodle this morning at 5:30 a.m. I promised to take him to TechyGuru after school, after my traded duty, after his dentist appointment. TechyGuru was open until six. I was sure we could make it, and we did. The Pony took a deep breath. Grabbed his backpack full of laptop essentials, and headed toward the door. He usually hangs back, but this time he walked right up to the counter.

"Well, it seems I need another power supply. I broke mine off in my laptop last night." He removed the laptop and set it on the counter. Took out the strip of accessories and showed the space where the working one had been. "It's this one I need."

The counter guru headed to the back room. We heard him talking it over with somebody out of sight. He brought a connector out and tried it. It didn't quite fit tight enough. The Pony dug around in a side pouch on his red laptop backpack. " Here's what's left of it." He took out the miniscule end that had not fallen apart.

Counter Guru went to the back room again. We heard some muffled conversation..."only needs the connector...I don't know...how about five dollars...we have all kinds of them." He came back out front and pushed the connector into the hole. It was a perfect fit. He pulled it out and handed it to The Pony. "There's what you need."

"Great! We were hoping you would have one."

I pulled my household cash reserves from my pocket. "Thank you! How much will that be?"

"No charge. We have a bunch of them."

"Thank you so much! That's a really nice thing to do. I'll be sure to recommend you to everybody."

A lady walked in. "They're the best computer store ever."

Ain't that the truth! I'm giving my proposed handbasket factory future employees the night off. I think those handbaskets can wait one more day.